If Then Podcast Jordan Taylor

I've struggled with Impostor Syndrome for nearly my entire life, but what if my brain is actually conjuring up this emotion as a tool for some twisted end?
🎧AIRPODS MAX GIVEAWAY🎧
To enter to win the Airpods Max with an "If Then Podcast" engraving, here's what to do:
1) Screenshot this podcast and share on your Instagram tagging @ifthenpodcast
2) Follow @ifthenpodcast on Instagram
3) If we get to 200 shares by the end of Season 2, you have an opportunity to win the Airpods Max!
But don't forget, that each week, for those of you who share on Instagram, I also give away two 1 month Audible gift cards which include a FREE credit for an audiobook + 1 MONTH ACCESS to their Plus Catalog which includes thousands of audiobooks with no credits needed.
WEBSITE:
https://www.ifthenpodcast.com
EMAIL:
contact@ifthenpodcast.com
CREDITS:
Written and produced by Jordan Taylor
"The Courage to Be Disliked": https://www.amazon.com/The-Courage-to-Be-Disliked-audiobook/dp/B07BRPW98K/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2U3CSDJV643CC&keywords=the+courage+to+be+disliked&qid=1662934625&sprefix=the+courage+to+be+disliked%2Caps%2C88&sr=8-1
“Commentary: Prevalence, Predictors, and Treatment of Imposter Syndrome: A Systematic Review”: https://www.mentalhealthjournal.org/articles/commentary-prevalence-predictors-and-treatment-of-imposter-syndrome-a-systematic-review.html
TRANSCRIPT:
My name is Jordan Taylor, and welcome to the If Then podcast. Our brains our a conglomerate of if/then statements, like in computer code, and oftentimes new lines of code are hard to write in our mind when we’re trying new things, for example if I want to play piano, then I need to read music. Sitting down and coding that particular if then statement could take years of dedication, but when we do sit down and create new then statements for a complicated if, it feels freaking amazing. This podcast is your weekly motivation, and mine, to get uncomfortable and write some neurological code.
“The exaggerated esteem in which my lifework is held makes me very ill at ease. I feel compelled to think of myself as an involuntary swindler.” —Albert Einstein
Before I announced my podcast to everyone this May, I sat in a dark room, alone.
(snap sound that echos out. Narration stops.)
(a ceiling fan eases in)
The fan was on. Too high actually, but I was in the middle of something, and I didn’t even notice my bare feet chilling on the hardwood floor from wind blasts as I sat on the couch. My brain was occupied with one of the most unique things a human can do. Something we’ve all done. Something that seems a little self-important and stupid, but… it’s actually maybe the most important thing. I had my phone, and I was typing, deleting, typing, deleting. I hadn’t used this app in years, and that was exactly why I was on it that night for that task. It was the perfect place for what I was doing.
(iPhone typing sound)
I was on Twitter. But I wasn’t tweeting. I was busy, in an inconspicuous place, defining myself. A place that was public, yet very hidden. A safe place: my bio.
“YouTuber. Hobbyist. Podcaster.” “YouTuber. Podcast host. Hobbyist.”
I was trying to make myself believe something I didn’t feel like even though I was really proud of the first two episodes that I had created but hadn’t posted yet. I knew I had a legitimate podcast, but that didn’t matter. See, I might have a podcast and therefore, by definition, be a podcaster, but every single other podcaster felt more authentic than me. I had the same suit and tie as them, we’re all at the same party, but it’s just a costume on me while it’s real on everyone else. I was an imposter. So I deleted the bio, turned off the fan, and slunk to bed.
According to the article “Commentary: Prevalence, Predictors, and Treatment of Imposter Syndrome: A Systematic Review” “Imposter syndrome is a condition that describes high-achieving individuals who, despite their objective success

Have you ever wanted to master something quickly? In this episode, I discuss 3 secrets that will ensure you level up in the video game of life--faster than you can imagine, but I'll warn you, you're going to have to get really uncomfortable.
🎧AIRPODS MAX GIVEAWAY🎧
To enter to win the Airpods Max with an "If Then Podcast" engraving, here's what to do:
1) Screenshot this podcast and share on your Instagram tagging @ifthenpodcast
2) Follow @ifthenpodcast on Instagram
3) If we get to 200 shares by the end of Season 2, you have an opportunity to win the Airpods Max!
But don't forget, that each week, for those of you who share on Instagram, I also give away two 1 month Audible gift cards which include a FREE credit for an audiobook + 1 MONTH ACCESS to their Plus Catalog which includes thousands of audiobooks with no credits needed.
WEBSITE:
https://www.ifthenpodcast.com
EMAIL:
contact@ifthenpodcast.com
CREDITS:
Written and produced by Jordan Taylor
Some racing sounds from NorCalCycling: https://www.youtube.com/c/NorCalCycling
Some racing sounds from NationsNumber1Beast: https://www.youtube.com/user/nationsnumber1beast
TRANSCRIPT:
My name is Jordan Taylor, and welcome to the If Then Podcast. Our brains our a conglomerate of if/then statements, like in computer code, and oftentimes new lines of code are hard to write in our mind when we’re trying new things, for example if I want to play piano, then I need to read music. Sitting down and coding that particular if then statement could take years of dedication, but when we do sit down and create new then statements for a complicated if, it feels freaking amazing. This podcast is your weekly motivation, and mine, to get uncomfortable and write some neurological code.
“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” - T.S. Eliot
*The sound of riding a bike*
When I got home from getting my driver’s license that summer, the very first thing I did was ride my bike—a dysfunctional, red mountain bike, a hand-me-down from my brother, with no breaks. I zigged and zagged to slow myself on the descent, scraping my soles on pavement as the stop sign approached. The convection oven wind stuck the beads of sweat to my skin as the air hung its humidity like a weighty, damp towel over me—and I came to a stop. My heart pounded from the previous uphill beating. A common neighborhood hill—an Everest to me. Last week, though, I could barely make it up the climb. Dang, now I’m practically flying.
College was on my mind that day, like most days at 18. Decisions started to pile. Where should I go? Should I go at all? Maybe there’s a collegiate bike racing team around, is that even a thing? All I knew was that in the confusing racket of it all, somehow that noisy, squeaking bike, gave me quietude. A car passed. I pedaled home with legs aching from the 5 mile, 100% effort. I couldn’t possibly go harder.
Months later, my dad bought me my own road bike as I got more interested in the idea of racing and even found a college team to apply for. I had been riding every single day for the past month and was getting really serious about it—even getting faster on my timed course I had created around my neighborhood. I was practicing for a race series that I had just heard about in Nashville. Turns out, the last race of the year was actually on Wednesday. Here was my opportunity to prove to myself that all the hard effort I had put in had paid off. Because I had pushed myself so hard the past few months every day, I had the sneaking suspicion that my first race was going to be a complete blow out.
Wednesday came, and with it, the gun. And we were off. A 20 minute beginner Criterium, or Crit, a short looping course. I was put in the lowest tiered race—the one for who I found out were called Category 5 riders due to my inexperience, but I wasn’t so sure that I belonged with the Cat 5s. Maybe I was inexperienced in racing, sure,

Have you ever wished you could be present again the way a child is? In this episode, I dive into the power of being present and strategies you can use to get in the moment.
🎧AIRPODS MAX GIVEAWAY🎧
To enter to win the Airpods Max with an "If Then Podcast" engraving, here's what to do:
1) Screenshot this podcast and share on your Instagram tagging @ifthenpodcast
2) Follow @ifthenpodcast on Instagram
3) If we get to 200 shares by the end of Season 2, you have an opportunity to win the Airpods Max!
But don't forget, that each week, for those of you who share on Instagram, I also give away two 1 month Audible gift cards which include a FREE credit for an audiobook + 1 MONTH ACCESS to their Plus Catalog which includes thousands of audiobooks with no credits needed.

WEBSITE:
https://www.ifthenpodcast.com

EMAIL:
contact@ifthenpodcast.com

CREDITS:
Written and produced by Jordan Taylor
The video I use to practice my focus: https://youtu.be/R5UHvRtvV1c
TRANSCRIPT:
My name is Jordan Taylor, and welcome to the If Then podcast. Our brains our a conglomerate of if/then statements, like in computer code, and oftentimes new lines of code are hard to write in our mind when we’re trying new things, for example if I want to play piano, then I need to read music. Sitting down and coding that particular if then statement could take years of dedication, but when we do sit down and create new then statements for a complicated if, it feels freaking amazing. This podcast is your weekly motivation, and mine, to get uncomfortable and write some neurological code.
“If you are depressed you are living in the past.
If you are anxious you are living in the future.
If you are at peace you are living in the present.”
- Lao Tzu
*The sound of kids running*
It took all summer, but we had finally turned the yard to dust. It billowed from our steps and a football thrown, a car hood slammed with an incomplete end zone pass to the driveway. A dent was made, or was that already there? Dad would make the final call on that later. We huddled up. Neighbor against neighbor in a daily summer skirmish and there were no screens or beeps or past or future. There were just smiles and eyes and movement. And us, and the dust. The ball launched again, this time short and complete with a juke and shimmy and a two hand touch. Soon, the sun was quenched, and with it, our thirst as we downed water on the front porch watching the sunset. And we sat. We just sat and watched and talked and were together—in the moment. And we had no idea how valuable it was.
When I was a kid, there was only one thing—the moment. I had no past I could remember and my future was too far away to envision. I was there. Just right there with no distractions, just a sponge and a football soaking in every second and waiting, just waiting for the opportunity to squeeze out and apply its lessons, and then soak again. And then squeeze until the waters grew me, and then I found myself older with new kids on the field of life, bulky Past and weighty Future and with them, complex thoughts and distractions that thickened like a fog on the field as they blitzed and rushed me with the snap of the ball.
And then the game was sealed with a mid-game substitution from flip phone to smart. More foggy distractions, and I didn’t stand a chance. I was blitzed so fast, sacked so hard, and injured and then the game ended and those summers did too. “The moment” I knew so well, faded and was gone. 
*music*
Have you ever just stopped and tried to be in the moment and not think? Like, really, just tried to think of nothing and just be present, with no external or internal stimuli affecting you— just solely focused on the now like a child? If you try this, you’ll notice something. Thoughts come to the front of your brain like waves on the beach. “I need to take out the trash, did I pay that bill, I wonder what she’s thinking of me, who’s that texting me?” You’ll

What if boredom wasn't something to dread but was, rather, something to value? Boredom is your brain's built-in program to grow, to extend yourself, to let you know that your current trajectory is off track. It's encouraging you to push through the discomfort and write new neurological code.
🎧AIRPODS MAX GIVEAWAY🎧
To enter to win the Airpods Max with an "If Then Podcast" engraving, here's what to do:
1) Screenshot this podcast and share on your Instagram tagging @ifthenpodcast
2) Follow @ifthenpodcast on Instagram
3) If we get to 200 shares by the end of Season 2, you have an opportunity to win the Airpods Max!
But don't forget, that each week, for those of you who share on Instagram, I also give away two 1 month Audible gift cards which include a FREE credit for an audiobook + 1 MONTH ACCESS to their Plus Catalog which includes thousands of audiobooks with no credits needed.

WEBSITE:
https://www.ifthenpodcast.com

EMAIL:
contact@ifthenpodcast.com

CREDITS:
Written and produced by Jordan Taylor
TRANSCRIPT:
My name is Jordan Taylor, and welcome to the If Then podcast. Our brains our a conglomerate of if/then statements, like in computer code, and oftentimes new lines of code are hard to write in our mind when we’re trying new things, for example if I want to play piano, then I need to read music. Sitting down and coding that particular if then statement could take years of dedication, but when we do sit down and create new then statements for a complicated if, it feels freaking amazing. This podcast is your weekly motivation, and mine, to get uncomfortable and write some neurological code.
“Boredom is your imagination calling to you.” — Sherry Turkle
There was a storm that evening—outside and within. The wind blew the limbs, and the leaves came down like an autumn colored rain, and I sat inside, unprotected, from my own rain of thoughts and a cell phone. I was battered by stimuli in my electrical brain storm. A notification here. A suggested video there. An instagram like. An Elon tweet. Hmm… I wonder how many downloads my last episode got? I was in the thick of it like most evenings—until, outside, there was a strike.
*lightning strike*
*sound of breaker*
And all went dark. All, that is, except my illuminated face now contrasted in the bright light of the screen. My eyes dilated. The screen froze. There was a glitch in my brain as my video stopped.
“No no no, not again…hhhhhh…”
Out in the country, you run on wifi. I pulled to refresh.
*roulette wheel sound*
“Come on come on.” Nothing. And then another pull.
*roulette wheel sound*
Even though I knew what the outcome would be.
*ding*
“Error loading Tap to retry.”
And then it set in. My new reality as I pulled 3 more times out of desperation. How long would it be? Could it be all night? The storm is pretty bad this time.
*thunder*
And then it hit me. Withdrawals. I could feel my stress rise as my pattern was broken, as urges hit and I couldn’t react, I just sat and stared at the Home screen swiping left and right through icons, another urge. Another sequence of apps opened and closed, their patterned order engrained in me, top left, then close, swipe, bottom right, then close. Opening and closing. Desperately searching for a fix, and the stress rose and kept rising, and another urge, and another, and then Sara came in,
“Jordan, let’s get that lantern from downstairs.”
“Yeah, okay. Can't you just get that yourself, Sara? You know where it is, right?”
“Uh…yeah…I think I do. You just kind of have your tools down there and I thought you could help me maneuver around it so we don’t get hurt in the dark.”
I looked up. And I saw. I finally saw it all. Myself. The darkness. Her flashlight across the room lighting her little corner I put her in. The black void between us. And the feeling.
I can’t think of anything else in my life that if it were taken away right now, I would experienc

A lot of us feel like we're wasting our lives when we constantly start and stop hobbies. When will we ever discover our calling after all? In this episode, I argue that following your interests, even if you quit tons of them over time, will eventually lead you to your ultimate calling through the patterned nature of learning and the interweaving connectivity of the universe.
🎧AIRPODS MAX GIVEAWAY🎧
To enter to win the Airpods Max with an "If Then Podcast" engraving, here's what to do:
1) Screenshot this podcast and share on your Instagram tagging @ifthenpodcast
2) Follow @ifthenpodcast on Instagram
3) If we get to 200 shares by the end of Season 2, you have an opportunity to win the Airpods Max!
But don't forget, that each week, for those of you who share on Instagram, I also give away two 1 month Audible gift cards which include a FREE credit for an audiobook + 1 MONTH ACCESS to their Plus Catalog which includes thousands of audiobooks with no credits needed.

WEBSITE:
https://www.ifthenpodcast.com

EMAIL:
contact@ifthenpodcast.com

CREDITS:
Written and produced by Jordan Taylor

I always felt like I couldn't narrow down my focus to just one interest because I was scared of losing all of my potential in all my other interests. By picking just one, I was losing everything else, and I was poorer for it. This episode delves into the idea of the Backwards Law, and how, sometimes, you have to do the uninstictive backwards thing to get your desires. What if you had to actually narrow your focus to broaden your horizon?
🎧AIRPODS MAX GIVEAWAY ENDS NOVEMBER 7🎧
To enter to win the Airpods Max with an "If Then Podcast" engraving, here's what to do:
1) Screenshot this podcast and share on your Instagram tagging @ifthenpodcast
2) Follow @ifthenpodcast on Instagram
3) If we get to 200 shares by November 6th, you have an opportunity to win the Airpods Max the following day!
But don't forget, that each week, for those of you who share on Instagram, I also give away two 1 month Audible gift cards which include a FREE credit for an audiobook + 1 MONTH ACCESS to their Plus Catalog which includes thousands of audiobooks with no credits needed.

WEBSITE:
https://www.ifthenpodcast.com

EMAIL:
contact@ifthenpodcast.com

CREDITS:
Written and produced by Jordan Taylor: https://www.instagram.com/messy_jordan/
Josh Taylor as the Professor: https://www.joshtaylor.fyi
Kristi Smith as student #1: https://www.instagram.com/kristi_denise26/
Samuel Smith as student #2: https://www.samuelsmithvoice.com
Kristi and Samuel Smith's Podcast: https://www.instagram.com/groupdatespodcast/