Your bugging to-dos
Be your own chief wellness officer, and my podcast starter kit / Issue 1,098
Oh, hi friends!
There are four little annoying to-dos that keep following me around.
Not work-related, not urgent, but they are BUGGING.
I finally did one of them yesterday after I knew I wouldn’t get any real work done, and felt a huge sense of relief. The “should do” guilt is heavy.
Now I want to do another! You got one? Today might be the day for it.
“You can join the tide, or watch it roll in.”
I wrote a piece for my friends over at From Day One about the rise of “chief people officers” and “chief wellness officers” versus traditional HR titles, and it made me think about job titles in general — how we can often negotiate or fixate on getting the “right” title, as if it will unlock a door to the next level of our lives.
The same idea applies to awards, fellowships or all the shiny baubles you might find on someone’s website or profile. They are nice! They are useful (sort of) when you describe your job to a stranger.
But they also don’t really describe what you do — your mission, your values, your goals. You can still talk about and develop all of those things, with or without the title.
My Not-At-All Definitive Podcast Starter Kit
Well, I published two whole episodes of my podcast and so now I’m obviously an expert (no, haha). But I wanted to share with you a few tools in case you find them helpful.
First, I literally googled “how to make a podcast” and watched a few YouTube videos and spent time on the podcasting Reddit. I also talked to friends who have, make, or are frequent guests on podcasts for their advice.
Here’s my tools list (for now):
Microphone
Samson mic, he’s so cute and vintage looking! ($50)
Zoom
I do interviews audio-only over Zoom and record them to my computer as separate audio tracks; I know there are plenty of other software options but wanted to start with something familiar to everyone.
Calendly
After a few “when are you free?” email threads, I decided to choose dedicated “interview hours” and put them in a Calendly; now guests can choose the time that works for them and instantly get their Zoom link.
Descript
Absolutely the most important tool. I drop my audio files into Descript, it transcribes them into a document, and I edit the interview by editing the text document (and listening to the audio). LOVE IT. Subscriptions start at $150-300 per year, and there’s a free version with three hours of transcription a month.
Audiograms
Descript also has a tool to make quote-centric videos for social media like the ones below which I posted to Instagram.
Transistor
Once you have your audio file, you need to publish it to get it on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc. I use Transistor. Easy, clean, really nice and responsive founders. (They even tweeted about my podcast!) Great process so far. I’m on a trial subscription now and then it will run $190 per year.
Intro and Outro Music
I’m a musical theater writer, so how could I not get some original music for this experiment? After chatting about the vibe we wanted, my wonderful composer friend Kris Bjarke came up with the perfect 30 seconds. It makes me so happy!
Cover Art
Because the podcast is a tie-in to our upcoming journal Do It Today, I asked brilliant designer Tyler Spangler, who did illustrations for the journal, if he could come up with a podcast-sized version of the cover. This also makes me happy!
And I think that’s it! Lots of learning and tiny steps and trial and error, but it’s been really fun and hope this might be useful to you or someone you know. If you have any questions, leave ‘em in the comments or reply to this email and I’ll try to help you out with my extensive, two-month-old knowledge.
Listen to the latest episodes of Do It Today before a fresh one drops (drops?!) on Monday!
Very very useful. Thanks!