The Podfather Chronicles – Chapter 1: Origin Story

by Neel Desai, M.D.

The Happy Doc Podfather Playlist

What’s up? Been a while since I wrote a post, so I apologize for this. It’s actually interesting, because this is really something I love doing (writing), yet life gets in the way, and this got away from me. It is a very familiar theme in our podcast conversations. Many times we get away from what energizes, enlightens, and inspires us, and we get stuck in our spaces. Our focus gets clouded and we can not see this clearly. And yet, the solutions to light us up are right there in front of us, or inside of us all along. This is where having friends, family, peers, colleagues, well-wishers or just a random person can be so helpful in giving you clarity and pointing you in the right direction.

This brings me to to some conversations I have been having with medical students, colleagues, Taylor, and some of our biggest supporters online and in real life spaces. I noticed an interesting pattern of what they would tell me. They would tell me things like, “I have no idea where you get these great podcasts to listen to,” or “You always pick the greatest podcasts!”,  or “Dude, you are like the Podfather.”  I went with it. And so The Podfather was born.

This came from talking with Taylor about how going out into the digital wild, sifting through the toxic noise, hate, and crap to find those rare gems (people) who energize and excite me. Podcasts are a medium to do this, and give me access to some people I have never met personally, but have impacted me so much in all I do. I love searching and listening to different podcasts to share wisdom, insights, different perspectives, creativity, and an eclectic mix of humans I would have never connected with just 20 years ago. Just like writing, I love exploring obscure, unexpected places beyond my traditional space of medicine to live and thrive in what we call boxlesssness.

We have been seeing these themes and patterns of our most energized and fulfilled guests. They live their lives in abundant, energized, excited, infinitely possible wide open creative spaces. These open creative spaces allow them to connect, cross-collaborate, and build compounded caring communities of support predicated upon meaningful human connections. There are those C’s we talk a lot about again. Alliteration! It’s kind of one of my things. Get used to it. I will be using it a lot. That’s just how this Podfather rolls. 

 Connecting is another of my things. I really think and believe there is so much to getting beyond the siloed echo chambers of our boxes in medicine to explore and connect with new ideas, people, resources, and places. These are often spaces most medical professionals do not explore in our current linear and constrained formal medical education/training system. It was in this system I  got stuck and wanted to explore to get out of my siloed comfort box. Doing so recaptured my energy and lit me up.

Why was this? For me, it was the thrill of going on an adventure, pioneering new paths, returning and introducing our community to so many inspiring, enlightened, excited, energized, authentic, and compassionate humans they may have never encountered before. Connecting. I really think and believe with all my heart and soul that this is what the world lacks most today: meaningful human connection. Meaningful human connection is my why, what, when, and where, and how. Full stop.

 Another of my superpowers is the ability to recognize awe inspiring lights in people before they see it in themselves. It is why I love being the Jerry Maguire (Jerry Maguire was one of my favorite ’90s movies: “Help me.. help you… help me…help you..”) of our team. I have a soft spot for anyone that has ever felt “less than”. I have been there myself. I know many in the OI community I have advocated for have felt that way. I know many of the medical students, interns, residents,  and listeners of our pod have felt this way. I aspire to flip those toxic narratives we tell ourselves. I feel like me giving a little bit of encouragement goes a long way. It could be some kind words with my family, my colleagues, patients,  a medical student, or just a nice comment on a random social media post.

But what is the ROI (return on investment) on that thoughtful kind act? It costs nothing, and it could have been just what that person needed to hear at that moment in time. Small stacked thoughtful acts of kindness lead to compounded meaningful human connections. The ROI of that? Priceless. I am going to make it my mission to give anyone out there a few kind words of encouragement so they can move out of their dark places and step into their light to shine. That just lights me up. 

If you are reading this, and are stuck  in a dark place, know that Taylor and I see you, we feel you, and are giving you our words and voices to allow you to find yours. I worked on something last night for you all at Taylor’s great suggestion. I put together a curated pod playlist of some of the biggest concepts, ideas, influencers, and episodes for you all. These conversations have had a great impact on me over the last 2.5+ years while working on The Happy Doc. 

Back in the day, we would make mix tapes for our friends, family, and love interests. Consider this my mix tape for you. My medicine remixed tape for you, but just in a modern form of the best clips and podcasts on who we are at The Happy Doc, who we are becoming, and who we aspire to be. It is the hidden curriculum we have learned over the last 2.5 years in our creative endeavors on this crazy journey.

This is, of course, by no means an exclusive list of pods you should only listen to – we highly encourage you to create your own curriculum, search out your own podcasts, discard the ones that don’t apply to you, and learn about topics and people you are interested in. You could also go read books, blogs, or watch videos. I think the medium of learning the information is not so important as much as you just directing your own personalized self-learning and developing the best version of yourself. But as we are talking about podcasts let’s stick to the podcasts here.

Taylor did a recent pod about reclaiming your story to light your fire and write new chapters. This is me literally writing a new chapter in my story. This long distance request and dedication goes out to anyone out there ready to step into their light and shine as well. I present to you: The Happy Doc Podfather Playlist.

Light it up y’all. 

Neel Desai is a family physician, father, Happy Doc active contributor, digital creative evangelist, and adorkable dude who is not as funny or clever as he thinks he is. Follow him on Twitter/Instagram @drneel1973.