10 Podcast Resolutions You Can Keep in 2019

Happy 2019! Once the champagne bottles are put away, the glitter is swept from the streets and the novelty 2019 glasses are all burned, we start to think about to improve our lives in the new year. And as we try to improve our minds, bodies, and souls, we can also step up our podcast game.

Here are some resolutions to help get you started on your 2019 road to audio actualization. And if you don’t, that’s okay, I’m too busy falling behind on my resolutions too.

1. Listen to One Show At 1.0x Speed

This is the “eat more vegetables” of the list, so let’s get it down fast. A lot of us listen to our podcasts at faster speeds, whether it’s for more consumption or the elimination of silences, or just to speed closer to the heat death of the universe. But some shows out there are made for the regular speed of life. When you’re listening to the show about music, like Song Exploder, or a highly stylized fiction show with sound design, resolve for single speed. Then go back to speeding through the news at 1.7x.

2. Convince (and Teach) One Person to Listen to a Podacst

Recommending podcasts is in our blood as audio fans. It’s all we can talk about at parties, meals, get-togethers, adult kickball games, in line at the grocery store, while listening to a different podcast — all of the time. But recommending isn’t going to get a non-podder over the finish line. For some reason, there is an extremely high barrier of entry into understanding, downloading and listening to any show. There is a single app just for podcasts like it’s 2011, the dark ages! We were lost in the technology forest, and lead out by a magical talking elk who spoke the secrets of the Podcast app to us. You can be that magical talking elk for someone else! And isn’t that what 2019 will be all about?

3. Unsubscribe!

Let me guess: your subscription list is a graveyard of shows you don’t listen to. Why let them haunt you every week when they post a new episode and you don’t have the time/energy/interest to download. It’s okay not to listen to shows you don’t like anymore! There I said it! Also, if you are holding onto a show that you’ve been subbed to for years and you feel a nostalgia holding you in place, just remember that Ira Glass has no idea you’re doing this and you’re not making anyone feel better. Let it go.

4. Listen to Episodes of Shows And Do Not Subscribe

The “subscribe” button comes from podcasts’ evolutionary beginnings as RSS feeds. You want to know when something is posted, so it gets sent right to you. But you could treat podcasts like a TV show or a Youtube channel or an artist on Spotify. Listen to every single episode of a show you love, but pop in and listen to maybe an episode or two if you’re just trying it out. The Podcast app and Pocketcasts have started to adapt towards the “try it don’t buy it” model, so its easier than ever to listen to one episode and bail without clogging your feed.

5. Say Something Nice to a Creator

Remember that your favorite shows are made by people. They (or, we) are flawed and fragile. Be nice. Tell a creator you appreciate their work, whether that’s via money or via tweet. They can be huge or tiny, it could make their day to hear your response. If you like something, tell the person who made it!

6. Download a New Podcast App

Welcome your new robot overlord to your ears. The Podcast app (for Apple) and Podcast Addict (on Android) are not the only players in town. Give any of them a try – I am a stan for PocketCasts – and make listening a better experience. It’s 2019 — no one should suffer from out-of-the-box tech.

7. Be Critical and Be Happy

Here are some affirmations you can start saying when you get up in the morning. “I DO NOT HAVE TO LISTEN TO JOE ROGAN!” “TRUE CRIME MAKES ME FEEL WEIRD AND THAT’S OKAY!” “THE ONLY SERIAL I CARE ABOUT IS QUAKER OATS!”

No one says you have to follow the crowd or keep your mouth shut if the popular makes you feel a type of way. Be cutting, be honest, be heretical. At the same time, you can balance your critical streak with what you love. Here are more affirmations: “I LOVE A SHOW ABOUT CEREAL, THE BREAKFAST FOOD!” “I LISTEN TO POP CULTURE HAPPY HOUR AS SOON AS IT COMES OUT!” “I WANT TO COME UP WITH A COOL HANDSHAKE WITH NATE DIMEO!”

A healthy balance between fan and contrarian is hard but ultimately good for you in the long run.

8. Diversify Your Genres

Here are some genres that exist that you may not have known about: fantasy draft podcasts, fiction podcasts in space, Dungeons and Dragons podcasts, tightly edited interview podcasts, sports podcasts about the thing you love and aren’t exclusive, archival audio podcasts, business podcasts for women, fan podcasts for the exact thing you love. There’s a wild world out there, go listen to it.

9. Ask Your Friends About Their Podcast

Originally, this was going to be “dig deeper: listen to indie podcasts” but there is a 99% chance your friend has a podcast and you’re not listening to it. It may be terrible, it may be two hours long, it may be about entrepreneurship, but holy hell will they love you if you tell them you listened to it. And ask, like, one question about it?! Oh man, new best friend.

10. Find a Group of People to Talk To on the Low

The Internet is for posting your opinions wildly online, but the public sphere isn’t necessarily a safe, no consequence place to air all your grievances. Whether its a group text, an FB message thread, or any group DM, gather a trusted group of podcast friends to vent, rec, complain, shit talk, live, laugh, and love. When the medium you love feels like its spinning wildly, it’s good to know you got people in your corner and a safe place to talk about it