For as creative a pursuit as podcasting is, it sometimes looks like a math equation with so many numbers being tossed around. Numbers that we're told should be important. But... says who?

As podcasters, we get pretty twisted up by numbers we're told are important to podcasting and to our podcasts. 

Downloads. Listeners. Social media followers. Drop-in audio attendees. Paying supporters. Satoshis streamed. Advertisers. Episodes produced per year. Audience demographics. Creator demographics. And how many podcasters are competing with us. 

Tracking numbers like those is how we measure the success of podcasting, right?

Well... who said? 

Some of them might be important to us. But most are not. 

Some of them shed some light on the health of podcasting. But most don't.

Some of them we can change if we work at making them change. But most are out of our control.

Yet still, we get twisted up by numbers just like these, relying on digits on a screen to determine the worthiness of our podcasts.

That makes sense if we're tracking things like funds received from listeners. But everything else is suspect. 

So if you find yourself getting twisted up in these numbers, my advice is to figure out the rfew numbers that actually matter to you. And then pay as little attention to the other numbers as you possibly can. You'll be a much happier podcast or for it.

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Podcast Pontifications is a production of Simpler Media. New episodes are released four times a week, providing ideas and questions every serious podcaster should be thinking about.

It's created and hosted by Evo Terra. Follow him on Twitter for more podcasting insights as they come. Allie Press assists with the production and transcription of the show.

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