Our Top 10 Favourite Podcasts
1. The Tim Ferriss Show. Not only did Tim Ferris come out on top as the most-recommended podcast on the list, but he is also one of my favourite thought leaders. He is real, he is raw and he is willing to be vulnerable in his own life. His show has had over 6 million downloads. His podcast has a wide variety of guests: Tim has interviewed top-tier scientists, athletes, actors and, of course, entrepreneurs. You’ll find business tips and strategies here, but also book recommendations, lifestyle hacks and just all-around fascinating conversations.
2. How I Built This with Guy Raz. The reason so many people recommend this podcast is because the stories are engaging and relatable. These are real entrepreneurs building incredible companies. They share how they built it in story format. NPR’s Guy Raz has really built a winner with his podcast about the stories behind some of the world’s best ideas. Guy Raz is an engaging host, unafraid to ask hard questions to really get to the bottom of what makes entrepreneurs tick. Every episode of the show is bound to leave you feeling more inspired to get your ideas off the ground. Check out the episodes on Canva, Strava, Kodiak Cakes and Tim Ferris (yes, the guy in the podcast above.)
3. Unf*ck Your Brain
UnF*ck Your Brain is the podcast for high-achieving feminist women who struggle with anxiety, self-doubt, and imposter syndrome. If you know you’ve accomplished a lot professionally but still secretly feel like you’re unqualified….if you want to feel confident but you worry about what everyone else thinks about you...if you want to succeed but fear failure...this podcast is for you. In each episode Master Certified Confidence Coach Kara Loewentheil, J.D., will teach you how to overcome social conditioning and your own self-critical thoughts so that you can reduce your anxiety and insecurity, boost your self-confidence, and get what you want in life.
4. Tony Robbins Podcast
Tony Robbins needs absolutely no introduction. His very own website details his experience as “an entrepreneur, #1 NY Times bestselling author, philanthropist, and the nation’s #1 life and business strategist.” While that’s all very impressive, it’s almost too modest. Tony Robbins is a legend.
His name has been synonymous with the term “motivational speaker” for decades, and he inspires listeners without full-on preaching to them. The podcast tackles subjects like finance, happiness, how to become an entrepreneur, and many others - all while providing a perspective that you can only get from the man himself. It allows you to get the same wealth of knowledge found within his books, but in a more relaxed and easily digestible format.
In a nutshell: Robbins’ natural talent for speaking makes his inspirational podcasts straightforward and easy to understand.
5. The Art of Charm
A.J. Harbinger and Johnny Dzubak, the founders of this podcast, have over 11 years of coaching experience from their ‘elite emotional intelligence’ boot camps designed for advanced social skills training. In addition to starting a blog, the busy duo also finds time during their days to record episodes for their podcast, which boasts a catalog of over 700 episodes.
The Art of Charm covers a variety of podcast topics, including relationships, happiness and productivity tips. They also offer a nice selection of in-depth and inspiring interviews. This motivational podcast serves as a mini bootcamp of its own, helping you boost your confidence skills when approaching challenges in life ranging from your personal relationships to career. It’s nice to see this is a team that’s interested in paying it forward by empowering others after truly learning how to empower themselves.
6. The Good Life Project
The Good Life Project stands in a league of its own. Hosted by Jonathan Fields, this motivational podcast is a series of interviews by those who have risen above it all, and have come to share their stories with listeners. The captivating insights they provide will sink in deeply, as if you’ve been waiting to hear them for a very long time.
Defining the subject matter on The Good Life Project sounds easy enough, but it’s something that needs to be listened to in order to be understood. Simply saying that it’s an inspirational podcast that shares stories of incredibly brave people just doesn’t do it justice.
The podcast’s own page describes itself as follows: “Every week, we share inspirational, intimate and disarmingly-unfiltered conversations about living a fully-engaged, fiercely-connected and purpose-drenched life.”
The podcast is just a fraction of the Good Life Project, too. The website also offers a quiz to discover your unique Sparketype so that you can find your true calling.
7. Hidden Brain
This fantastic podcast is part of NPR (National Public Radio), an enlightening space for those who love to learn. Hosted by Shankar Vedantam, Hidden Brain specifically helps people understand the depth of mind-boggling thought cases through real-life stories and scientific facts. They do so in a way (in their words, not ours) that “reveals the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior, and the biases that shape our choices.” While the format may seem simple, it’s anything but that. It’s full of inspiring, intriguing, and important stories about life, love, science, and the world.
Hidden Brain has won several awards, from a Webby to The Kavli Science Journalism Award from the American Association for the Advancement of Science. It’s also consistently on the top charts of the Science and Medicine section of Apple Podcasts.
8. The Happiness Lab
Dr. Laurie Santos, the host of The Happiness Lab, is a Professor of Psychology at Yale. Although many of her episodes focus on improving the mental health of college students, her discussions on stress are applicable to anyone participating in the rat race we call society. Occasionally reminiscent of a TED Talk, the show’s tone is similar to that of the sorely missed The Cut on Tuesdays. Dr. Santos knows how to make a compelling speech. She presents a comprehensive tool kit in a format that will appeal to those resistant to other forms of “New Age” thinking, making concepts like meditation accessible to those who need it most.
9. Life Kit
With a no-frills formula focused only on tried and true advice, NPR’s Life Kit series is essential self-help listening. The show’s topics are diverse, ranging from how to talk to kids about our turbulent news cycle, to how to find yourself a mentor or get more sleep. I stumbled across Life Kit while waiting for the right moment to tell my then manager that I was leaving my job — and also the country — in a matter of weeks. Timing was everything: too soon and I might be passed up for useful training; too late and I wouldn’t be able to smoothly transition my replacement. Some procrastination web-surfing brought Life Kit’s episode “Want to Quit Your Job? Here’s How to Do It Well” onto my radar, but the fact it had produced such a fitting episode shouldn’t be surprising. Much of the advice the podcast offers is obvious, far from the secrets of bio-hacking and “dopamine fasting.” But I’d argue this is part of its value.
10. Help Me Be Me
Help Me Be Me, a self-help podcast that doesn’t make unrealistic promises, knows how you feel. With over 150 episodes on topics like tackling shame and overcoming loneliness, Help Me Be Me believes that feeling overwhelmed by self-help advice can be alienating and risks driving you even further from the life changes you want to make. The show’s host, author Sarah May B., isn’t going to flatter your ego. In a recent episode on journaling, she tells us: “We all kind of know, deep down, when we’re resisting something, we’re resisting it because we already know the answer — and we don’t like it.” May B. pairs her opinions with tried and tested methods for dealing with feelings of sadness, stress, or lethargy. With talk of “accessing your truth” and cultivating “self-forgiveness,” Help Me Be Me might sound like those other self-help podcasts, but below the surface, the show is a toolkit of well-intentioned, gimmick-free advice.