For the purpose of this post, I will use my previous podcast as an example of creating something/diving into something. But the thoughts in this article can be used in other areas of life, feel free to change out "podcast" to something you are looking to dive into.
Here we go: When I began my first podcast, I had no idea what I was getting myself into, more specifically I had no idea what I wanted to get myself into (which is more important). I wasn't a podcast guy, still not really am one. I'll listen to a few podcasts here and there, but I rarely even listen to my podcasts unless I'm trying to get a soundbite. Listening to my podcasts would be more enjoyable if I wasn't such a personal critique of my own voice and obvious improvements I could make in my interview style (actually I've begun to just realize that my filler words, and rambling tangents is just who I am, so I'm beginning to accept it and deal with it).
I was about to launch an Oil & Gas focused podcast, at first I wanted it to be taken serious, I wanted people to gain some sort of serious industry knowledge or market trends from it, I wanted it to be a source of information. Only problem was: none of the above was me. How could I try and create content and continue to pursue and stay motivated with recording episodes if this wasn't who I was NOR something I wanted to be. For people that know me, know that I'm not serious. I don't take life serious, I find it funny to laugh at jokes deemed "too soon" or inappropriate, I insert dad jokes into any situation I can, in short: I enjoy not taking life too serious. However, I do take it sincere.
If I pursued this original idea of actually creating a professional, buttoned up, stuffy feeling podcast then I would have given up and ceased putting out any more episodes after I got bored. For anyone out there that has a podcast, knows it is personal motivation, determination, and grind to continue to create new episodes week-after-week. So here I was, a "jokester" who was seriously trying to convince himself to create a serious and industry specific podcast.
First thing I did was ask myself several questions: do I really want to create a serious podcast? What do I enjoy talking to people about? Why do you enjoy actually about talking to people? What kind of "feel" do I want with the podcast? Why do I want to put together a podcast and put hours upon hours of work and not make a dime doing it? Why create one in the first place?
Answering these questions actually took some time and some serious thought. If I didn't have a clear understanding of not just what I wanted to create, but what I had to offer, then the podcast would have lost steam and never gotten off the ground. I found it important to actually give each question some respect and allocate some time in personal reflecting in the answers. Once you start actually giving it some serious thought, then it makes the goal and the path to the goal so much easier. It isn't just about looking at what you want to achieve with the podcast, it's more looking within to see how your podcast can showcase who you are and what you dig.
The goal isn't a podcast you think people want, the goal is a podcast that you would want.
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