200. The 10 most downloaded episodes (And what I think about them) | 200 episode special!

Welcome to the Influency Podcast. I'm Hadar. And this, my friends, is episode number 200. Hey. Hey, everyone. Thank you so much for tuning in for another episode, the 200th episode, which is a good opportunity to practice the word 200 DTH. I gotta turn it into a practice opportunity, right? If you've listened to me for a while, maybe not 200 episodes, but for a while, you know that that's what I love doing. But my partner loves it a little less than me. He doesn't like to learn about pronunciation all the time. No, I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. That used to be me. No longer. I no longer give any feedback at home. Consciously. Sometimes I do it subconsciously. Anyway, the 200th episode is going to be a little different today because first of all, I'm going to talk about how I feel about having shared 200 episodes. And I'm also going to talk about what I'm hoping to do in the next 200 episodes. Very ambitious, I know. But I'm planning on staying here for a while, my friends. And I'm also going to share with you the top 10 most listened episodes of the podcast. So I'm going to share with you what they are and what I think about each one of them. I have more thoughts about some podcast episodes than others, so it's not going to take too long. Don't worry. Then again, it's me, so it could potentially take longer than planned. So how do I feel about having shared 200 episodes? So I haven't recorded. I recorded 200 intros for sure, and I've recorded about 50, maybe less episodes where I speak to you, just like I'm speaking to you right now. Sometimes I share with you a new episode that I share also on video. This is why the audio is a little different and I sound a little less friendly, more serious. When I teach in my videos, it's different. It's different to speak to the camera than to speak to a microphone that is right there in front of your face. It makes me behave differently. And I usually record the podcast late at night because it's quieter and I procrastinate during the day. I do a lot of things that have to do with a business, so I don't feel super creative. And then at night, I don't sleep. Stay late at night at the studio. Every. Every day. But once every few weeks. Okay, Sometimes once a week. And when we're really busy, maybe more than that. But I Like it because I get creative and it's dark and it's quiet and no one's emailing me or slacking me or whatsapping me or calling me so I can just speak to the mic forever. Anyway, this is why I feel a little different when I record the podcast, because I'm already so tired that the part in my brain that is trying to be efficient and also, you know, proper is sleeping. It's kind of tired. So I give myself permission to say things or to do things that I normally don't say in my videos. So what I've learned is that it's okay not to have it perfect. And that sometimes when I share things that seem very personal or not relevant to the work that I do, sometimes these are the episode that resonate the most with my audience. All of a sudden I hear people telling me, oh my God, I listened to that podcast, it was so good. And I was wondering really that, you know, that story I told you about my life or what I did in the morning, or that was interesting. So there is something nice about it. There is something more personal and very intimate, I think, you know, recording a podcast and listening to a podcast, something that is very intimate. It's like I'm inside your ear right now. And I do think it's very special. So that is something that I really appreciate about, you know, the journey. Getting up to here and discovering what people are interested or what affects people. And a lot of times is not something that I plan on or do it deliberately. And I also discovered that every time I talk about the journey or the mindset aspect of learning, or talking about confidence and my own experience, I think a lot of times this is what helped people the most. And I think that having this conversation, even though it's one sided, it's just me speaking, but having that conversational feel allows us to take these subjects and elements and like we say in Hebrew, sit on them. I don't even think we say it in Hebrew, really. I don't think there is a phrase that is to sit on something. Maybe there is, but maybe it's a language that I don't know, that I know, but in that language we say things like that. But to kind of like dwell in something, to talk about it from all angles, to look at it from all angles and talk about it again and again and again until we get it. And honestly, sometimes I feel like that in order for me to deliver an idea that will sink and that will be clear, I need to talk about it or to say it quite a few times until it's crystallized. Right. A lot of times we think that when we communicate and when we deliver a message, it has to be precise the first time we say it. It has to have all the right words. It has to be, you know, concise and. No, I mean, I find it that usually that's not the case. Maybe in a refined talk, ultimately that is, you know, only 18 minutes. Yes, we see that. But when people speak, we kind of repeat ourselves a lot until, you know, both parties get what it is that we're trying to say. So don't be afraid of repeating yourself and don't be afraid of saying something and feeling like it's not clear. Don't stop talking because of that and feel inadequate. Just say it again in different words and maybe it'll make more sense. Before I started the podcast, I've already shared it, I think, quite a few times. And the reason why I procrastinated opening the podcast, starting the podcast was because I was very afraid that I won't be able to be clear when I speak in front of the mic. It felt easier on video, especially because we're also editing the video and we're adding effects and stuff like that. So it felt easier give you more permission to get stuck and not feel bad about it. But I felt that there is this flow in the podcast where you can't stop, you can't make mistakes, you can't, you know, start over, which is not true because we do edit it. But it's definitely a lot more conversational. And yeah, and I was afraid of it. And I think that I had to teach myself how would I not stop every time I don't say things 100% clearly. And how to not dread it, because I think dreading it makes it worse because you end up just doing exactly the thing that you're dreading. And I also surprised myself and I realized that, oh, maybe I can talk without getting stuck every second and feel like it's a conversation. So that was great for me to learn that when I first started recording the podcast and what I'm hoping that will happen in the next 200 episodes. So I'm hoping for more recorded podcasts like these, but maybe not all of them are going to be late at night. And I'm hoping for more interviews. I have a dream that I'll have a studio. I have a studio, but it's just me. So to have another microphone here and to bring a lot of guests and talk to them, only you Know, a lot of the guests that I want to bring are all around the world, so that's not going to be feasible. But I have this dream. I think it's nice to have more people speaking on the podcast and just learn and get to know people and listen to their life journey. And I honestly think that's like one of the most inspiring things that there is. I've learned so much just by listening to other people's stories and hearing their perspectives. So that's what I'm hoping for. The next 200 episodes, I want to make sure that it's interesting and valuable and funny and innovative. So maybe different formats. Maybe we'll change the music soon. Maybe we'll add an intro. I want to change things up a little bit. 200 episodes, a little over two years. So it's time. So now let's talk about 10 most listened episodes of the podcast. So first of all, I want to start with some stats, ladies and gentlemen, dear listener, and tell you that so far we had over 1,274,000 downloads. So people listen to a podcast an episode over 1 million 200 and 700 times. That's amazing to me. That's crazy. I'm so incredibly grateful. I actually saw that number not too long ago and I was like, what? We have passed the 1 million mark. That always seemed so insane to me when people said over 1 million downloads. Like, oh, wow. So very proud of that. And the most listened podcast episode is. Let's see if you can guess it. If you've been listening to the podcast for a while. So you probably have your favorite episode. Let's see if that is. I bet it's not, because I wouldn't expect this to be the most listened to podcast episode. And this episode is episode number nine that is called the schwa. How one tiny sound can make a huge difference. And it had almost 50,000 downloads. And I really enjoyed making that episode. I could go on forever talking about the schwa in this lesson. I really took you step by step telling you everything that I know about the schwa without visuals. And the fact that people stuck with this episode and listened to it and maybe listened to it again is very impressive to me. And by the way, I'm going to link to all these episodes in the show notes. So the schwa number one, the next one is how to effectively practice your intonation in English with over 30,000 downloads. And this is also surprising because a lot of people, you know, they geared towards the pronunciation lessons and intonation lessons as well. But this is like, practical advice on how to practice. And I like it that people decided to listen to this episode. This is episode number 13. I think it was an interesting episode. I think it was a good episode. I don't remember exactly what was going on there, but I think I gave you, like, my best tips and strategies on how to practice your intonation. So if this is something that you're interested in, then definitely check out this episode. Then we have episode number two, which is why I quit acting and became an accent coach. My story, and this is surprising because I don't know, it's not necessarily related to English. And I take it as a compliment, let's just say that. So I talk about my time as a bartender and a waitress and an acting student and how my dream just crashed as I moved to Israel and I realized that I'm no longer going to be an actress and I need to do something else and how I ended up doing what it is that I'm doing right now. So it's about my personal development story, my business story, and also my English story, because I definitely had to build a lot of confidence to get to do what it is that I do. So if you haven't listened to it just yet, episode number two, then we have episode number five, 10 things you should stop doing if you want to speak English fluently. And I really like this episode because it's all about the negative things that we do. And people do like to kind of lean into the negative. So this episode provides you of that, like all the things that you should stop doing. And you're probably doing bad habits. So I'm going to link to that as well. And then another episode about intonation, American intonation. What they don't teach you in school. By the way, this is episode number 12. Up until now, we the top episodes. The top performing episodes are episode 9, 13, 2, 5, 12. I don't know what that says about, you know, episode 15 onward, because we're at episode 200. And I think I did release some pretty good episodes. But apparently, maybe, maybe because people had more time to listen to these episodes. But I wonder. I'm not gonna lie, I wonder. Maybe I was really good at the beginning. And then after that, everything started deteriorating. Then another intonation lesson episode American Intonation. What they don't teach you in school. This is actually a podcast episode where I share the audio of a video that I created a while ago that is also very popular on YouTube. So I think people want to know about what they haven't learned in school. Then we have episode number three, how to stay motivated when learning English. A lot of fun tips and strategies on how to keep your motivation when learning English. I think we all need that. This is why I think it's popular, because motivation is not always enough. And we need to remember how to spark it back up, how to make it interesting, how to restart it, how to create new motivation. Sometimes there are, like, many different reasons why we feel motivated. Okay, the next one is episode number four, why pronunciation is important when learning a language. And this is where I talk about the thing I love the most, and that is pronunciation and how it can totally free you up instead of close you down and keep you restricted and limited, which is what happened to me when I first started learning. And this is why it's so important to me to talk about pronunciation as a tool for freedom and expression and effortlessness, rather than the goal and the target and, you know, speak like a native and all of that. All right, next up, episode number 62. Okay, good. Why perfectionism will kill your fluency. And I remember recording this episode, and it was not an easy episode to record. I remember, like, getting stuck several times, which is very funny because it's an episode where I talk about perfectionism, and there I get stuck, stuck. And I'm not able to kind of, like, say exactly what I want to say. And it's like, is this for real? And I'm starting to have, like, my own perfectionism come up. And it was really interesting. But ultimately, I was able to record the podcast. I remember it was also late at night. I was sitting at a different corner in the room and. Yeah, 18,000 downloads. 348. Okay, the ninth episode, most played episode is number 15, how small smart choices can transform your English. The compound effect. This is one of those episodes that I had to really prepare for. I read the book, I wrote notes, I watched videos about the compound effect. I really, like, had to talk about it quite a few times to get it right. I thought it was such a great concept, and I wanted to make sure that I do it justice. And I think I ended up really liking the result, mainly because of the feedback that I had gotten from people talking about this idea of the compound effect and how that alone can give you enough motivation to keep going. Because that's what it's about. It's about the idea that if you keep doing something and it doesn't feel much and it doesn't feel like a lot, and you do it every single day and you can't see the progress. You can't see the difference, but it all adds up. You can only see the difference way later. But because of the fact that you did it every single day, even if it was just like 10 minutes a day, even if it was just like, talking to people, even though you didn't want to, that compounds and becomes the results that you want to see in your life. And the compound effect is also about the choices of not doing something, not speaking, saying no to things. You do it enough times, and that becomes your reality. You're not changing. You're not, you know, transforming anything, and you're not seeing any progress. So I really like this concept. I talk about it a lot in my programs, and I'm glad that it has reached the top 10. And number 10 is one of my personal favorites. And that is episode number 11. Why do I feel like a fraud every time I speak English? And this episode is about the imposter syndrome. And I find the imposter syndrome so prevalent in this work that I do speaking English as a second language or speaking a second language, because it really, like, sits on all these elements of feeling like you're not good enough, finding it hard to celebrate our successes, feeling like people are gonna find out that we're just faking it or we're a fraud. All of that in English. And to add to that, the fact that most people feel like an imposter in many other cases in their lives. I mean, it's just. It makes it obvious that we need to talk about it more when we talk about learning a second language. And you know me, I think that mindset work is so powerful because unlike pronunciation work or intonation and all of those other great things, you need to repeat it a lot of times, right? You need to listen to it again. You need to do the work. There's a lot of hard work that needs to be done there. But with mindset work, sometimes you just need to listen to something, and it clicks and it hits home and you get it. And then there is a mindset shift that helps you see things differently and change your perspective and feel better about things or change your mind about how it is that you practice or how you choose to enjoy your practice. And that has so much more impact than knowing how to pronounce the R sound more accurately, right? Not that it's not important, but there is something magical about being able to stop caring how other people feel about us and what they think about us. Because between you and me, it all comes down to this. Our fear of speaking a language is all about how other people perceive us and what they think about us and our capability. So this is why I think the mindset work is important, and this is why I'm very happy that the last two episodes are about mindset and I'm going to link to them. If you haven't listened to those episodes because they're very important, that's it. I think we're done for the day. What do you think? Thank you so much for being here. And if you enjoy the podcast, this is where I ask you to rate and review the podcast because that will make it easier for us to go through the next 200 episodes and for others to find them out, to discover them. And also, it always puts a huge smile on my face when I see those reviews and it's kind of like our way to speak with each other. I talk to you here and then you can respond to me there in the platform or, and this is where I invite you, you can send me a DM on Instagram. Hadar Accentsway. I love, love, love hearing from my listeners. I love it, I love it. I really try to always get back to you if you write to me, but if you've written to me and I haven't, I apologize. I was probably getting a lot of messages at the same time and then sometimes I miss out some messages. But if you have, I want you to know that I've read it and I'm grateful and you made me happy. And if you want, you can reach out and send me a message Hadar Accentsway on Instagram, or you can simply share a review of the podcast on your favorite platform. Thank you so, so much for being here and I'll talk to you in the next 200 episodes. Bye.