Eric Zimmer hosts The One You Feed, which has had more than 15 million downloads and is currently part of the Wondery podcast network.
The podcast is based on an old parable about two wolves at battle within us. One represents our positive traits like kindness, bravery, and love. The other represents our negative traits like greed, hatred, and fear. As the parable goes, we’re ultimately in control of which wolf wins based on the side of ourselves we choose to “feed” each day.
This parable acts as a jumping-off point for meaningful conversations with scientists, authors, psychologists, spiritual teachers, and other public figures. Each episode offers practical tools listeners can use to live better, more fulfilling lives. And the formula has been a proven success. The Huffington Post listed The One You Feed as one of the best health podcasts of all time, and iTunes previously named it as one of their Best Podcasts of the Year.
Outside podcasting, Eric has worked as a behaviour coach for more than 20 years. He’s now helped hundreds of people all over the world create new habits that serve them well in achieving the goals they’ve set for themselves.
In this interview James Deeney chats to Eric about how first-time podcasters can overcome common challenges like procrastination and fear of failure. They discuss:
- 03:00 - Eric’s journey of recovery & personal growth
- 04:30 - Starting The One You Feed Podcast
- 06:50 - Writing highly personalised messages to book guests
- 09:00 - Getting featured on Apple Podcasts
- 11:10 - Interviewing Henry Shukman & Nir Eyal
- 12:30 - A simple step-by-step approach to starting a podcast
- 15:45 - How to create clear, unambiguous to-do lists
- 19:30 - Why celebrating small wins facilitates behaviour change
- 25:30 - How to work with fear of failure as a podcaster
- 30:26 - Managing anxieties around interviewing big name guests
- 34:00 - Why ‘podfade’ isn’t always a bad thing
- 39:45 - External vs internal podcast motivators
- 45:15 - How to prepare for podcast interviews
- 53:00 - How to decide whether to join a podcast network
Links
Connect with Eric: Website | Instagram | Twitter
Sign up for the Spiritual Habits Group Program
Eric Zimmer on Spiritual Habits, Mountain Cloud Zen Centre
The Buddha Walks into the Office, Lodro Rinzler
One Blade of Grass, Henry Shukman
Becoming Indistractable with Nir Eyal, The One You Feed
The Power of Small Wins, Harvard Business Review
Tiny Habits For Behaviour Change with BJ Fogg, The One You Feed
The Rich Roll Podcast, Rich Roll
