My top 10 Podcasts of 2022

I think of myself as a podcasting connoisseur, following over 250 shows, and listening to 30 – 40 episodes on average per week, recommending my top 5 episodes to listen to every week (in my weekly The Last 7 Days post). But, as I listen to my favorite ones, listening to some for fun, and learning in-depth with some, also experimenting with the new ones… I have got a varied taste, so there’s no one genre that I only listen to. The point being, I think I have a few good podcasts that I can recommend, considering this is the end of 2022, would love to share a few that caught my eye this year.

Here’s the list –

1. Huberman Lab

Hosted by Dr. Andrew Huberman, The Huberman Lab Podcast discusses neuroscience: how our brain and its connections with the organs of our body controls our perceptions, our behaviors, and our health.

Check it out here.

2. Lex Fridman Podcast

Conversations about science, technology, history, philosophy and the nature of intelligence, consciousness, love, and power. Lex is an AI researcher at MIT and beyond.

Check it out on Spotify here.

3. WorkLife with Adam Grant

Organizational psychologist Adam Grant takes you inside the minds of some of the world’s most unusual professionals to discover the keys to a better work life.

Check it out here.

4. The Colin and Samir Show

Colin and Samir, YouTube creators and podcasters that break down the latest news in the creator economy from a creator’s perspective.

Find it on Spotify here.

5. Business Breakdowns

Discover how companies work from the people who know them best. For each company, we break down their history, business model, financial statements, secret sauce, and bull/bear case.

Listen to it here.

6. My First Million

A podcast where Sam Parr and Shaan Puri brainstorm new business ideas based on trends & opportunities we see in the market.

Check it out here.

7. The Great Creators with Guy Raz

Every week, Guy Raz (creator of How I Built This) leads a deep dive conversation with someone at the top of their game.

Find it on Spotify here.

8. Aarthi and Sriram’s Good Time Show

A show on optimistic conversations with people building and creating new products and technologies, hosted by veteran technologists Aarthi Ramamurthy and Sriram Krishnan.

Check it out here.

9. Business Wars

Business Wars with David Brown tells the unauthorized, real story of what drives companies and their executives to untold riches – or to ruin.

Check it out here.

10. A Bit of Optimism with Simon Sinek

Every week, Simon Sinek talks with people that inspire me, about love, life, leadership, and silver linings.

Check it out here.

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Honorary Mentions –

(those that I’ve been listening to for a while now and are just excellent even after such a long time)

– TBOY (The Best One Yet)
– The Daily Stoic
– Cyrus Says
– Our Last Week
– The Ranveer Show
– SmartLess
– Happy Sad Confused

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My Weekly Learnings #46 (06.02.22 – 12.02.22)

Amidst all the content I consume every week, through this weekly series of ‘My Weekly Learnings’, sharing highlights of content pieces that caught my eye and provided more value than I could imagine.

(P.S. Every Sunday, I share a list of what to read, listen to, and watch, in my weekly series, The Last 7 Days. You can check out the editions here).

1. Environment design is powerful not only because it influences how we engage with the world but also because we rarely do it. Most people live in a world others have created for them. But you can alter the spaces where you live and work to increase your exposure to positive cues and reduce your exposure to negative ones. Environment design allows you to take back control and become the architect of your life. Be the designer of your world and not merely the consumer of it. [James Clear]

2. “We have the power to hold no opinion about a thing and to not let it upset our state of mind – for things have no natural power to shape our judgments.” – Marcus Aurelius, Mediations, 6.52

Here’s a funny exercise: think about all the upsetting things you don’t know about – stuff people might have said about you behind your back, mistakes you might have made that never came to your attention, things you dropped or lost without even realizing it. What’s your reaction? You don’t have one because you don’t know about it.

In other words, it is possible to hold no opinion about a negative thing. You just need to cultivate that power instead of wielding it accidentally. Especially when having an opinion is likely to make us aggravated. Practice the ability of having absolutely no thoughts about something – act as if you had no idea it ever occurred. Or that you’ve never heard of it before. Let it become irrelevant to nonexistent to you. It’ll be a lot less powerful this way. [The Daily Stoic]

3. Research shows that mild dehydration corresponding to 1-2% of body weight can negatively affect alertness, concentration, short-term memory, and physical performance. Your brain is 73% water. Before sipping coffee in the morning, grab a large glass of H2O to help your brain go! [BrainChat]

4. Criticizing is fast and easy. Creating is slow and difficult.

The two hours you spent on a book or movie usually took two years to produce.

Anyone can tear down someone else’s work. The true test of insight is whether you can help them improve it or build something of your own. [Adam Grant]

5. I’ve been asking myself: “What opportunities can’t I see because they’re not prestigious enough?”

The very best opportunities are rarely prestigious when there’s big money to be made with them. In my experience, the lust for prestige is the strongest amongst high-status people. When looking for jobs, the children from high-status families tend to value prestige the most. In another world, these people would take bets on exciting, but non-prestigious projects with big upside.

My friend Justin Murphy writes: “You don’t really outperform your peers with quality per se, you outperform your peers by finding underpriced quality that others don’t judge to be valuable.”

Everybody wants to be of high status. But despite the financial rewards, few people are willing to work on low-status projects, even if they have the potential to become high-status. Most of the people who are jumping into Bitcoin now weren’t willing to commit a few years ago, back when people
scoffed at the idea of digital money.

Only after reading Rene Girard did I realize the dangers of chasing too much prestige. The worst rivalries, he said, come when people aren’t competing for a physical object. Duels and comment thread wars come to mind. To that end, it’s no coincidence that the Latin word for prestige is praestigiae, which signifies an illusion or mirage.

The world is filled with under-priced opportunities that are only available to people who are comfortable with promising, but low-status projects.

Beware of chasing prestige. [David Perell]

Podcasts that caught my eye in 2021

The thing about podcasts is not everyone has an ear for them. That’s understandable. Some like to read, some like to listen, some like to watch, some are interested in all three formats. There are over 2.5 million podcasts globally, and maybe more, some hit the charts, some have a niche audience, and some are still building. Moreover, there are all kinds of podcasts – educational, entertainment, sports, music, interviews, business; there are short-form formats as well as some that go really long – but I don’t think there’s not a podcast in any category you can possibly think of.

I think of myself as a podcasting connoisseur, following over 250 shows, and listening to 30 – 40 episodes on average per week, recommending my top 5 episodes to listen to every week (in my weekly The Last 7 Days post). But, as I listen to my favorite ones, listening to some for fun, and learning in-depth with some, also experimenting with the new ones… I have got a varied taste, so there’s no one genre that I only listen to. The point being, I think I have a few good podcasts that I can recommend, considering this is the end of 2021, would love to share a few that caught my eye this year.

Here’s the list –

A. My First Million

A podcast where the hosts, Shaan Puri & Sam Parr brainstorm new business ideas based on trends & opportunities we see in the market. Sometimes we have famous guests, and they do it with us.

Check it out here and here’s their Spotify link.

B. Pivot

Recode’s Kara Swisher and NYU Professor Scott Galloway offer sharp, unfiltered insights into the biggest stories in tech, business, and politics. They make bold predictions, pick winners and losers, and bicker and banter like no other.

Check it out on Spotify here.

C. Huberman Lab

Hosted by Dr. Andrew Huberman, The Huberman Lab Podcast discusses neuroscience: how our brain and its connections with the organs of our body controls our perceptions, our behaviors, and our health.

Check it out here.

D. Armchair Expert

Armchair Expert is a weekly podcast hosted by American actors Dax Shepard and Monica Padman. Each podcast features Shepard and Padman interviewing celebrities, journalists, and academics about “the messiness of being human”.

Find it on Spotify here.

E. HBO’s Succession Podcast

The official podcast about the HBO Original series Succession. Each week journalist and host Kara Swisher unpacks real world events that echo the saga unfolding on screen. Guests include top journalists, writers, psychologists, as well as some of the people involved in making the TV show.

Listen to it here.

F. Life Kit

Everyone needs a little help being a human. From sleep to saving money to parenting and more, they talk to the experts to get the best advice out there.

Check it out here.

G. Renegades: Born in the USA

Renegades: Born in the USA is a series of conversations between President Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen about their lives, music, and enduring love of America—despite all its challenges.

Find it on Spotify here.

H. The Big Shots – Dosa King

An epic drama about the exponential rise of P Rajagopal, the founder of Saravana Bhavan, and the shocking scandal that led to his fall.

Check it out here.

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Honorary Mentions –

(those that I’ve been listening to for a while now and are just excellent even after such a long time)

• The GaryVee Audio Experience
• The Daily Stoic
• Cyrus Says
• The School of Greatness
• SmartLess
• Snacks Daily

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My Weekly Learnings #33 (07.11 – 13.11)

Amidst all the content I consume every week, through this weekly series of ‘My Weekly Learnings’, sharing highlights of content pieces that caught my eye and provided more value than I could imagine.

(P.S. Every Sunday, I share a list of what to read, listen to, and watch, in my weekly series, The Last 7 Days. You can check out the editions here).

1. 7 Stoic Questions to ask every day:
i. Is this in my control?
ii. Is this essential/ necessary?
iii. What’s the worst case? Am I prepared?
iv. Where can I do better?
v. What habit bonfires am I fueling?
vi. How can I make the best of this?
vii. (When people irritate you) When have I acted like that? [The Daily Stoic]

2. “Most people optimize for the day ahead. A few people optimize for 1-2 years ahead. Almost nobody optimizes for 3-4 years ahead (or longer).

The person who is willing to delay gratification longer than most reduces competition and gains a decisive advantage.

Patience is power.” [James Clear]

3. Writer David Foster Wallace on the importance of controlling your attention:

“Twenty years after my own graduation, I have come gradually to understand that the liberal arts cliché about “teaching you how to think” is actually shorthand for a much deeper, more serious idea: Learning how to think really means learning how to exercise some control over how and what you think. It means being conscious and aware enough to choose what you pay attention to and to choose how you construct meaning from experience. Because if you cannot exercise this kind of choice in adult life, you will be totally hosed.”
[Source: This is Water]

4. At first, we sold our labor. That was 10,000 years of history. You traded sweat for food.

Eventually, people figured out that they could build an organization. And an organization made things, which someone could buy. Add some technology and machines and productivity would go up, things would get better, and profits would result. Industrial capitalism. This is the sort of project that most people think about when someone says “I’m going to start a business.”

But there are other options.

Linux and Wikipedia and the local farmer’s market are all projects. They may or may not lead to a profit for every person who engages with them, but they’re distinct entities that organize various talents and inputs and create value for the people they serve.

Stemming climate change, stopping the spread of disease, and fighting homelessness are also projects. They may not have coordinating bodies or a single entity, but they represent a combination of ideas, people, and initiatives that are coordinated through culture.

Bitcoin is a multi-trillion-dollar project with no one in charge.

As our world gets more connected, the projects that change us are more and more likely to have a form that would be hard to recognize just a generation ago. But inventing and choosing and supporting these projects is now on us, and it begins by recognizing that they even exist. [Seth Godin]

5. The basic principles of constructive feedback:
A. Before you give it, ask if they want to receive it.
B. Be clear that you believe in their potential and care about their success.
C. Be as candid as possible in what you say and as thoughtful as possible in how you say it. [Adam Grant]

My Weekly Learnings #19 (01.08 – 07.08)

Amidst all the content I consume every week, through this weekly series of ‘My Weekly Learnings’, sharing highlights of content pieces that caught my eye and provided more value than I could imagine.

(P.S. Every Sunday, I share a list of what to read, listen, and watch, in my weekly series, The Last 7 Days. You can check out the editions here).

1. The Color of Your Thoughts
If you bend your body into a sitting position every day for a long enough period of time, the curvature of your spine changes. A doctor can tell from a radiograph (or an autopsy) whether someone sat at a desk for a living. If you shove your feet into tiny, narrow dress shoes each day, your feet begin to take on that form as well.

The same is true for our minds. If you hold a perpetually negative outlook, soon enough everything you encounter will seem negative. Close it off and you’ll become closed-minded. Color it with the wrong thoughts and your life will be dyed the same. [The Daily Stoic 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of Living]

2. The ultimate form of intrinsic motivation is when a habit becomes part of your identity. It’s one thing to say I’m the type of person who wants this. It’s something very different to say I’m the person who is this. The more pride you have in a particular aspect of your identity, the more motivated you will be to maintain the habits associated with it.

True behavior change is identity change. You might start a habit because of motivation, but the only reason you’ll stick with one is that it becomes part of your identity.⁠ [James Clear]

3. You might know some people who have stayed healthy into old age … and others who seem to be old before their time. Some of this difference is because of genes (i.e., genotype) and some of it is a result of how genes express themselves on a cellular level as they interact with nutrition, lifestyle, and environment (i.e., phenotype). ⁣⠀
⁣⠀
Identical twins share the same genes, but the older they get, and especially if their nutrition, lifestyle, and/or environment substantially diverge, the way they express these same genes also diverges. The result is that their susceptibility to age-related diseases, the way they look as they age, and even their lifespans also diverge. ⁣⠀
⁣⠀
The key thing to remember is that, while we can’t change our genes, there’s a great deal we can do to influence how they express themselves. While aging isn’t a choice, we can make choices that influence how gracefully we age, because our choices do influence how we express our genes. ⁣[Neurohacker Collective]

4. At Steve Jobs’ funeral Jony Ive said: “I think he better than anyone understood that while ideas ultimately can be so powerful, they begin as fragile, barely formed thoughts, so easily just squished.”

So protect young ideas like a bird protects its eggs.

Later, they can fly. [David Perell] (https://twitter.com/david_perell/status/1422634978064613383)

5. Education is uncomfortable.
Studying nutrition will reveal weaknesses in your health.
Studying money will reveal weaknesses in your finances.
Studying philosophy will reveal weaknesses in your mentality.

True for any subject.

That’s why most people don’t do it. [Jack Butcher]

5 podcasts that will help better your mind and habits

We have over a million podcasts to this day, and to say a million is an understatement.

Every day, a new podcast pops up and yet, it’s just the start. Said that, we’ve some super interesting podcasts that we can learn from, that we can consume to our advantage.

Having podcasts in all genres and sectors, today I share 5 podcasts that will help better your mind and your habits – two things interconnected to each other, and improving them both, will overall help improve life as well.

A. The Tim Ferriss Show


The Tim Ferriss Show is often the #1 business podcast on all of Apple Podcasts, and it’s been ranked #1 out of 500,000+ podcasts on many occasions

Tim deconstructs world-class performers from eclectic areas (investing, sports, business, art, etc.) to extract the tactics, tools, and routines you can use. This includes favorite books, morning routines, exercise habits, time-management tricks, and much more.

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B. On Purpose with Jay Shetty

On Purpose podcast brings fascinating conversations with some of the most insightful people in the world straight to viewers all over the world.

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C. The Daily Stoic


The Daily Stoic Podcast is a daily podcast hosted by #1 New York Times bestselling author Ryan Holiday. Each weekday the podcast features a short 2-3 minute Stoic inspired meditation designed to help you live your best life.

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D. Nir and Far: Business Behavior and the Brain


Nir And Far, a podcast about business, behaviour and the brain by Nir Eyal.

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E. Philosophy for our Times


Philosophy for our Times is a weekly podcast bringing you the world’s leading thinkers on today’s biggest ideas, from the mysteries of consciousness and the problems in particle physics, to the future of feminism and the philosophy behind post-truth.

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Of course, we have many more in this category, but having heard a huge number of podcasts, I wanted to share my top 5 that, according to me, will help a lot.

If you have any other recommendation, drop them in the comment below or hit me up at heyrth24@gmail.com.

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