My audible library has become a graveyard.
There was a time where it was a thriving place, full of non-fiction and fiction book. And also a time when it was empty.
My audio journey started with podcasts. It is amazing to listen to people from different walks of life. Or to binge listen to an entire podcast series, learning from some of the greatest or simply listen to a fascinating story.
But there came a point where I felt like I wasn’t really learning anything. I felt like each podcast was just scraping the surface and never went deep to uncover the goods.
Sure, it was great being able to multi-task, being able to take the dogs for a walk or go for a run and be able to consume content but I felt like I was not getting a good exchange of value. This is when I decided to move into the world of audiobooks.
Being able to listen to some great books like Shoe Dog, American Kingpin, Authority and Superfans made me feel like I was super productive.
The only problem with audiobooks is that when you are on the go it is hard to make notes. Why do you need to take notes, you may ask?
I guess it depends on your reason for listening to audiobooks. If it is just for fun then you only need your ears and your attention.
However, books that you are looking to learn from, which was the main goal for me to joining the audiobook world, my belief is that you need to take notes to be able to process what you are reading.
And this was not what I was doing. My pretend-productivity wasn’t working as days after listening to an audiobook the lessons that I learnt just faded away.
I also found that most audible books managed to “turn me off”. I found that my attention drifted and would have to go back and listen to sections again. I believe this was because of the voices. I find that because audiobooks are read in a “not a conversation” voice they can become monotonous.
This is why my audible account turned into a graveyard.
I now have gone back into the world of podcasts in favour of the easy listening and working to hunt down the great conversations.
Will I ever go back to listening to audiobooks? Maybe. But for the time being, I will treat podcast as a rest for my mind.