Self-help podcasts and personal development are certainly a thing for adults- but what about for teens? Is it crazy to consider paying your teen money to listen to self-help podcasts on personal development? Could this be a wise decision or a silly waste of cash? What do you think?
During a 4-hour drive to a gymnastics meet, I glanced back at my son playing games on his iPhone and my daughter scrolling through Insta. Typical.
One of my goals this year was to optimize our use of technology, and while I feel like we’ve made strides in that direction, they still have hours of what I consider mindless screentime. I remember reading that John Maxwell paid his children to read business books….
With the explosion of valuable business, personal development, and financial information freely accessible via podcasts, I decided to incentivize my kids into listening to them.
My experiment kicks off at the middle of 2020- for every 30 minutes of personal development podcasts they listen to, I’ll pay $5. That equates to $10 per hour, so pretty decent money for a teenager. I figure if I’m going to pay my kids to do household chores, why not pay them to invest in their development?
The simple requirement for them is to maintain a Google document on a weekly basis and enter the show title, episode title, duration, and a rating (1-5 stars).
Personal Development Podcasts For Teens
To get teens started with personal development podcasts and keep them from becoming overwhelmed scrolling through options, I recommended a few specific episodes from each show that I believe will be helpful to teens. The title, episode length, and a link taking you directly to the show is provided. I’m hopeful they can fit in at least an hour of listening per week. I’ll let you know how it goes!
The Rachel Hollis Podcast
How Anyone Can Be Financially Free with David Bach (1:02)
Asking “Why Can’t I?” With Nick Santonastasso (49 minutes)
Unlock Your Potential Using Grit and Google with Colin O’Brady (1:06)
Popcorn Finance
How to Find and Win Scholarships (14 min)
Our Student’s Financial Health (11 min)
On Purpose
The 1 Habit All Highly Effective People Live By (27 min)
The 4 Ways Your Mind Learns and How to Strengthen Your Focus and Attention (35 min)
Why Small Talk Should Be Banned & 9 Questions That Go Deeper (36 min)
Brian Grazer: ON How to Become A Confident Communicator & Connect With Anyone Genuinely (59 min)
The Marie Forleo Podcast
I Made a Mistake: What to Do When You’ve Said Something Stupid (5 min)
Feel Not Good Enough? Here’s the Cure (6 min)
How to Overcome Procastination (4 min)
The Tim Ferris Show
Josh Waitzkin: How To Cram Two Months of learning into 1 Day (45 min)
LeBron James and His Top-Secret Trainer (67 min)
The GaryVee Audio Experience (note there is some adult language used but the content is awesome)
It Seems Scary Until You Do It (7 min)
Life Changing Advice Teenagers Don’t Know That They Need (19 min)
The Ed Mylett Show
The Lifetime Competitor- with Marshall Faulk (34 min)
The RAW Truth- with Seth Rollins (45 min)
The Tony Robbins Podcast
Could tragedy be your greatest classroom? | Discovering the gift of growth (31 min)
Ted Talks Daily
What Bruce Lee can teach us about living fully | Shannon Lee (11 min)
The profound power of an authentic apology | Eve Ensler (8 min)
The Quote of the Day Show / Daily Motivational Talks
Best of 2019 | Brené Brown: “It is Not About Winning, It’s Not About Losing, It’s About Showing Up and Being Seen.” (9 min)
Best of 2019 | Steve Harvey: “Gratitude Erases Negativity.” (5 min)
Life Hacks- Spoken Edition
Talk to kids about racist stereotypes in Disney+ classic movies (3 min)
Teach Little Kids to ‘Listen with Their Eyes’ (2 min)
What’s The Fastest Way To Get Through a Traffic Jam (2 min)
The Productivity Show
A Million Mile Traveler Reveals Her 5 Productivity and Travel Tips (TPS271) (1:07)
Our Top 10 Mac and Windows Productivity Apps And The “10X Rule” (TPS247) (51 min)
How To Plan Your Perfect Week in Under 45 Minutes (43 min)
The Upgrade by Lifehacker
How to Be Nice, With Comedian Josh Gondelman (34 min)
How to Ace Public Speaking, With Carmine Gallo (32 min)
The Pat Flynn Show
How to Eliminate Excuses and Stay Dedicated (22 min)
Some Tips on Creative Writing (22 min)
Happier with Gretchen Rubin
Treat Yourself Like a Dog and How Obligers Can Resist Pressures to Indulge (37 min)
Use the Emergency Kit for Anxiety, Worry, and Stress (40 min)
Little Happier: Why We Should Be Nice to the Person Sitting Next To Us On The Plane (2 min)
School of Greatness with Lewis Howes
How to Fascinate (6 min)
Nico Rosberg on Becoming a Formula One World Champion (1:17)
Wilmer Valderrama: Create Fearless Confidence and Achieve Anything (1:20)
Outperform
How to Stay on Target, Handle Pressure and Prepare for Challenges (47 min)
Clyde Brolin – How Champions Get in the Zone and Think and Win Big (48 min)
Optimal Living Daily
The Four Habits that Form Habits by Leo Babauta of Zen Habits on Simple Steps to Better Routines (10 min)
2 Quick Exercises to Quiet the Negative Self-Talk in Your Head by Marc Chernoff of Marc And Angel on Optimism (8 min)
How I Built This With Guy Raz
Live Episode! OtterBox: Curt Richardson (1:04)
Live Episode! Angie’s BOOMCHICKAPOP: Angie & Dan Bastian (1:05)
Warrior Mind Coach
How to Be Strong and Say No: Warrior Mind Podcast #463 (10 min)
Using Anger as Fuel: Warrior Mind Podcast #464 (16 min)
Spartan Up
Mini: Controlling Your Smart Phone Use / Spartan WAY with guest Joe De Sena (5 min)
Kevin Ward | How West Point Wrestling Builds Team Culture (21 min)
Entrepreneurs on Fire
How To Crush It With Challenges (39 min)
Life Kit
Fake News: How To Spot Misinformation (26 min)
How To Do Well (And Be Happy!) In College (23 min)
The Ziglar Show
How to effectively communicate with groups and individuals (58 min)
How to insure everyone hears what you are saying, with Jared Horvath (1:24)
SUCCESS Insider
Positive Inspiration in the Palm of Your Hand (37 min)
25 Successful People Who’ll Change Your Life (43 min)
Teens of America
Find your Voice with Morgan and Sheridan (48 min)
BYOU with Ella/Access your success with Jesse Kay (1:37)
Borrowed Future
What No One Told You About Student Loans (45 min)
Own Your Future: A Life Without Student Loan Debt (57 Min)
Please comment if you have additional shows (and episodes) you think I should add to this list of personal development podcasts for teens!
Check out our other lists of podcasts-
Complete Directory of Podcasts for Teens