Keep Learning – Sober or Not!

I heard you wanted to start a podcast?

Well, I’ll tell you what. I had no intention of every creating a podcast. But I’m so glad that I gave it a shot and I’m sure you’ll be happy you did, too.

The cool thing about creating a podcast is that the podcast world is literally your oyster. Open to all of your ideas, thoughts, feelings, hobbies, and interests. It can be public, private, or a mix between the two. Don’t let your dreams be dreams.

I think the most important thing to keep in mind when starting your first podcast project is to laugh at yourself and incorporate your mistakes into each episode. My team and I created a really fun podcast this semester and it relied heavily on our little mistakes, giggles, um’s and slurs. By embracing your weird side and being easy on yourself (nobody was born a perfect podcaster!), it will open many doors for humor and authenticity.

Tackling your first podcast can be daunting. Walking into a forest in the middle of the night can also be daunting.

I recommend the buddy system.

You may think you’re macho and you can handle anything thrown your way. But so did every person who ever died in a horror movie alone in the woods. So grab some people (friends or strangers) to join you in this adventure. Without the help of my partners, Tom and Dylan, there’s a good chance I’d have given up.

BONUS: I had no idea who Tom and Dylan were before we started podcasting together, and now we’re all really good friends. Which is cute and fun. Get yourself some groupies like Dylan and Tom – you will not regret it.

Pick something you enjoy. The three of us enjoy talking and drinking, so we created Drunk History of the World. The premise of our podcast was to tell our listeners about a historical event…while getting wasted.

If it weren’t for this class, I wouldn’t have had any motivation to try and connect to other students on campus because I commute over an hour to get here. Fun, informative, and relatively stress-free was the perfect way to end my Tuesdays and Thursdays and I’m grateful I went against my academic adviser’s instructions in taking Digital Journalism

Below you can find the link to our SoundCloud and listen to our podcasts – which are extremely hilarious. (Not to toot my own horn….but sometimes the melody is so sweet!)

And if you were inspired by this podcast, podcaster, or podcasting advice: I conveniently gave you your own drinking game. Take a drink each time I said “podcast” in this blog post!

Fair well my fellow creators! And like Dylan said once ALWAYS says, “Keep learning, sober or not!”

Molly Gunson 

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