Marcus Aurelius, Rockefeller, and Elon Musk are right in front of us. The wisdom of the ages and the wisdom of today are just a retina screen away and we can learn directly from those who are further down the path we wish to walk. But getting what we need in the short time we have available is the real trick.
So how do you build your content list, refresh it, and find new areas to dive into? First off, notice that I said content list and not reading list. The availability of audiobooks and podcasts provides an incredible opportunity to leverage your drive time, run time, shopping time, cooking time, and any other time where your body may be busy but your mind is available. I say this as an avid bibliophile who loves nothing better than a quiet chair, book, and hot beverage. The ability to incorporate audio into my routine has added about 10 hours of quality, targeted content consumption time to my week. Each week. For the past two years. So I have added 1,000 hours of quality classroom time just by ditching the sports talk in the car and the EDM beats on my run training. All it took was an Audible membership and some Bluetooth headphones.
But how to choose where to start? Ask yourself what you are interested in or what you want to learn more about? For me, a keystone podcast has been and continues to be Tim Ferris’s. He is omnivorous when it comes to guests with the sole rule being they must be top performers in their field. His skilled and wandering interview format has allowed me to gain insight from hedge fund founders, chess masters, Hollywood performers, athletes, tech entrepreneurs, philanthropists, authors, and on and on. This keystone podcast keeps me interested and I can cherry pick the lessons that apply to my life and my business. It has also given me a variety of other podcasts to try as many of the guests have appeared with other well-known hosts or have their own podcasts. I have found that many of these I like occasionally, habitually, with a specific guest, or really don’t like. It is all great! I get to learn as I go and curate my list of guest lecturers. From this keystone podcast I now have six that I follow and listen to most of their episodes. All are interview based, as I like the style, and most are not tied to a particular industry but seek insight from top performers. I do have one that is specific to my profession, Michael Kitces is a must read/listen in financial advisory circles, and one that is specific to my health hobby, Obstacle Dominator, but most help me on my journey to be the best thinker I can be.
I also source a great number of my new books from podcasts. Guests frequently discuss new books in their field or books that have influenced them or changed their thinking. With the books that I source from these podcasts, I make it a practice to buy the hardback and add it to my to-read shelf or add the audiobook to my audible library. I would like to say that I have a methodology on deciding whether to do the audio or physical version but it usually comes down to how deep my stack is in either side. If one is running short I add it to that side. Maybe someday I will have a better system but that is about it for now.
Audiobooks seem to average 40 listening hours on 1X speed, I still have trouble digesting anything at 1.5 or 2X, and most of the podcasts I follow are in the 90-minute range. Based on my 1,000-hour estimate, that comes out to around four podcasts per week and an audiobook finished every 10 weeks. So just by leveraging my time I now get the knowledge of 500 podcast episodes a year and another 5 full books. Add that to my regular reading rate of 3-4 books per month and I think I am getting somewhere around a year of graduate level coursework each year. Each. Year.
So if you are looking at access the wisdom you need, try adding audio into your life.
Knowledge is free. Wisdom is available. We just have to go get it.