Better Your Life With These 30 Minute Long Self-Improvement Podcasts

There are only two states of being life. First, you can be working in something. Second, you can be working on something.

While working in something, your business, your life, etc. it’s easy to lose sight of the bigger picture. Working in your life is maintenance mode. Important, yes, but, alone, insufficient to create a well-rounded life.

You need the yin to in’s yang. You need on. Working on your life is where growth happens. It’s where you improve.

The problem with working on something is you don’t see the immediate results. It’s a long play. So you’re left with a time management problem that makes you feel guiltier.

You know that you should work on self-improvement, but hey, who has the time?

That’s why this roundup of self-improvement podcasts is so useful. Each of these clock in around the half-hour mark. Over the course of the week, we can all find 30 minutes for self-improvement.

Start here. Spend 30 minutes getting your feet wet.

The Daily Stoic

Stoicism is the ancient Greek philosophy for leading an actualized life by looking inward. It has seen a resurgence of late and has been rising in popularity over the past several years. Nearly doubling in search volume in the past four years.

That makes some sense. Life is moving faster. We’re bombarded with more information than at any other point in human history.

Yeah. That type of thing is going to stress us out.

Enter Ryan Holliday and his modern-day application of what was once, until rather recently, a firmly academic endeavor. Ryan posts a short daily mediation (think thought experiment or question as opposed to “ohming” to yourself while sat cross-legged) that asks us to look inward.

In doing so, we are able to let go of what is external that we lack control over and focus on the internal reactions that we can exert control over.

All in all, a very good 5 minutes to start the day. And on the weekends there’s a longer post that dives deeper into the stoic school of thought. But the daily mediations are a good primer and stand alone as useful.

Listen: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | Spotify

Kwik Brain

Jim is a traumatic brain injury survivor who was told from an early age that learning was going to be something that was outside his reach. Maybe it was a secret tactic to light a fire under him because some decades later Jim is one of the most sought-after performance coaches around and is an expert on learning.

On Kwik Brain Jim breaks down the lessons from his book, Limitless, into actionable takeaways in extremely short sessions. He knows our collective attention span is finite. Even more so if we’re expected to retain information.

So short and sweet.

An interview and takeaway may happen over the course of 75 – 120 minutes on other shows, the same guests deliver their message in under 30 minutes here.

Is something lost in the translation? Perhaps. But using Jim’s show as an exposure exercise to grasp the meet of a guest’s message is a great jumping-off point.

Listen: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | Spotify

Akimbo with Seth Godin

Seth Godin is a prolific writer. His books have sold millions of copies and touched the lives of millions more. The problem is that all that observational wisdom is locked up in books and books take time that doesn’t always slot nicely into our busy lives.

Seth’s podcast on the other hand is a half-hour. That’s digestible on a regular basis. By keeping the podcast short Seth is able to attack some pretty heady ideas like the hedonic treadmill, or the upending of the way we are all working via Zoom.

Seth’s show asks us to come along with him as he throws out conventional wisdom and reexamines what we assume to be gospel. Maybe skip a sitcom this week and give Akimbo a listen.

Listen: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | Spotify

Straight Up with Trent Shelton

Not to editorialize too much, but I love Straight Up with Trent Shelton. The guy does not beat around the bush. He respects his listener’s time too much to waste it.

In fact, Trent might respect your time more than you do. And he’ll tell you that as well. He’ll point out when you’re lying to yourself. When you know you’re not doing what needs to be done to grow.

Trent demands we get better. That we keep trying. That we call ourselves out even when other’s won’t. The show is intimate and dripping with integrity.

Does Trent have all the answers? Of course not. But he is an earnest example of finding and maintaining perspective. You can get better… and you don’t need more than a half-hour to do it.

Listen: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | Spotify

Daily Boost | Coaching and Motivation

Ten minutes doesn’t seem like a long time. Certainly not long enough to make meaningful change in life… right?

Well, tell that to Roger Bannister. He only needed four minutes to change the world once he overcame his limiting beliefs about how fast a mile could be run.

That’s the kind of subject the Daily Boost podcast touches on in short, 10 minute, bursts of inspiration. More often than not, self-improvement comes down to overcoming the inertia that holds us back.

The Daily Boost is like jumpstarting your car. 10 minutes to breathe new life into an otherwise sustaining system. Once the car is started, it’s up to the alternator to recharge the battery, but the alternator can’t do its job without that initial jolt.

Daily Boost is your jolt.

Listen: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | Player.fm

7 Figure Principles

Chandler Bolt is an objectively successful guy who takes action. He saw an industry, the publishing industry, ripe for disruption and he seized on the opportunity to make changes.

Chandler credits his relative success to certain principles and axioms that he breaks down in his podcast, 7 Figure Principles. The title suggests that this is all about making money, but money is just a quantifiable scorekeeping system. The principles themselves are universal.

Start with a quick five minutes on recognizing your own mistakes. Humbling way to kick off the morning.

Listen: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | Spotify

TED Talks Daily

TED Talks Daily are a must listen, well, daily. TED Talks work because they are short. They are designed to be the length of a coffee break so they can be absorbed and shared. The bite-sized presentations have more impact when discussed among friends and colleagues.

Sometimes all you need to get moving in a positive direction is the tiniest germ of a new idea. That’s where TED Talks Daily shines. The podcast is the curated best of the global TED program. Not only the most popular, but what a human editor thinks will resonate with listeners. Talks that will work with the purely audio format and aren’t reliant on visual props.

The result is a show that is never over 20 minutes and usually clocks in under 10. This is a must to start the day.

Listen: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | Spotify

Conclusion

Self-improvement doesn’t have to take the form of an organized philosophy or school of thought. It doesn’t have to be a full-blown program. It just has to be the tiniest, wispiest, spark that can be nurtured into a conflagration.

That’s why these self-improvement podcasts are such a great tool in your toolbox. They are short, actionable, and serve as introductions to subjects you can explore further at your leisure.

If you are having a hard time committing to making positive change, start here. You can do a lot of work in the time it takes to brew your morning coffee.