pursuit of learning

The Pursuit of Learning is an interview podcast in which host Clint Robert Murphy spends the better part of two hours talking to someone about something, generally the topic their career or published work is pertinent to. The show pursues a stated objective of learning about things in the spheres of “mental, physical, emotional, spiritual and financial” knowledge. Most episodes have transcripts on Murphy’s personal website (also the home of the podcast) that are embeds of an auto-generated Otter.ai transcript, as well as that same transcript copy-pasted into the page with little to no evidence of actual editing. 

Little meat exists on the bone of The Pursuit of Learning if one has listened to more than a handful of interview podcasts. Despite Murphy’s decent interview skills and apparent interest in his guests, Pursuit of Learning has a Tonight Show blandness to its discussions despite the seemingly deep topics. Show art of an Indiana Jones-ified Murphy meditating with the Buddha, fighting a Roman soldier, jumping from a plane, and clutching a gold artifact betrays the show and Murphy’s apparent strip-mine approach to learning. The act of obtaining new ideas in pursuit of self-actualization is valued over interrogating or refining said concepts.

We were fortunate to talk with Murphy about the podcast, how they differentiate from other podcasts, and their future plans in podcasting. See below for our full Q&A.

Listen: Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify | Podchaser

DISCOVER PODS: How’d you get into podcasting?

MURPHY: I have been a finance professional for the last 20+ years and through that time I have always said to people on my team(s) that my goal, as a leader, is to help them grow personally, professionally and financially.

At the same time, I have always had a personal passion for self-development and learning and realized over time that it was across multiple paradigms: mental, physical, emotional, spiritual and financial.

The two avenues that drive a majority of my learning are reading and podcasts. During Covid, while we were going through lockdown, I started to dive deeper into reading and began to ask myself: how can I improve my learning experience and how can I share what I am learning with others.

The answer was the Pursuit of Learning Podcast, which allows me to have conversations with the authors of the books that I am reading. With subject matter experts in fields that I am interested in. I am able to ask them the questions that I had when I read the book. I am able to deepen my learning and through that, the listener is able to learn alongside me. The premise of the show is mental, physical, emotional, spiritual and financial growth one conversation at a time.

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DISCOVER PODS: In your own words, why should listeners tune in to The Pursuit of Learning?

MURPHY: I count myself fortunate for each and every person that listens to the Pursuit of Learning and appreciate receiving comments and feedback from our listeners. 

Those who have enjoyed listening are people who are interested in self-development. In growing: personally, professionally and financially.

They want to be in the room with us, per se, as a fly on the wall as we talk to authors about subject matters that interest them, whether it’s:

  • Physical literacy
  • Financial literacy
  • Real estate investing
  • Creativity and mindfulness
  • Critical thinking and cognitive bias

The wide variety of topics that we discuss allows listeners to grow each week when they tune in to our show or to pick and choose those topics that interest them when they have time to listen to an episode or two.

DISCOVER PODS: What kind of feedback have you heard from your listeners?

MURPHY: Something that is consistent from the people I talk to or the reviews that are left for the show is the wide variety of topics, the education and learning and the engagement of the guests.

They also seem to enjoy the dialogue and flow between me and the guests, which is partially driven by the efforts put into each show to ensure that I show up engaged, that I’ve read the materials and am prepared to have the conversation that my guests want to have. 

A number of guests have commented how clear it is to them that I’ve read their books and I have prepared for the conversation with them and I’ve been very appreciative of that feedback and will not take it for granted.

DISCOVER PODS: Describe your recording set up? What equipment are you using?

MURPHY: I am a very simple person and like to keep things as easy as possible. I need to be focused on my day job and my family first and foremost. 

Given that, I tried to set myself up for success by simplifying the purchasing process and the podcast preparation process. 

I purchased the equipment that was recommended for me in the Buzzsprout how to make a podcast tutorial. I purchased the items from the 2-person setup and the recommended accessories with it: 

I record in a separate man cave that we are fortunate enough to have in our backyard at home, which is also where I hunkered down through covid. 

The recording has generally been remote recording using the riverside.fm software, which I have really enjoyed. 

I work with a podcast production team (Podlab) to edit each episode, prepare cover art and sound bites.

I host the show on Buzzsprout and am on most major podcast channels.

DISCOVER PODS: What’s the biggest challenge you face as an indie podcaster?

MURPHY: The biggest challenge I often hear from other indie podcasters and have experienced myself is with respect to growing our audience, which is why it’s great to see that there are sites such as discoverpods.com that allow us to spotlight our episodes.

I believe in life that smart choices + consistency + time leads to exponential results and we will continue to put out great content that our listeners enjoy and over time, we hope to see more listeners come in and join us.

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DISCOVER PODS: Where do you want to take your podcast?

MURPHY: My three greatest strengths, and passions, are learning, competition and ideation so generally I want to be the best that I can be in anything that I do. Effectively, I do anything like I do everything.

What that means for the Pursuit of Learning is growth. I would like to 5x – 10x the podcast growth each year and I want to be a destination of choice for new authors and for listeners who are passionate about self-development.

The Pursuit of Learning Podcast will continue to be a hobby that I pursue passionately until I semi-retire. Episodes will be released three times per month until then and once I have semi-retired, I would love to release one to two episodes per week, which means I will be reading 50 – 100 books per year preparing for interviews. Yes, that would be my dream world. 

DISCOVER PODS: What other podcasts are you listening to now?

MURPHY: I’ve devoured most episodes from Tim Ferriss and love his content and style. It has heavily influenced my work to date; whether that’s my podcast or other areas of my life.

My children love listening to How I Built This with Guy Raz on all road trips and I enjoy it as well.

Lastly, I listen to almost every episode of the Vancouver Real Estate Podcast. Adam and Matt Scalena do a great job on the show. I enjoy the guests and I am immensely passionate about Vancouver Real Estate, whether that’s because of my day job or because of my investments.

DISCOVER PODS: Anything else you’d like to add?

MURPHY: I am active on social media, whether that’s Instagram for the show (clint.robert.murphy) or on Twitter where I am actively engaged in the mindset and financial communities. 

My goal on Twitter is to help people grow personally, professionally and financially. It is what drives me. 

If anyone has any questions, thoughts or feedback, please reach out to me. DM me on Twitter, on Instagram, I am available.

Thanks very much for this opportunity to share the Pursuit of Learning Podcast with your audience and I hope that when people drop by, they enjoy what we have to offer.

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