Influential Introvert: Communication Coaching for Professionals with Performance Anxiety - Time to Take Action on What You’ve Learned on This Podcast

Episode Date: March 27, 2020

If you’re like me, you love listening to podcasts and taking notes on all the great ideas you want to try, but many of us don’t make the time to take creative action on what we learn. We just keep consuming.    Well now, thanks to the COVID-19 coronavirus, we are on lock down and podcast consumption is down 20%. You might be listening to an hour or two less a day of podcasts. Use that time to do something that will benefit your show.   Ready to launch your podcast? Visit sarahmikutel.com/course to learn how to build your brand and business, connect to your community, and grow your influence through the magic of podcasting.  Do you ever go blank or start rambling when someone puts you on the spot? I created a free Conversation Cheat Sheet with simple formulas you can use so you can respond with clarity, whether you’re in a meeting or just talking with friends.Download it at sarahmikutel.com/blanknomore and start feeling more confident in your conversations today.

Do you take notes when you listen to podcasts? I love jotting down ideas that I want to try. And maybe you have done the same while listening to podcasting step by step. But how often do you implement what you hear about? Well, there has never been a better time to take action. Have you been wanting to start a podcast for a while now, but something's holding you back? Maybe it's fear of putting yourself out there or confusion about the technology. I'm Sarah Mikehattel and on podcasting step by step, I'll break down how to podcast. with a little loving motivation to give you the skills and the confidence you need to finally launch that show of your dreams. Let's get started. Hello, my dear friend, I hope you and your families are

safe and well. I'm on lockdown over here in the UK, thanks to the coronavirus. This means that for the next three weeks, we are not allowed to go outside unless it's to buy food and medicine or to exercise once a day. And we can either go by ourselves or with people. people we live with. It's actually quite sad and scary. Like, I'm optimistic about the situation. I'm not a doomsdayer, but it was kind of like a handmade's tale for me. I went outside for the first time in days to get a walk. And there were shops that were all boarded up. And people were kind of afraid to make eye contact. I felt like I was going to get in trouble if I said anything to anyone. And there weren't that many people around. So it's a very isolating time. And for those of us who work from

home, not much has changed in our daily routine, but for others, it's a huge upset, especially if you have little ones at home. Whatever situation you find yourself in, you're probably spending more time at home, and chances are you are listening to fewer podcast episodes than usual. Yes, so podcast consumption is down overall. James Cridlin of Pod News, News, reports that most podcasts are seeing drops in consumption of about 20%. And this shouldn't be a surprise. A lot of podcast consumption happens when we're commuting, not just to work, but when we're out walking around on our own. I'm still listening to podcasts while cooking and when I'm falling asleep, but in my downtime, I'm reading, writing, and working on new podcast projects.

And I think this is a fantastic opportunity for you to do the same. We're all processing what's happening right now in different ways. Some of us are very calm. Others feel like they are falling apart, and as time goes on, we all might feel a little bit of both. I was listening to Brooke Castillo's Life Coach School podcast yesterday, and she said that you can imagine the worst possible scenario. You can let your mind go there. You don't have to fight it. But then you have to flip it and imagine the best possible scenario for your future self. Maybe you imagine yourself as a thriving business owner and maybe your podcast can help you get there. Now is the time to work toward that best possible scenario for yourself. Also, working on a creative pursuit like podcasting is a great

release for all that energy that is building up inside of us. As I mentioned earlier, if you're like me, you love consuming content and taking notes on all the great ideas that you want to try, but many of us don't make enough time to take creative action. We just keep consuming. Well, now, we have the gift of time. If you're a podcast junkie like me, you might be listening to an hour or two less a day of podcasts. Use that time to do something that will benefit your own show. Maybe you've been wanting to switch up the format or get more active on social media or find a way to monetize. You can go back and listen to some episodes of this podcast. Some episodes you might want to consider our podcast formats. What kind of show should I create?

how to tell better stories on your podcast. So in that one, Matthew Dix, he gave us storytelling tips, but he also told us about this thing that he does every day called Homework for Life, which I love. And it's kind of like journaling, but not really. What you're doing is just every day writing down the most memorable thing that happened. And something happens every day. Even if we're stuck at home, something is going to be happening. We're either going to be talking to someone or stumbling upon an article that made us think, like something is happening to us every day. And if not, then we need to make something happen to make our days interesting, right? We're not going to be around here forever. We should not just let all of our days pass with nothingness, right? So I think this is a really good

practice to get into, especially just to remember these times. Somebody was telling me a Norwegian friend of mine that they're already collecting stories. I don't know if this is like the Norwegian version of NPR and BBC, but they're already collecting stories from people from this time. So I can see this museum getting built already while we're living in it, which I think is so interesting. So maybe take the time to do homework for life. Okay, other episodes that you might want to go back and review LinkedIn for podcasters. So even though people might not be in the office, they're still working and people are still communicating on LinkedIn and other social platforms. Another episode you might want to go back and review is the five best ways to make money with your

podcast. And if you didn't hear the last episode on how to use Myers-Briggs to become a better podcaster and person, I would highly urge you to go back and listen to that one. It's one of my favorites. And in these crazy times, I think it's just a really good tool to help us become a better communicator, which we need, especially if you're living with somebody else right now, 24-7, right? We need tools to be able to let people know what we need, right? Some people need more space than others. And even if you've been living with somebody for a long time, maybe you've never had these conversations about what makes you take and what motivates you. and what your needs are. So now is the time to have these conversations. Me personally, some work that I'm doing. While I'm home, I'm revamping my intro outro for my podcast. I'm working on a few

courses that people have asked me for and I'm designing some fun games. So I'm really, really excited about all of these projects, but they won't happen unless I make specific time for them. So here is what I'm doing and something that might help you out. One, decide what you want to work on and then get it on the calendar. So block out specific day and time that you are going to work on your one thing for your podcast and then stick to it. You might find it that it helps to have an accountability partner to check in with. So you would talk to this person about what you want to achieve and then you review later to see how it went and you hold each other accountable. My students in Podcast Launch Academy and I have started virtual co-working,

and we are using the Pomodoro technique. And that is when you work for a certain amount of time, usually like 25 minutes, then you take a five-minute break, and you repeat this four times, and then you take a 30-minute break, and then you can repeat the cycle as many times as you want. And these work sprints help keep you hyper-focus so that you are less like, to space out and also less likely to fall victim to Parkinson's law. And that says that a project can expand in time, right? Like a project is going to take as long as the time that you give it. So when you allow yourself all the time in the world to finish something, it's going to take you all the time in the world to finish something. So give yourself real deadlines and hold yourself accountable.

Okay. To sum all of this up, your assignment for this. week. If you choose to accept it, choose one thing that you want to do to improve your podcast this week. Get time on the calendar to make it happen. Do the work. Then let me know what you're working on. I would love to hear about your podcast progress. You can find me at Sarah Mikital on Instagram. That's all for now. Thank you so much for listening and I'll talk to you next week. Thank you for listening to podcasting step by step. You are now one step closer to launching that podcast you've been dreaming about, but I want to get you even closer. I created a free guidebook for you with actionable worksheets called eight mistakes new podcasters make and how to fix them.

To find that, head on over to sarah micotel.com slash fix. Do you ever go blank or start rambling when someone puts you on the spot? I created a free conversation sheet sheet with simple formulas that you can use so you can respond with clarity, whether you're in a meeting or just talking with friends. Download it at sarahmicatel.com slash blank no more.