Top Five Podcasts to Help you Laugh, Learn and Grow on-the-go

This was supposed to be a post about my March reads, but then I realised, regularly registering over 400 miles of driving-time each week, I’d listened more than I’d read this month so…

The Tony Robbin’s Podcast

Millionaire (billionaire?) businessman and motivational speaker, Tony and his team interview successful entrepreneurs, CEOs and business executives.

Tony asks interviewees about how they started in business, how they came up with their business idea, the challenges they faced growing and developing their product or service – with customers, clients and employees, the challenges they faced in their own personal and professional development, and more. He interviews people like: Ray Daalio, author of Principles; Lyft co-founder, John Zimmer; the legendary college coach John Wooden; Soul Cycle CEO Melanie Whelan and more.

You will always glean gems from these conversations which will specifically boost your own development in business and life as you reflect on the interviewees’ answers. Want to know how to grow your business? Want to learn how to live your best life? Want to know how to lead with confidence? This podcast is for you.

Disappointingly, if you’re a fan of allowing people to finish speaking without being rudely interrupted, you may be put off at times (as I sometimes am) by Tony’s interviewing techniques. He is very brash and super keen to get across a point or idea for his audience, which sometimes comes across as a lack of awareness that his interviewee hasn’t actually finished his or her point. Nonetheless, I continue to log into the Podcast Player app regularly to check for new content.

Final Four Faves (In no particular order):

• The Cost by Dana Blair – Dana Blair, ex-professional dancer, interviews sports stars, authors, entrepreneurs, bloggers and artists. This is motivational, entertaining and informative. It’s tough to find a podcast featuring interesting interviews where the interviewee sounds genuinely interested, well-researched and engaged in the conversation. Dana handles the whole flow of the conversation perfectly, and through each episode you learn a little bit more about the host, her struggles and life.

• TED Talks Daily – Technology, Entertainment, Design: Ideas worth spreading. What a slogan, hey? If you’ve not heard of TED, where have you been?? Visit their website – ted.com – and check out their talks…or if you’re on the go, download and listen to this podcast. There is genuinely something for everybody to absorb, whatever your interest. Talk ideas range from presentations about sustainable energy and rethinking the prison system, to marine biology, the power of art and the very real, tangible ideas of how to grow your business, live better and experience your life to the fullest. The latest featured talk on their website is titled: ‘How we can teach computers to make sense of our emotions’ by Raphael Arar. Best of all, talks can be as short as 5 or 6 minutes but no longer than 20-minutes max. Their short-and-sweet nature means that in a single commute you could discover a handful of answers to your weekend trivia night. Yay!
• Conversations with John & Lisa Bevere – this couple bring the right balance of humour, fun and truth. They are refreshingly honest, vulnerable and open about their own personal struggles in ministry, family and life; they share their wisdom gained from Biblical scriptures and past experience to help you live your best life by applying what you hear and learn to your own life. Every conversation is relevant, whether you take it on board now or in the future, for yourself or others. Find out more about them here.
• Serial – one real-life unresolved story told week-by-week, the first being based on the potentially unjust incarceration of Adnan Syed for the murder of his ex-girlfriend in 1999; the final series based on the confusing case of a missing marine (Bowe Bergdahl) in Afghanistan who was taken captive by the Taliban in June 2009 and finally released in May 2014, almost five years later. The researcher, journalist Sarah Koenig takes us through conversations she has with Bowe, his family and friends, other members of his platoon, the Taliban and others. She truly acts as an objective, non-partisan storyteller and her research helps you to make your own mind up about Bowe’s motivations for leaving his post and getting captured, and makes you wonder whether Adnan Syed is truly guilty…

What did you think? Do you currently listen to any of these podcasts? If not, which podcast will you listen to first, if any at all?

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