Clearing cobwebs

New information, new ideas, new concepts, different points of view all help us clear the mental cobwebs that collect over time. Like our fondness for an old pair of slippers, it's easier to glide through life's ruts than to clean house with new ideas. But learning and growing are the secrets to forward motion. One of the easiest means of getting fresh new input into our heads is the podcast. These short audio stories can be consumed in any number of easily accessible ways: with earbuds on a walk, in your car during the commute, on your lunch break. Podcasts are not like music. To benefit from them you really need a one-on-one experience—just you and the presenter immersed together. I reserve 30 minutes a day to absorb new information from podcasts. 30 minutes. That's not a lot of commitment out of the available 16 hours I am awake, but it makes a huge difference in my life. I can listen in the car but too often get distracted. I prefer earbuds on my walk. You are walking (or exercising) every day, right? Tell me you set aside 30 minutes every day for your health. That's the perfect time to strengthen your brain as well as your heart. There are thousands of podcasts on every subject imaginable. And they are all free. I recommend installing an app on your Apple or Android phone like Stitcher, or Apple Podcasts. Here's my list of favorites:

• Seth Godin's Akimbo
• Reed Hoffman's Masters of Scale
• NPR's TED Radio Hour
• NPR's How I Built This
• Malcolm Gladwell's Revisionist's History
• Walter Isaacson's Trail Blazers
• The Story Toolkit
• Wait Wait Don't Tell Me
• The Sean Michael McGowan Show

For those not me, you might want to listen to mine on stereos called Ohm's Law. Whatever you decide is of interest there's not much better you can do than keep your mind and body healthy. It matters. You matter.