Running short on time but feel obligated to podcast? Should you “wing it” or just cram like a procrastinating high-schooler the night before a big test?
1. Respect your audience's time
I grew up in a military family and my Air Force officer father did well to teach me the importance of being on time—not just “on time,” but early was on time! Somewhere along the way, I also learned that being late is a huge disrespect to others, even if they're not actually waiting for me. It was like saying, “I don't value your time enough to better manage my own time.”
You can apply something similar to podcasting. Just because you “wasted” your time doesn't mean you should waste your audience's time, too!
Build consistency in your publishing schedule so that your audience can reasonably assume that if your episode doesn't publish at its normal time, you might have had to skip this time.
Your episodes do not have to be a consistent length (episode 401)! So if you find yourself with limited time to prepare for a podcast, it's okay to make it a shorter episode! Just like 5 minutes I can spend with my son is better than endlessly deferred promises.
But in podcasting, unless you have contractual obligations, it's also okay to skip an episode if you must!
2. Always consider quality over quantity
Related to my previous point, it's more important to deliver quality to your audience than to guarantee a consistently published episode.
Yes, it can be harder to grow and maintain an audience if you can't publish consistently. But I think it's actually harder to keep an audience when you sacrifice your quality for the sake of the quantity of episodes.
The measure of “quality” is almost completely unrelated to the measure of quantity. Even if you normally publish high-quality 1-hour episodes, your audience will appreciate anytime you focus on the quality of your content more than trying to maintain length or a schedule.
I think Seth Godin demonstrates this well. He is a prolific author and speaker, but his blog posts are usually quite short—often as short as we'd usually think ideal for social networks. But most of his readers will agree that despite their brevity, they are always of great value.
So if you must cram for your podcast, focus on delivering high quality content with the time that you have instead of trying to make the episode be a particular length.
3. Adapt to prevent recurrences
Lastly, in this short—but I hope valuable!—podcasting advice, figure out what contributed (or continues to contribute) to your time-management struggle and change what you must so it doesn't keep happening.
You might need to lower the expectations on yourself and reduce your “promises” to your audience.
Or maybe you simply need to do certain “work” before “play.”
And remember that the best thing your audience can say about your podcast is not anything about how consistently your publish episodes or how long or short they are, but to rave about how good your episodes are. So adjust your schedule, shift your priorities, delay less important things, or alter your goals so that you can deliver the best podcast gift possible to your audience!
Special thanks
- Bryan Entzminger gave a total of 1,127§
- Go listen to Dave Jackson and me talk about the latest podcasting developments on our show The Future of Podcasting
- Try PodChapters free for 7 days to transcribe, chapter, and tag your podcast in about 30 seconds!
If you love The Audacity to Podcast and value the podcasting inspiration and education I provide, would you please consider giving back what it's worth to you?
Supercharge your podcast engagement and grow your podcast!
Do you ever feel like your podcast is stuck? Like you're pouring your heart into your podcast but it seems like no one is listening?
Try Podgagement to help you supercharge your podcast endgagement!
Get speakable pages to simplify engaging with your audience, accept voicemail feedback (with automatic transcripts), see and share your ratings and reviews from nearly 200 places, follow your podcast rankings across nearly 34,000 global charts, discover networking opportunities, and more!
Ask your questions or share your feedback
- Comment on the episode
- Send a written or voicemail message here
Follow The Audacity to Podcast
- Apple Podcasts, Spotify, other Android apps, or in your favorite podcast app.
- Subscribe on YouTube for Podcasting Videos by The Audacity to Podcast
- Follow @theDanielJLewis on X-Twitter
Disclosure
This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship. I may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't recommend only affiliates.
Related Content
