Episode 20

Tim Jahn of We're Only Human

This week on Podcaster Stories, I sit down with Tim Jahn of We're Only Human.

We're Only Human is a podcast celebrating the resiliency of the human spirit, through conversations with people from all walks of life.

Topics up for discussion this week include:

  • how his early video show inspired the podcast
  • the challenges he's found switching formats from video to audio
  • why going all in on the quality of the podcast is key
  • why starting a podcast for the wrong reasons is doomed to fail
  • why getting divorced completely changed his way of life
  • how he feels he gets more out of the podcast than his listeners
  • how recording his show always brought him out of any doldrums he was experiencing
  • why curiosity drives the best experiences
  • the single characteristic that defines resilience
  • why we need to remind ourselves that we're all making this up as we go along
  • how one specific conversation about life being a series of train journeys blew him away
  • how we can define our own lives
  • what his goals are for the show moving forward
  • what the unique value is that Tim can provide his listeners
  • why his advice to new podcasters is to understand the motivation of why they're starting
  • why your podcast needs an elevator pitch
  • why we need to forego imposter syndrome
  • why his heroes are everyone he's chatted to

Settle back for an open and free-flowing chat about life changes and recognizing our inner value.

Connect with Tim:

Contact me: danny@podcasterstories.com

My equipment:

Recommended resources:



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Transcript
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I get more out of the podcast than probably anybody

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listening. I mean, at the end of the day, I

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do it for me and I do want others to

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learn from it because part of my mission is to,

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you know, when I got divorced, I was able to

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get through it from hearing other people's stories. So I

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want other people to be able to learn from whatever

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I'm talking about in the podcast. But I mean, every

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conversation I have with every guest and we're only Human

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is generally I'm walking away like, Oh my gosh, I'm

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so glad I had that conversation. You know, it, there

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might be some moment they had in their life or

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some way of dealing with this situation that I'm now

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going to try or some tips for life. And so,

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you know, like I think about what's your motivation behind

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your podcast.

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I hope it's something that's selfishly, you know, benefiting you

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so that, because that's, what's going on,

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I keep you going hi and welcome to Podcaster. Stories

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each episode will have a conversation with podcasters from across

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the globe and share their story. What motivates them by

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the start of, to show how they grew up in

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the show and more I'll also talk about their personal

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lives and some of the things that have happened that

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made them the person you are today. And now here

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is your host Danny Brown hi, and welcome to another

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episode of Podcaster. Stories where we get to meet the

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people behind the voices of the show. As we were

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listening to this week, I've got someone I've known for,

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I think, 10 years now, I'm at the, at least

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maybe I'm from the good old L and D is

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a social media. And I believe it, he says, Tim

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John pronounced John, correct?

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Because I used to say to him, and I think

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for Tim and John and his John, yup. That is

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John. Ask him why I came here to remember that

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discussion that we may have had in someone's blog comments

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or whatever, where that, I think that you used that

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if you put me straight on the pronunciation of your,

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your surname and Tim's Lee, a host of we were

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on the Human, which is a shore celebrating the resiliency

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of the human spirit through conversations with people from all

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walks of life. So Tim, welcome to the show. How

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about you tell us about yourself on your podcast.

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Sure. I started the podcast in November of 2019. So

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as of today, a little more than a year ago,

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I'm someone who has always been a creator, all mediums,

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but around the time we met, I had a, I

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didn't call it a podcast back then because there wasn't

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really a podcast. I called it a web interview video

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series, but it was the same idea interviewing people at

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the time it was entrepreneurs. So I've always enjoyed exploring

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other people's stories. I'm very curious person. And I just

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love getting to know people and what makes them tick.

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So that was part of the inspiration for starting this

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new podcast, which, which I said has been about a

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year ago.

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So it's, it's crazy to think that 55 weeks of

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publishing a podcast just flies by

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And you do this, it's a weekly show for, so

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you mentioned that the previous one is a bit beyond

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the paired way, right? The, the video show. Yes. Yeah.

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It was a good memory and a, that'd been a

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while. And I think, you know, you'd mentioned yourself, I

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think you'd probably had over a, a, a good, a

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150 200 guests on that show Judy and its duration.

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Yeah. Yeah. That ran for me. I don't remember it

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to two and a half years something around there, but

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you know, it was, yeah, like I said, it's one

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of the things about podcasting is, or just consistently publishing

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any media is once you are going for awhile, you

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sit back for a moment and look, and you're like,

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wow, that's a lot of content. Or how did I

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do that?

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And, and I think if you are certainly a proper

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as possible, so we met as well. You are one

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of the first people that I saw him doing that

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kind of a format, what it was, you know, these

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are like short video snippets of your, like a short

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video interviews with your guests. And so it was kind

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of cool. So when they saw you were doing a

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podcast, obviously I want to check that out and be

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excited to reconnect it. And, you know, you spoke about

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that now, or you mentioned the podcast is been gone

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since November of last year. So just over a one

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year on a varsity to know what's been the biggest

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challenge. And that's been a challenge for example, of a

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switch and say from a video format that you did

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beforehand to a purely an audio format and in a

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direction of the show itself, for example,

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Is a great question. And switching from video to audio,

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actually, wasn't more challenging. It was easier. I have a

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background in both audio and video production. So I'm familiar

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with the editing and in dealing with both mediums. I

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joke, I've talked to people about this at, throughout my

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journey, doing well on the Human. Now I never thought

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that in 2020, I would fall in love with a

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radio. I love doing, you know, what's basically a modern

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day of radio. Umm, so it's, it's been less challenging

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technically to do Audio as opposed to the video. I

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think the more challenging part with the show has been,

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and I'm sure it's true with any show is just

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keep going. Like I'm very much a person who wants

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to be consistent, wants to go all in and wants

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to deliver a high quality production.

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And that means that, you know, I chose to do

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weekly. I've got to keep going. So, you know, when,

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when life happens or when things get busy on one

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area of life during one season, you know, how do

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I keep going? How do I continue this? And not

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because I'm being forced to, but because I want to.

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So, so I think that's been the bigger challenge. It's

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just, you know, as I said, I think with any

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creative project, how do you ensure that you continue? You

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know, especially with podcasts, like I don't remember the stats,

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but apparently most of them don't keep going beyond like

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20 episodes or something or even that.

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Yeah, I think then there's a Apple produced them a

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report last year may be a little out of this

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year. The, to your point, a lot of people drop

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off after have 20 episodes are that aren't go pass

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like a three a month part of the too, you

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know, let yourself we'll be clear or whatever. This is

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kinda weird to think this is all these dad radio

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shows that are like just flying all over the floor

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somewhere out there, you know? And it's, its interesting to

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note that podcasts is podcasts and stuff, you know, almost

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become so like mainstream now that people can, you know,

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pick up a fall in like we have an for

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example to start recording through that. So it's this kind

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of, are you cool to see, Hey, you know, how

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much more available with his to people, I guess even

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though they are dropping off, unfortunately.

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Yeah, yeah. It's like I said, you know, the, beyond

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the headway, the video series, they had a decade ago,

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like I said, calling in a podcast seems odd cause

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we didn't really have that back then. And nowadays, you

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know, you can pretty much talk to probably any generation

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and the at least may have heard of the word

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or understand that it exists. So it's definitely a much

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more mainstream concept than it ever was.

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And I know one of my previous guests, Nick Garrison,

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he'd mentioned the, the 18 month rule and he said

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he plays by where it's only after about 18 months

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of consistency now to your point about, you know, doing

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it weekly, doing at a certain time high quality and

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that you're really started to see the results come on

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in and you really start to see you there, the

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short pay-off of your life.

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Oh boy. Okay. So I've got one, another six or

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nine.

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Okay. What did you see then? That sort of how

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many gestation periods? I'm all good. Yeah,

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I would believe that. I mean, I think a lot

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of it has to do too with your motivation for

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doing the show are, you know, like, and I'm not,

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I'm not trying not to judge anybody, but I've seen

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people out there like, Hey, I want to start a

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podcast. Has anyone have any ideas? And I can totally

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see the angle of like, I want to learn something

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new. I want to just learn about podcast production and

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that's cool. But you know, if it's more of a,

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I want to hop on the bandwagon. I don't know

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if that's the best approach. Like, you know, for me

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personally, starting the podcast was part wanting to sort of

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revive the creative muscles that have been kind of dormant

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within me. Like bringing you back to creativity that I

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have not been in sort of paying attention too for

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a long time.

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And then it was also just a, what I call.

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Over not what I call, but what insurance companies call

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it, qualifying life event. I got divorced and all of

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a sudden, you know, my life shifted. It was all,

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it was all good, but all of a sudden I

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now have more time that I didn't have in my

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life. Right? Like I'm still a father, but you know,

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seeing my kids, some of them the time, not every

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day and not all day, I live by myself. So

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all of a sudden I had this space in my

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life that opened up and combining that with this kind

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of dormant yearning to be creative again, I just one

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day throughout on LinkedIn and I'm like, I'm going to

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start a podcast. And I had no plan on purpose,

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but I did know that I was going to ride

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this wherever it took me.

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And that's still my mission. Like I, I get more

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out of the podcast than probably anybody listening. I mean,

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at the end of the day I do it for

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me and I do want others to learn from it

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because part of my mission is to, you know, when

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I got divorced, I was able to get through it

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from hearing other people's stories. So I want other people

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to be able to learn from whatever I'm talking about

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in the podcast. But I mean, every conversation I have

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with every guest and we're only Human is generally I'm

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walking away. Oh my gosh, I'm so glad I had

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the conversation. You know, it might be some moment they

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have in their life or some way of dealing with

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this situation that I'm now going to try or some

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tips for life.

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And so, you know, like I think about what's your

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motivation behind your podcast. I hope it's something that's selfishly,

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you know, benefiting you because that's what is going to

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keep you going. As, like I said, as a lifelong

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creator, if you're not interested, if I'm not interested in

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what I'm creating, then its really hard to keep creating

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it.

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And then it's so funny. I know I'm on a

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bunch of Reddit boards for a podcast and, and that's

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one of the things that keeps popping up to your

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point to me is the bar or note on how

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to keep it going on. And when you don't really

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feel it anymore. And I think people have maybe answered

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our own question and we have that very free is

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if you don't feel it anymore, you're not going to

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work to do it. And you know, yeah,

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Yeah. I mean, there's been times where I just simply

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wanted to sort of stop, you know what, maybe I'm

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trying to think of an example, but you know, parts

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of life is just, maybe that was my day job

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or whatever it got too, too intense. And it was

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hard to, you know, fit in the podcast that night's

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or whatever. And I would, you know, I would have

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reluctantly hop on a, you know, SquadCast that we are

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now I will do the interview of my guest and

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he would just come alive again. I would have remember

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why I was doing this. I, I, you know, it

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would be an amazing conversation and then Boom, I'd be

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back. Like how did I ever doubt this? Why would

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I ever want to stop? I'm learning so much. So,

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you know, again, if I wasn't in it sort of,

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you know, from that place of like a genuine, I

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want, again, for me, it's a curiosity I want to

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learn.

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And as long as I'm going to keep learning, I'm

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gonna keep doing this and I want to keep it

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wanting to do this. And that is going to hopefully

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be what, you know, what keeps me going to be,

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I guess at least an 18 month milestone,

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We can go to show you. You mentioned, obviously you

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want to learn as much from, you know, your guests

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and for your own benefit as a listener to, and

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I know I'll looking at the Topics that you discussed

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with your guests on a show. It talks about plays

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in peripheral, obviously to the, the, the premise of the

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show about resiliency. If I'd guest talk about sexual assault,

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life change in injuries, through car accidents, a feel business's

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and how to recover from that mental health and more

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so from these conversations and, and knowing your own background

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going in to the podcast. Do you see similar characteristics

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in your guests and, and yourself that kind of instills

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that level of resiliency is, or sorry, or a defining

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characteristic, or do you think,

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Yeah, there's been so many themes that have sort of

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a woven through all of the conversations. One of the

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big ones is one that I'm a fan of. And

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it's this reminder that we constantly need to remind ourselves

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of is that we're all just making this up. As

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we go along, it sort of lends itself sort of

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pairs itself for the imposter syndrome and this idea that

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I can never be good enough. I'm not good enough.

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What I'm doing. Everyone else is better. That comes up

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every time. And I, I deal with that all the

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time and it, we always just kind of end up

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talking about this idea that like, it turns out that

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person that you think has that all figured out, they

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probably don't.

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And they're trying to figure it out just like you

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are. So it's sort of his comfort in this idea

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that like you're not alone. Like we are not alone

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in this. A recent guest I had was Marie, the

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one gram Orrick. And she, she was part of what

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got me through my divorce and the sense that she

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had gotten divorced. She had remarried and the, her and

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her partner had blended their family's. They both had children

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when they became one blended family and she's not working

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on a idea to sort of help other blended families.

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But we were talking about this idea that you know,

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of all the marriages out there at 50% ended up

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getting divorced. That's 50% of the population that no one

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really talks about, like its kind of a taboo conversation

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and its again, going back to that idea of like,

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once you start learning more about it, like again, it's

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50%, we're not alone out there.

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Like we're half the population. So I mean its just

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kind of highlighted as example of whatever you think you

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are going through and you think your alone in doing

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it, every conversation I've ever had and more on the

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Human has taught me that you are not alone. Like

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it really, I can't think of any examples of a

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you're the only one going through you're going through. So

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that kind of why I mentioned earlier of like wanting

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to share stories so that other people can learn from

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it. That's one of my main missions is just like

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literally to tell people you're not alone.

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You mentioned Murray who has her name came up. It

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was as I was catching up with some of the

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episode's and you'd made sure that yourself, that she was

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a key part of when you're going for your divorce

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thing and get over it and her experiences and how

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that helped you. So, so we have such a varied,

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you know, list of your Lake of gas that you've

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been speaking to other than the episodes, LEEP Marty's episode

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kind of stood out for you for any reason. And

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if so, why that particular episode, not that it was

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bad or whatever, not to put, you know, your guests

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get a favorite guests or anything, but is there any

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episodes lead models that kind of stood out for you

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So many? There was this one with this woman, her

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name is Dr. Rita fields. This was probably back in

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the spring of 2020 that it came out, but she

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has this amazing story of just resiliency and just starting

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from nothing and working her way up to define what

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she wanted her life to be. But the one thing

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she shared along the way completely changed my outlook. I'm

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someone who's sort of always feels like I'm trying to

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work towards some big thing in life. Like there was

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some big end game, you know, this is, you know,

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I'm trying to be famous and successful or you know,

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making a lot of money or whatever. And this conference,

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this theme by the way has come up with so

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many other guests, but Rita, she told me about this

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sort of idea of that life can be a series

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of trains that you're on.

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And so they could at any given moment you were

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on a train and that train's purpose has just to

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take you from point a to point B life as

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a series of these. And so at some point you're

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going to get off that train and hop on the

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next one. And there's no real destination in mind is

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just a series of switching from these journeys on these

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trains. And that really resonated with me because that's kind

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of, I think such a much healthier way of looking

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at life. Like its not this one long train ride

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or you're hoping to get to the end. Are you

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hoping that when you get to the end, its whatever

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your, your working for it, but its more of these

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little journeys along the way or whatever you're doing at

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the time, whoever you're, you know you're with. But I

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think about a friend of mine that we don't really

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talk much anymore and it's not like we had a

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falling out.

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We were just kind of like naturally started communicating less.

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And I think about a decade ago, you know, we

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were very close and doing a lot together. And to

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me its like an example of like, you know, maybe

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that trains Over right. Like we were just on that

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train together and it's not good or bad. It just

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is. And now I'm on the next one and he

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might be on a totally separate one. But when she,

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when she kind of brought up that idea, I was

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just like blown away. And I thought about it ever

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since. And I bring it up all the time with

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people. Like I just, I love this idea that like

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a life is a series of trains

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And it's almost like that. That's a really cool, like

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a, an analogy kind of reminds me of a little

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bit of the, the movie Slade in doors and where

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I think is going to Paul tra and I can

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remember who else was on. That was a few people

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like that. And basically a, it was showing the parallel

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story of the lives of people had made a different

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decision. So we would have, you know, when couples have

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stuck together with a job and our views have gone

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good and bad, et cetera, and it just shows you

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how are these lives? You know, I took two different

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paths based on one tiny split decision, you know, like

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a change on a train. For example,

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I have never seen the movie, but it sounds interesting.

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I know that's not something I would have thought I

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would enjoy it. I'm not a fan of a good

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thing because it puts me off of them. But you

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know, it's I watched it because of the male lead,

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who I think is John, I mean, is that Scott

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shocked at John someone? And that shows my level of

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moving knowledge, but now there was a real interest in

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a store and I thought it was really well done.

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How they put it altogether. I've check that out. Yeah,

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no, that's a worthwhile movie for sitting down and may

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not be as good as re as an example, but

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it's, it's that, it's, it's a good thing. Good enough

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at a movie. And obviously, you know, you're, you're sure

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clearly pools from your own experience and the changes made

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to your life. As you mentioned, you had what insurance

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is called, you know that at that event M when

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you got divorced, it was last year, you got divorced

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at 2019.

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Yeah. It was summer beginning of summer of 2019.

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So clearly it, as you mentioned, the changes you made

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to your life and continue to meet. Now, you mentioned

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no that you are still a father or are you

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still have to juggle to get our kids between yourself

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and your wife. And I'm guessing that can be a

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bit more difficult now, the COVID and all those sorts

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of, you know, how you are not allowed to go

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on to your household's let your numbers, et cetera. So

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what, what are some of the things that you've taken

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from your guess and implemented it in your own life

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over this period of transition for you?

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So the biggest thing for me personally has been this

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idea, and this is why I keep going is every

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conversation is a reminder, an inspiration of this idea that

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we can define our own lives. Like this isn't something

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I don't know if you've figured this out and that

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anyone listening has, I did not figure this out. That

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like I am the one who can define my life.

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I think for a long time, I was just kind

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of asleep at the wheel and, you know, sort of

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going through motions that, you know, whether someone else decided

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this was a good path for me, or I believe

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this was a good path for me, or, you know,

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it was Recommended or whatever. But you know, this idea

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now that what I do for a living, what I

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do with my time everyday, what I want to do

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next year, like this is all going to happen based

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on the intention I put forth.

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And this is a, you know, whatever happens and whatever

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definition my life takes is up to me. And that

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is again, just something I never thought about. And now

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every week I talk to people and that's all I

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think about. And again, it's, that's really kinda what I'm

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doing. I don't literally have a notebook anymore. I did

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it the beginning, but like, it's sort of like this

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mental note book of like, Tim define your life and

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heres all these tips for people that are learning every

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week. So maybe a one day I should hold them

Speaker:

together and put it into a notebook. Thank you. I'm

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the one in one place. Yeah.

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Yeah. So obviously, you know, as you mentioned, we're now

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at 12 months then, or like a year for your

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shot and you put another six to get through this

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whole 18 months rule, but excited about this, that it's

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cool right now that doesn't happen. I'm gonna go back

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to me and ask him what the hell man. Well,

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you know, really, so what would your goal for the

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show as you look to continue it, to, to grow

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and to get up and update them, but not update

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the former, but to continue to define what the show

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is about and, and who it's for? What are your

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goals, you know, for the show and moving forward?

Speaker:

That's a great question. Cause I have iterated at my

Speaker:

goal so many times in the past a year, for

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sure. But even in the past six months, I struggled

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for a long time trying to understand what the show

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was about and who it was for. I struggled with

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a long time with trying to understand what was my

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goal in doing this show. Was I trying to do

Speaker:

this full time? Was I trying to get more downloads

Speaker:

a month over a month? Like, what was the goal

Speaker:

where I've kind of arrived is that the goal is

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a way for me to keep learning and be for,

Speaker:

for my listeners to, to keep learning in order to

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do that, I do want the show to grow in

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terms of like exposure.

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I want the people who are listening, you know, today

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to my show to continue listing and to learn. But

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I also want to continue spreading that the more people

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I can hopefully help them better. And so it's, it's

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sort of been in battle internally with myself, have like,

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how do I know how to go about doing that?

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You know, like I said, I intentionally started the show

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with no plan. I'm the type of person as a

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creator who, as soon as I come up with an

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idea, I'll start figuring out, you know, the best way

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to go about it and make plans as necessary. I

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didn't want to do that with this podcast because I

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didn't want that to a hamper or whatever this thing

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was going to do or lead me toward. And so

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the only thing I did was I did that initial

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post and LinkedIn, just to say, Hey, I'm starting a

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podcast about resiliency.

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I think I had an email sign up for them

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just to see if there is any interest. And I

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hadn't brought a Microphone and I hadn't done anything I'm

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it was just more of a way of saying, Hey

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world, I'm going to do this and now I have

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to do it. And let's see what happens. Like I

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said, it's kinda gotten to the point now or where

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I'm at right now is that I want to continue

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growing it. I do set myself like download goals every

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month just to make sure that I'm trying to achieve

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some sort of momentum. And I've also learned a lot

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about the, the unique value I can provide. You know,

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I think as soon as COVID hit and in the

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spring of 2020, and everyone was grounded and at home,

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I immediately started to chase after, you know, famous people.

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I'm, I'm a such a curious person, but I love

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the Hollywood and the movies and behind the scenes things.

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And I just started chasing after, you know, those people,

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because I thought they were all home now. They can't

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say no, which to some extent was true, but it

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also, you know, when I started to have conversations with

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those people, I didn't necessarily, I didn't always have curiosity,

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curiosity pointing me toward them. Sometimes it was just, Oh,

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if I get a big name on the show, then

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you know, a million people will listen and this will

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be, you know, more popular than it ever was. And

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that's not really the case, right? Like people are not

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coming to my podcasts to listen to a big name

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guests.

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They are coming to my podcasts to listen to my

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unique take on this theme that I've created. And they

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chew, they trust me to, you know, to bring people

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to the table that we'll add value. And it's not

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always a famous person. Right. I've had some pretty well

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known people on the show or at least well known

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to me. And they've been fantastic conversations. Not all of

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them though. So when I think that you asked earlier,

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like what were some conversations that really resonated with me?

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And I remembered some lessons from, you know, those are

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almost a majority of those are going to be from

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people that I was drawn to from curiosity and who

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have an amazing story to tell whether they're famous or

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not fame and a big social media following has nothing

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to do with that.

Speaker:

And that's a lesson I had just finally learned like

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in the past six months, because its so easy as

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a creator to chase after those, you know, big name

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partners or guests that you think can help grow and

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they can, if you're a strategic about it. But I

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think I lost sight of what I was trying to

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do and what my listeners for tuning in four. And

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it is interesting.

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And as someone, so I, as someone who has been

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around that, that sounded really bad says that the old

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one, it does that enter the Mic here. It is

Speaker:

someone who has been around with they're beyond the paid,

Speaker:

we show up like 10 years back or eight, 10

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years back. I know obviously we have the, the new

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podcast. If there was one piece of advice that you

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can give a new podcast.

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Okay. And what would that be? Oh, that's a great

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question. I think my piece of advice would be again,

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to understand what your motivation is for creating the podcast

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and also to understand what your motivation will be to

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continue doing the podcast. Right? So we, we, we said,

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you know, there's so many podcasts stopped after a while

Speaker:

and its difficult to consistently publish any type of media.

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They all have their challenges, a podcast specifically, you're going

Speaker:

to have to edit it, right. You're going to have

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to produce it. You know, whether you're doing a spoken

Speaker:

word podcast for an interview podcast or you are putting

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together a narrative, Stories like this American life, you are

Speaker:

going to have to put it together and like record

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it and then you will have to edit it.

Speaker:

So there's a, there's the overhead on that. Right. And

Speaker:

you have to do it consistently, even if you're doing

Speaker:

just a season at a time. So my advice is

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truly understand the motivation you have for doing this. Like

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at your core, you know, if someone comes up and

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says, why are you doing this podcast? You should be

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able to confidently say, this is why. And hopefully that

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Y is something that you are truly believe in. It's

Speaker:

not, Oh, Y you know, I heard sports podcasts are

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big, so I'm going to do a sports podcast, even

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though I don't watch sports and I have no interest

Speaker:

in sports really understand what that motivation is. And hopefully

Speaker:

it's something that you truly believe in.

Speaker:

No, that's good advice. I know there was like one

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of the Facebook groups that someone had posted, what is

Speaker:

your podcast? Elevator pitch? And there was a boat maybe,

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I don't know, a, a a hundred responses and maybe

Speaker:

half jumped in and plunk down an elevator pitch in

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there. And then, and about another 20, 30%, what's an

Speaker:

elevator pitch for why would I need one or two

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to your point? You know, if you can't, there was

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like that golden rule in business. I think if you

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can describe your product and 30 seconds for get it,

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you know, because if you can't succinctly describe it, why

Speaker:

should others check that out? Right.

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Yeah, exactly. And it's ironic that I'm giving this as,

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by one piece of advice because you should see how

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often I text my friends, asking them, what do you

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think we're only humans about? Like, I'm constantly questioning if

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anyone else understands and not even understands what I think

Speaker:

the show is about, but like, if they get anything

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out of it, like I'm constantly texting. My friends are

Speaker:

like, what do you, well, you know, I asked them

Speaker:

what you just asked me. I'm like, what would it

Speaker:

be your elevator pitch for where on the human? Like,

Speaker:

and I'm just kind of like checking in, like, I

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think getting anything out of this and it's amazing, you

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know, responses I get. And so it reassures me that,

Speaker:

you know, people are resonating with a show, but yeah,

Speaker:

and also, you know, that's ironic, but it's also like

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I have, as I said over the past year, I've

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really gone up and down around, under, over in terms

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of like trying to figure out in trying to continue

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to hone in with myself with what is my motivation

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behind this and what am I confident in, right?

Speaker:

Like it's sort of like the, the, the age old,

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the, you know, advice of like find your niche and

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like understand who it is that your community is and

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who you're speaking to. That took me a while because

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I mean, honestly, because my Topics is so broad, but

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then I realized it's not that broad, right? Like I

Speaker:

was having the conversation with a friend we were texting

Speaker:

in. They were like, yeah, I think I said something

Speaker:

about, you know, figuring out what category my, when you

Speaker:

publish a podcast, you've got to choose what category and

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all of the podcast directories. It goes in and I

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forgot what category they had it in. But they had

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said, you know, I think you're should be in self-improvement

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or a self help. You know, I think its self-improvement

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on Apple podcasts, but that whole idea of like self

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help, self improvement.

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And I was like, Oh, that's so funny. Cause I

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think that too, and I've been reluctant to put it

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in there. 'cause like everyone, you know, self help books

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sort of has this negative connotation. And he was like,

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no, like you should be proud. And I'm like, you're

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right. Like I should just redefine self help is, you

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know, we'd be proud of that. My podcast is about

Speaker:

that. And who cares if anyone, you know, thinks self

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help books or shitty, like this is what I'm going

Speaker:

to redefine it and put a good name on it.

Speaker:

And so it's again, like I had to reconnect with

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like, what is my motivation? Well, my motivation is self

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help. Like I literally started this podcast because I needed

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to help myself. And I ran out to get others,

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to help me to And, you know, from their career

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and to like lets help others, you know, from me

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helping me or others helping me.

Speaker:

And so yeah, why wouldn't I put it in the

Speaker:

self-help, you know, podcast category, but the fact that I

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was even questioning that, that sort of, you know, like

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it was a truly understanding my motivation

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And it goes back at that ties back to your

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point out a bit about the whole imposter syndrome, you

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know what it is, just making it up as we

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go along or not, you know, w we don't all

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have a lot going on or whatever. And I think

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to your point now, so that's, that's such a big

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stumbling block for a lot of people to get over.

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You know, that, that whole imposter, I'm not good enough.

Speaker:

I've I shouldn't be in this category of all these

Speaker:

other people or whatever. They listen to her or look

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up to you, et cetera.

Speaker:

Oh my gosh. Yeah. I mean, and I'm sure we

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all have different levels of it. I'm very susceptible to

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it and all the mediums that I create on it.

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So with this podcast, I mean, I mean, let's be

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honest when I first heard of your podcast and he,

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I ran over right away. I'm like, how many reviews

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does he have? How many episodes does he have? What,

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what are the reviews say? How many stars is he

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at? You know, because I'm constantly like, you know, this

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as someone who I respect and who creates good things.

Speaker:

And like, as he is, he, you know, hit and

Speaker:

out of the park and he is, how do, how

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do I do at like, Danny's doing it, you know?

Speaker:

And again, like, it's that idea of focusing on link?

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What are you good at? What's the motivation behind your

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ears? Who are you creating this for? And that may

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not align, or, you know, you might have a totally

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different audience than I do.

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You know, that, that people may be listening to both

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their podcasts for different reasons. And that is awesome. And

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so, yeah, impostor syndrome, there's a whole episode of war

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on the Human with Amber Naslund. When we talk about

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that at a ton, because she, you know, is a

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big struggler with that too. And I really think we

Speaker:

all are, but she has kind of really focused on

Speaker:

it in the past. A couple of years wrote a

Speaker:

lot of articles about it and just sort of explore

Speaker:

the idea more. So we talk about it a lot,

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but it's honestly, it's come up in a majority of

Speaker:

the conversations that I have with people. And that's the

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funny part, right? Is it like I intentionally, as I

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mentioned earlier, I'm a very curious person. I love to

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talk to people of all walks of life.

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And so we're on the Human futures, people from, you

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know, stunt women to musicians, to entrepreneurs, to, you know,

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people who quit their corporate jobs to, you know, fathers

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and mothers and it's, you know, people of all walks

Speaker:

of life there's value in understanding what it is you're

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creating and who it is you're creating for. Like, even

Speaker:

though I'm, I have this broad topic of resiliency and,

Speaker:

and really as my friend, always, when I asked him,

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what do you think more on the Human is he

Speaker:

says its about the human struggle. And I'm like, Oh,

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you know, kinda is even though that's kind of broad.

Speaker:

And even though I talk to people intentionally, cause I'm

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curious from all walks of life, I think today, you

Speaker:

know, everyday now I finally have a better picture of

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what it is I'm creating, you know, who it is

Speaker:

I'm speaking to and who it is I'm interested at

Speaker:

and what their hopefully getting out of that.

Speaker:

But I still, you know, from imposter syndrome, I know

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I'm better today, but I still, there are moments where

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I still am always comparing myself to other podcasters. You

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know, I'm looking at it like, you know, where are

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they doing? Well, I mean, yeah, it's, I don't know

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if its something you ever completely solved

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Now, obviously you just show up, you just mentioned that

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you have, you've got the one overarching topic, but you

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have people from all walks of life coming up and

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sharing our stories and all of a sudden they are

Speaker:

stories of helping inspired others. When you mentioned a little

Speaker:

and Marie that helped you know, your yourself or your

Speaker:

situation, what was that in mind and people that are,

Speaker:

that you've looked up too over the years and learned

Speaker:

from who you see your biggest hero is and why

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that person, I don't mean to be more than one

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person.

Speaker:

Oh, that's a fun question. I don't know if I

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have one hero. I mean, as cliche as it sounds

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like every person I've interviewed for Only, Human honestly, as

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my heroes, like, you know, going back to like, what

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was my motivation? My motivation was I just got divorced.

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I'm going through a giant life change. It's hard. I

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think I'm doing it well, but its hard. And you

Speaker:

know, I basically started finding these people and I'm like,

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Hey, you went through a big life change. How did

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you get through it? How are you strong enough? How

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can I be strong? And that's just became like, that's

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what I'm going to do every week. I'm just going

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to find people who I'm very curious about and understand

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like how did you get through what you got through

Speaker:

or you know, just daily life.

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How do you survive daily life, life, life is hard

Speaker:

this month. How are you surviving it? And yeah, I

Speaker:

mean that to me, like they're all heroes in my

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eyes because they've taught me something about how to, you

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know, continue being resilience and the continued being strong for,

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you know, the next challenge that life throws at us.

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You know, we are recording this and in fall 2020,

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the big COVID pandemic, you know, which is oddly United

Speaker:

us across the world. Like there's no human on this

Speaker:

planet that isn't an by it. So, you know, I,

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I think resiliency is something that, you know, we all

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at this moment are probably thinking about like how do

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we continue to be strong to make it through or

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whenever this thing ends. But yeah, I think that's a

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great question.

Speaker:

But I basically say is that sounds, I really do

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think every guest I've ever had in the show and

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will continue to have, you know, we are going to

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be heroes of mine now,

Speaker:

And then that makes perfect sense is not cliched whatsoever.

Speaker:

So this is a Tim, this has been an absolute

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blast. I've really enjoyed chatting with you today for people

Speaker:

that want to find out more about the show and

Speaker:

learned a boat in our land, our stories are the

Speaker:

people we have spoken to and And catch up in.

Speaker:

And really, I mean, I've been enjoying catch up on

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the different tails from the episodes I have listened to

Speaker:

so far. I think I've got about another six batched

Speaker:

up, ready to go up. So for us, for anybody

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that wants to listen to your show, find out more

Speaker:

about the, you know, the, we were on the Human

Speaker:

podcast in that project and what that entails, where is

Speaker:

the best PR people, where is the best place that

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they can find you online to Connect with?

Speaker:

You can hit up, but we're only human podcast.com and

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that will lead you to all of the podcast directories.

Speaker:

But of course you can just find we're only human.

Speaker:

It's a big, bright orange, a cover on Apple podcast,

Speaker:

Spotify, Google, all of those on Instagram. We are only

Speaker:

human podcasts also on Twitter, the w O H podcasts.

Speaker:

But yeah, we're on the Human podcast.com was probably the

Speaker:

easiest place to find out.

Speaker:

Yeah. Ask them and I'll make sure you have to

Speaker:

drop the AU the links through that in the show

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notes of your listening on your favorite app and makes

Speaker:

sure you check the show notes or it was usual.

Speaker:

So you can link through to a Tim site and

Speaker:

check out more about the podcast. So as an adult

Speaker:

size, Tim we really appreciate you going on today and

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I have a real enjoy to chat with you too.

Speaker:

Thank you.

Speaker:

Yeah. Thank you for having me. I love it. Keep

Speaker:

up with the good stories. Its fun to hear about

Speaker:

other people creating out there.

Speaker:

Have a solid try. So this has been another episode

Speaker:

of Podcaster Stories if you enjoyed this week's episode, be

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sure to share it with someone and if you might

Speaker:

get value from it as well, and you can catch

Speaker:

up on any of these episodes you've missed over@podcasterstories.com or

Speaker:

on your favorite app like Google podcasts or Apple podcasts,

Speaker:

Spotify more until the next time take care and stay

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About the Podcast

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Podcaster Stories
We listen to our favourite podcasts, but don’t always get to know the stories of the people behind these voices. Podcaster Stories looks to change that.

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About your host

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Danny Brown

Danny Brown is the host of One Minute Podcast Tips, the show that helps you be a better podcaster in just a minute a week. He's also hosted, and co-hosted, several other podcasts - if you called him a serial podcaster, you wouldn't be wrong! He's been in the podcasting space for over 10 years, and has the scars to prove it.

He's the Head of Podcaster Support and Experience at Captivate.fm, the world's only growth-oriented podcast hosting, distribution, analytics, and monetization platform for the serious indie podcaster.

He lives in beautiful Muskoka, Ontario, Canada with his wife and two kids, where he spends winters in front of a cozy fire and summers by the lake. Well, when he finds time away from podcasting, of course...