5 Minute Daily Podcast Increased My Productivity 2X

Until a couple of weeks ago I’ve never listened to podcasts. I knew what they were but never really gave it a try.

Why?

Every time I read or hear about podcasts, it is always attached to a certain but constant stigma — listening in the car.

In a way, subconsciously, I’ve registered myself that podcasts are better consumed while driving a car. The only problem is I don’t have a car. So I convinced myself that it wasn’t my fault for not giving it a chance.

But everything changed a few weeks ago. Now, the reason I started listening to podcasts is no way related to this blog, and frankly, nobody gives a S#!T. I started listening, and that is all it matters.

Before listening to podcasts, my typical work day goes like this.

I reach office between 10:00 and 10:30 AM. Settle down with a coffee, check emails, and respond if it needs my attention.

Once that’s done, I open up YouTube and check out Front Page Tech, Dave2D, and Tailosive Tech. The content and production of the videos by these channels are so good I honestly don’t think it’s my fault for watching all their videos. I Know! Guilty as charged. But I’m a sucker for new technology. I’d like to keep myself up-to-date.

Watching the videos, it’s related videos, reading the troll comments, replying to comments, finding easter eggs, etc. This takes well over an hour.

Between this and lunch, I will have about 1 or maybe 2 hours of productive work time. That’s half a day passed, and I’ve just worked for a couple of hours. I didn’t think much about this at first, but I realized that I’ve been wasting so much of my productive time on things that could be done any other time.

I’m not saying that watching these videos are a waste of time. It’s super useful. But, I could watch these videos at any time of the day or night, and it will still be the same. But with work, it’s entirely different. I’m a content marketer and most developers, designers, and others are dependent on me. More specifically, my content.

In a way, I’m was creating a slow and subtle bottleneck.

I realized I’ve been putting others’ productive time on hold and that is something I couldn’t accept.

I was warranting a change.

I tried new things. I pushed watching videos from morning to evening. It did not work. I usually discuss this news over at lunch with my colleagues and friends. When I pushed it to the evening, I was left out during these conversations. I had no input, and

I didn’t like that. So I tried something else. I started using Flipboard — a news aggregator site. You can follow your favorite topics, publications, and social feeds and it will automatically curate and populate it for you whenever you open the website or app. It worked for a while, but the curation wasn’t good. Also, the endless scrolling, multiple hyperlinks, comments were just distractions.

Flipboard was just another YouTube for me.

That is when podcast came into my morning life.

I knew I needed something that tells me what I want to know and we both could go about our ways. For that, podcasts were the best solution. But, finding the right podcast that worked for me was not an easy task.

I wanted something short, precise, and gives me all the news related to Silicon Valley, games, and technology. I tried so many podcasts, but nothing worked for me. Either it was long, or the contents were so varied, or the host was plain annoying.

Finally, I stumbled upon Daily Tech Headlines by Tom Merritt. It had zero reviews and ratings. If it were any other day it would have been a great turn off for me and never would have given it a chance. But I was desperate. So, I gave it a chance, and it was the best decision. It was everything I wanted.

• Short — Episodes are always 6 minutes or less.
• Impeccable timing — By the time I wake up at 7:30 AM, the episode will already be live.
• Perfect curation — News are related to games, technology, and Silicon Valley.
• Exquisite voice — Voices are clear, bold, and gives a reminiscence of television newscasters. Simple sentences, clearly delivered.
• No distractions — No link to other articles, comment section or any other distraction. I couldn’t do anything even if I wanted to.
• Weekly round-up — One bonus episode at the end of the week that curates important news of that week.

Once I started listening to Daily Tech Headlines, it practically changed my morning productivity.

I wake up.

Get my AirPods out and hit play.

I stretch, brush, and get other morning chores over with. By the time I’m finished, the episode would be as well. If there’s an interesting story, I google it over breakfast.

Now, when I reach the office, I check the emails, respond if it needs my attention, and go about my day’s tasks. The podcast saved hours of my morning productive time.

I get things done much quicker. I’ve got time to explore other new exciting ideas at work. In a way, the 5-minute podcast saved me hours and I don’t think I can ever find a replacement. Any other medium I can think of, such as YouTube, Flipboard, etc., needs my personal attention. I have to select each article or videos to read or play. But with the podcast, it’s just ‘one-click.’ I don’t even have to unlock my phone.

Lemme show you.

Producing More by Doing Less

This experience was a good reminder to me that the internet is a place where we can get lost easily. It’s only human to make mistakes. But sometimes, we have to look back and weed out things that do more harm than good. By embracing the podcast, I’ve made myself more productive and significantly increased my quality and quantity of my overall output at work.

If your goal is to increase productivity then listening to productivity podcasts won’t make you more productive. Instead, find a podcasts that help you get organized and saves time. It will eventually help you improve productivity.

To end this blog on a clichéd note, “To make a mistake is only human; to persist in a mistake is idiotic.”