Contemplating Life’s Choices

Have you ever had something you wanted to do for a while but you worried what people might think or you got stuck in all the small decisions to be made so you never moved beyond a hope or a dream?

Well that’s me and starting a podcast.

I’ve wanted to start a podcast for a while. Mostly because I really enjoy the medium of conversations and audio/video. Though I do enjoy writing, I generally feel you can get so much more of who I am, my passion, and the emotions of the topic through audio/video. I guess you could say I feel you get better vibes when you can see/hear someone vs interpreting tone through writing.

Anyway, I’ve noodled on this idea for at least a year or two at this point. I’ve set goals to get going. Talked to people who have their own podcasts for advice on how to get started. Watched videos of recommendations for how to start and build a YouTube channel.

And yet, I still never got this idea off the ground.

I know part of it is the recovering perfectionist in me. I want the perfect images, the tagline that everyone remembers, and the consistency in my topic so everyone knows who I am and what I’m here for.

Part of it is the recovering over-thinker in me. The part of me that says “who are YOU to talk about this” or “you’re not an expert, you don’t have a Masters or a PhD” or “what if you’re wrong and you tell people stuff that doesn’t work”… Sigh…

I think the other element is my recovering people pleaser. The things I really want to say often challenge status-quo, dig deep into root cause, and push for systems change. I know that things that ask people to change systems aren’t often received well because the existing systems work for some people and those people with the most privilege and power aren’t going to be the first to implement changes that they feel or perceive will take that away from them.

So, what do you do when you know you have important things to say but the people pleaser, perfectionist, over-thinker is strong? What I’m finding so far is two things.

Start on the well known path – I’m totally the person who’s like oh I’m going to build this from scratch and make it totally mine. Unfortunately when I do that I feel I need to do all this research and be unique and stand out which means I often procrastinate or never feel ready to start.

Fast forward, I ended up going to a session hosted by Steph Shoell at the Women’s Wellness Summit that talked about how to start podcasting. Part of the session was a free two week trial of an online course she built that literally walks you through the minutiae of setting up your podcast. From the folders and docs to create in Google drive, to templates for your YouTube thumbnails, a Notion template to keep track of your production timeline, and the program you can purchase to do the recording it was all there.

Though I’m sure I’ll change things up as I go, this removed the analysis paralysis factor for me. I figured if this works for her it can work for me and I’ll at least start with that. No more excuses that oh I still need to look into the 45th option for a microphone. We’re starting with what I have and I can always upgrade, edit, or make changes later.

Let yourself be a beginner – I’m working hard to give myself the space and grace to not be perfect, to know that what I create will not be loved – or even tolerated/accepted – by everyone, and to just start somewhere.

I’ve been following Ali Abdaal for a while now and I remember so many of his videos when I first found him were about being on YouTube and his transition out of medicine to being a full time YouTuber. Now he talks about productivity which is still aligned to his initial work but he has evolved and changed over time. Did I stop following him once he made it big? No. Did I stop following him because he talked about productivity instead of YouTube? No. I realized that I have a general enough direction that even if I niche down or shift slightly I’m likely still talking to the same audience so I should just start somewhere.

All this to say, get ready for the Contemplating Life’s Choices podcast!

I’ll likely start with some solo episodes to make sure I can actually record and upload and what the time commitment will look like for each episode. After that I’m truly looking forward to having some guests join and share their wisdom with you too.

If you’d like to support me you can find me and subscribe on YouTube. There’s nothing there just yet, but soon I’ll have an intro episode up. I will also end up on Spotify and probably Apple Podcasts. If you listen on something else drop a comment so I know how you listen to podcasts and can see if I can upload there as well.

I’ll have more details soon on when the Podcast will drop. For now, I’m just excited and wanted to start documenting some of the journey. If you have a project you’ve wanted to start for a while but haven’t share what it is in the comments or find me on LinkedIn and message me there. I feel in times of uncertainty and change having something you can invest your time in and feel connected to can be really nice.