Top 5 Things I Love & Hate About Podcasts
#1 : Let's Start with the Love
Any time, any where.
I’m an auditory learner. That skill was only more finely developed when I was in the military and I’m not gonna tell you why here.
If you’re not an auditory learner, podcasts admittedly will not be an any time, anywhere kind of experience. But for me, when I am out and about, and sometimes when I am tooling around home working on projects, I have a podcast on.
I mostly listen to podcasts when I am out and about in the car. I almost always have one on while I am working out, unless I’m on a quiet walk (and you should take those).
I used to take quiet walks waaay more often than I do now because I had to move to a bit of a sketchier neighborhood recently. My old neighborhood is still only like 5 minutes away, and it’s a great walking neighborhood, but now I have to get in the car in order to walk, whereas used to, the instant I felt like going on a walk, I was out the door walking around the block to the horse trails.
So, how do you know if you’re an auditory learner ?
You just know. Pay attention to how well you listen to and process information, purely on listening. If you’re unsure, pick a podcast you’re interested in. Second, listen to it non-stop for 10 minutes. Ask yourself : were you paying attention ? Can you recall what was said, in detail ?
If you can’t pay attention for 10 minutes to something you’re interested in, you might just be a really, really stressed out person. Maybe you’re going through something horrific, or have stored trauma in your body. Maybe you just need a hug. Hey, I’ve been there.
It’s also possible you are just a crappy student and never had your a__ kicked by a great professor, a great mentor, a great boot camp drill instructor, all of which I have had, and yes, I needed my ass kicked even though I was a pretty good student already. I’m not saying this is a probability—only a possibility. I don’t know your situation exactly. But great listening is a learned skill. Yes, you can be born with an ability , but it has to be honed and crafted. And most people haven’t developed it.
Well, guess what ? The good news, no, the great news is that anyone, and I am confident in that (99%) can improve their auditory learning. Podcasts are an incredible gift for anyone willing to put in the “legwork” (or, the “earwork”, rather).
I personally have listened to between 2-4 podcasts episodes nearly daily for years. My earwork has been honed. I’ve also done nearly 150 episodes on my own podcast, The Republican Professor, where mostly what I’m doing is LISTENING carefully, usually after listening by reading carefully.
Some people would rather read than listen. Hey, I’m sympathetic to that and I hear you, ironically. I read ALOT. I’m probably easily reading 30 books right now. And that might be low-balling it. And I read all kinds of things. Sometimes your situation prevents you from listening. But you do have time, here and there, to read something, like for instance, this.
But I can’t read safely while driving. Right ? Podcasts.
I can’t read while working out. Some claim they can. I call bulls—crap. I don’t buy it, never have. I’ve tried it before: you’re interrupted once a minute unless you’re taking waaay too long between sets (which makes your work out a loser work out, just saying), and it kills the reading process.
The ideal reading process, the bare minimum, requires concentration and the ability to go deep. Depending on your reading proficiency and depending on what you’re reading (and you should read to go deep, undisturbed, if possible, for at least 30 minutes at a stretch), and your background knowledge of what you’re reading, you need some level of concentration for much much longer than tiny gaps in work-outs affords you. Working out kills that baby in the cradle real fast. Sweating all over some magazine or book while you’re on the stairmaster or treadmill ? Give me a break. Disgusting. (And if you’re not sweating, um, maybe, yeah, like try harder).
You can get the same or very similar quality experience as if from quality reading in a Podcast and work out at the same time, or drive. You don’t have to sweat all over your phone while you hold it up to your face real close like a monkey. You’re not sweating all over the Pscyhology Today magazine from 3 years ago (do people still read magazines?) or that Danielle Steele novel. I’ve never seen someone trying to workout while reading Witness by Whitaker Chambers, I’d be concerned about that book getting ruined.
So, Podcasts. Yes, you can “read” auditorily and deeply without being gross and while working out. And, while driving. I do take the headphones out and stop the playing when I am backing out or in parking lots around pedestrians. I focus on one thing at a time.
I have a podcast on often when I am making breakfast if my wife lets me. I have it on when I am making the bed, brushing my teeth. I turn it off when I am working on something that requires concentration, like writing or reading, or archiving.
So, it’s not any time, anywhere exactly. My first statement above was false. But, it’s way more times and wheres than reading, and it complements reading in ways that support the reading. And that’s the point of it, for me. The point of both is to understand the world and my place in it, how I can make it better or help other people do that, and to make connections, to have a good time, and to move forward in the development of your mind, from imagination, to history, to law, and politics, and all sort of things, besides. To make life a richer, more complete experience, not just for me, but for others.
I’ll do #2 in the next post. And I can’t wait to get to the things I hate.