Six personal qualities of a podcaster that I didn’t know I had and you have too.
“What does he do, Clarice? What is the first and principal thing he does, what need does he serve by killing? He covets. How do we begin to covet? We begin by coveting what we see every day.” Silence of the lambs, Thomas Harris.
When we covet, we desire a thing that is difficult to achieve, especially money or pleasure.
By coveting, we also obsess, it can be for a person, a thing, or an idea. When we obsess over an idea, we instill passion in our actions and we can achieve any goal we set for ourselves.
A podcast season is a cycle, first an idea, then an action; a goal to reach, and finally a new idea. The passion that we put into ourselves nourishes this cycle of creation.
Obsessing, not for being successful but for being of value, as Albert Einstein said. Is the personal quality that keeps the idea in our brain and the one that forces us to give the best of ourselves.
If obsession is the heart of an excess desire, discipline is its brain. Think of it as the ability to put into practice a series of principles related to order and constancy. It is the ability that can transform the obsession into a desire, a goal, and an achieved aim.
Discipline sets the cycle of content creation in motion. It makes us think in an organized way about all the variables related to the transmission. It is what keeps us afloat and allows us to project ourselves.
But it is not enough to set goals and be crazy to reach them. A podcaster needs an important condition that supports all their actions, Self-assurance. This condition is not innate, it results from being passionate and disciplined. It is a conclusion of you being the best you can be.
We are confident of ourselves when we trust in our own abilities and know how to plan the podcast journey. We are safe and confident because we instill that security in our audiences.
An edition of a podcast is not only an audio episode. It is a creation of its own, has a signature and personality, and needs care and dedication. The measure of that care is the devotion that one’s own creation inspires.
Among the Greeks, devotion was a form of practical piety directed towards parents. By extension, they directed it towards some god. Nowadays, we are devotees of our creations.
We link the qualities of devotion and inspiration to concepts of supernatural force. But, where one results from seeing our work grow, the other does not appear by effort or will.
We must, in consequence, use inspiration as a luxury. It will only come to us of its own free will and on its own terms; thus, “Inspiration” is valuable but not essential.
Podcasting requires discipline; discipline will bring us to the right time. The time of inspiration.
The last quality I have discovered in podcasters is that of Cognitive Flexibility, the capacity for change and adaptation. This is the ability to change the course of the podcast when we realize that what we are doing is not working, or has stopped working.
Flexibility allows to have options, to choose, and like Fleetwood Mac would say, “Go your own way”
There are several critical qualities of a podcaster to achieving and maintaining success. The ones I have found so far are this:
We are obsessive/passionate.
We have discipline.
we are confident.
We are devout.
We have inspiration.
we are flexible.
Can you think of someone else who also has this set of qualities?
A clue; is a person who has a dream or a goal in mind and does not stop pursuing it. One who keeps it studying or looking to start a business or a brand.
An entrepreneur.
A podcaster as an entrepreneur is a person who will face new challenges. Will go out of his comfort zone, to dedicate hours of work and energy to turn an idea into a life project.
A podcaster, as an entrepreneur, turns obsessions into goals and achieves them through discipline.
A podcaster and an entrepreneur are very much alike. A kind of amalgamation of the adventurous spirit, coupled with foolproof realism. Both podcaster and entrepreneur are someone who seeks meaning in action and not in passivity.
Finally, what is the common quality that unites us as podcasters and entrepreneurs with everyone who has a life project?
We can all give life.
Life for our ideas, projects, companies, and families.
life beautiful life.
