My Favorite Podcasts

For the longest time music was my source of productivity. Music can quickly get me into “the zone” when I’m working and enables me to get a lot of tasks completed in a short amount of time. I definitely still play music to get into this zone but over the last few years I’ve enjoyed listening to different podcasts while I work and even while doing tasks around the house.

I’ve surrounded myself with productivity, business, and developer community podcasts with different reasons behind each. Here are some of those podcasts.

Back to Work

From my all-time favorite podcast Back to Work, Dan and Merlin have a discussion series on David Allen’s Getting Things Done. I’ve embedded and linked to the episodes below. Having read David Allen’s — Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity, these episodes are a great overview and reminder of how the process should be.

I’ve been listening to Back to Work since it’s first episode in 2011. It has always been entertaining, relatable to tech nerds and parents, and full of great advice. Dan and Merlin are a great duo that I look forward to listening to each week.

Episode 95: She’s Five for a Living
Episode 96: Compensatory Muscles
Episode 97: Pope of the Office
Episode 98: Bagged and Boarded
Episode 99: Nobody Wants to Live in a Scaffolding

The Tim Ferris Show

Tim Ferris needs no introduction. I’ve been a follower of his stuff for a long time and although I don’t listen to every single podcast episode he puts out, there are a handful that I listen to over and over again. Here are some of those episodes.

How Seth Godin Manages His Life – Rules, Principles, and Obsessions
Terry Crews – How to Have, Do, and Be All You Want
Derek Sivers on Developing Confidence, Finding Happiness, and Saying “No” to Millions

Matt D’Avella

I ran across Matt D’Avella through a suggested video on YouTube and I’ve been listening to his podcast—The Ground Up Show—for the past month or so. He is a filmmaker and the quality of both his audio and video podcast is very high which is really important to me. What I find myself doing is listening to the audio version of his podcast as well as the video version. His interview with Nate Green is what drew me in and I’ve been listening through his backlog of episodes. The content is so good I listen to episodes over and over again!

I’ve added a few of my favorite episodes below as well as a short about minimalism I enjoy watching.

Syntax – Tasty Web Development Treats

This is such a fun podcast that I think every web developer should have in their queue. Hosted by Wes Bos and Scott Tolinski, each episode is filled with awesome.

The State of JavaScript 2018
Hasty Treat – Positivity and Web Development
How to Slam Dunk Freelancing

Developer Tea

I don’t remember how I cam across the Developer Tea podcast but it’s one I started listening to this year. The episodes are usually pretty short and easy to digest. It’s a very calming podcast and I like the way Jonathan Cutrell breaks things down and makes you think differently about things.

Three Overconfidence Smells
Practicing Non-Attachment as a Developer
The Zen Developer – What Are You Pushing On?

Akimbo: A Podcast from Seth Godin

If you run a business, are a freelancer, or are an aspiring entrepreneur and haven’t added Seth Godin to your reading list, you should. He started this podcast at the beginning of the year and here are some of my favorite episodes.

Stop stealing dreams
Your Bootstrapping Questions
Blogs and Platforms and Permissions
Freelancers

What are you listening to?

A lot of the episodes here changed the way I think about things and really affected me in positive ways. What are you listening to that has made similar changes in you?

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