I am a massive fan of podcasts. Let me tell you why.
I first fell in love with them when I was at school and spent a lot of time travelling on public transport. While music was my initial companion, I became painfully aware of how much of my life was being spent listening to songs on repeat. I needed something with a bit more substance. I can’t remember the exact sequence of events but I ended up downloading a few episodes of Planet Money which was my first introduction to the world of podcasts. It transformed the dreadfully long journeys into something quite enjoyable, and I’ve been an advocate ever since.
Ever since those early days, podcasts have been a part of my life. Along with my crusade to convert on-the-move music listeners, I have enjoyed discovering new listens and being inspired and entertained. During 2020, I’ve found podcasts to be particularly excellent on long walks.
Whether you’re new to podcasts or are a long time consumer like me, below are 5 of my favourite podcasts from this year that you should check out going into 2021. It’s a mix of thought-provoking conversations, light-hearted comedy and just interesting knowledge dissemination.
If you have any brilliant recommendations yourself, do reach out to me or comment below. Happy listening!
The Next Big Idea
I discovered this one during the height of lockdown. Featuring esteemed authors, including Malcolm Gladwell, each episode deep dives into big ideas that have the power to change the way you live, work, and think. Through a combination of storytelling, narration, and curated interviews The Next Big Idea podcast brings to life some fascinating topics including successful ageing, friendships, upstream thinking and more. Check it out if you want to hear from authors and learn skills that can help improve how you live your life.
Hidden Brain
This is one of my absolute favourites. Hidden Brain helps ‘curious people understand the world – and themselves’. Using a mix of science and storytelling, the host Shankar Vadantanam unpacks the curiosities of human behaviour and the unconscious biases that drive our relationships and shape our choices. Anyone interested in pop-psychology and human behaviour will certainly enjoy this.
No Stupid Questions
Angela Duckworth, author of Grit, a psychologist at Penn and co-founder of the educational non-profit, Character Lab, and Steven Dubner, author of Freakonomics and host of another favourite podcast of mine Freakonomics Radio (A bonus one to check out!) discuss interesting and thought-provoking questions such as How much do your friends affect your future? How do you raise a ‘likeable’ kid? What does it mean to be a ‘hard worker’?
As these two are vastly knowledgeable it makes their conversation super interesting to listen to and, along with the headline question, they go on to discuss other tangential topics making each episode unexpected and fascinating. There’s also a fact check at the end to ensure that everything you’re hearing is legit.
Ted Talks Daily
Ted Talks are a fantastic resource to discover informative and inspirational ideas but sometimes it demands a little too much willpower to navigate to tedtalks.com instead of YouTube or Netflix. The perfect alternative is Ted Talks Daily, which is the audio version of various Ted Talks, shared every weekday. If something interesting catches your eye, give it a listen. It’s that simple. Some of my blog posts have been inspired by Ted Talks I’ve heard on here.
No Such Thing as Fish
This is one I delve into when I need something a little more light-hearted. Hosted by the researchers behind the BBC panel show QI comes a podcast where the ‘QI Elves’ as they’re called present their favourite fact of the week and they all just discuss and banter about it. Not only are some of the facts genuinely fascinating but the natural comedy and quips are so well done its brilliant fun to listen to!
This is just a list of some of my favourites. But as I mentioned, there are podcasts about nearly everything so definitely have a dig around for ones you enjoy. The place to find them is on Apple Podcasts for iPhone and I would recommend Google Podcasts for Android (I’ve tried a fair few apps and found this one to be the best). If you have Spotify, that works as well.
Aside from the universe of free podcasts, Audible also have a brilliant range of exclusive podcasts that are free for members. Get a one month trial to see if there’s anything you like and receive a free audiobook as well! I particularly enjoyed The Pursuit of Healthiness with [NBA superstar] Blake Griffin. Blake goes on a quest to find the secrets of keeping the mind and body in shape through interviews with top experts. It’s super interesting stuff.
So to summarise;
- Consider listening to podcasts if you don’t already.
- They’re brilliant when travelling or on long walks.
- There is something for everyone so have a look around on your chosen podcast app.
- Share any of your recommendations with me or comment below!
