Podcasts, TED Talks and Self-help

A few months ago, i found myself to be anxious about life, work and pretty much anything else. I was about two months away from turning 32. At nights i had trouble getting sleep and (obviously) the next morning a hard time getting out of bed. All day long i would try to get ahead of my schedule, but i never seemed to get there. The goals i had set for myself and my family couldn’t be reached, or at the very least, it seemed like they couldn’t be reached. I basically felt like my life was just rushing by and i couldn’t get a grip on it. And it still feels like that every now and then.

Podcasts

Invented sometime in 2004, the podcast started somewhat of a revolution. The ability to listen to your favorite radio shows at your own chosen time? Awesome! (And of course the introduction of the podcasts features in iTunes is legendary). You got to choose from thousands of shows, some better than others. I was mostly using it for dance music, some local top 40 stations and some humor shows. But by the end of 2008 i had given up on listening to podcasts, simply because of a lack of time. Come winter 2015 and i rediscovered the plethora of high quality podcast. And for me there is one that really stood out.

Let’s face it; we humans love learning new stuff. I don’t mean in school when we were younger, i mean right now. Think about all the times you were flicking thru your tv channels, only to stop at Discovery Channel because it was always interesting! You always learned something new. Now that the internet has really taken over the world, you can learn whatever you want, however you want. Information is mostly free and via services such as TED, also really fun to watch.

Technology, Entertainment and Design

Ah yes, TED; the netflix for learning. In 1984 it all started as a conference about these three main topics, today it has so much more than that. From talks about music to space exploration to psychology, their new slogan truly speaks the truth; Ideas Worth Spreading. While most people probably watch TED Talks on their smartphones, tablets or tv’s, i’ve found there is another way to learn new information from TED. The TED Radio Hour, from NPR. Guy Raz and his team, put together a weekly podcast about one topic at a time. And they combine multiple TED Talks and speakers per show, which is pretty neat. The podcasts themselves tend to be about 45 minutes in length and are definitely worth listening to!

Get It Together Man

Like i said earlier, i was going thru a period in my life where i felt it was just flashing by. I had to get on top of things, in order to get a grip on my life. What this meant really, before anything else, was less living in the past or future and more living in the present.

When i decided that i wanted to quit smoking, i simply stopped smoking. I can now have a cigarette when i want to, without relapsing into addiction. However, i could not do this alone, i had to have something / someone pointing me in the right direction. This is where the TED Podcast (among others) came in. You can find topics about different ways to make life better; less social media, more social. Less smartphone, more interaction. Less tv, more reading books. More trying to eat healthy and just less alcohol. So on and so on.

“Less social media, more social. Less smartphone, more books.”

One guy even said you sometimes just have to wake up at 4 in the morning, because it is supposed to be the most magical time (haven’t really tried that one yet). Others say that waking up early gives you a more relaxed morning ritual, which in turn helps you to be in control of your schedule instead of playing catch-up all day.

I got slightly hooked on this form of self-help. Because i can listen to these podcasts while driving in my car. Maybe even during some mindless work! I’d read about self-help and what it could do. And all things basically come down to one simple fact; The lives we’re living are faster than they used to be. Internet, smartphones, tv’s, texts etc, are constantly demanding attention. But humans can only do one thing at-a-time; we have to be brave to take back command of our lives, be in charge again. When i started with this, control of my schedule started to come back to me. This relieves me of so much stress! It gives me time to get things done in our home, enjoy more time with my kids and getting dreams on paper so i can take action.

Removing Potential Stress Factors

Some things in our modern life give stress, because people tend to expect certain things. E-mails and texts and whatsapps for instance, are stress factors if we let it. When friends sent me a text, i used to had the feeling that i had to reply within a few seconds. That somehow my friends would get upset if i didn’t respond quick enough, which of course is complete BS. The same can be said about email. Replying to an email almost instantly is not only stressful, it’s also a mayor productivity killer. It forces you to work according a schedule that’s not your own. I try to circumvent this issue by checking my email on fixed times. Granted, it doesn’t always work like this, but when it does you feel way more on top of things. You’re taking action instead of reacting.

“Taking action instead of reacting”

And of course it’s not just email and texting; think about all the social medias, magazines you follow, iphone games you’re playing, tv shows you watch and much more. I’ve decided to focus more on the things that make me happy, like spending time with my wife and kids. Getting more done and trying to get a better quality of life while maintaining a healthy balance between all of the above.