Self-Improvement Podcasts to Listen to Right Now

Whether you're someone with bipolar disorder or someone who just wants to find a new way to brighten their day, inspirational self-improvement podcasts could be just the thing for you.

Motivational podcasts are not substitutions for professional medical help, but they can be wonderful supplements to help you get through everyday life and do a little better with each day.

Optimal Living Daily is a podcast that curates self-help and self-improvement content for you from dozens of resources, such as books and blogs. What's special about this podcast is that it isn't a one-trick pony.

Rather, it has several subtopics under its umbrella: Living, Finance, Health, Start Up, and Relationships. Everyday life is full of problems of all kinds, and Optimal Living Daily helps you confront a great deal of them.

Minimalism isn't just a type of art, it's a type of lifestyle. Many people are of the opinion that part of what makes life so painful and stressful is how complicated we allow it to get. The Minimalists podcast advocates a less-is-more mentality.

Hosts Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus suggest ways for you to declutter your life and live more simply. Aside from the actual content of the podcast, the hosts have an entertaining and funny relationship worth listening to. This makes the mood light-hearted and enjoyable, whereas other self-improvement podcasts take a rather serious tone.

Gretchen Rubin is an author, podcaster, and speaker with an impressive resume. Her accomplishments range from multiple appearances on The New York Times's Bestseller list, awards for her podcast, and earning herself an in-person meeting with the Dalai Lama himself. Basically, if you want to listen to anyone's advice, you want to listen to hers.

Happier focuses on easy-to-apply strategies and tips to improve your quality of life, so it's not just motivational but highly practical. If you haven't yet, you should start listening to Rubin's advice.

The School of Greatness podcast aims to help you improve in all aspects of your life by sparking your sense of ambition. A former pro-athlete, Lewis Howes knows what it takes to get your blood pumping. His brand of motivational speaking is the same kind you'd find in the huddle on a football field.

Unlike other self-improvement podcasts, The School of Greatness often features guest speakers. Howes enjoys bringing in a multitude of different voices to get various types of input and advice for his listeners. By listening to multiple opinions instead of one, you are able to get a fresh take on personal issues and decide what course of action is best for your own personal development.

Like Lewis Howes, Good Life Project host Jonathan Fields frequently brings guests onto his show. In fact, a person that we've already mentioned on this list has been one his show before—Gretchen Rubin. But he doesn't just converse with well-known or celebrity guests; regular Joes are also asked to come on board. This approach makes his podcast relatable for practically everyone.

Good Life Project not only discusses life problems and how to make changes in your life, but addresses life's bigger questions as well. Fields is not afraid to get philosophical and this leads to highly educational and enriching content that's worth listening to.

The name of this podcast alone should be enough reason to get you to start listening to it. As its name suggests, host Paul Gilmartin uses his episodes to discuss mental illness, mental health, and stigmas surrounding these subjects. This is a great podcast because it doesn't just give you action items to put on your to-do list, it gives you a safe space just be honest with yourself.

Mental Illness Happy Hour is one of the more meditative self-improvement podcasts. It is centered around the idea that a huge part of personal development, or altering your mindset and lifestyle, is simply the act of being aware. Awareness may seem like a passive concept, but in reality, it a necessary step to fixing any problem.

This great podcast takes Neil Armstrong's famous quote ("That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.") to heart. Host Gregg Clunis operates on the belief that small changes can lead to big results. In order to improve your life, you don't always have to make radical moves. Baby steps!

Clunis uses legitimate research studies as launching pads for his episodes, which is helpful for two reasons: firstly, you know what he's telling you is credible information, and secondly, it helps you understand why certain life strategies work the way they do. It's always a good idea to know the "why" behind the "how."

The host of this podcast, Brendon Burchard, is, to quote Ron Burgundy, kind of a big deal. Success Magazine and The Oprah Magazine have both named him one of the most influential people in the world for personal growth. He is also, according to Facebook Insights, among the top 100 most followed people in the world. In short, he's no amateur when it comes to self-improvement podcasts.

Burchard is both a speaker and a No. 1 New York Times bestselling author. His podcast, The Brendon Show (previously called The Charged Life), is meant to provide his listeners with tips on how to achieve the most fulfilling, fully-charged, and successful life possible.

The Brave Exchange is a podcast that was launched by Lucy Bourchier for the purpose of helping you realize your best you. With every episode, she gives her opinions and advice on what makes for the best life and the best success. Her main theme, though, is not just success, but success after failure.

For most of us, failure can be extremely debilitating. Either we're so afraid of failure that we don't even dare to try, or we convince ourselves that once we've failed we can't succeed. Bourchier aims to challenge these negative outlooks and change your way of approaching failure.

The Daily Boost does exactly what it says it does; it gives you that kick you need to jumpstart your day. This podcast has been the top self-help podcast on iTunes for years, and for good reason. Host Scott Smith's positive attitude is infectious.

Smith's podcast is one of the best self-improvement podcasts to wake you up in the morning. When you're feeling lethargic, The Daily Boost provides you with the motivation and inspiration to make the day count. He also provides helpful life tips on how to destress and live life healthy.