My Proprietary Podcast Blend Makes Me Love The 25 Minute Commute

I had never listened to a podcast before 2020! I have to be honest, I never saw what the big deal was. Why would I want someone speaking in my ear? I just stuck to music. Now I have a proprietary podcast blend. What changed?!

To be fair, for the 7 years that I was in training in NYC, I lifted in the hospital. And that’s not hyperbole. I lived in subsidized housing that was attached to the hospital. In the morning, I woke up and could get to the OR without going outside. Let that sink in a second.

On the one hand, it could be a bit rough feeling like you never left this one city block after a particularly brutal rotation. But on the plus side, my daily commute was like (-)5 minutes. So I didn’t really have much commute time to listen to podcasts. Music on the way in made more sense.

The podcast that changed my mind

Stuff. You. Should. Know.

I love that podcast. I forget how I got introduced to it. Maybe someone told me about it or I read about it somewhere. Whatever it was, it was definitely off handed. But it stuck in my brain for some reason.

At the time, I was flying a bunch to job interviews. Anyone who has flew in or out of NYC knows that the cab ride to LaGuardia or JFK can be brutal. On one of these trips, after watching TaxiTV for like 5 cycles in row, I popped my ear buds in and decided to get podcasts a shot.

The rest as they say is history. I was hooked.

I started listening to podcasts walking around the city. On the subway. Up at night trying to rock the baby to sleep.

Then, I moved from NYC to Buffalo, NY

All of a sudden, my commute was no longer the equivalent of rolling out of bed. I had to drive to work. And Google Maps said it was going to take 25 minutes!

I wondered how I would handle the transition. Not the transition between being a trainee and now suddenly finding myself a full attending surgeon. No. The transition for non-commuter to commuter had me a bit shook.

It’s now been over 2 months and I can safely say I love my commute

Don’t get me wrong, there are some days I wish I could use Floo powder and magically get home in a second.

But I really, really like having some set time to decompress and also to learn. Those simple 50 minutes a day or listening to my proprietary podcast blend had increased my mindfulness, knowledge, and life ability exponentially.

It’s like a superpower. I enter the car a mere mortal and I exit my 2011 Toyota Avalon as…well, ok a mere mortal with a bit more information, confidence, and mindset awareness. But it does feel good!

If you haven’t been podcasting (is it a verb?), give it a shot. See how you like it. If you need some suggestions or some place to start…

Here is my proprietary podcast blend!

(Don’t worry, definitely not everything is medical and/or financial related!)

Stuff You Should Know

This is the one that started it all. It’s obviously a very popular podcast so many of the more podcast save audience likely know this one. The premise is basically that the hosts, Chuck and Josh, do a deep dive on random, lesser known topics.

If you wanna learn random info to impress your friends, fire this one up. The banter between Chuck and Josh alone is worth it!

Rich Doc, Poor Doc

This is the podcast by Leti and Kenji at Semi Retired MD. While their blog is pretty much 100% real estate focused, this podcast is more broadly reaching. The basic format is that they host a guest on most episodes, picking their brain on all things business, finance, entrepreneurship, and, yes, real estate investing. This is a favorite of mine.

The HappyDoc Podcast

The concept of this podcast is simple but awesome: host Taylor Brana looks for and talks to…wait for it…happy doctors. We’ve all had the experience in medical school or training in which we’ve seen a colleague or attending who is just not happy, and likely a little jaded. This experience led Taylor to develop his podcast which has now grown into a huge success. He was even kind enough to have me as as a guest!

The White Coat Investor

Many of you will already be familiar with the WCI podcast so I won’t go too in depth. Topics range across all of personal finance with some episodes featuring some really interesting guests. I actually don’t usually listen to this one as much as I read the summary that comes out on the blog every Thursday.

Docs Outside The Box

Very cool concept on this one. Basically, Dr. Nii Darko is a general surgeon who also runs a Locum Tenens company. He always wanted to be a “doc outside the box” and so he started this podcast to interview doctors doing extraordinary things. Super inspiring show!

An Oral History of The Office

Man, I love The Office. I don’t know what I’m gonna do when it leaves Netflix. This podcast, hosted by Brian Baumgartner AKA Kevin from accounting, is a major part of my proprietary podcast blend. Everyone from Michael Scott to the video editor are featured in this podcast that gives an amazing and hilarious behind the scenes look at The Office.

The Tony Robbins Podcast

I’ll be honest, I always kind of thought of the Tony Robbins following as a cult. If I’m still being honest, I’m still on the fence (kidding of course!). I started hearing so many of my mentors in this space talk about how much they learned and how much their mindset changed thanks to Tony Robbins. So just a few weeks ago I started listening to his podcast. So far, I like it a lot!

Money Meets Medicine & The Physician Philosopher

I lump these two together because they both feature Jimmy Turner AKA The Physician Philosopher.

Money Meets Medicine is a joint effort between Jimmy and Ryan Inman, a fee-only financial advisor who is married to a physician. This podcast is usually a bit more nuts and bolts personal finance centered. They manage to make these topics really interesting and inject the right amount of humor.

The Physician Philosopher podcast is pretty new. It actually just started a number of weeks ago. This podcast sort of follows the natural progression of Jimmy from finance focused to more mindset and wellness focused. I really have enjoyed this podcast so far. It’s been great to listen to these important topics addressing burnout and other physician issues right before going into work. I always feel like I walk in with a great, refreshed perspective!

Bigger Pockets

Bigger Pockets is a HUGE real estate investing and finance podcast. It’s actually a bit overwhelming to me because there are so many episodes and off shoots. But I’ve heard enough people give great reviews to the podcast so I just recently started listening to it. I would say in general it’s an intermediate level in terms of REI.

The Life Coach School

This is another super popular podcast that I am just getting into thanks to enough referrals from my mentors. Brooke Castillo runs The Life Coach School, certifying life coaches. She also runs this podcast which is very mindset focused and driven. It’s a nice philosophical compliment to some of the more information based podcasts that I also enjoy and listen to.

So that’s my proprietary podcast blend…and it really has made me enjoy my new, longer commute!

It’s all part of my journey to financial and overall well-being. Here are 3 other ways to get started:

• Increase your net worth in 5 easy steps
• Create daily habits that will lead you to financial success
• Get on the same financial page as your partner

What do you think? What podcasts do you love? Has it changed the way you think about your commute? What other podcasts should I be listening to? (I love a good suggestion!) Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!

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