Welcome to another special bonus episode of Rethinking Podcasting! I, Matthew Bliss, am usually your host but, as a treat for those of you thinking about what 2026 will bring for you, Valentin Farkasch is back and we’re talking about Yearly Themes over on his podcast, “Orbit For Creators”.

This is just a portion of the conversation, and we’re paying homage to one of our favourite creators, CGP Grey, and the podcast “Cortex” that he cohosted with Myke Hurley. Every year they talk about making “Yearly Themes” to plan the direction of their year without the burdensome (and ultimately futile) new year resolutions.

This is just a taste of the ep, and if you like what you hear than you can head over to Orbit For Creators wherever you watch/listen to podcasts and get the full version. Its my first time officially doing a yearly theme, and I really enjoyed thinking it through on the show with Valentin.

Check out the rest of the episode on "Orbit For Creators":

• YouTube
• Audio-Only Version
• OrbitForCreators.com

Explore doing your own Yearly Theme:

• "Your Theme" (CGP Grey, YouTube)
• Introduction to Yearly Themes (Cortex)
• Latest Yearly Theme Episode of Cortex

Let's Start a Dialogue

The Socratic Method is best done in dialogue, so if you'd like to respond to one of my episodes or send through an idea of your own, send it to:

📧 [email protected]

🎤 rethinkingpodcasting.com and select "Send a Voicemail"

Make sure you share the name of your show, so I can include it in my response!

Support this Podcast:

Here are some of the services I use to create this show. Sign up for these services with the links below to support the podcast:

Use Brain.FM to stay focused while you podcast (30 Day Free Trial)

Sign up for Artlist.io to add Royalty Free Music to your Podcast (2 Months Free)

Use Captivate.FM to host & distribute your Podcast (30 Day Free Trial)

Create your Episode Transcript with GoodTape.io (€5 off when you sign up)

After having Helen on the show, I thought I’d return the favour and I had a brilliant time as a guest on "The Sincere Practice" talking about my philosophy background, my contrarian takes on the podcast industry, and my experience with creativity in entrepreneurship while building a personal brand.

I loved this chat with Helen, particularly as she was curious about philosophical flourishing! Its not often I get to wax lyrical on that side of myself on other shows.

So, as a special gift for you, I’m sharing the first 30 mins of that episode with you on this feed and if you’re keen to listen to the rest of the conversation, you can find “The Sincere Practice with Helen Garcia” on all podcast platforms and on YouTube. I’ll add the links into the shownotes to make it easier for you to find.

Listen to the rest of the episode:

• YouTube
• Apple Podcasts
• Spotify
• Pick your platform

Let's Start a Dialogue

The Socratic Method is best done in dialogue, so if you'd like to respond to one of my episodes or send through an idea of your own, send it to:

📧 [email protected]

🎤 rethinkingpodcasting.com and select "Send a Voicemail"

Make sure you share the name of your show, so I can include it in my response!

Support this Podcast:

Here are some of the services I use to create this show. Sign up for these services with the links below to support the podcast:

Use Brain.FM to stay focused while you podcast (30 Day Free Trial)

Sign up for Artlist.io to add Royalty Free Music to your Podcast (2 Months Free)

Use Captivate.FM to host & distribute your Podcast (30 Day Free Trial)

Create your Episode Transcript with GoodTape.io (€5 off when you sign up)

To register your interest in "The Resilient Podcaster" program coming in 2026, sign up at ResilientPodcaster.com.

You may have noticed that the world around us is starting to change. Economically, socially… there’s terms being thrown around like Enshittification and Late-Stage Capitalism. They all point at a paradigm shift that’s coming soon that we need to prepare for.

Podcasting is not immune from this potential shift, and the podcasters like you and I that love the medium will have to change. But its resilience to change and strength of adaptation that will see us through the hard times, and build an unshakeable foundation to support our podcasting efforts.

Today I’ll be talking about The Resilient Podcaster: what I believe is the next stage of evolution for podcasters.

So much of the podcasting world has changed in such a short time, and there’s a lot of uncertainty with what comes next. Keeping up with growth hacks and strategies will see you through the short-term, but there’s only so long that you can hack your way to a sustainable creation journey.

I’ll be sharing a brief reflection on this evolution that I believe podcasters will be making next year, and how I intend to help other podcasters become Resilient. This will also be the last episode of 2025, after which I’ll be taking a small break and coming back next year but listen to this episode to find out what to expect from me in 2026.

Let's Start a Dialogue

The Socratic Method is best done in dialogue, so if you'd like to respond to one of my episodes or send through an idea of your own, send it to:

📧 [email protected]

🎤 rethinkingpodcasting.com and select "Send a Voicemail"

Make sure you share the name of your show, so I can include it in my response!

Support this Podcast:

Here are some of the services I use to create this show. Sign up for these services with the links below to support the podcast:

Use Brain.FM to stay focused while you podcast (30 Day Free Trial)

Sign up for Artlist.io to add Royalty Free Music to your Podcast (2 Months Free)

Use Captivate.FM to host & distribute your Podcast (30 Day Free Trial)

Create your Episode Transcript with GoodTape.io (€5 off when you sign up)

Hello there, dutiful Rethinking Podcasting listener! If the title didn't give it away, I need to take a breather this week because at this exact moment, my Internet Provider is getting changed over!

This obviously makes the podcasting stuff hard (and shows a bit of my hand with how close to release I put these together!)

I did want to follow my own advice as well, and make a bit of space for the final few episodes of this year. So you'll be getting two more solo episodes from me in the lead up to December, and then I'll be taking a few months off to revise and review the podcast.

The episodes have been really fun to make so far, but I want to make sure the direction the podcast is going is of the most benefit to you.

So I guess this turned out to be a short update on the state of things! If you got this far, thanks for sticking around and if you do have any notes or feedback on Rethinking Podcasting, let me know by emailing [email protected]. Anything you can share directly with me will help build the topics and interviews that help you the most as a podcaster or podcasting professional.

Thanks for listening, keep rethinking and I’ll see you next week.

Let's Start a Dialogue

The Socratic Method is best done in dialogue, so if you'd like to respond to one of my episodes or send through an idea of your own, send it to:

📧 [email protected]

🎤 rethinkingpodcasting.com and select "Send a Voicemail"

Make sure you share the name of your show, so I can include it in my response!

Support this Podcast:

Here are some of the services I use to create this show. Sign up for these services with the links below to support the podcast:

Use Brain.FM to stay focused while you podcast (30 Day Free Trial)

Sign up for Artlist.io to add Royalty Free Music to your Podcast (2 Months Free)

Use Captivate.FM to host & distribute your Podcast (30 Day Free Trial)

Create your Episode Transcript with GoodTape.io (€5 off when you sign up)

When we seek self-improvement, its easy to pick podcasts as a medium for learning. But what if I told you that *creating* a podcast might be the best way to explore your creativity, reduce your anxiety and steady your life’s journey?

This week I’m chatting to Helen Garcia - a Mental Health Professional, Therapist, and host of The Sincere Practice podcast & newsletter.

I met Helen through a mutual acquaintance in a Mastermind back in 2023, and since then I’ve been following her content creation journey. She has a penchant for exploration and growth through the podcasting medium by exploring creative practices in her content.

The motivation behind it all caught me by surprise, though. Helen understands herself so well, which makes sense with her background as a therapist, but the depth of her intrinsic understanding has allowed her to build a creative environment that activates her.

She talks of diagnosed anxiety, and how her podcast helps to keep her thinking on-track and healthy. And this led to the biggest revelation for me: Helen creates her podcast as a tool to maintain her creative life, not for fame and fortune. And she makes her podcast for the younger version of herself, that needed a guide through the turbulent times.

We also talk about the state of the podcasting industry and charlatans in it, why she left, her favourite microphone (she’s tried a lot!) and she even asks me a few questions that you might be interested in too.

Follow Helen Garcia's Journey:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thehelengarcia/
• "The Sincere Practice" Substack
• "The Sincere Practice" podcast and YouTube Channel

Let's Start a Dialogue

The Socratic Method is best done in dialogue, so if you'd like to respond to one of my episodes or send through an idea of your own, send it to:

📧 [email protected]

🎤 rethinkingpodcasting.com and select "Send a Voicemail"

Make sure you share the name of your show, so I can include it in my response!

Support this Podcast:

Here are some of the services I use to create this show. Sign up for these services with the links below to support the podcast:

Use Brain.FM to stay focused while you podcast (30 Day Free Trial)

Sign up for Artlist.io to add Royalty Free Music to your Podcast (2 Months Free)

Use Captivate.FM to host & distribute your Podcast (30 Day Free Trial)

Create your Episode Transcript with GoodTape.io (€5 off when you sign up)

Chapters:

• (00:00) Intro & meeting Helen
• (00:21) Exercise as creative medicine for a creative brain
• (02:12) Three-notebook system, nature walks & analog habits
• (04:32) Anxiety, depression, immigration & finding freedom in creativity
• (08:13) Hustle bros vs wholesome creativity & Matthew’s own practices
• (11:15) Flow, biology and growing up around microbiology talk
• (14:20) Social media, limbic hijack, video games & flow states
• (18:20) Bringing a therapist lens into podcasting & self-help skepticism
• (26:06) Questioning experts, cult followings & defining a meaningful life
• (33:59) Rebrands, self-discovery & landing on “The Sincere Practice”
• (44:03) Being too hard on ourselves as podcasters & learning to accept choices
• (51:05) Creating for your younger self, future kids & what listeners really want

The more you create your podcast, you’ll find that you’re changing and learning. It starts to become more than just about bitrates, shownotes and platforms. There’s an abstract experience to creating your show. Something that can’t be validated by anyone but you.

This is the beginning of your unique journey, where the principles of your podcast philosophy are growing, your basic knowledge is taking a backseat, and you’re on the path to the growth and impact you wanted to make from the very start.

Today we’ll be talking about a phrase I’ve non-chalantly inserted into the beginning of almost every episode: about what a Podcast Philosophy is. This is a term I feel like I’ve coined myself, at least in the context of podcasting.

I’m going to explain what it means to me, when to start thinking about it, and why we need a philosophy to transcend the rigid knowledge we seek in the beginning about how podcasting works.

Let's Start a Dialogue

The Socratic Method is best done in dialogue, so if you'd like to respond to one of my episodes or send through an idea of your own, send it to:

📧 [email protected]

🎤 rethinkingpodcasting.com and select "Send a Voicemail"

Make sure you share the name of your show, so I can include it in my response!

Support this Podcast:

Here are some of the services I use to create this show. Sign up for these services with the links below to support the podcast:

Use Brain.FM to stay focused while you podcast (30 Day Free Trial)

Sign up for Artlist.io to add Royalty Free Music to your Podcast (2 Months Free)

Use Captivate.FM to host & distribute your Podcast (30 Day Free Trial)

Create your Episode Transcript with GoodTape.io (€5 off when you sign up)

Every podcaster knows the struggle of content creation. Sometimes it feels like we’re constantly fighting against the pressure of release as our production gets closer and closer to the red zone of burnout. Podcast Service Providers, despite our skills, are no different in this sense.

This week I’m chatting to Laura McRae, the owner and operator of Podcast Support Services in Australia, and host of her podcast: “Podcast Strategy that Brings in Clients”. Being a Podcast Manager for hire, she knows her way around the dos and don’ts of podcast creation for her clients.

But we, as podcast service providers, can often be our own worst enemies. And she, like myself, found after a year or so of recording episode for her own show, that it wasn’t giving back to her anymore.

In this episode, we talk about the pains of having a podcast as a podcast manager or editor, why it likely looks easy to our clients, and how a change of direction is the catalyst we need to revitalise a podcast direction. And as a bonus, we talk a little bit about the current state of the podcasting space, her opinions on AI, and some answers to those questions we love to ask other podcasters.

Listen to Laura's podcast: Podcast Strategy that Brings in Clients

Get in touch with Laura McRae:

Website: https://podcastsupportservices.com.au/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurajmcrae/

Instagram: @podcast.support.services

Facebook: Australian Podcasters Collaborative

Let's Start a Dialogue

The Socratic Method is best done in dialogue, so if you'd like to respond to one of my episodes or send through an idea of your own, send it to:

📧 [email protected]

🎤 rethinkingpodcasting.com and select "Send a Voicemail"

Make sure you share the name of your show, so I can include it in my response!

Support this Podcast:

Here are some of the services I use to create this show. Sign up for these services with the links below to support the podcast:

Use Brain.FM to stay focused while you podcast (30 Day Free Trial)

Sign up for Artlist.io to add Royalty Free Music to your Podcast (2 Months Free)

Use Captivate.FM to host & distribute your Podcast (30 Day Free Trial)

Create your Episode Transcript with GoodTape.io (€5 off when you sign up)

Chapters:

• (00:00) The Pressure of Podcasting and Creative Burnout
• (01:06) Introducing Laura McRae – Podcast Manager and Host
• (02:34) From Virtual Assistant to Podcast Professional
• (05:29) Learning Podcast Management and Early Lessons
• (06:16) AI, Efficiency and the Solo Operator’s Dilemma
• (07:09) Why Podcast Managers Struggle with Their Own Shows
• (08:55) Realigning a Podcast That No Longer Fits
• (13:48) Overcoming Resistance and Relaunching a Show
• (16:58) Doing Less, Doing Better – Avoiding Overwork
• (19:11) Finding Meaning, Voice and Confidence in Podcasting
• (26:17) Audio Perfectionism and the Podcaster’s Curse
• (32:47) AI Voices, Creativity and the Future of Authenticity
• (34:11) Storytelling, Strategy and Finding Your Creative Voice
• (38:23) Building Trust and Challenging the “Podcast Gurus”
• (40:04) Rapid Fire: Video, Social Media, AI and Mics
• (49:35) Redefining What Makes a Podcast
• (51:16) Closing Reflections and Where to Find Laura McRae

Have you ever walked up to the microphone, ready to record and not quite sure what to say? Yeah, that’s me this week. So I’m trying something different.

And you’re going to learn some stuff today - about consistency, rumination and data science. Because we don’t always need a treatise on the podcasting world. Sometimes a grab-bag of different topics is enough.

Let's Start a Dialogue

The Socratic Method is best done in dialogue, so if you'd like to respond to one of my episodes or send through an idea of your own, send it to:

📧 [email protected]

🎤 rethinkingpodcasting.com and select "Send a Voicemail"

Make sure you share the name of your show, so I can include it in my response!

Support this Podcast:

Here are some of the services I use to create this show. Sign up for these services with the links below to support the podcast:

Use Brain.FM to stay focused while you podcast (30 Day Free Trial)

Sign up for Artlist.io to add Royalty Free Music to your Podcast (2 Months Free)

Use Captivate.FM to host & distribute your Podcast (30 Day Free Trial)

Create your Episode Transcript with GoodTape.io (€5 off when you sign up)

As podcasters and business owners, it can often feel like our marketing is pure tactics. But when you think about it, since early civilisation we’ve been telling stories around campfires and in village taverns. Your podcast is your campfire to tell your story and with the right conversation partner it naturally reveals you and your authenticity to your ideal audience as easily as talking to a friend.

In this episode, Rob Drummond of StorySellingLab.co.uk shares a bit of his background in marketing and digital ads, until he had the realisation that his penchant for drawing out a story by actively listening and asking the right questions should be the unique talent that he offers the world.

This conversation is great fodder for you, as a solo or interview podcaster, to think a bit more about asking the right questions to draw out the core story in your guests and yourself.

Mentioned in this Episode:

• Howard Gossage (marketing innovator)
• Jason Leister's Daily Emails
• Activate Your Podcast
• Story Systems podcast (hosted by Rob Drummond)

Get in touch with Rob:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rob-drummond-a88a8443/

Website: https://storysellinglab.co.uk/

Let's Start a Dialogue

The Socratic Method is best done in dialogue, so if you'd like to respond to one of my episodes or send through an idea of your own, send it to:

📧 [email protected]

🎤 rethinkingpodcasting.com and select "Send a Voicemail"

Make sure you share the name of your show, so I can include it in my response!

Support this Podcast:

Here are some of the services I use to create this show. Sign up for these services with the links below to support the podcast:

Use Brain.FM to stay focused while you podcast (30 Day Free Trial)

Sign up for Artlist.io to add Royalty Free Music to your Podcast (2 Months Free)

Use Captivate.FM to host & distribute your Podcast (30 Day Free Trial)

Create your Episode Transcript with GoodTape.io (€5 off when you sign up)

Chapters:

• (00:00) Your Podcast Is Your Campfire
• (02:08) Introducing Rob Drummond and Story Selling
• (03:16) What Story Selling Really Means
• (05:01) The Inner Demons of Storytelling
• (08:32) Storytelling as Authentic Marketing
• (11:02) From Advertising to Story Systems
• (20:20) Overcoming a Fear of Speaking
• (26:43) The Journey Through Podcasting
• (32:23) Imposter Syndrome and the Learning Curve
• (36:09) Becoming a Better Conversation Partner
• (42:23) The Art and Fatigue of Deep Listening
• (48:22) Intentional Content Repurposing and AI
• (55:09) Storytelling as a Path to Self-Understanding

Defining a "podcast" is seen as important to many, but often falls short. In this episode I explain why the definitions often fall short, how incentives drive our definitions, why the Platonic Realm of Forms gives us the essence we need, and how my previous job made the same mistake in defining sustainable remote work for its employees.

Resource Mentioned in this Episode:

• "What's a Podcast?: The Revolution Redefined"
• Plato's Theory of Forms explained (Wikipedia)

Let's Start a Dialogue

The Socratic Method is best done in dialogue, so if you'd like to respond to one of my episodes or send through an idea of your own, send it to:

📧 [email protected]

🎤 rethinkingpodcasting.com and select "Send a Voicemail"

Make sure you share the name of your show, so I can include it in my response!

Support this Podcast:

Here are some of the services I use to create this show. Sign up for these services with the links below to support the podcast:

Use Brain.FM to stay focused while you podcast (30 Day Free Trial)

Sign up for Artlist.io to add Royalty Free Music to your Podcast (2 Months Free)

Use Captivate.FM to host & distribute your Podcast (30 Day Free Trial)

Create your Episode Transcript with GoodTape.io (€5 off when you sign up)