It’s hard to make an engaging podcast when you’re bored. It won’t take long before your audience knows something is off. Here how to beat back the boredom before it beats down your show.
What do you do when you get bored with the podcast you’re making right now? Yes, I said when you get bored, not if you get bored. Because people-especially creative people-tend to eventually get bored for doing one thing for too long.
I once worked for a company for a little over 13 years, which is a quite long time for someone with as short of an attention span as me. During my tenure with that company, I changed titles five times. I lived in three different States. And my work address changed 10 different times.
I look at the long-term podcasters who’ve been producing the same show for more than a dozen years with a mix of admiration and wonder. Because at some point, whether that’s in six months or in six years, I get bored. And yes, getting a fat paycheck can sure help keep that boredom at bay. But only for so long.
Such is the bane of multi-passionate creatives, a term Stephani Fuccio taught me just this morning. That definitely describes many podcasters I know. Some of us are pretty good about dealing with boredom in healthy ways. But for those that aren’t, here are some ways you can deal with boredom when it enters your podcasting life.
Change It Up!
If you’ve listened to or read my words for any length of time, you know I’m a big fan of change. Change is good and healthy for your podcast, so try these on for size:
- Change the format of your podcast. Not the topic, but the way you present the content. Try different bed music. Re-arrange your segments. Try scripted certain parts. Or try an unscripted version of a section.
- Change the voice(s) on the show. Bring on a co-host. Or perhaps get rid of a co-host and try a solo show for a few episodes. Or maybe a season.
- Change the focus of your podcast. Again, not the topic, but niche-down further to better refine the focus on your topic. Or maybe side-niche, a term I might have just made up where you shift your focus to something adjacent to what you’ve been covering.
- Add a new segment to your show. My show is nice and short, but I’m thinking about adding in some additional content at the end of my episodes. Yes, perhaps even some syndicated content. (BTW… I have content you can syndicate to your podcast if you’d like.)
Start Something Brand New
Many of us have room to do more than one thing. And with all the experience you’ve gathered from the time you’ve been podcasting, there are likely offshoots you could explore to keep your head in the game. You could:
- Team up with other creatives you respect and admire. I love to collaborate with other podcasters and production companies. It keeps me fresh by exposing me to new ideas and lets me stretch my creativity.
- Become a service provider. You know that thing you do on or for your show that you do better than anybody else? Other people-podcasters and beyond-may want to offload that job to someone just like you. If you find it fun and exciting, offer it up to others!
- Explore not-podcasting mediums. Not everything you think about has to be put into a microphone. Maybe some of your ideas are better suited in a Medium article. Or perhaps a Substack newsletter. Remember that only around a third of the population listen to podcasts regularly. Your ideas are likely worthy of reaching more people.
- Try producing a live show. No, not a live version of the show you’re already growing bored with. Something brand new! New live audio and video services are cropping up all the time. Jump in and try your hand at making a show without a net!
- Start another podcast. Ideally on a completely unrelated topic so that boredom doesn’t creep over. There’s probably more to your personality than the one thing you are podcasting about right now. Considering you already know how to podcast… make another one that’s just for fun or as a creative outlet.
Call It Quits
If none of that sparks an idea, maybe it’s time to throw in the towel. There’s no shame in retiring from podcasting and sunsetting your show(s). All things come to an end. And if you later decide you want to make your comeback-great! Podcasting will welcome you back with open arms. I’ve quit podcasting twice now. The first in a huff, and the second time by my own design and on my own timeline. And yet here I am again, this time four times a week!
Fighting Boredom With Your Friends
I’m not big on asking for help, but that’s not a personality trait I wish on others. As I become more open and personal, I’ve learned that sharing my concerns with others has been a big help. Who knew!
So if you’re just not feeling it anymore, or if twinges of boredom are encroaching into your podcasting world, rally your own support group around you. Share with them how you’re feeling and bounce some of the ideas from this article off of them to see where they think you might best beat back those feelings of boredom.
Hopefully, this article gave you some good ideas on dealing with the boredom we all normally will feel. No, you don’t have to pay me for this advice. But you could buy me a virtual coffee if you are so inclined. BuyMeACoffee.com/evoterra makes that super easy.
I shall be back tomorrow with yet another Podcast Pontifications.
Originally published at https://podcastpontifications.com, where it started life as an episode of my four-times-a-week short-form podcast called, oddly enough, Podcast Pontifications. It’s a podcast for working podcasters that’s focused on trends in our growing industry and ideas on ways to make podcasting not just easier, but better. Yes, you should listen. Here’s an easy way: 👇
Evo Terra (hey, that’s me!) has been podcasting since 2004, is the author of Podcasting For Dummies and Expert Podcasting Practices for Dummies, and is the CEO and founder of Simpler.Media, a strategic podcast consultancy working with businesses, brands, and professional service providers all around the world.
