10 Podcasts That Will Make Your Life Better

Remember we talked about crazy podcasts to listen to on those days when you don’t want to know anything at all ? Well, now it’s time to get your brain up and running. Each of these 10 podcasts will teach you how to be a better person in some way: sleep better, make better friends, and even be a better citizen of the world. Look at you, you are already improving!

Be Better: An Army of Normal People

The Army of Normals is where Bill Courtney — writer, speaker, and former Manassas High School volunteer football coach (and subject of the 2012 Academy Award-winning documentary Invincibles ) — reminds us of what it takes act in conventional but meaningful ways. such as volunteering, donating, and changing the life of just one person can make a big difference. Bill’s positivity is contagious; he is basically the incarnation of Ted Lasso. But he talks to real people (including, in the first three-part series, a famous Instagram cop who believes in community policing) to prove that we all have a part to play in helping America overcome its problems. .

Sleep Better: 12-Hour Sound Machines

Brandon Reed was a tired father of two little boys who was desperate to find a way to get him to sleep through the night. He couldn’t find any high quality sounds that were long enough and free of breaks, loops or smooth transitions to accomplish this. So he created a podcast with perhaps the simplest title in the world: “12 Hour Sound Machines” (no looping or fading!) Almost overnight, the show began to resonate with other people from all over the world on a wide variety of applications – it is intended for athletes, students. , entrepreneurs, restless people, people who find it difficult to concentrate, anyone who needs a restful night’s sleep, and perhaps especially parents of newborns. (One day, Brandon changed the frequency of white noise. An hour later, he received a message from a young mother who found his phone number on the Internet and asked why her child was suddenly unable to sleep.) This podcast can change your life. Good night.

Be a Better Parent: Is My Child a Monster?

Is my baby a monster? is a new parental therapy podcast in which you are like a fly on the wall in the office of licensed clinical social worker Leslie Cohen-Rubery as she sits with parents sharing their therapy sessions voicing the age-old parental fear: Is my child a monster? It’s like “Where do I start?” Esther Perel. but especially for parents and you can trust Leslie and her years of experience working with thousands of families. She heard all this, nothing will surprise her, and she knows what it is like to worry about a child and want to understand him better (she is also a mother). During multi-episode sessions with parents, Leslie discusses cases of anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues in children ages 4 to 18. In each session, parents and students explore strategies to try and then listen to how things go in subsequent sessions.

Be a better member of society: Were you raised by wolves?

There are a lot of etiquette puzzles out there, and Nick Layton and Leah Bonnema want to give everyone the tools to solve them on their own. Were you raised by wolves on their podcast? , they offer solutions to both broad and ridiculously specific social problems, from dealing with overzealous talkers to establishing healthy boundaries with co-workers to the right way to eat Cheetos ( with chopsticks? ), always looking for more important principles at hand. This isn’t a bunch of hand-wringing over outdated rules and taboos, but practical, simple advice on what you can do to make yourself more attractive (and loved).

Become a Best Buyer: Add to Cart

What’s in your online shopping cart and what does it say about you? In Add to Cart , comedian, writer-director Kulap Vilaysak and veteran journalist Soo-Chin Park become vulnerable by sharing theirs and having honest, candid discussions about what’s worth money and what’s not. They bring in different guests to see what they are buying (where does Scott Aukerman get these trendy suits from?). The show will either inspire you to choose something for yourself (or anyone else) or make you realize no one wants more shit, and Vilaysak and Pak’s money talk gets to the bottom of why we’re drawn to it. Cart is number one.

Become the best life hacker: all life hacks

Want to optimize your insurance policies, take an epic trip to Italy, buy back time, have a tough conversation, develop a second brain, or find the perfect rental? Listen to All the Hacks , a show that features Chris Hutchins deep diving with experts who have saved listeners millions of dollars by helping them improve their lives. Chris knows the perfect questions to get his seasoned guests talking about how to spend less time and money while adding a little joy to their lives. No matter what part of your life needs updating, there is an episode for it. (And while I’m at it, listen to Lifehacker’s own Webby Award-winning podcast, The Upgrade, which is currently on hiatus.)

Be a better spender: everyone talks about money

Everyone Talks About Money is a show that has judgment and no stupid questions – just smart and personal talk about you, your money, and achieving your financial goals. From the money trauma we’ve been carrying since childhood to getting rid of the money mistakes we made as adults, host Shanna Game doesn’t just tell the numbers, she’s changing the way we think and feel about money. She’s not a therapist, but these conversations get to the bottom of who we are, why we spend recklessly, save money, or are afraid to look at our bank statements. Through life-changing conversations, you will shed “rules”, throw your “mistakes” out the door, and enter into a new relationship with money.

Become a better citizen of the world: important, not important

Ready to fix the world? Join the What Matters, Doesn’t Matter movement, where host Quinn Emmett has in-depth conversations with the world’s smartest scientists, doctors, executives, farmers (and more!) to help people make the tiny changes that can make the Earth more usable for life. Each issue is filled with news and practical tips that you can use to help clean up the mess. Discussions of clean energy, coral reefs, COVID vaccines, childhood cancer research, clean water, carbon capture technology, asteroid deflection, and the ethics of artificial intelligence all touch on the world’s most pressing issues. Rather than trying to scare you about the world we live in, Matter Not Matter equips you with the science you need to make smarter decisions, consume smarter, and reduce your carbon footprint.

Become a Best Friend: Best Friend Therapy

Elizabeth Day (author and host of the popular How to Fail podcast , which helps you deal with failure better) and Emma Reed-Turrell, a psychotherapist, have been best friends for over twenty years and joined forces for Best Friend Therapy , where they cover all aspects of celebrating friendships, breakups and everything in between. If your best friendship is in trouble and you’re not ready to talk about it with this person, listen to Elizabeth and Emma to find out how friendships are affected by things like narcissism, guilt, clinging, misunderstandings and more, and what to do. with addictions to friendship and interpersonal conflicts. It will make you feel like you are participating in a conversation with a friend, armed with the advice of two women with an outside perspective, operating from a position of empathy, honesty, and compassion.

Be a better colleague: work appropriately

The workplace is littered with potential misunderstandings and mistakes, and it turns out that we all stumble along the way. Ann Helen Petersen has created a space where we can learn from each other at Work Appropriate , which covers the various work wars you fight every time you come to work. She dives into ways to feel confident if you have ADHD or neurodivergent, in an industry that seems to be sinking, to set boundaries to separate work from life, or even just gracefully get through a day of potentially awkward conversations. Petersen, author of I Can’t Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation , is a smart friend who wants to call after a hard day’s work. Unless you suffer from complex power dynamics or email etiquette issues, your actions can cause contention among those around you. That means this podcast is for anyone who connects with anyone at work, which is pretty much everyone.

Be the best cook: SOS dinner

I’m a vegetarian and constantly wonder if I should talk about my dietary restrictions when I’m invited to a dinner party. I just want someone to tell me what to do. Bon Appétit’s Dinner SOS is a show that tells you what to do when there are burning questions in the kitchen – you or someone else – whether it’s a last-minute party with no inspiration on the menu, a kid who will only eat pasta with oil, or a picnic with 25 people on the guest list. Name your emergency dinner and Bon Appétit is here to help. This show will help you take the stress out of cooking and even make it fun. Consider it your “call a friend” when you’re eating steak or trying to impress your relatives.

Become the best podcaster: Podcast Bestie

Starting a podcast may seem lonely, but Bestie’s Podcast host Courtney Kochak is your friend in all things audio, whether you’re starting out as a freelance producer, looking for advertisers, perfecting your sound, or trying to grow. Courtney is a prolific podcaster herself (host of Private Parts Unknown , The Bleeders and of course Podcast Bestie , which is also a newsletter ), so many of her conversations are based on her own experiences. She asks the right questions because she has to answer them herself, and she calls industry aces to provide case studies and step-by-step solutions to things that make you curse the very word “sass.”