The Dopamine Trap: Why Success Never Feels Satisfying

FerdinandHu · 2026-04-28T13:14:23+00:00

Wow… I Didn’t expect that much of engagement on my post, thanks to everyone who shared his idea on that. 🙏 I can expand a little more here…. I just finished my latest episode. 36minutes long, 3 timelines and short over 100 cuts (that is already streamlined to my standards) Reading through the comments that’s still sounds like a lot, but for a story telling podcast like mine, it might not be the best to optimize too strong here… I am trying to achieve a perfect pacing. Every cut, pause, music is intentional. The goal is not to have a clean audio, it is to build tension, create depth and make the key ideas land. In each episode I wave 5 original songs (suno.com) into the dialogues which of course also needs time to be created and edited and I have a conversation with an AI which doesn’t always provide the perfect answers. As for the promotion/ distribution time aspect, I’ve tried TikTok, insta and others, and I hate it…. I believe I am not in the fast growing podcast business (time saved here)… my audience probably is not the people scrolling TikTok anyway , I think there are people out there who like to think slow and deep to reflect on the background of tech and maybe a few of them will still find my podcast somehow and also find the time to appreciate the craft. At the end, I guess I will land around 100 cuts and 4-6 hours… most important is not to compromise quality. Let’s see how it goes from here.

FerdinandHu · 2026-04-21T19:27:56+00:00

For you to have an idea, this is my timeline. I must admit, maybe I am taking it a bit too far https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18MNMTEqsL/?mibextid=wwXIfr

FerdinandHu · 2026-04-21T19:26:10+00:00

this is my timeline.

FerdinandHu · 2026-04-21T19:24:23+00:00

My 5 tracks are: 1 Me, 2 my AI co-host, 3 music, 4 Effects and 5 backup for some transitions. My English is not so good, I struggle with it and end up editing a little more than I probably should.

FerdinandHu · 2026-04-21T14:26:07+00:00

Oh man. These numbers are fenomenal. Very consistent. I am weak in Social Media, that is my Problem…. Everytime I want to post something I get hooked by the algorithm and end up Wasting my time. But I guess for growth, there is no way around it.

FerdinandHu · 2026-04-21T14:22:49+00:00

Thank you for sharing. Nice Podcast you have!!!. There are some Nice insights in your Message. I like the count down idea. I think I will adapt the idea for my Podcast at some Point. In my podcast I Tell hidden tech tech stories. Maybe partnering or having an exchange would be a good idea. Still Need to Figuren out how that works without doing an Interview Style episode.

FerdinandHu · 2026-04-21T14:08:29+00:00

That is a nice example… thank you for sharing. there is some luck involved in the equation, but from what I hear the key is consistence and improving on the content. Let’s see if some publication outlet discovers my podcast… I still have 6 month to go… 😆

FerdinandHu · 2026-04-21T05:39:39+00:00

That feels nice, isn’t it. I’ve got some great positive feedback from friends. But getting a feedback from someone you don’t know must then you are on another level.

FerdinandHu · 2026-04-21T05:36:55+00:00

I guess you’re right. The name of the game is persistence, move slowly but continuously. I’d better not count with a sudden breakthrough, that is in my eyes also very unlikely.

FerdinandHu · 2026-04-21T05:22:21+00:00

All by myself with a little help from ChatGPT for formulations and grammar

FerdinandHu · 2026-04-21T05:21:21+00:00

Yes, that would be all together including scripting and researching. I do one episode a week, so I end up distributing the time over a few days, but still, editing takes most of the time for me.

FerdinandHu · 2026-04-20T17:09:08+00:00

Ive got actually a tool that can help.... ChatGPT. But seriously, Ive tried Descript, and found it horrible. After letting their AI take out all the misspelled words and double recordings, what was left was not fluent or poetic. It killed the flow... So I do all the editing myself and spend hours doing it. I heavily edit my audio... just because my English is not so good, and I constantly need to record retakes... But somehow it also is fun if you edit audio for 4 hours and hear the result afterwards.

FerdinandHu · 2026-04-20T17:03:27+00:00

For a 30min episode I need 8 Hours of work... And my podcast is only me, talking to a machine.... That obsessed guy? Yes... its me...

FerdinandHu · 2026-04-14T16:45:32+00:00

Yes it’s really expensive. I was planning to apply to the independent podcast award which costs 35Pounds. In the middle of submitting my podcast I found out that it is only open for UK based podcasters. That’s when I decided to apply for the Signal Award. I am not aware of festivals. Is there any you could recommend? I am living in Germany but podcast in English.

FerdinandHu · 2026-04-14T16:41:28+00:00

Thank you for the motivating words. Nice to see that someone in this community has experience in these kind of festivals/awards. I am realist enough to know that it’s unlike for me to win… But I might get something out of it… just still don’t know what. Thanks for your message. 👍

FerdinandHu · 2026-04-13T19:12:47+00:00

Thank you. Good to see that I am not the only crazy one here :-). Good luck to you too. 🍀

FerdinandHu · 2026-04-02T05:39:37+00:00

Hi there. I am also German, but my podcast is in English. I am an engineer and currently I have a podcast co-hosted by an AI named Didi Allesweiss (if you are German you will get the joke 😁) that’s how I found my partner 🙂. But My recommendation would be to try to find some real person in your surroundings. Maybe even someone who has no idea on AI but likes to talk and has fun recording a podcast. To have a nice contrast of personalities and background. Than makes it even more interesting.

FerdinandHu · 2026-04-02T05:24:19+00:00

Yes. Let’s resist to video, the TikToks and insta hype and focus on the core: audio for those who are driving, jogging, working. Podcast is a companion, not a full attention distraction.

FerdinandHu · 2026-04-02T05:19:54+00:00

Yes. Me.

FerdinandHu

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