I started asking questions as most of us do. As an annoying kid.
Thing is, I didn’t stop.
Fast forward to my 30s and I got into the physical therapy profession after a 15-year career in radio as a broadcaster. I figured my skills in my former profession wouldn’t help me anymore. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
I started this podcast as a cheat code. Many people commended me by saying things like, “You stepped out of your comfort zone when you started your show!.”
The truth is… I didn’t. What I did do was, bring my comfort zone with me into physical therapy.
If you hand me a microphone I am in my comfort zone, but the profession of physical therapy was unknown, daunting, large, and at times confusing.
I used a microphone and a podcast as my cheat code to learn. I could ask someone to talk to me under the pretense of being a guest. But what I really wanted was insight. I wanted to unlock what they knew to help me learn. And I used what I was comfortable doing, interviewing, to do that.
The added bonus? Thousands and Thousands of listeners got to come along and learn at the same time just by downloading the show.
And that’s something I need to constantly remind myself of. That my value was my ignorance added to my curiosity. I needed to be honest about what I didn’t know, but what I wanted to learn.
Several times in this podcast history I think I’ve gotten too fancy. I’ve tried to come off as I knew more than I did. This was my ego creeping in. When I can am reminded of what my value is, I come right back to what I’m good at and what this show provides. Honest opportunities to learn.
I think the lesson here for your reading isn’t about podcasting. It’s about conversations. The idea is that every conversation is a negotiation for information. Every encounter is an opportunity to learn something that you didn’t know before. But sometimes our ego gets in the way and we want to lead with how much we already know. The more I grow and learn the more I realize that these conversations I’m blessed to have are real opportunities.
7 years into the podcast and I still stand behind our tagline, the best conversations happen at happy hour. It’s not about the alcohol, it’s not that it’s a big fancy show. The question is, can we get someone to forget their on a podcast to get to the insights, thoughts, and emotions at the root of what they’re talking about?
Once we do that, we have magic, no matter the guest or the topic.
The thing is, you can, and need to do this too with your patients.