Can you believe this is the 100th episode!?!? Isn’t it exciting!

I want to celebrate and commemorate and reflect with you today, so I’m sharing some of the biggest transformations, benefits, and surprises that have come over the past 2 years. Plus I’ll let you know what’s next for Season 3 of the Release your Resistance Podcast.  

6 Month Runway

Before I even started the podcast, I am so glad that I gave myself a runway. By runway, I mean, I knew at least six months before I started that I was planning to launch the podcast on the first Friday of January 2020. I spent those six months thinking about the podcast and the launch, writing content, mapping out the editorial calendar, and then learning how to podcast. I spent that time figuring out the technology. 

I was thinking about my website and about how I wanted to launch. I planned a launch party. I did all of this in the months leading up to bringing this podcast into existence. 

Because I did give myself so much time to think of all those little details and to plan, none of it felt too difficult or too overwhelming. None of it felt like it was beyond my ability. I knew and I continued to tell myself that I had plenty of time to figure out how to start a podcast. 

Public Accountability

Speaking of the launch, I love that I announced the podcast so publicly. That public announcement to such a variety of people gave me a feeling of accountability and a feeling of determination. I would probably not have been so determined if I had kept it quiet and just decided to spring this podcast on everybody one Friday morning. 

But I’m grateful to myself that I did launch publicly because it was a lot more fun. It gave me something to talk about with people. It gave me something to look forward to which was the launch lunch that I had the day after the launch. 

Planning a Celebration

That was just fun in itself to be able to plan a party. With hindsight, now I see that it turned out to be one of my only big parties in 2020. Luckily, we got it in before everything got shut down. It was fun to think of who I would invite and how I would publicize and celebrate this new podcast. 

I got tremendous support and cooperation from other people. I had sponsors who paid for that lunch. We had a beautiful setting. A friend came in from out-of-state and helped with the finishing details. Friends and family members and coworkers showed up to help me launch. Everyone that I could think of was just so supportive and so celebratory with me. Planning that party made starting this podcast feel fun and made it something to look forward to. Those were some reflections about leading up to starting the podcast. 

Actual Episodes and Topics

The next reflection to tell you about is how my style changed. 

When I think about the actual podcast creation and the actual episodes as they came out every week over the last two years, I have to say, I am surprised at how my creation style changed. 

When I was in that pre launch period, I had an expectation or standard for myself. I decided I would write out each episode’s script. Each one would be well-researched, well thought out and well written. Then, each episode would be recorded in a very thoughtful and enjoyable way for the listener. I really wanted to be super prepared. I worked in advance. I had an expectation of myself that my episodes would be “in the can” at least a month before going live. 

It’s been really interesting to see how that expectation has completely dissipated and evaporated over the past two years. For the first couple of months of the podcast, I kept up that pace. I kept up that expectation. But as things progressed, I found myself not always having an episode ready to go a month in advance and sometimes not even a week in advance. 

Watching my Expectations Evolve

Watching my own brain through that evolution has been really interesting because, at the beginning, when I noticed I didn’t have an episode ready to go as far in advance as I thought I needed to, it made me judge myself. I called myself names like unprepared and lazy and disorganized and sloppy. Those are all not great things to refer to oneself as. 

I had a lot of judgment about myself for not keeping up that prepared pace. 

Spoiler alert- that judgment has since been dropped. I’ve decided I was completely wrong about those expectations I had at the beginning. 

Flowy Episodes

Sometimes I would get episode ideas and they would just roll through me and flow out of me and be so inspired. Those flowy episodes were authentic for me and fun for me to think about and record and publish. 

It was interesting to notice those flowy episodes didn’t need all the prepared time. They didn’t need all the edits and the thoughtful consideration of weeks of writing and editing and considering. They could basically be written in a morning and recorded either the same morning or that afternoon and they were really good episodes. 

Examples of Flowy Episodes

Off the top of my head, a few examples of those episodes that just flowed out of me that way were How to Interpret Your Own Dreams and How to Make a Vision Board. Those two just came right out no problem at all. 

More recently, another concept that just appeared to me and then became its own episode was Motion and the Model. The idea for that one came as I was taking a walk. I was also able to use that concept as an impromptu presentation for a group that I attended later that day. Then, I also used it as a podcast episode. I just really loved how easy and effortless and flowy those episodes were created. 

I didn’t have to follow my own rules of “you must have this episode outlined!” and “you must have the talking points” and “it has to be carefully edited.” 

Those are all rules that I had about my episodes that might have been helpful and some listeners may appreciate that work that I did. But also might not have been important in any way whatsoever. 

Content Creation Style

Partway through working on the podcast in 2020, my first year of podcasting, I watched some instructional videos about content creation. I learned how other podcasters come up with their topics and their content. I probably had heard this before, but somehow the idea of batch work struck in 2020.  Batching content is using one day a month to do all of one type of task, maybe writing and then a different day to do all of another type of task, maybe editing or recording. Then maybe a third day in the month to get them all in the queue for publishing and get all the social media images lined up and just doing the same type of task in one big batch, like an assembly line, instead of doing each of those tasks for each of the episodes separately. 

The organized part of my brain and the efficient part of my brain like the idea. But, I haven’t really implemented that strategy for myself yet, not because I’m resistant to it but because I guess I’m not that interested in it. 

I guess I just like how things have been going. But as I look to Season 3, which will start in 2022, coming up here after I take a short break, I am curious, now, about experimenting with batching. 

How would I like it? 

Would it work for me? 

It’s going to be interesting to watch the continuation of the evolution of the Release your Resistance podcast to see how things change. 

Surprises from 100 Episodes

Let’s talk about some surprises that have come as a result of 100 episodes. One of the surprises was that the back end administration got so easy and routine for me.

Here’s how and why it’s a surprise. Back when I first started publishing my podcast weekly, I would write the podcast as I described, I took it slow. I gave myself a lot of lead time to write and then edit and then re edit and really come up with the perfect episode. Which now, as I look back at those, sometimes I think I could have done so much better. 

Those episodes weren’t that perfect, but okay. At the time, it’s exactly what I wanted. 

All the Little Things

Then the week of, or maybe, the week before I would go into the back end in my systems in my podcast host and in my website. I would set up the episode administratively so that it would post at the time that I wanted it to post and so that there would be an accompanying email to go out to the email list of my favorite people. I would have a corresponding social media post. Back in early 2020, all of those administrative tasks felt so cumbersome. They felt like a lot of little steps and a lot of little things to keep track of. I remember worrying that I might forget something. 

I told myself I should probably have a checklist of all the little steps that I do as part of this process so I don’t forget anything. I remember sitting down when it was time to do that and really feeling like it was this big chore to get through. 

Considering Those Little Things Now

Now, I think “Oh, it’s second nature. It probably only takes me less than 20 minutes. It’s pretty simple. It’s pretty effortless. It’s just not that big of a deal.” That switch in my attitude has been a surprise. 

It shouldn’t be, but I’m just sharing it with you, also as a reminder, that something that we can find very complicated and complex and time consuming, and maybe even annoying, when we are new at it, might turn out to be something that is very easy and second nature and not that big of a deal at all. 

The Resistance to Creating Content

Now on the other side, something that used to be relatively simple for me, which has become a lot more complicated and complex, and seems to have a lot more resistance pulsing from it is content creation. 

In late 2019 I had my editorial calendar. I knew the topics that I wanted to talk about. I felt like there was just so much I wanted to share. I had countless ideas. I could see the through line, the string, from one topic to the next. It just made perfect sense. I loved the whole idea of coming up with all of these various episodes that all fit around the topic of resistance and managing our minds.

I was ready to share my own personal journey and how my life has transformed. I was excited to talk about how coaching is such a transformational experience. I had all this content and all these ideas just flowing out of me at the end of 2019 and then of course throughout 2020.

Surprise! It’s Resistance!

In 2021, here in season 2, the biggest surprise is how resistant I have been to coming up with new episode topics. It has been so hard for me. I have struggled with it almost weekly. It has caused me to question everything about myself and the podcast and my coaching practice. Not to question myself in a bad way. Don’t take this as doubt or being down on myself. Certainly not. But, my resistance to episode topics caused me to question in a curious way. 

Curious Questioning

I asked myself: 

Is this how I want to spend my time? 

Does this still feel good to me? 

Is this what I want to be doing as I live my life? 

Is this aligned with who I am now? 

I’ve just had all these questions. 

Putting Your Mind to Rest

Let me interrupt myself: just in case I’m putting anyone on edge. I’ve had a couple people who have questioned me about this in individual conversations. I don’t want anyone to worry. The podcast is continuing. I don’t want it to end after two years and after 100 episodes. I love this podcast. I love having the identity of being a podcaster. 

There’s a lot more that can be said and shared and experienced in this communication that we have with each other -you and me- here every Friday, but I also believe in evolution. I also know that seasons change and literally seasons change. So, here we are at the end of Season 2. I have two more episodes planned for you this month. And then I will take a break for the rest of 2021. 

Starting Season 3 of Release your Resistance

Starting in 2022 I’m not sure exactly which date – I will start season 3. I haven’t planned how long this mid-season break between Seasons 2 and 3 will be. 

I will start Season 3 in 2022. I know it will be different. I am dropping all of the expectations that I’ve had for myself throughout Seasons 1 and 2 – those expectations that I had and maintained and kept that are no longer rules I will hold myself to. 

I won’t be posting an episode every Friday (at least I don’t have that expectation). If I do, that’s great. I will. But I don’t have the expectation of myself that I must post an episode every Friday in Season 3. I’m following the example of one of my favorite teachers and podcasters, Jess Lively, who posts a new episode whenever she feels like it 

I am going to be experimenting with different formats, as you’ve already seen me do in the past few months. You’ve seen me interview more guests. You’ve seen me have a recorded book club. You’ve seen me share more personal (non related to resistance) things in my life like reading recommendations and updates on my renovation, my favorite gifts to give and receive and how to start a pod club. 

Those topics are not related really to resistance, although you might find a connection. I want to continue my exploration and experimentation of having different formats, different topics, and different guests. We’ll just see what happens. I’m going to be open to experimentation more than I ever have been before in Season 3.

More Experimenting

One thing I’m going to be experimenting with in the coming months is being a guest on other podcasts as well. I’m looking for opportunities where I can share my favorite topics and talk with other podcast hosts to their audiences about resistance, about journaling, about coaching, about all the things that I love to talk about. 

I’m looking for opportunities. So if you listen to other podcasts, and you think I would be a great fit, why don’t you make an introduction? You could introduce me to the host of another podcast that you are a super fan of and maybe we could do a pod swap.  That podcast host could be on my show and have me on their show. There’s a lot of different things we could do. 

It’s interesting to experiment with since I’m dropping all my previous expectations that I used to have. 

Expectations I am Keeping

I still want to keep this podcast focused on something that I find valuable to share with you. I don’t want to create an episode just to have an episode. 

I want to make sure it’s something that I think you will benefit from hearing or that gives you a different perspective. I want to share something that’s worked for me or for someone else with you so you can consider it for yourself.  

Benefits of 100 Episodes

As I was thinking about the last two years and the last 100 episodes, I wondered what have been the biggest benefits. There have been so many benefits. I’ve met new clients. I’ve met colleagues. I have been able to tease out my own thoughts and ideas about concepts I want to intentionally use in my life.

Connection with my Parents

My number 1 benefit is also somewhat a surprise. I would say the number one benefit for me personally, maybe not necessarily for you, has been the connection this podcast has strengthened between me and my parents. 

I have heard other podcasters joke and say things like, “Oh, when I first started the only person who listened was my mom.” 

And they say that as if that’s something that is not what they want. 

When I started the podcast, I had the goal to have at least 1 listener per episode. I had already decided that listener would be me so I was already guaranteed to be successful. Then, when my parents started listening each week – that tripled my success rate! 

My #1 Fans

When I look at what has unfolded for me over the last two years and I see that my mother and father have been my #1 Fans and most consistent listeners and most encouraging commenters, I’m just so grateful that my parents listen to this podcast weekly. 

Frequently after a podcast episode airs, I will get a phone call and we will have a follow up discussion about the episode. I love that my parents find value in what I’m sharing. I think if the podcast was just a three way conversation between me, my mom and my dad, it would be 100% worth it. And at the same time, I’m delighted that other people are able to listen and learn and share and consider even while I’m having this conversation with my mom and dad. 

The connection with my parents has been the number one benefit, which was completely unexpected and completely unplanned for. This fun new connection with them is just a very, very happy byproduct of creating the podcast. 

Open and Curious

The number two benefit from having this podcast for the last two years and 100 episodes has been that it has kept me open and curious. When I realized that the topics were not flowing out of me 20, 30, 40 episodes in the way that they had been before it all came into existence, I did have to get a little more open. 

I did want to start paying attention to what topics I just take for granted, which would be actually very helpful or interesting for other people to hear a new perspective about. I got curious about which topics deserved repeating because we all need to hear things more than once. We can never hear the same episode twice. 

I love that this work of creating this collection of thoughts and ideas has really stretched me to stay open and curious and exploratory and experimental. 

Benefit of Breaking Rules

Another thing that has been both a surprise and a benefit is what I talked about earlier when it comes to loosening my own expectations. I surprised myself by being willing to be in the discomfort of a Tuesday or even Wednesday afternoon knowing that I have an episode to post for Friday morning and not being 100% sure what I was going to post. When I say “discomfort,” that is high, high discomfort for me because I am a planner. I am a preparer. I like things ready to go. I like things planned out in advance. 

When I found myself those few weeks, many more in the recent months, than in the first 18 months or so of the podcast, I really got to get curious and trust myself. 

Benefit of a Relaxing Brain

It was interesting to watch that transformation from my brain telling me “oh no, this is the worst thing ever. Here it is Monday morning and you’re not sure what you’re posting on Friday” to my brain relaxing so much and being so confident and so trusting on a Wednesday saying, “Yeah, it’s true. I’m not 100% sure what I’m going to post on Friday, but I know I’m going to come up with something. I know there’s something good that I can post that I like and that other people will like.”

That’s been a really fun shift for me to drop that expectation that I had from the past. 

Benefits of a Conversation Starter

Another benefit of having this podcast for the past two years is that it has been such a lovely conversation starter. I am a pretty consistent networker. You heard from my episode with The Kindest Karen that I try to network at least once and sometimes more than once a week. I love to meet new people. I love being able to introduce myself as a coach, a podcast host and a journal creator and frequently someone who I meet will have their curiosity and interest piqued by any of those three titles.

People who Love Podcasts

Frequently they want to hear about the podcast. So many of us love listening to podcasts. So many of us learn so much by audio. We all have different things that we do throughout the day where we can listen while we do something else. 

Whenever I meet someone and mention that I have a podcast, if they tell me that they love podcasts, we get to talk about which podcasts we listen to and why. We trade info on where and how we listen to podcasts. It’s just been a lovely way to make a connection with someone who I’ve just met. 

Helping People Start to Listen

The other fun thing for me in telling people that I’m a podcast host is getting to hear that they’ve been curious about podcasts but they don’t know anything about it and they don’t even know how to listen.

So I have gotten to share and tutor people right on the spot, on their phones or on their devices, how to download a podcast player and how to access a podcast of their choice so they can listen to it. 

Just knowing how much listening to podcasts has changed my life makes me so happy that I am able to share (even if it’s not my podcast) with other people so that they now have this life changing resource in their life too.

Final Thoughts on 100 Episodes

So those are some of my reflections, surprises and benefits about creating 100 episodes for you. 

What are your reflections and surprises?

What benefits do you get from listening to this podcast (and others).

Please share with me! I would love to hear from you.