I love podcasts. The problem is that I love podcasts too much. There are so many high-quality shows on every topic imaginable that my queue of podcast episodes to listen to fills up quickly. Before I know it, I have enough to fill several weeks, even if I only listen to them back-to-back.

This isn’t a rare scenario for me, but I’ve learned a few tricks to reduce the lag and catch up (at least partially). What you might not know, if you’ve never switched from your default podcast player or experimented with its features, is that these apps come with a ton of tools to help you get your podcasts playing faster.

Plus, I have some ideas on how to get more podcasts into your day. Sometimes you’ll have to file for podcast bankruptcy, clear the queue, and start over, but these tips can help you avoid that last-ditch method for as long as possible.

There’s no shortage of podcast players out there, and most offer features to help you play your podcasts faster. I’ll highlight a few different tricks you can use in different apps, so take a look at what your favorite podcast player has to offer. If it doesn’t have a specific time-saving feature that you’d find useful, you can always switch to something else.