← The Podcast Gauntlet - Throw Down, Discuss, Rise & Shine in Podcasting
The Podcast Gauntlet - Throw Down, Discuss, Rise & Shine in Podcasting
Learning New Things is Totally Overrated…
00:11:32
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- [00:04]
A
You're listening to the two guys talking podcast network.
- [00:18]
B
Learning is a lifelong endeavor. It'll never stop. In fact, you know what? It can't stop, because if you stop learning, you'll fail. Or will you? We're going to talk about that and a number of other things inside this episode of the Podcast Gauntlet, where we throw down, discuss, rise and shine, and podcasting. Greetings, everybody. I'm Mike Wilkerson, one of your hosts.
- [00:46]
A
And I'm Brian Enspinger, the other one of your hosts.
- [00:49]
B
Brian, you and I talk about learning. I think inside of every single episode. If not specifically talking about it, we definitely showcase it. And this one is one for the ages. If it's not inside a discussion group, if it's not inside a podcast or meetup, if it's not inside a meeting I have with a client who wants to become a podcaster. Man, this is one that absolutely needs to be hammered home.
- [01:12]
A
Yeah, I mean, I agree. I think we're done now. We don't need to learn anything else, right?
- [01:16]
B
Awesome. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Podcast Gauntlet. No, just kidding.
- [01:20]
A
No, for real. I mean, this is like, I. I think probably the strongest point of commonality between the two of us is the first off, understanding that a huge part of what we're doing is constantly learning. And second, the call to others to embrace being wrong and stupid and getting it wrong until you can get it right. And just keep learning. Don't reach a plateau and rest on your laurels. Always have something that you're trying to figure out to do better. Always be seeking feedback. Always be pursuing something. It's okay to rest a little bit here and there, but looking at the overall trend across your life, across your experience as a podcast host or as a content creator, keep learning stuff. Learn how to market. Learn how to do things. In my case, maybe learn how to delegate at some point. I don't know. I mean, there's a million things you can learn to do, but just get better.
- [02:16]
B
I'll give you one of the best samples that struck me recently. I was trying to explain somebody recently as to why I got into firearms instruction. And the concept is this. Now, for those of you that don't know guns or don't have any interest in guns, doesn't make any difference. The bottom line about firearms and guns and gun culture in general is that no one can possibly know all of it. Better yet, when you meet people that say they do know everything about guns, they don't.
- [02:43]
A
Yeah.
- [02:44]
B
And you should run. Should run. From those people, because that's why I'm interested in firearms, because the, the fount is never extinguishing. There's always some new technology, there's always some new idea, there's always some new personality. There's always some new combination of the chemistry set inside of firearms, whether it's the gun, the training process, the personalities that get involved, the communities that I love to serve as a firearm instructor, all of those things. Make again, to get back to the. One of the centerpieces of everything we talk about inside the program, a chemistry set that is always changing, that will allow you to always learn. And so you must continue learning. You have to, or you will fail. And not just at podcasting. You will begin to slowly understand that you are, you're, you're spinning your wheels in life. And I've met enough people where I can look them in the face and I can see them just kind of go, you know, if I was, you know, maybe 15 years younger, I would think about it. But, you know, I don't want to do any of that. Yeah, I want to be able to find the people that know, know the pieces, parts that I don't know, or I want to seek out the pieces, parts I don't yet know and incorporate that into my chemistry set so that I can succeed. And that's why what we're talking about here, I think, is so paramount to not just podcasting, to not just whatever your favorite hobby or time spender or collecting of money becomes. It's life. It is a piece of the tapestry inside of your life that you must incorporate or you will start to very quickly feel the fuse of life. And again, I've met far too many people that not only talk about it, but I can watch it overtake them. And it's not fun, for sure.
- [04:36]
A
And for me, one of the things that just is always running in the back of my mind was several years ago, as part of my day job, I was going through some training where they were talking about what's effectively the leadership curve or the learning curve or something where they went through four different phases. It was developed by a consultant, so of course there's four quadrants. And they basically said when you start doing something, you're at a stage that they had a name for, but I'm not one of them, so I don't remember the name, but it was basically, you're so stupid. You don't know that. You don't know anything. And you then transition over time to a stage where you realize you don't know anything and you start learning and learning and learning and learning. And then you transition to a stage where you're pretty good at stuff. It still takes a little bit of effort, but you know you're good enough that you can keep it doing and you perform at a very high level. And then you transition to a stage where it's so natural to you that you just don't even have to think about it anymore. And they said actually that last stage where everything is so natural to you is the most dangerous, because that's the stage where you stop learning unless you keep pushing yourself back to those second and third spaces in terms of either what you're doing or what you're consuming to help you think differently about what you're doing. That's a big part of why I, as a podcaster and as an editor, follow very closely some of the developments that are happening in the podcasting space related to new things that are being made possible through open source software. So I'm not talking about changes at YouTube, although I kind of keep track of that, but things like the ability to stream a little bit of money to someone as you're listening to their show, or the ability to donate, or the ability to list the different people involved in a show or recommend other shows as part of your. If you're a podcaster, you know what the RSS feed is as part of that, or the ability to go live and do a live audio only show, some of those things, because that helps me keep thinking differently about not only what I'm doing, but what we actually have here. And the result is I've actually become even more passionate, even though I'm now less knowledgeable, because I know more what I don't know. But I've become more passionate about what the actual technology of podcasting makes possible for us in terms of its open nature and what it gives us. And I don't want to turn this into a show about that. But for those of you that are listening, I would encourage you, even if you don't follow those things, find different trends to follow and use those as opportunities to think about your own show, your own production, what you can do better. Find shows that you aspire to become like and pick aspects of those show and figure out how you can do that. Hire a little help if you need to, to help you get there. I'm not trying to sell my services or anything, but if you need somebody to help you get there, do that, because that process makes you better and it makes your full product better, even if for a season it might make it a little bit worse as you learn something new. That's okay because it's that constant growth, it's that constant change that then gives you the staying power to potentially keep doing this for a decade or two instead of two or three years in going, this is boring. I'm going to quit or I haven't achieved this one part of my goals and so nothing else matters. Well, now you've got some other goals that make you a better person and make you a better creator and actually make you more likely to achieve those other goals as well.
- [07:59]
B
There's a huge piece that you just accidentally tapped on in regard to YouTube. I am not at all a YouTube knowledge base person. I mean, like, at all. There are some fundamentals that I've learned from working with Tommy over@freefieldtraining.com He's another fount spirit that I love to work with because in addition to his many, many, many years in regard to YouTube knowledge and experience, he also has absolutely no fear of telling me when I'm wrong. And I, I love that I, I want someone to challenge me when, especially when I've got an idea or a nugget in my brain and I won't let go of it. And there's something else to consider. I love it when people tap me and say, hey man, have you thought about whatever it is? The second thing you'd mentioned that was right in the very front end of what you talked about was I love the phrase you don't know what you don't know. And I didn't realize how much I love that until I opened up my first retail podcast studio. Because, you know, you think about it. And at that point, I was two and a half, almost three years into podcasting and I remember specifically opening up a retail, a retail place where you could come and record your podcast, offered that as a service. And it was a service. As surely as you can walk into a restaurant and order a, you know, a, a grilled cheese and some French fries, you could do exactly the same thing. But it was all podcast based and that was awesome. The problem is I'd never run a retail establishment of any kind. I'd worked in plenty of them. But, and, and that has definitively helped me over the years. I love generating something that is essentially a good, solid customer service experience because I've always known that crafting my own environment of the customer service experience I desire for other people is an instant win, not only for me, but all of my customers. If I generate the atmosphere I want to be in, I'm instantly making something that I know is palatable for somebody that's going to come in and work with me. Because there have been some that aren't in the case where something has gone wrong or awry. Well, we have the opportunity to talk about that too. And again, it gets down to you don't know what you don't know. And that's why meeting more people and learning and continuing to learn so that you will not fail is something incredibly vital that we here at the podcast Gauntlet urge you to do so that you will also not fail. You know what we do need from you though is two things. First thing, you gotta smash the like button here instead of the video presence of this. Whether you're watching over at the YouTubes or over at the website or wherever the hell you're tuning into and watching the video, it's not many of you via video, but eh, whatever. What we also need you to do is go on over to our website over@podcast Gauntlet.com, click on the contact button, fill out the quick web form and let us know what you think either via the web form or inside of our social media role. We want to know what you're doing to make sure that you're continuing to learn so that you will not fail in podcasting. Until next time, I'm Mike Wilkerson, one of your hosts.
- [11:15]
A
And I'm Brian Insmringer. Falling down and getting back up the other one of your hosts.
- [11:19]
B
Make sure you continue to throw down, discuss. Rise and shine in podcasting. See you next time.