Why don’t we find our voices?

Lately, through my work on Marketing Showrunners and our podcast 3 Clips, I’ve been focused on a clear, rampant problem: too many people have this burning desire to make a difference with their work, but they don’t find, share, and elevate their voices.

That’s why I’m starting with teaching makers and marketers how to make someone’s favorite podcast. It’s not about quick audience growth or direct marketing. It’s because a show has this beautiful, dual benefit:

For the creator, it forces you to be consistent and to constantly articulate your thoughts. When you have to do that consistently, you get better, faster. You find your voice.

For the audience, a show offers a chance to go deeper in a world trending shallow. They can embark on a journey to understand and enjoy something in a way few other mediums allow for. On offer from the creator: a special kind of intimacy and connection thanks to voice, as well as the ability to experience a single project reinventing itself over time, as all serialized things must do, which allows audience and creator alike to deepen relationships and deepen understanding.

So why don’t we do this? Why don’t we find our voices? I think it’s because we focus too much on the voice part and not enough on the find part. This notion — that you can say something that matters to make a difference — feels theoretical. It’s not. It’s inescapably concrete. It’s about one thing:

Practice.

Creativity is what happens when repetition meets reinvention. A show just so happens to force you to do that by its very nature. It’s a natural byproduct of running episodic things: you repeat the thing and reinvent it over time.

Over time, you find your voice. You routinely share it. You elevate it. And you make a difference.

Focus on the finding, on the constant shipping and reflecting on what was shipped. Don’t focus on the “voice,” on the theory of it. Don’t try to select your voice in some abstract way. Focus on the concrete.

Find your voice. Don’t dream about it.