We should make the time to step outside our comfort zones and listen to new ideas, argues

Paul Cash

, CEO,

Rooster Punk

I’ve always enjoyed listening to the odd podcast here and there, but recently I’ve been tuning in more on my commute to broaden my thinking and learning. It’s a great time to drown out the humdrum and really focus on some interesting discourse. 

I subscribe to a podcast called Creative Mornings, which documents a series of live talks from design legends, interdisciplinary artists and social entrepreneurs. While not all of these industries or topics covered in the podcasts are relevant to what I do day-to-day, they do offer me a different perspective. 

For example, I recently listened to Jessica Hische, a renowned illustrator and type designer. Her talk focused on the intersection of arts and science, and it was her passion for promoting typeface design in the face of technology that piqued my interest. She explained that as ‘just a letterer’ she learned code for the web and new type design applications. In her opinion, being able to learn code is fun in its own right, but also that designers who don’t learn how to code are lazy for not doing so.

Her talk made me think, we should all get up and stop being lazy. We should all be willing to continue to actively learn new things in order to make the things we want to happen actually happen.

How we market ourselves is incredibly important to opening doors, so being able to put yourself out there as a more educated and knowledgeable individual can only be a good thing. If you know a little about something, that can go a long way. 

If you feel less confident because you lack certain skills or expertise in particular areas, why not learn on the fly? I’d recommend the following podcasts and YouTube channels to digest on your commute or when you have some free time: Monocle Radio, TEDTalks, Critical Reasoning and The Do Lectures.

Ask yourself, what’s holding you back from where you want to be? If you’re more creative, there may be times when you have to put your creativity on pause for a little bit to make more time for being analytical and strategic. Or maybe it’s the other way round for you, and making time for thinking and being more innovative is something you need to do. So, why not spend this year learning and doing one new thing well?