Creating a Podcast that Inspires and Empowers

Podcast are becoming more prevalent in this day and age. According to Tobin (2022), “Podcasts, audio recordings that are played on demand usually from people's smart phones, have risen in popularity in recent years, with the estimated number of podcast listeners rising from 46.1 to 75.9 million in the US and from 8.99 to 15.61 million in the UK from 2017–2020.” Individuals prefer to podcast for inspirational speaking, discovering new trends, and considering new hobbies. It’s amazing how spoken words can make such an impact in the lives of others. What does a person do when they have so much life to give and so many inspirational words to say? How about create a motivational/goal setting podcast? As an educator, we work so hard to educate students on standards and curriculum, or just basic skills; but sometimes, we just want to inspire and motivate adults just like we inspire and motivate our students.

Making a Plan

Life gets hard, and life can really throw a curve ball, but how we respond to those life challenges is what shows how strong we really are. As an aspiring podcast producer, I have been inspired to create podcast that encourages engagement through motivation and goal setting. Being that I am a single mom who longs to be involved and inspired by other women in the same boat, I felt that I have the heart and the drive to encourage and engage with other women who sometimes feel as hopeless, as I do. As an educator, I am passionate about teaching and inspiring but nervous about how I present it to adults. Nevertheless, there are words to be spoken and hearts ready to receive it. In order to present my ideas and engage with my audience, “behind the scenes”, I figured podcast was the way to go.

Reiser explains one engagement strategies as, “Motivation to learn is promoted and maintained when learners employ volitional (self-regulatory) strategies to protect their intentions” (2018, p. 81). Creating a podcast that will allow my audience to think, engage, and reflect, are my goals in perspective. I want to engage with my audience and every week encourage them to create self-regulating goals for themselves and provide motivational strategies leading them to fulfilling their goals. Many people have a hard time making the right choices or decisions when it comes to how they view life. Regardless of what any has gone through or what they feel is holding them back, I want to engage and encourage them to always push through and fulfill every goal that has been placed on their heart to do, such as this podcast that I am inspired to create.

Follow Through

Individuals are many times inspired with the anticipation that something big is about to happen or they received a satisfying outcome, but what about the satisfactions of actually achieving a goal or accomplishing a lifelong dream? The feeling that comes with that experience is the most satisfying feeling, but yet the best motivation that you can receive. Reiser explains another form of motivation as, “Motivation to learn is promoted when learners anticipate and experience satisfying outcomes to a learning task (2018, p. 81). When presenting information to my audience through my podcast, I want to create intrinsic motivation that leads to intrinsic satisfaction for each of my listeners. I want every one of my podcast sessions to provide a learning experience for my listeners that leaves them inspired to engage with other listeners but also engage in their own goals and dreams. Reiser stated, “With regard to maintaining motivation to learn, to use feedback that is informational instead of controlling” (2018, p. 81). This is exactly what leads to the result of learning intrinsic satisfaction. Feeling the satisfaction of success through seeing their dreams come to past, verses reaching a goal metal stating, “You Did It” is the true meaning of intrinsic satisfaction.

Know that You Can

Everyone at birth was given everything they need to be successful. Regardless of a person’s upbringing, they all have something within themselves that sets them apart from the next. Everyone can be something and do anything they put their mind to doing. Sometimes when life starts happening, people start feeling sorry for themselves and waddle in their own pity, instead of using the challenge as motivation to overcome the hurdle. This is sometimes referred to as “learned helplessness.” According to Reiser, “Learned helplessness, is a condition that can be overcome with strategies that help students attribute the outcomes of their behavior to their abilities and skills instead of luck or uncontrollable factors” (2018, p. 18). It is my hope that I can engage with my audience to let them know, “You can do exactly what you set your heart out to do.” Encouragement is the key to helping others push through, even when I didn’t have the courage to do it most days. The experience that I went through helps me teach others what not to do, which is feel sorry for yourself and create a pattern of learned helplessness. As a learning community, it is our job to encourage and engage each other to the finish line of success and goal achievement. Another form of engagement that Reiser talks about is, “Motivation to learn is promoted when learners believe they can succeed in mastering the learning task” (2018, p.81). My podcast will start off with how to create goals, and then leading into how to fulfill the goals that we set and how to encourage ourselves, then leading up right into the accomplishing our goals through self-motivation and intrinsic reward.

It is my hope and dream that I can inspire women and men who feel that they have no more hope. I want to bring the encouragement and engagement they need to set their own goals, seek their own ambition, and follow through with accomplishing their purpose in life. No one should ever be too prideful to receive encouragement or too boastful to be inspired by others. It is my dream to create this podcast of goal setting, engagement, and encouragement to touch the lives of others, in hope that it will provide them with intrinsic satisfaction and reward. We all need a helping hand, and I hope that my podcast will do just that.

References:

Komunitestock. “Podcast Concept Vector Illustration.” IStock,

https://www.istockphoto.com/vector/podcast-concept-vector-illustration-

gm1298712281-391527884?irgwc=1.

Reiser, & J.V Dempsey (Eds.). (2018). Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and

Technology (4th ed.)(pp. 80-81). New York, NY: Pearson

TEDTalks. (2019). How to build your confidence -- and spark it in others. YouTube.

Retrieved October 16, 2022, from https://youtu.be/b5ZESpOAolU.

Tobin, S. J., & Guadagno, R. E. (2022). Why people listen: Motivations and outcomes of

podcast listening. PLoS ONE, 17(4), 1–16. https://doi-org.oclc.fullsail.edu/ 10.1371/

journal.pone.0265806