Top Motivational Podcasts for Personal Growth and Career Development 

Regardless of how exciting your work life is, showing up daily with the same high spirits can feel exhausting. We all have days when we need a little motivation to add that much-needed spark. 

What’s better than something that can motivate you while at the gym, traveling, or going up the office elevator? Something like motivational podcasts! 

Motivational podcasts are our daily dose of inspiration. They lift our mood, trigger our imagination with fresh ideas, and offer valuable personal and professional development advice.

In this article, we’ve compiled a list of the seven best motivational podcasts catering to different interests. We give you the highlights, along with a couple of our favorite episodes, to help you pick the best podcast for you.

Add some (or all!) to your daily playlist; we promise they’ll bring you a regular dose of positivity and cheer.

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The Importance of Motivational Podcasts

If you are already a fan of motivational podcasts, then you know their benefits and can skip this part 😄

If you haven’t yet tried them, then let’s go over a few reasons why you should.

You’ve probably heard the saying, “It’ll all in the mind.” When it comes to human beings, whether it is our work lives or personal, our thoughts and state of mind can impact us tremendously. 

You can only deliver your best at work and stay motivated to go higher when the mind is at peace. If your thoughts are jumbled, your productivity suffers, and growth stalls.

Stress not only hampers creativity but also leads to management and productivity issues. 

Motivational podcasts greatly assist you in overcoming these problems. They help you explore new perspectives on life and its many challenges. 

Let’s look at some of the core benefits of listening to these podcasts: 

1. Better focus and productivity

Listening to motivational podcasts infuses positivity into your daily life, triggering dopamine, a chemical that helps increase focus and keeps you motivated. They stimulate your brain to tune out distractions,  eliminate mental blocks, increase self-esteem, inculcate self-love, and achieve professional success.

They also allow you to learn some practical tips from experts to be more productive, avoid procrastination, prioritize better, and manage work well. 

2. Boost mood and energy

All you need on some days is a little push to go from being okay to being a go-getter. Motivational podcasts can help boost morale. 

Listening to inspiring stories of people who faced adversity and came out on top is motivation enough on bad days. 

3. Get new insights

Listening to motivational podcasts brings new insights, perspectives, and ideas to expand your curiosity. You can learn to manage things better, cope with problems, and upgrade skills. Actionable life advice from experts featured on podcasts can help you accomplish more.

For instance, say you have an interpersonal problem with a colleague.  Instead of trying to sort it out yourself, you can turn to an episode of your favorite personal development podcast to get tips and focus on finding a solution.

4. Discover new opportunities

Motivational podcasts help you stay up-to-date with industry trends. They are an extraordinary source of information about ideas, innovation, and opportunities to tap into. Get information regarding books, mentors, and different courses to add to your learning and walk towards self-improvement. 

With these benefits, listening to podcasts is no longer just a task to reduce screen time but a productivity hack to enhance personal growth and career development. 

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Review and Analysis of Top Motivational Podcasts in 2024

Listening to podcasts can help you through any good life project you are working on.

Let us look at some of the best motivational podcasts to kickstart your journey towards a happier professional and personal life. 

1. The Science of Success

An exemplary weekly podcast hosted by J. Matthew Bodnar, The Science of Success focuses on exploring the human potential to the fullest. Based on evidence-based personal growth, this podcast dives deep into the untapped human potential short of only one thing—motivation.

Whether you’re trying to become a better parent or are working on professional or personal development, this podcast has something to offer you. It features guest speakers ranging from psychologists and neuroscientists to entrepreneurs and FBI hostage negotiators, all sharing their experiences and providing life hacks to everyone who joins the community. 

Besides this, Bodnar hosts focused podcasts once every while to dig deeper into topics such as creativity, limiting beliefs, meditation, etc, to aid you in self-discovery. At the heart of The Science of Success is an encouragement to break free from fear, to work on oneself, and to lead a fulfilled life. 

Must-listen episodes:

• How to build habits that stick with Charles Duhigg
• The truth about sleep and how it can save your life with Dr. Matthew Walker

What listeners said:

2. Therapy for Black Girls with Joy Harden Bradford

Therapy for Black Girls is a weekly podcast created by the eponymous women’s network to spark discussions around mental health, personal development, and ways to lead a happier life.

With its motto, ‘To be seen, to be heard, and to be understood,’ it aims to make mental health accessible for Black women by removing the stigma attached to therapy. It aims to cover every aspect of life and career issues Black women face today, from financial freedom and careers to relationships with social media. 

The host, Dr. Joy Harden Bradford, is a certified psychologist who utilizes pop culture to clarify psychological concepts for her listeners. She has earned a steady name with features in O, Teen Vogue, Black Enterprise, The Oprah Magazine, MTV, Forbes, Refinery29, Essence, and Bustle. 

Must-listen episodes:

• Establishing New Routines
• The Dynamics of Black Women Working With Black Women Therapists

What listeners said:

3. Tiny Leaps, Big Changes

This productivity podcast focuses on everyday behavior (habits) that shape our lives. Hosted by Gregg Clunis, Tiny Leaps, Big Changes is a personal development podcast that persuades you to become the best version of yourself.

As the name suggests, the podcast teaches how tiny leaps can lead to significant, positive changes. And how you can gradually begin moving towards your long-run goals by making minor tweaks in your habits. 

Listen to it for tips on taking control of your life and becoming capable of turning your far-fetched dream into reality. This podcast alters our view of success and inspires us to change our lives.

Must-listen episodes:

• 4 Tips To Beat Procrastination
• Stop Thinking

What listeners said:

4. Brené Brown’s Unlocking Us

Are you looking for a podcast that re-introduces you to your deepest being? Try Unlocking Us. The podcast aims to help you unlock your deepest human parts to help you live, love, and parent with greater courage. 

This podcast believes embracing vulnerability leads to courage. Brené Brown, the host, celebrated author, motivational speaker, and life coach, believes in courage over comfort and will help you confront your vulnerabilities head-on.

Brown urges her audience to face life and become more aware of themselves. The podcast teaches you to live with courage and empathy, to be “awkward, brave, and kind.”

Must-listen episodes:

• Brené with Joe Biden on Empathy, Unity and Courage
• The Anatomy of Trust

What listeners said:

5. The Happiness Lab

The Happiness Lab podcast is based on Yale University’s most popular course, The Science of Happiness. Hosted by Dr. Laurie Santos, the professor behind the course, it talks about how we can achieve happiness.

Moving away from traditional beliefs about happiness and joy, this podcast takes you through the latest scientific research with stories that will transform your idea of true happiness.

Apart from covering themes like friendship, money, career, health, etc., the podcast also brings on expert guests to share their personal success stories that can inspire listeners. With this podcast, you’ll realign your idea of happiness and learn how to reach it sooner.

This podcast is for you if you want to move toward a more fulfilled and happy life.

Must-listen episodes:

• How Getting Active Can Make You Happier
• Build the Life You Want… Advice from Arthur Brooks and Oprah

What listeners said:

6. The Tim Ferriss Show

The Tim Ferriss Show is one of the most popular business podcasts ever and was on Apple Music’s ‘Best Of’ list three years ago. Boasting 900 million downloads and a stellar lineup with guests like Hugh Jackman, Mark Zuckerberg, Michael Lewis, and Maria Sharapova, it’s earned its title as the best in the game.

Host, investor, and world-famous author Tim Ferris brings industry leaders across different fields to break down their life experiences into helpful tactics, habits, and routines to achieve success.

Structured as a free-wheeling and friendly chat where you feel a part of the conversation, the podcast is fun to listen to and learn from. Listen in if you want inspiration that sparks action and gets results.

Must-listen episodes:

• Seth Godin on How to Say “No,” Market Like a Professional, and Win at Life
• How to Design a Life—Debbie Millman

What listeners said:

7. TED Talks Daily

TED Talks Daily brings you the best parts of inspirational TED Talks in audio. The themes can range from Artificial Intelligence to sports, but each episode promises to be thought-provoking.

Hosted by award-winning journalist Elise Hu, the podcast brings you the stories and ideas of leaders and innovators worldwide. It introduces you to new concepts and provides a way to gather knowledge and learn something worthwhile every other day. 

Listening to this podcast is like being on a continuous learning journey. It is a gateway to fresh perspectives, encouraging you to broaden your horizons and think beyond the conventional. 

Must-listen episodes:

• You don’t actually know what your future self wants | Shankar Vedantam
• Why you should embrace mediocrity | Crispin Thurlow

What listeners said:

Now, let us dive into ways to apply the learning from this motivational content to your life. 

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How to Apply Motivational Podcast Learnings to Your Worklife

We listen to motivational podcasts to learn new things that help us improve—in our work and personal lives as managers, parents, friends, and colleagues. Just like podcasts provide us with knowledge, productivity tools give us the means to improve our working methods. 

One such productivity tool is the ClickUp work management platform, which aims to help users save time (as much as one day per week) and effort. Using the many efficiency-driving features of ClickUp, teams can communicate and work collaboratively for greater success. 

Improve teamwork with ClickUp Project Management

ClickUp’s all-in-one platform for project management enables teams to work closely with connected workflows, real-time dashboards, and document sharing. Regardless of location, teams can ideate and work together more effectively to achieve common goals faster.  Some of the best features of ClickUp Project Management are:

• Accelerate project planning and task completion with ClickUp’s AI-based tools so everybody can work faster and enjoy fulfilling lives
• Plan and prioritize work better and encourage ownership and accountability through ClickUp Tasks 
• Enhance transparency in functioning through shared project plans, processes, and more in ClickUp Docs 
• Communicate, brainstorm, and share updates with team members in real time with comments and ClickUp Chat to keep team morale high

Fuel motivation with ClickUp Goals

There can be nothing more satisfying than setting up targets and accomplishing them. ClickUp Goals allow you to set trackable goals to fuel your and your team’s motivation. Set up timelines and measurable targets and get a continuous glimpse into how far you have reached with ClickUp’s automatic progress tracking. 

Some of its unique features are:

• Track progress with the help of true/false, numerical, monetary, weekly sales, and task targets
• Manage goals, such as employee scorecards and OKRs, in one place with the help of easy-to-use folders
• View project accomplishments in the form of percentages across goals in a single view
• Report on progress on goals with the help of sharable and customizable Dashboards in ClickUp to keep teams on the same page

ClickUp is a great way to keep teams informed, efficient, and accountable. It creates transparency at work and helps to keep employees motivated to perform. Progress reports are a means of encouragement and help keep the team aligned on tasks and timelines. 

Work management tools like ClickUp make work easier, save time, and boost team motivation. Smoother work processes and enhanced productivity can build stronger organizational work ethics and help achieve goals. 

Integrate ClickUp’s productivity tools to put your learnings from career development podcasts into effect at the workplace.  Try ClickUp today.