Reflections after 7 months of hosting my podcast
I started Reuben’s Podcast back in October 2020 as an excuse to reconnect with my friends in the middle of the pandemic. I was tired of doing so many Zoom calls and when I missed some, I wished I could just listen to what had happened. Maybe it was FOMO or maybe the lockdown was taking its toll — either way, I decided I would have conversations, record them, and put it out as a podcast. You can read more about my reasons for starting here. But over the last 7 months, the show has evolved into something very different — just like the guests who’ve come on the show.
In this piece, which is also my latest episode, I wanted to some stuff that’s been on my mind.
- Why am I doing this podcast and how that’s changed?
- Observations over 27 different conversations
- The future of the show
Why am I doing this podcast?
Over the last few months, I’ve been trying to wrap my head around a simple question. “What is the point of this podcast? Is there a problem I’m solving? Why do people listen to the show?”
There are different reasons I’ve heard so far. For some, it’s a way to know what their friends and batchmates have been up to over the last decade. These are mostly people I went to university with. Then there are other’s who listen to learn from other people’s experiences, especially if they are following similar paths (like consulting or PhDs). I think my biggest fan is my mom — she’s the only one who messages me when I don’t upload an episode. I have no clue why she listens to a bunch of late 20-year-old talk about life. I’ve also had some of my guests say that the podcast got them to reflect on their lives over the last decade and that was special.
While I don’t have a specific answer, the closest I’ve come to describing what Reuben’s Podcast is about was from a conversation with Mikel, the Co-Founder of the critically acclaimed Radiolab podcast. He said to me
Reuben, your trying to capture a slice of culture, an analysis of a generational cohort
Some big words eh? I didn’t understand it fully when he said it to me, but he was right. Through the podcast, I’m capturing how people who are in their late 20s think about their past, present, and future during the early 2020s. So that’s what I’m running with now but the quest for a more complete answer continues.
Observations from 27 conversations
Through the podcast, I’ve had the fortune to speak to a diverse set of people from different walks of life. Consultants, Musicians, Entrepreneurs, PhDs, Teachers from across the world. It’s been so refreshing to see the world from their eyes and understand how they make decisions. But what’s even more fascinating is the similarities I’ve noticed across conversations. There are 2 which jump out.
The first is around “having a plan”. I’ve seen this time and again where people start out with a grand plan and then life takes its own path, and more often than out, it’s for the best! People would have never imagined that they would be where they are today. My takeaway from this is while having a plan is important, it’s more important to follow one's curiosity and do things one enjoys because there are so many paths, many of which are not obvious to you today. The image below describes this observation the best.
The second observation across conversation is the shift of priorities towards things like health and relationships. Mental health, in particular, has been something which most people spoke about, and accepting it wasn’t as straightforward. It took time and a lot of pain to realize that it was real and that it’s something to focus on. The same with health. Unfortunately, it took some not-so-pleasant incidents to make people realize the importance of health.
The future of the show
My goal is to make this podcast as amazing as it can be for you the listener. I also want to find a way that we can build a strong community through this podcast which is very different from just building an audience. The very fact the many of you have been part of the podcast — that in itself has taken us one step towards being a community and not an audience.
But for that to happen, we need to engage more. I don’t mean “liking” my pictures on Instagram — but please feel free to; I too am human and love the dopamine hits — tell me what you like, what you don’t, what you’d like to hear, who you’d like to hear from. In today’s day, with Meme coins being valued at billions and us getting ready to go to Mars, everything is possible, but it’s a 2-way street.
With podcasts, getting feedback is harder — you can’t leave a comment or email me directly from your podcast player. But this makes it even more important that you share your feedback, however trivial you might think it may be. I read every single DM, email, and Whatsapp which comes to me and I incorporate that feedback to make the podcast better. You spend a good hour every week listening to it and I want to ensure you get more than you give.
To conclude, I want to say a big thank you for listening to my show. I’ve wanted to start a podcast for many years and I’m so glad I started with this theme and this time. Thank you for all your messages and coffees — podcasting is a lonely job and it’s this energy that keeps me going.
I’m going to be changing my upload day to Saturday and I’ll see you next week
