11 of the best podcasts for new college students

Want to know the real secret to success as a new college student?

You won’t find it in the classroom. And it has very little to do with the library.

Get this right and no matter what your GPA is on your transcript when you walk out the door, you’ll be ahead of 90% of your peers. Full stop.

Ready?

It’s podcasts.

Yup. The humble little, almost always free, medium of podcasting is your ticket to success as a new college student.

To achieve everything you are capable of, there are some basic, necessary skills that you must cultivate. And podcasts are one of the best ways to do that. They are a long enough form to deliver nuance and substance but are short enough where they are easily digested.

And short enough where you can rewind without fear of having invested too much time in a subject you didn’t pick up the first time. And hey, they’re in your ears, so nobody else can tell what you are listening to.

Let’s jump in and take a look at the 11 best growth podcasts for successful new college students.

Time Management

Time is the only resource that you don’t get more of. Learn to leverage this precious commodity to its highest potential. Don’t squander it by trading it away for shiny objects… be whatever they are.

When you go away to college for the first time you overestimate your ability to slice up your day, week, or month into actionable chunks of time.

Instead, you find yourself neck-deep in a hangover watching Sponge Bob reruns on a Wednesday. It’s okay, it happens to the best of us. You need a little podcast help to dig you out.

Productivityist

Productivityist is about marrying intention with attention to create peak performance states. When you’re in the zone or operating in a peak performance state, everything seems easier. You comprehend more, studying is easier, and mundane tasks take less time.

In short, this podcast teaches you how to leverage your finite time. Listen up.

Listen: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | Spotify

GTD

Getting Things Done is the official podcast based on the productivity system developed by David Allen. If you haven’t heard of him, he is the Godfather of modern productivity. The gold standard. The life hack Bible. The book will change your life. The podcast will make sure those changes stick.

Listen: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | Spotify

Beyond the To-Do List

Erik isn’t so much forging a new path as he is reinforcing what are solid, habitual, behaviors. Each week he explores, usually with guests, concepts that you can apply when you feel your to-do list mushrooming beyond your capacity to cope. Read: midterms and finals.

Listen: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | Spotify

Stress Management / Self Care Routines

You will burn out. You need to know how to care for that. Daily practice. Make sure that muscle hasn’t atrophied when you need to flex it.

The Daily Stoic

Stoicism is an ancient Greek philosophy that you’re going to touch on in your Philosophy 101 course. Trust me. 

The reason it’s a 101 mainstay is that, even after 2000+ years, stoicism is still applicable on a daily basis. In each episode, Ryan Holiday breaks down into bite-sized nibbles the ancient wisdom you need to smooth out your everyday life. 

Remember, it isn’t what’s happening in the world that’s stressing you out… it’s how you react to what’s happening in the world that is stressing you out.

Listen: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | Spotify

The Joy of Procrastination

Everything in moderation right? Dean and Dan are on a mission to strip procrastination of the stigma that they are associated with. And this is huge for new college students. You’re expected to put your head down and crank through a declared major when you’re 18… but maybe that’s not your path. Perhaps your procrastination is trying to tell you something. Why not take a break and put on an episode or six?

Listen: Apple Podcast 

The Hardcore Self Help Podcast

Another podcast that is all about removing stigma. Let’s face it, life is hard. We all need therapy. New college students navigating tumultuous seas for the first time after leaving the safe harbor probably need a therapist more than the rest of us. Which is saying something.

Dr. Duff (no relation to the Springfield Brewing dynasty I assume) really knows how to help us trim those mental sails that get us where we are trying to go. Plus he hosts a live session once a week on Thursdays. But this isn’t Fraiser Crane’s call-in show. And if you know who Fraiser Crane is, well, you must be hitting the history books.

Listen: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | Spotify

Money Management… or Really… Earn More Money Now

One of the first things college students get is a credit card… And a huge chunk of non-dischargeable debt.

New graduates become financial zombies, slaves to this piece of the undergraduate experience that they can’t get out from under. It creates a caste system of who has debt and who doesn’t… indentured servants. Don’t be that guy.

Get your money under control even, no especially, when you don’t have any.

Smart Passive Income with Pat Flynn

Passive income is the dream. Put in the investment of time now, and reap the benefits in perpetuity. Your return on investment is directly correlated to when you put in the work, which is why you shouldn’t wait until after college to dig in.

Each episode Pat interviews someone whose story serves as a case study for what you can apply in your own life. Equal parts entertaining and educational, the Smart Passive Income checks a lot of boxes off your list.

Listen: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | Spotify

Choose FI

The FIRE movement is, well, catching fire. FIRE, Financial Independence Retire Early, is a movement that seeks to empower its adherents to make money an afterthought. It’s an intoxicating idea. And one that you’re going to want to adopt early as a new college student. If you’re staring at your slice of the $1.7 billion student loan pie on your kitchen table every night, then you’re better off shifting your relationship with money as early as possible. 

The Choose FI Podcast is an excellent primer that is as informative as it is entertaining. And with an extensive back catalog of episodes to sift through, this is certainly a podcast worth adding to your download queue.

If you want to learn more, take a look at our deep dive on Financial Independence podcasts on our round-up.

Listen: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | Spotify

Finding New Ideas & Sparking Creativity

Success in college isn’t about knowing what to learn. It’s about learning how to learn. It sounds cliche, but it’s about learning how to be a life long learner and really embracing, at your core, what that entails.

Why?

Because if you can come up with the next idea, you’ll never be left wanting. So, just like how you wouldn’t skip leg day at the gym, don’t skip your idea creation practice. Here are a few podcasts to get the juices flowing.

The Joe Rogan Experience

There’s a reason we love Joe Rogan’s show. There’s a reason that Spotify recently offered him an enormous exclusivity contract. And it has very little to do with the size of his audience.

Joe Rogan is an open-minded machine when it comes to new ideas, obscure topics, and diving deep into conversations. You would never have thought some of these were important until you’ve listened to them.

He’s also prolific. He just puts out a ton of content to get your idea muscles juiced up. If you can only listen to one podcast a week for some reason, this might well be the one.

Listen: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | Spotify

The Tim Ferriss Show

Like Joe Rogan is Tim Ferriss’ show. Tim is most famous for his book The 4 Hour Work Week, which should be essential reading for any freshman stepping foot onto a college campus.

That book has given him the gravitational pull to bring just about anyone into his orbit. And lucky for you, he does just that. Tim’s conversations with some of the most influential thought leaders across a plethora of fields will get you thinking way outside your declared major box.

Listen: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | Spotify

TED Radio Hour

NPR’s TED Radio Hour dives a little deeper on a given topic each week than Tim or Joe might in their conversations. But it does so with the high production value that a behemoth like NPR can deliver.

The result is some amazing ideas presented in a narrative format that makes them almost impossible to ignore. You may not agree with them, but they will force you to grapple with them.

Listen: Apple Podcast | Stitcher | Spotify

Conclusion

And there you have it. We’ve only just scratched the surface of the essential podcasts that every new college student needs to subscribe to. But these should get you going while we work on our next round up. Productive listening!