In addition to sharing our resolutions this month, we’re also going to share some of the good habits that we’ve picked up over the years. We try many things, but these are the ones that stuck.

What is a podcast? It’s simply a digital file that you can download on the internet, usually part of a series, and once you subscribe to a podcast it will automatically download to your computer or device each time a new one is released.  Think of a podcast as a radio show, but instead of catching it live, it is saved to your podcast app. You can use your phone’s podcast app or upgrade to an app like Stitcher, Breaker, or a number of others.

The following are my favorite podcasts spanning nearly nine years of listening. You’ll find a good mix of storytelling, comedy, science, true crime, and human psychology. I’ve listed them in alphabetical order and below that by category. Full disclosure: some of these have fallen off my listen list, but at one point in time I was keeping up with them weekly and really enjoyed them, so I’ve included them here for a full roundup.

Be sure to click on the podcast and read the description first so that you aren’t surprised by the content. I update this list a couple of times a year, so check back if you ever need a new suggestion.

I use the app Breaker. If a podcast is new to you, search by popularity and listen to the highest-rated first. Do you like it?

Because I listen to podcasts so often, I’m thinking of starting a new post series and linking to a few favorite episodes that fall into different categories. I’m wondering if people would be into that?

Here’s the Master List of My Favorite Podcasts

1. 30 For 30 
2. 99% Invisible
3. The Alarmist
4. American Scandal
5. Ask Me Another
6. Atlanta Monster
7. The Big Ones
8. Broken Harts
9. By The Book
10. Casefile True Crime
11. The City
12. Cold Case Files
13. Crime Junkie
14. Crimetown
15. Crime in Sports
16. Criminal 
17. Culpable
18. Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History
19. Death of a Starlet
20. Dirty John
21. Do No Harm
22. Down The Hill: The Delphi Murders
23. Do You Need A Ride?
24. Dr. Death
25. The Dropout
26. Ear Hustle
27. The Fall Line
28. Family Secrets
29. Freakonomics Radio
30. Fresh Air
31. Gladiator: Aaron Hernandez and Football Inc.
32. Happy Face
33. Heaven’s Gate
34. Heavyweight
35. Hell and Gone
36. Hidden Brain
37. The Honey Dew
38. How I Built This with Guy Raz
39. How To Do Everything
40. Invisibilia
41. I Survived
42. The Joe Rogan Experience
43. Last Seen
44. The Lighthouse
45. Love + Radio
46. The Memory Palace
47. The Mortified Podcast
48. My Favorite Murder
49. The Mysterious Mr. Epstein
50. Mysterious Universe
51. Over My Dead Body
52. Radiolab
53. Radiolab Presents: More Perfect
54. Radio Rental
55. Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia
56. Rough Translation
57. Savage Lovecast
58. Scam Goddess
59. Serial
60. Slow Burn
61. Small Town Murder
62. Snap Judgment
63. Someone Knows Something
64. Southern Nightmare
65. Spermcast
66. Stuff You Should Know
67. Supernatural with Ashley Flowers
68. The Teacher’s Pet
69. TEDTalks Business
70. Terrible Thanks for Asking
71. That’s Deep Bro
72. This American Life
73. This Is Actually Happening
74. This is Love
75. This Podcast Will Kill You
76. Throughline
77. To Live and Die in LA
78. True Crime Garage
79. Uncover
80. Unjust & Unsolved
81. Who the Hell is Hamish?
82. Where My Mom’s At? w/ Christina P.
83. The Wild with Chris Morgan
84. Young House Love Has A Podcast
85. You’re Dead to Me
86. You’re Wrong About
87. Your Mom’s House

Podcasts by Category

These categories aren’t perfect – and sometimes it’s hard to place podcasts into a particular lane, but I tried..

Podcasts I Listen to Most Often

• Terrible Thanks for Asking
• The Big Ones
• Criminal 
• This American Life
• This Is Actually Happening
• Radiolab
• Ear Hustle
• This is Love

Factual / History / Educational

I love these because they provide greater context and teach me something while still holding up as entertaining and interesting.

1. 30 For 30 
2. 99% Invisible
3. American Scandal
4. The City
5. Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History
6. Freakonomics Radio
7. Fresh Air
8. Hidden Brain
9. How To Do Everything
10. Invisibilia
11. The Memory Palace
12. More Perfect
13. Radiolab
14. Serial
15. Slow Burn
16. Stuff You Should Know
17. TEDTalks Business
18. This Podcast Will Kill You
19. Throughline
20. The Wild with Chris Morgan
21. You’re Wrong About

True Crime

I’m into true crime, like really into it. If you’re not, these aren’t for you.

1. Atlanta Monster
2. Broken Harts
3. Casefile True Crime
4. Cold Case Files
5. Crime Junkie
6. Crimetown
7. Crime in Sports
8. Criminal 
9. Culpable
10. Death of a Starlet
11. Dirty John
12. Do No Harm
13. Down The Hill: The Delphi Murders
14. Dr. Death
15. The Dropout
16. The Fall Line
17. Gladiator: Aaron Hernandez and Football Inc.
18. Happy Face
19. Heaven’s Gate
20. Hell and Gone
21. I Survived
22. Last Seen
23. The Lighthouse
24. My Favorite Murder
25. The Mysterious Mr. Epstein
26. Over My Dead Body
27. Root of Evil: The True Story of the Hodel Family and the Black Dahlia
28. Small Town Murder
29. Someone Knows Something
30. Southern Nightmare
31. The Teacher’s Pet
32. To Live and Die in LA
33. True Crime Garage
34. Uncover
35. Unjust & Unsolved
36. Who the Hell is Hamish?

Storytelling

These podcasts have the power to teach you so much about others’ experiences and they often cultivate empathy and lots of big feelings. Storytelling doesn’t equal fiction.

1. Ear Hustle
2. Family Secrets
3. The Honey Dew
4. How I Built This with Guy Raz
5. Radio Rental
6. Snap Judgment
7. Terrible Thanks for Asking
8. This American Life
9. This Is Actually Happening
10. This is Love

Comedy

These may make you laugh – or cringe.

1. The Alarmist
2. The Big Ones
3. Do You Need A Ride?
4. The Honey Dew
5. The Mortified Podcast
6. Scam Goddess
7. That’s Deep Bro
8. Where My Mom’s At? w/ Christina P.
9. You’re Dead to Me
10. Your Mom’s House

That’s that! Check back every several months for updates. If you have a favorite that’s not on this list, please do let me know so I can give it a listen!