Pivot with Jenny Blake

Joy and frustration can be equally motivating. Sometimes joy pulls our focus like a magnet to where it needs to be. On the other hand, sometimes being grumpy and frustrated is a sign we need to pivot in another direction. They both help us understand what roles or activities, or ideas we need to say no to to make sure we have enough space for what we want to say yes to. Today, I’m joined by recurring guest host Adrian Klaphaak, who is just returning from a two-month parental leave after welcoming his second child into the world. We’re talking about preparing for, and returning from, time off; the challenges of parenting while running a business; and working toward sustainable joy and focus amidst it all. Are you working on a Pivot-in-progress? For guidance on reconnecting with what lights you up and creating an action plan to move forward, check out Adrian’s flagship Career Pathfinder Program and apply promo code PIVOT at checkout. More about Adrian: Adrian Klaphaak is a coach, purpose guide, entrepreneur, therapist, and founder of A Path That Fits Career and Life Coaching. His coaching approach is holistic—a constant balance between getting results and a quest for meaning and fulfillment. He describes himself as “a deep seeker with a constant itch to make things happen.” 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: If you’re feeling dread upon returning to work after a break (or even just the weekend), ask: What am I resisting coming back to? See the resistance as a message from a wiser part of yourself telling you something might be off. Surrender to the reality of your life, and remember that you’ve chosen it, even amongst the challenges. Life is long, if we’re lucky, and no situation lasts forever. Sometimes you have to say no and clear space first, before clarity on next steps emerges. Be patient: the biggest dreams take time. ✅ Try This Next: What do you want to say no—or not now—to right now? 📘Books: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College The Dirty Life: A Memoir of Farming, Food, and Love by Kristin Kimball Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown Grumpy Monkey by Suzanne Lang The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living by the Dalai Lama 🔗Resources: Adrian on the web, Yelp, Facebook, LinkedIn Course: Career Pathfinder (promo code PIVOT) Articles: Startup Parent Substack, Parable of the Trapeze Video: Finding Your Calling by a Path that Fits Podcast: Startup Parent Podcast 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: Pivot x Career Pathfinder Playlist (previous episodes with Adrian) 204: Radical Alignment: Getting to Hell Yes with Alex & Bob Free Time 166: Crashing into Quiet Time 🏝️ 320: The Beauty of Late Bloomers with Jenna Valovic ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💻 Check out Jenny’s Pivot courses on LinkedIn Learning: Figuring Out Your Next Move, Holding 1:1 Career Conversations With Your Team, Managing Introverts, Coaching New Hires, and Coaching New Managers 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey ☎️ Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to 'casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/314 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is change whispering to you? For Khe Hy, a former investment banker on the fast track of keeping up with the corporate Joneses, the discomfort from following the status quo first started feeling like a pebble in his shoe. “Psst! There’s more out there for you,” it whispered. In this conversation, we talk about his decision to leave Black Rock, how he follows his instincts when building his new content and education business, and how sneaky “shoulds” and insecurity often stem from unmet needs we had growing up. Be sure also to check out Khe’s episodes on Free Time: 163: Leveraging Idea Kernels to Create Compelling Content with Khe Hy, and 129: The $10K Work Framework with Khe Hy. More About Khe: Khe Hy is the founder and CEO of RadReads, an online education company that helps professionals lead productive, examined, and joyful lives. Khe is creator of the $10K Work productivity method and teaches the popular cohort-based course Supercharge Your Productivity. RadReads provides guides, trainings, and coaching for over 36,000 professionals to help them gain back free time, scale their impact and make their little dent in the universe. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: Make an angel investment in yourself: Designate (and save) an amount of money you can afford to lose that would give you enough time to pursue your ideas and experiment to see what sticks. The 5 Whys Concept can help you identify the real feelings and motivations for your decisions. Ask yourself why you did something. Then ask why the answer is important to you. Then why that answer is important to you. After 5 “whys” you will almost always be at the root of what you want or feel. Manage your energy instead of your time. Email, for example, can usually be done when feeling low-energy rather than using your best and highest energy on it. Techniques like RIZE (Reach Inbox Zero Everywhere) can help you do it quickly, efficiently, and in appropriate amounts. ✅ Try This Next: Twice a week, take a piece of paper and a pen, go somewhere quiet, and reflect on a question about your life or business. Ask yourself, "What is the pebble in my shoe?” or, “If everything went great, what would my life look like in ten years?” This is less about having precise answers and more about creating the space for reflection. 📘Books: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One, Life After College The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness & Healing in a Toxic Culture by Gabor Mate 🔗Resources: Khe on the web, Twitter, LinkedIn Courses: Supercharge Your Productivity, Life Operating System, $10K Work Accelerator Free Time Operations Dashboard Video: Sheng Wang on Coscto Pants Articles: The Magic of Doing $10,000 Per Hour Work, How to be the Chief Unblocking Officer (Article), CNN: Meet Khe He, the Oprah for Millennials 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 282: The Honor Roll Hangover with Melody Wilding 296: Top 3 Do’s and Dont’s When Leaving a Corporate Job 272: Love It or Leave It with Samantha Clarke Khe on Free Time 163: Leveraging Idea Kernels to Create Compelling Content with Khe Hy and 129: The $10K Work Framework with Khe Hy ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💻 Check out Jenny’s Pivot courses on LinkedIn Learning: Figuring Out Your Next Move, Holding 1:1 Career Conversations With Your Team, Managing Introverts, Coaching New Hires, and Coaching New Managers 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey ☎️ Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to 'casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/313 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As the saying goes, “Worrying is praying for what you don’t want.” A close cousin is future-tripping: projecting and living in the future instead of being present with what is actually happening, keeping an open mind about whatever might happen next. If you are inclined to catastrophize, you’re not alone! But getting caught in a fictional movie can mean missing out on important opportunities, ideas, and relationships. Today, I’m talking about why we do this, how future-tripping manifests, and strategies for shifting into what I call present-calming instead. 🌟 15 Strategies for Shifting from Future-Tripping to Present-Calming: Notice when you’re in a movie where you’re projecting events and possibilities rather than being present to the actual facts at hand. Be compassionate with your fearful side, as being hard on yourself doesn’t help. Take a page from The Work with Byron Katie by asking, “Is that true? Can I absolutely know that it’s true?” Pause and reflect: What are the facts versus what am I assuming? Reframe what you are experiencing as an open-ended, creative question. Trust yourself to be creative and resourceful at every next step as it arises. Intuition happens in the moment, so ground yourself in the present. Be grateful for the abundance that the problem you are facing represents. Create and hold a positive vision of what is possible if all goes as well as it possibly can (instead of worst-case catastrophizing). Listen to relaxing podcasts or meditations if you have trouble sleeping due to anxious thoughts. Take a small step or positive action toward a solution. Limit your exposure to negative news. Or all news, for that matter! Get your endorphins flowing with 20-minutes of cardio or yoga Talk to an energizing friend or family member to get an outside perspective Surrender. Ask for clarity on what action to take (or not) and for grace and patience in the meantime. ✅ Try this next: Notice when you’re caught in a movie of the future, generating anxiety from a problem or situation causing you stress. Ask to be shown one next step, and stay attuned to clues or hits of inspiration or intuition in your environment. Do you have any strategies for present-calming? Send me a note at [email protected] or leave me a voice memo at pivotmethod.com/ask. 📘Books: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life by Byron Katie Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life: Life-Changing Tools for Healthy Relationships by Marshall Rosenberg 🔗Resources: Byron Katie: TheWork.com and Judge Your Neighbor worksheet TV Series: Harlem via Amazon Prime (clip pulled from S2 E4) JB’s Ideal Day Madlib Sleep Foundations: The Best Podcasts for Sleep Jordan Harbinger: 6-Minute Networking Course 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: [Best Of] Penney & Jenny 1: Intuition and Frequency (listen to the full Spotify playlist of the Penney & Jenny Show) 282: The Honor Roll Hangover with Melody Wilding 260: Everyday Rituals and the 'Sparkling of the Sacred' with Casper ter Kuile 69: Worrier's Guide to the End of the World with Torre DeRoche Free Time 138: ⛵️ Stop Sailing the Sea of Shiny Shoulds ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💻 Check out Jenny’s Pivot courses on LinkedIn Learning: Figuring Out Your Next Move, Holding 1:1 Career Conversations With Your Team, Managing Introverts, Coaching New Hires, and Coaching New Managers 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey ☎️ Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/312 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s time to leave guilt spirals, perfectionism, and hedging behind. Today’s guest, Lia Garvin, is sharing her favorite tools for reframing frustrating situations through powerful questions and helpful feedback. More About Lia: Lia Garvin is the bestselling author of UNSTUCK: Reframe Your Thinking to Free Yourself From the Patterns and People that Hold You Back, leaning into nearly ten years of experience working in some of the most influential companies in tech, including Microsoft, Apple, and Google to explore the power of reframing to overcome common challenges found in the modern workplace. In her popular TEDx talk, “Your decisions aren't wrong, your inner critic is“, Lia shares the secret to reframing the stress we feel around making decisions. As the Founder & CEO of The Workplace Reframe organizational strategy firm, speaker, and coach, Lia is on a mission to humanize the workplace, one conversation at a time. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: If you find yourself stuck in the “nosebleed section” of a problem, especially if it’s a situation you don’t have direct control over, consider: What can this vantage point offer me? What can I learn from it? What might I consider for next time? A decision is a best guess: Separate the drivers from the outcomes of your next move. Unhook your self-worth from your work, and reframe your relationship to feedback: This project doesn’t have to be everything or for everyone; it doesn’t have anything to do with who you are as a person. If the feedback hits a nerve, collect more data. ✅ Try This Next: The next time you’re feeling stuck, try reframing your questions from “why?” to “what?” Write down all of the questions you are asking yourself, and re-construct them. So, “Why didn’t they pick me?” becomes: “What else might be going on in the situation that I’m not aware of?” and “Why does this always happen to me?” becomes “What else might be possible?” 📘Books: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College UNSTUCK: Reframe Your Thinking to Free Yourself From the Patterns and People that Hold You Back 🔗Resources: Lia on the web, IG: @lia.garvin, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube Bonuses: Do's and Don'ts for Talking About Your Work with Confidence, 5Tips to Unlock the Best in Your Teams Article: Psychology Today’s Maximizers vs. Satisficers: Who Makes Better Decisions? TEDx: Your decisions aren't wrong, your inner critic is Masterclass: Chris Voss’ Win Workplace Negotiations, The Art of Negotiation 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 289: Stealing Wi-Fi as Career Strategy with Jenny Wood 283: What Are You Here to Do? How to Find a Path That Fits with Adrian Klaphaak 182: Collective Problem-Solving + Negotiating Fearlessly with Mori Taheripour 26: Tame The Advice Monster With Michael Bungay Stanier ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💻 Check out Jenny’s Pivot courses on LinkedIn Learning: Figuring Out Your Next Move, Holding 1:1 Career Conversations With Your Team, Managing Introverts, Coaching New Hires, and Coaching New Managers 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey ☎️ Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/311 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I’m complete. Have you ever landed on that sense of satisfaction, perhaps after a peak experience when you’ve given everything you could? Often what quickly follows: Now, what’s next? My guest this week — the very first partner coach I brought on to help in my business — pivoted out of academia after an accomplished trajectory into running her own coaching practice. Several years ago, she was featured in Shana Gaynor’s wonderful Business Insider article, I went to a career coach, so you don't have to—and it was a rude awakening, that has been bringing clients our way ever since! In this conversation, we discuss creating the impact you want to have in the world, crafting jobs and roles to fit your strengths, and how to navigate the nerves of striking out on your own. More About Rebecca: Rebecca Fraser-Thill is a Pivot Career Coach, the Senior Contributor at Forbes on meaningful work, and the owner of Fraser-Thill Coaching & Consulting, based near Portland, Maine. Rebecca taught psychology at Bates College for 18 years, where she led the design of their Purposeful Work program. She holds a Master’s degree in Developmental Psychology from Cornell University. You can find her at www.RebeccaFT.com 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: Are you a coaching skeptic? The feedback, insight, and accountability can be transformative in ways you don’t expect. Job crafting: Take every step you can to make the most of a current opportunity before making bigger moves, to know you gave it everything you had and gain clarity on when it will be time to go. Look for hidden strengths that come so naturally to you that you barely recognize them for the advantages they are. We often downplay our own abilities, so ask for feedback from coaches (and friends and colleagues!). ✅ Next Action: Find a list of work-related or adjacent values online (or generate your own) and write them on index cards or slips of paper. Next, physically put them in order of what is most important to you. Return and reorder them over a week until you have no more changes. This list of values will help you make decisions and rules about your work—if something doesn’t align, it becomes much easier to say no to. 📘Books: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College Don't Call It Quits: Turn the Job You Have into the Job You Love by Shana Lebowitz Gaynor Agile: Essentials of Team and Project Management. Manifesto for Agile Software Development by Alex Campbell 🔗Resources: Rebecca on the web, Twitter, LinkedIn Learn more and schedule a Pivot Coaching intro call with Rebecca Business Insider: I went to a career coach so you don't have to—and it was a rude awakening Therapy Apps: Better Help, Talkspace Career Values Lists: Mindtool, James Clear The Tim Ferriss Show: What Is Important to You 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 308: Pivoting in Place with Adrian Klaphaak 303: What is Your Soul Path for 2023? Follow What’s Most Alive — With Adrian Klaphaak 299: Juggling Risk and Pursuing Passion while Pivoting in a Recession with Adrian Klaphaak ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💻 Check out Jenny’s Pivot courses on LinkedIn Learning: Figuring Out Your Next Move, Holding 1:1 Career Conversations With Your Team, Managing Introverts, Coaching New Hires, and Coaching New Managers 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey ☎️ Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/310 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“The Sensitive Leader is a wayfinder, not a truth teller” with all the answers. Learn how serendipity helped today’s guest, Ciela Hartanov, successfully pitch an internal project to co-found and lead The Google School for Leaders; why sense-making is an essential skill when pivoting; and how to “right-size” a proposal until you get a yes. We also discuss what it means to develop “identity agency,” how Ciela knew it was time to go out on her own, why building a personal brand isn’t the end-all-be-all, and how to build trend-spotting skills. More About Ciela: Ciela Hartanov was part of the founding team of The Google School for Leaders and Head of Next Practice Innovation and Strategy at Google, where she developed projects designed to shape the future of leadership and work. She currently runs humcollective, a boutique strategy and innovation firm that helps companies, executives, and teams make sense of the forces shaping the future and prepare strategically, and cohosts a podcast called Questioning Work. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: Sense-making means asking: “What’s interesting here? What’s going on here?” It’s about entering more into playfulness than problem-solving. Tension is essential in the innovative process because it provides energy to continue working on new ideas. Identity agency: Develop a sense of who you are outside of your public-facing brand or even the brand association from working at a well-known company. ✅ Next Action: Build your trend-spotting skills by taking a walk in your neighborhood. What are you noticing? What are the things you haven’t been seeing? What does that tell you about the world? 📘Books: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College Reclaiming Sensitivity (early 2024) 🔗Resources: Ciela on the web, IG: @cielarose, Twitter: @CHartanov, LinkedIn, Medium Ciela’s Podcast: Questioning Work Articles: It’s Finally Time to Retire ‘Good to Great’ From the Leadership Canon Tool: chatGPT 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 277: Expansive Impact and Spacious Scheduling with Sarah Young 52: Martha Beck on Enlightenment and Messages our Bodies Send 301: The Future is Analog and Books Aren’t Going Anywhere with David Sax 282: The Honor Roll Hangover with Melody Wilding 260: Everyday Rituals and the 'Sparkling of the Sacred' with Casper ter Kuile 228: How I Run My Business Without Social Media 306: ⛵️Stop Sailing the Sea of Shiny Shoulds (Free Time Crossover) 75: Become a Trend Curator + Non-Obvious Trends for 2018 with Rohit Bhargava 172: Self-Care for Empaths and HSPs with Sarah Santacroce Free Time 154: The Hard No ❌ ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💻 Check out Jenny’s Pivot courses on LinkedIn Learning: Figuring Out Your Next Move, Holding 1:1 Career Conversations With Your Team, Managing Introverts, Coaching New Hires, and Coaching New Managers 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey ☎️ Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/309 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“No [person] ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river, and they are not the same [person].” —Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher from ~500 BC I share this quote in nearly every Pivot keynote because it speaks to the reality of uncertainty in every aspect of our lives, even when we’re not intentionally pursuing bigger career changes. Every day we are different, as are the companies we work for, the broader economy, our community, and even our physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional bodies. Today, recurring guest Adrian Klaphaak and I are exploring how to keep moving and build momentum, even when you aren’t in a position to take big risks. How do you double down on your strengths and take small steps to pivot in place, creating room for bigger opportunities down the road? Are you working on a pivot-in-progress? For guidance on reconnecting with what lights you up, and creating an action plan to move forward, check out Adrian’s flagship Career Pathfinder Program and apply promo code PIVOT at checkout. More about Adrian: Adrian Klaphaak is a coach, purpose guide, entrepreneur, therapist, and founder of A Path That Fits Career and Life Coaching. His coaching approach is holistic—a constant balance between getting results and a quest for meaning and fulfillment. He describes himself as “a deep seeker with a constant itch to make things happen.” 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: “What should I do?” is the second question. It should come after “Who am I?” when you are thinking about how to improve your work circumstances without leaving your role entirely. Sometimes the role you want doesn't exist yet at your organization. Lean on faith and follow the clues your soul is guiding you with to create the space you want to occupy. Relationships are what make everything happen. Talk to the people you like the most and who seem to be doing the most interesting work. Investing in those relationships gives you more access to opportunities. ✅ Next Action: the work activities that you get the most joy, energy, and flow from. How can you build upon those through smaller pilots? 📘Books: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College Brave New Work: Are You Ready to Reinvent Your Organization? by Aaron Dignan 🔗Resources: Adrian on the web, Yelp, Facebook, LinkedIn Course: Career Pathfinder, promo code PIVOT Video: Finding Your Calling by a Path the Fits Articles by Jenny on Oprah.com: The Questions You Need to Ask Yourself if You're Bored and Restless at Work, What Is Your Happiness Formula? Newsletter: Adjacent Possible by Stephen Johnson Podcast: In the Arena with Leah Smart 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: Pivot x Career Pathfinder Playlist (previous episodes with Adrian), 289: Stealing Wi-Fi as Career Strategy with Jenny Wood ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💻 Check out Jenny’s Pivot courses on LinkedIn Learning: Figuring Out Your Next Move, Holding 1:1 Career Conversations With Your Team, Managing Introverts, Coaching New Hires, and Coaching New Managers 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey ☎️ Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/308 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Leaving the cool shade of a corporate tree with a great salary and benefits to start a business is never easy. But making the call mere months before a global pandemic hits seems on the surface to be ill-timed—to say the least. Or perhaps cosmic. Don’t feel bad for Tony McGaharan, who is a pro at finding the silver lining in any situation. Suddenly the market for his budding business went from Belfast to global through virtual events, and his business is thriving because of it. In this conversation, we cover how he knew it was time to give his two-weeks notice (and not just pivot internally), how he addressed financial fears of leaving a six-figure salary, navigating the first few months of the pandemic as a new business owner, and how he builds relationships to generate new business—including Google still a key part of his client roster. As his coach says to him, “Be careful what you do because what you do, you do more of.” More About Tony: Tony is a Leadership Development expert who previously worked for Google's People Operations in Dublin, Singapore, and London. He is an experienced leader, effective facilitator, and qualified coach on and off the basketball court. He founded People Playbook in 2020, host of the Three Points podcast, and has partnered with a diverse range of organizations across the globe to design and deliver purpose-built leadership development programs. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: You’ll have more options and less pressure when pivoting if you live lean by lowering expenses and your expectations. Silver linings are everywhere; lean into conditions that seem subpar Set expectations with yourself after pivoting as you design your day-to-day: What are your goals? What do you expect to do with your time and your days? What do you want to do outside of work? ✅ Next Action: Outsource your confidence if you need a boost. We can get stuck in our own heads and not see ourselves clearly, so ask friends and family what they see your strengths as and what they think you can bring to the world. 📘Books: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One, Life After College 🔗Resources: Tony on the web, IG: @peopleplaybook and @SilverLiningsQuiz, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook Tony’s Podcast: Three Points People: Peter Barron, Producer Matt Thompson, Pamela Slim, Charlie Gilkey, Josh Muxen Podcasts: Best of Belfast, Jenny on Three Points — Freeing Your Time with Jenny Blake 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: Pivot 296: Top 3 Do’s and Dont’s When Leaving a Corporate Job 297: Create a Failure Resume Free Time 153: Behind the Podcast — Increasing Serendipity Surface Area — Mic Flip with Matthew Thompson 117: Tiny Marketing Actions with Pamela Slim 091: Quarterly Planning with Charlie Gilkey Exploring Time, Money, and Energy Capacity with Tara McMullin and Charlie Gilkey (Replay) ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💻 Check out Jenny’s Pivot courses on LinkedIn Learning: Figuring Out Your Next Move, Holding 1:1 Career Conversations With Your Team, Managing Introverts, Coaching New Hires, and Coaching New Managers 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey ☎️ Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/307 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is it too late to wish you a Happy New Year? Larry David, one of my favorite curmudgeons, would say yes — I have surpassed the HNY statute of limitations. While the “new year, new you” energy is still fresh, I invite you to conduct a calendar audit: What are your shiny shoulds? The coulds? The so goods? Today I’m sharing a crossover from the Free Time podcast and book about one of the most popular topics that readers ask me about most: Sailing the Sea of Shiny Shoulds. This also ties into one of the Pivot Paradoxes I share in the Pilot stage of Pivot: The Fauxspiration Foe. If you haven’t already, grab your copy of Free Time—winner of six book awards!—and subscribe to the w3 award-winning podcast wherever you listen » You’re invited! I would love for you to join us in BFF, my private community for small Heart-Based business owners. If you want accountability, support, and strategies to stop sailing the sea of shiny shoulds so you can set more time free to do your best work. Visit itsfreetime.com/bff, and enter promo code PODCAST at checkout for a discount. 🌟Key Takeaway: If you want to dabble in something that might be a Shiny Should, treat it like an experiment. Set rules for engagement that respect your time, including firm start and end dates, then evaluate the impact on your energy and your business. Is the juice worth the squeeze? ✅ Action Step: Observe your calendar and projects for the next two weeks: What is most energizing? What’s most draining? Within the most energizing people and projects, conduct a second audit (you can do this by drawing three columns on a blank piece of paper or digital note): What are your shiny shoulds? The coulds? The so goods? 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level by Gay Hendricks The Genius Habit: How One Habit Can Radically Change Your Work and Your Life by Laura Garnett Find Your Zone of Genius: Break Free from burnout, Reduce Career Anxiety, and Make the Work Your Doing Matter by Making Your Job The Right Job for You by Laura Garnett 🔗Resources Mentioned: Jenny’s private BFF Community for Heart-Based Business owners Article: The New York Times Workologist feature: Climbing Down the Corporate Ladder Without Alarming Your Boss Strategic Social Media Sprints: Stephanie Huston Podcast: SPARKED by Jonathan Fields, Free Time 🎧Related Podcast Episodes JB episodes on SPARKED with Jonathan Fields Pivot: 292: True Fun vs Fake Fun with Catherine Price 305: Is What You Are Wanting Actually What’s Best For You? With Luke Burgis 303: What is Your Soul Path for 2023? Follow What’s Most Alive — With Adrian Klaphaak 228: How I Run My Business Without Social Media 183: Cultivating Opposites and Checklists with Alexandra Franzen 076: On Plan Z, Creative Finish Lines and the Graceful No—with Alexandra Franzen Free Time: 134: How I Prepare for In-Person Speaking Engagements 075: Coaching Through the Free Time Framework with Wade Brill 012: Generating Personal MBA Momentum with Josh Kaufman 152: Do Less — On Entropic Bloat & Business Haircuts ✂️ 154: The Hard No ❌ 096: Book Sales Stats—One Month Post-Launch ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💻 Check out Jenny’s Pivot courses on LinkedIn Learning: Figuring Out Your Next Move, Holding 1:1 Career Conversations With Your Team, Managing Introverts, Coaching New Hires, and Coaching New Managers 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey ☎️ Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/306 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The opening epigraph to Luke Burgis’ brilliant book gave me such a chuckle that I can’t resist sharing it here: “We want what other people want because other people want it, and it’s penciled-in eyebrows all the way down, down to the depths of the nth circle of hell where we all die immediately of a Brazilian butt lift, over and over again.” —Dayna Tortorici via n+1 (as quoted in Wanting) In today’s conversation, we’re talking about mimetic desire and our relationship to wanting. It’s a fundamental aspect of the fact that humans are social creatures: I see, therefore I want; I want, therefore I am. But if what you’re wanting isn’t serving you, this conversation will be just the medicine you need to turn your attention inward again. As Luke says, “Mimetic desire is like gravity—it just is. Gravity is always at work. What gravity is to physics, mimetic desire is to psychology.” We can get better at escaping relational riptides and the rat race. Listen in to learn more about why Wanting is the key to unlocking our deepest desires and ridding ourselves of toxic comparison and competition. More About Luke: Luke Burgis has co-created and led four companies in wellness, consumer products, and technology. He’s currently Entrepreneur-in-Residence and Director of Programs at the Ciocca Center for Principled Entrepreneurship where he also teaches business at The Catholic University of America. He writes and speaks regularly about the education of desire, and is the author of two books on these topics: Unrepeatable: Cultivating the Unique Calling of Every Person and Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: Our desires often don’t originate with us, but we do have agency and the freedom to rise above them We often experience mimetic rivalry with those closest to us Thick desires are ones in alignment with our own integrity and most meaningful pursuits, where status and recognition are byproducts (but not the aim) of deeper satisfaction ✅ Next Action: Be like the hawk (as featured in today’s conversation!)—notice what your subconscious Michelin Stars are and examine, Are they serving you? Do they represent your “thickest” desires, or merely what others in your life and industry tell you that you should want? 📘Books: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life (Luke Burgis) The Status Game: On Human Life and How to Play It: On Social Position and How We Use It by Will Storr 🔗Resources: Luke on the web, Instagram: @lukeburgis, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn Articles: Dayna Tortorici’s n+1 article My Instagram, The New Yorker—The Floating World: Have’s and the Have Superyachts Videos: Rivalry: How to beat a basic instinct, How to know what you really want, movie trailer for Lamborghini: The Man Behind the Legend 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 294: Confidence Conundrums and Attention Budgets with Terri Trespicio 278: Radically Content with Jamie Varon 299: Juggling Risk and Pursuing Passion while Pivoting in a Recession with Adrian Klaphaak Additional interviews with Luke Burgis (via Spotify) ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💻 Check out Jenny’s Pivot courses on LinkedIn Learning: Figuring Out Your Next Move, Holding 1:1 Career Conversations With Your Team, Managing Introverts, Coaching New Hires, and Coaching New Managers ☎️ Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/305 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Even when you think something is set in stone—literal, actual stone—it changes.” Take it from actor-turned-entrepreneur and rock-climbing aficionado Ryan Devlin: successful pivots involve constant micro-adjustments. Even when you feel most stuck, you can find a new way forward, but you’ll need to double down on your unique skills and abilities. I had so much fun chatting with Ryan about starting his give-back company, This Saves Lives, and his journey from a successful actor living the Hollywood life to an experimental entrepreneur piloting a new podcast based on his passion. Ryan shares why chasing celebrity can be a slippery slope, how getting used to rejection helps with business-building, contributing to something bigger than you, finding flow, and why getting bored in your career isn’t always bad. More About Ryan: Ryan Devlin is a social entrepreneur, rock climbing enthusiast, and actor known for roles on shows like Brothers & Sisters, Veronica Mars, Cougar Town, Jane the Virgin, and Grey’s Anatomy. He hosts The Struggle Climbing podcast, where climbers share their struggles and breakthroughs in nutrition, training, tactics, and the mental game. He is also co-founder of This Saves Lives, a company dedicated to feeding children and helping them thrive. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: What are the unique things that only you can do? What connections, skills, or insights do you have that no one else does? There are opportunities that only you can identify and take advantage of because of the skills, abilities, and connections that are unique to you. From Tony Hsieh’s book, Delivering Happiness, consider three levels of happiness: something ephemeral (like shopping), flow state (over when the activity is over), and service (being part of something bigger than yourself). The more you pivot, the more comfortable you become with change. Take comfort in knowing that if your next move doesn’t work, you can figure out how to adapt from there. ✅Next Action: Pick a niche passion of yours that has a zing of energy and excitement to it; what is one creative project you might be able to tackle in and for this area? Bonus: go to a local climbing wall! 📘Books: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College Shameless Exploitation in Pursuit of the Common Good by Paul Newman The Status Game: On Human Life and How to Play It by Will Storr Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life by Luke Burgis Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose by Tony Hsieh Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future by Peter Thiel 🔗Resources: Ryan Devlin on the web, Instagram: @ryandevlinoutside and @thestruggleclimbingshow Company: This Saves Lives Podcast: The Struggle Climbing Show, Guests: Tommy Caldwell, Lynn Hill, Alex Honnold Emily Holland: Podcast Coach, host of the Nature Untold Podcast 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 242: Nahko—Take Your Power Back + "Love Letters to God" Live 305: Is What You’re Wanting Actually What’s Best For You? With Luke Burgis 136: Why I Stopped Exploring Selling the Pivot Brand and Business ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💻 Check out Jenny’s Pivot courses on LinkedIn Learning: Figuring Out Your Next Move, Holding 1:1 Career Conversations With Your Team, Managing Introverts, Coaching New Hires, and Coaching New Managers 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey ☎️ Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/304 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

🎉 Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business celebrates its one year bookiversary on 3/22/23! In this episode I'm walking you through the Free Time Framework—Align, Design, Assign—so you have a technique to move from friction to flow in any project or area of your life and work in 2022. Resources Mentioned: Books: Free Time, Pivot, Who Not How Podcasts: Free Time #052: Perceived Capacity vs. Actual Capacity, Centered in the City with Wade Brill Websites: Agile Manifesto for Software Development This episode originally aired in December 2022. 🎁 Give the gift of free time to yourself and others in 2023 by participating in our Buy One, Get One, Give One bonus, back for a limited time. Here's how it works: Buy One: Order the hardcover edition and submit proof of purchase at http://itsfreetime.com/bogogo Get One: Within one business day, you'll get access to the audiobook and Free Time Toolkit with over 15 new templates to set your time free in 2023! Give One: You will get details on how to gift audiobook access to a friend :) Thank you for listening! I can't wait to hear how you start freeing up time, and what you do with it :) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Happy new year, my friends!! Transitioning from holiday time off to the frenetic energy of returning to work and regular life can be rough — so today, recurring guest (and my first career coach) Adrian Klaphaak joins me back on the pod to jam about calmer ways of reentering a new year, and recentering to decide what kind of planning and tracking is the most joyful for you. More about Adrian: Adrian Klaphaak is a coach, purpose guide, entrepreneur, therapist, and founder of A Path That Fits Career and Life Coaching. His coaching approach is holistic—a constant balance between getting results and a quest for meaning and fulfillment. He describes himself as “a deep seeker with a constant itch to make things happen.” 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Goals can be a loaded concept: they can be helpful or box us in. Try exaggerating your goals so far beyond what you would set typically, and see how your consciousness and creativity change to adapt to the new challenge. To calculate your personal year number in numerology: Add the digits of your birthday, birth month, and year (i.e., 2023). For example, February 3, 2023. The personal year number would be 0+2+0+3+2+0+2+3 = 13 = 1+3 = 4. Then read the corresponding profile here » Before committing to something new, ask, “Is this really necessary?” Sometimes the easiest way to find more time and ease is to simply do less. What can you do less of next year, and what might that additional time mean for you? ✅Next Action: Take a breath before launching into a new goal or declaration for the year. Rest and recharge, then came back to the questions of: What do I really want? What is most exciting to me? What do I most want to give my energy to? What is a project that aligns with my soul’s path? 📘Books: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College Life Cycles: Your Emotional Journey To Freedom And Happiness by Christine DeLorey Turning the Flywheel: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great by Jim Collins 🔗Resources: Adrian on the web, Yelp, Facebook, LinkedIn Course: Career Pathfinder Video: Finding Your Calling by a Path That Fits Article: Trip vs. Vacation (Why traveling with kids is never a holiday) Creative Numerology 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 283: What Are You Here to Do? How to Find a Path That Fits with Adrian Klaphaak 288: Embracing Uncertainty — Mic Flip with Adrian Klaphaak 299: Juggling Risk and Pursuing Passion while Pivoting in a Recession with Adrian Klaphaak Penney & Jenny Show Free Time 123: “Pricing is Branding” — Anti-Time Management with Richie Norton Free Time 056: Set Your Compass—Systems vs. Goals Free Time 152: Do Less — On Entropic Bloat and Business Haircuts ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💻 Check out Jenny’s Pivot courses on LinkedIn Learning: Figuring Out Your Next Move, Holding 1:1 Career Conversations With Your Team, Managing Introverts, Coaching New Hires, and Coaching New Managers 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey ☎️ Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/303 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode originally aired on April 4, 2021. Casper ter Kuile is helping to build a world of joyful belonging. He is the author of The Power of Ritual and the co-host of the award-winning podcast Harry Potter and the Sacred Text. Casper is a Ministry Innovation Fellow at Harvard Divinity School and the co-founder of startup Sacred Design Lab - a research and design consultancy working to create a culture of belonging and becoming. He also co-authored “How We Gather” and collaborated with Holstee on his Ritual Life Planner. Resources Casper on the web, Twitter: @caspertk, IG: caspertk_, Facebook: @caspertk86, LinkedIn: caspertk, Newsletter: caspertk.com Tech sabbath from sundown Fri-Sat. Sacred Design Lab Articles: NYT feature: God Is Dead. So Is the Office. These People Want to Save Both Podcast: Harry Potter and the Sacred Text Books: Pivot The Power of Ritual: Turning Everyday Activities into Soulful Practices Co-author: How We Gather Ritual Life Planner Outrageous Openness by Tosha Silver Agnostic by Lesley Hazleton Wintering by Katherine May Authors: Richard Rohr Abraham Joshua Heschel Byron Katie Tosha Silver Related Pivot Podcasts: 105: Tools for Transitions—Just Ahead Mentors, Jealousy Antidotes, and Powerful Small Steps to Find Jobs (or Clients) with Dev Aujla 83: Pivot From Working in the Morgue to the Ministry with Former Forensic Pathologist Dr. Thomas Andrew 114: Illuminating Invisible Privilege with Karen Pittelman (and Why She Gave Away Her $3 Million Trust At 24) ❤️ Enjoying the show? Pivot Podcast is listener supported—consider donating to become a Pivot Insider and you’ll get access to a private monthly Q&A call: http://pivotmethod.com/insider 💸 Enroll in the complimentary Free-up Founder Time mini-course before the price goes up 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey 🗣 Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned: https://pivotmethod.com/260 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“I don’t want fans, I want friends.” This is one of many approaches to relationship-building that I admire in this week’s guest, super-connector Jon Levy. I learned that when Jon texts with “free for dinner tonight?” you cancel all plans and say YES. Both times I did, I ended up at one of his influencer dinners with famous actors, public figures, pro athletes, and C-suite executives. Jon’s secret? Designing experiences to facilitate a shared sense of awe, connection, and accomplishment—with job titles revealed only at the end of the evening. Today we’re talking about these principles and more behind his bestselling book, You’re Invited: The Art and Science of Cultivating Influence. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did! This episode originally aired on July 24, 2022. More about Jon: Jon Levy is a behavioral scientist and New York Times bestselling author known for his work in trust, human connection, belonging, and influence. More than a decade ago, Jon founded The Influencers Dinner, a secret dining experience for industry leaders ranging from Nobel laureates, Olympians, celebrities, and executives, to artists and musicians. Guests cook dinner together, but can’t discuss their career or give their last name, and once seated to eat, they reveal who they are. Over time, these dinners developed into a community. With thousands of members, Influencers is the largest community of its type worldwide. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Say yes to invites. If you want higher levels of creativity, new relationships, new ideas—it’s going to happen outside of your standard routines. Novelty is critical if you want to be noticed. What are you doing that only you do? Make that one of the key things you talk about and promote. Instead of asking why you’re not on social media, or forcing yourself into it, ask “Why should I be on social media? If you don’t have a good reason, don’t stress about it! ✅Next Action: What next group invitation can you send? How can you create a memorable experience around it? 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One The 2 AM Principle You’re Invited: The Art and Science of Cultivating Influence 🔗Resources Mentioned: Jon on the web, Instagram: @jonlevytlb, Twitter: @JonLevyTLB New York Times feature: Want to Meet Influential New Yorkers? Invite Them to Dinner Video: Ted Talk: What Makes Us Influential?, Fortune: The Science of Adventure Resources: Upwork, Notion TV Show: Old Enough Reddit.com 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 228: How I Run My Business Without Social Media 263: Conduct a Relationship Audit with Ximena Vengoechea ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey 🗣 Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/285 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Does your calendar reflect your values and priorities? Do you pause before responding to requests, or are you saying yes to things out of fear, pressure, or obligation? I’m delighted to be in conversation with my dear friend Sarah Young this week on creating clear containers, clean vs. dirty energy, navigating “spiritual tornados of leadership,” handling inevitable criticism, and moving past people-pleasing toward acting in the path of highest integrity. Be sure to check out Sarah’s beautiful book, Expansive Impact: An Invitation to Lead in Everyday Moments, and subscribe to her fantastic Friday Favorites newsletter! It’s one of my favorite messages in my inbox every week :) This episode originally aired on April 3, 2022. More About Sarah: Sarah Young is the Founder and CEO of Zing Collaborative and the author of Expansive Impact: An Invitation to Lead in Everyday Moments. She works with a handful of highly conscious and committed clients who want to elevate and expand their leadership capacity. Sarah runs retreats, workshops, and speaking events to help leaders further develop through an approach that blends corporate experience, research, mindfulness, leadership, coaching, and experiential learning. She has a deep appreciation for nature, travel, sunshine, warm weather, paddle boarding, rescue dogs, cooking, coffee, and the precious hours of the early morning. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: If you find it hard to create time for yourself, building time for personal projects and R&R right into your calendar. Ask to meet over the phone or while walking, instead of screen-fatigue inducing video calls. Use a decision filter before saying yes. Ask yourself: “is this fully in line with my values and priorities?” Remember that you can do everything right to communicate clearly and with integrity, and sometimes it still may not work if the other person doesn't have the desire to meet you halfway. 📝 Permission: Skip the comment section. You don’t need to engage where the energy doesn’t feel right. Sometimes people are just waiting to pounce, and you don’t have to provide the opportunity. ✅ Do or Delegate This Next: Pause. Find a moment in the day where you can pause before you respond to something, reflecting on whether it connects with your values and how you want to engage in the world. 📘 Books Mentioned: Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Expansive Impact: An Invitation to Lead in Everyday Moments The Four Tendencies: The Indispensable Personality Profiles That Reveal How to Make Your Life Better (and Other People's Lives Better, Too) 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Sarah Young on the web, Instagram, LinkedIn Sarah’s book: Expansive Impact: An Invitation to Lead in Everyday Moments Articles: 999 Problems, Why I don’t have Comments by Seth Godin, An Ex-Google Career Coach Tells Why Pleasing Everyone Will Never Help You in Your Career Quiz: Gretchen Rubin’s Four Tendencies Related Podcast Episodes: Free Time 077: Happy Launch Day! Antonio Neves Guest Hosts (Part 1) Pivot Episode 132: The Making of a Manager with Julie Zhuo ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey 🗣 Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/277 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"For generations, we’ve been taught there are two ways to succeed—either from talent or practice." My guest today, Ron Friedman, shares a powerful third path: reverse engineering. In this conversation you will learn how to unpack others' success to spark breakthrough ideas of your own, with an original twist. This episode originally aired on November 28, 2021. More About Ron: Ron Friedman is an award-winning social psychologist who specializes in human motivation. His first book, The Best Place to Work, was named an Inc. Magazine Best Business Book of the Year. His new book, *Decoding Greatness: How the Best in the World Reverse Engineer Success,* was selected by Amazon's editors as one of this year's best non-fiction books. Resources Mentioned: Connect with Ron: Ron on the web Twitter: @RonFriedman Instagram: @Nilofer, LinkedIn Videos: Susan Cain The Power of Introverts, Sir Ken Robinson Changing Education Paradigms, Malcolm Gladwell Teaches Writing Masterclass Related Pivot Podcast Episodes: 155: Becoming a Successful Speaker with Grant Baldwin, 207: How to Develop Your Book and Big Idea, 209: On Seinfeld, Sensitivity, and Trend Spotting Related Free Time Episodes: 010: Batching & Boundaries with John Lee Dumas, 022: Become a Thought-Listener, 031: Eleventh-Hour Creative Gremlins, 034: Organizing Research and Ideas — Notion Walkthrough #1, 036: Shaping Big Ideas — Notion Walkthrough #2 ❤️ Enjoying the show? Pivot Podcast is listener supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF Insider and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private feed. 💸 Enroll in the complimentary Free-up Founder Time mini-course before the price goes up 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey 🗣 Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned Check out other episodes of the Pivot Podcast here. Be sure to subscribe wherever you listen, and if you enjoy the show I would be very grateful for a rating and/or review! Sign-up for my weekly(ish) #PivotList newsletter to receive curated round-ups of what I’m reading, watching, listening to, and new tools I’m geeking out on. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“When life takes you down, it changes you. You’re not the same after,” says Dr. Susan Biali in her new book, The Resilient Life. “When I look back on my career, my most cherished accomplishments all came with significant stress.” And yet, sometimes, that work-related stress can tip into burnout if we’re not careful—something particularly prominent these last few years. Susan is one of my longest-time friendtors (fifteen years and counting!), and in this long-overdue Pivot conversation, we talk about what personality traits make someone most prone to burnout, social overwhelm the power of small doses of relaxation response activities, and more. More About Susan: Dr. Susan Biali Haas is an award-winning medical doctor, internationally recognized for her expertise in mental health, stress management, burnout prevention, and resilience. Today we’re talking about her new book, The Resilient Life: Manage stress, prevent burnout, improve your physical and mental health, and live with more resilience. **** In addition to her twenty years of primary care experience, she also coaches a broad range of clients — from senior executives to physicians and other health professionals — to take control of their mental and physical well-being. Dr. Susan’s popular Psychology Today blog has over 10 million views, and she has been featured in media such as the Today Show, Forbes, BBC World Service, Oprah.com, and others. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Even 10 to 20 min of mindful Relaxation Response activities can have a 24-hour positive impact on your mood and health. When is burnout not burnout? Sometimes what we think is burnout is actually a psychological crash that feels very intense but can be worked through with extra rest, sleep, and other self-care. Real burnout is more serious and often needs the care of a professional to recover from. Leverage your parasympathetic nervous system to counteract your stress response; take a few deep breaths and pay attention to how you feel afterward. ✅Do This Next: What do you need and want most? Create a social inventory of the different people in your life and interactions you want to have with them, and reflect on how those relationships are showing up or present in your life and if you are happy with that, or want to make changes. 📘Books: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College The Resilient Life Live a Life You Love 🔗Resources: Susan on the web, Instagram: @drsusanbiali, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook Articles: Susan’s Psychology Today column, Don’t Try to Reason with Unreasonable People, Create Free Time Within Your Overwhelmed Work Life Podcast: The Jordan Harbinger Show Big 5 Personality Test Video: Relaxation Response Demonstration Research: Resilience Research Center led by Dr. Michael Unger 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 60: How Emotionally Agile Are You? Strategies for Setbacks with Susan David 45: Post-Launch Pivot Point + Visit From the Furry Rest Monster Free Time 063: On Burnout and Business Intuition with Azul Terronez of Authors Who Lead Free Time 006: Going Pro on Podcasting with Jordan Harbinger ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💻 Check out Jenny’s Pivot courses on LinkedIn Learning: Figuring Out Your Next Move, Holding 1:1 Career Conversations With Your Team, Managing Introverts, Coaching New Hires, and Coaching New Managers 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey ☎️ Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/302 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens when you write a book called The Revenge of Analog, only to find a pandemic relentlessly converting everything to virtual a few years later? David Sax answered the call with a follow-up book, the only one he could write from the confines of home, describing the malaise of digital pushed to its extremes, again making the case for RR: Real Reality (and you know we couldn’t resist a few pirate jokes to follow). I know you’ll love this conversation as much as I did about the timeless nature of our most meaningful moments; the future of books, book clubs, and bookstores; and why the metaverse has nothing to do with our salvation as a species. More About David: David Sax is a technology critic and bestselling author of five books, including Save the Deli, The Tastemakers, The Revenge of Analog, and The Soul of an Entrepreneur. His new book, The Future Is Analog: How to Create a More Human World, highlights the resurgence of analog goods and ideas in a digitally proliferated world. He reminds us all that we should look for community and humanity, not convenience and technology. 🌟Key Takeaway: There are things that are just better in AR: Actual Reality (as opposed to digital). Books, speaking engagements, school, bookstores. There’s nothing saying we have to choose the metaverse despite how relentlessly it’s marketed to us. ✅Next Action: When someone asks you about your plans for the future, consider: What makes you feel the most human? What kind of connection do you crave and desire? How can you bring more of that into your life? Take something back that has gone digital and return to analog, whether it’s buying a hardcover book or sending a handwritten thank you note. 📘Books: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College A World Without Email: Reimagining Work in an Age of Communication Overload by Cal Newport The Algebra of Happiness: Notes on the Pursuit of Success, Love, and Meaning by Scott Galloway The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google by Scott Galloway 🔗Resources: David on the web, Twitter, LinkedIn Article: New York Times—This is Life in the Metaverse Scott Galloway: Newsletter, The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway Podcast: 3 Books with Neil Pasricha 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 287: Solving Pivot Puzzles with A.J. Jacobs 265: Free Time Crossover — Eliminate Email with Cal Newport 122: Digital Minimalism with Cal Newport 29: Deep Work: Ditch Cognitive Junk Food with Cal Newport 143: Transmogrify with Neil Pasricha 44: Want Nothing, Have Everything: The Happiness Equation with Neil Pasricha JB on SPARKED with Jonathan Fields: On Putting Yourself in the Path of Pivot, How to Choose Freedom Over Familial Responsibility, How to Scale While Staying True to Yourself, and How to Know When to Jump Into Your Side Hustle Free Time 134: How I Prepare for In-Person Speaking Engagements ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💻 Check out Jenny’s Pivot courses on LinkedIn Learning: Figuring Out Your Next Move, Holding 1:1 Career Conversations With Your Team, Managing Introverts, Coaching New Hires, and Coaching New Managers 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey ☎️ Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/301 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Since launching this show in September 2015, the podcasting landscape has grown and changed tremendously. What was once a niche sandbox of independent producers pursuing passion projects has blossomed into an abundant field where it seems as though every major media property, celebrity, side hustler, and business owner decided to throw their hat (mic?) into the audio arena. Since I’m not nearly ambitious or prolific enough to share three hundred lessons learned in honor of today’s major milestone, or even thirty, I thought I’d boil it down to my top three creative lessons learned in seven years of creating content in a constantly changing space. Before going any further, thank you from the bottom of my heart—this show wouldn’t be nearly what it is without you here listening and sharing with friends. Thank you for listening these last seven years, and I’m looking forward to seeing what the years ahead bring us! 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Challenging myself to do a daily creative bootcamp for three months has made the production (and idea generation) process easier ever since. Delegating is a game-changer, such as investing in a full-service production team—even before I was 100% ready. It truly helped me shift from sporadic, overwhelmed output to energized, consistent creativity. Success is anything over a small handful of listeners: staying focused on the intrinsic rewards, the “autotelic” joy of podcasting, no matter the metrics, has kept the creative fires burning brighter. Bonus: Most of all, have fun! When things get too hard, pause: there’s a mantra I repeat to myself often, “Let it be easy, let it be fun.” Or as my friend Leanne asks, “How can I fall in love with this again?” 📘Books: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One, Life After College The Work Revolution: Freedom and Excellence for All by Julie Clow Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't by Jim Collins Turning the Flywheel: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great by Jim Collins The 10X Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure by Grant Cardone Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi The Practice: Shipping Creative Work by Seth Godin 🔗Resources: Free Time Operations Dashboard Podcast Production: One Stone Creative Podcast Recording: Riverside.fm Audio and Video Editing Software: Descript Jim Collins: The Flywheel Concept Creative Coach: Jay Acunzo 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 223: Stepping up Systems—How I Shifted to Daily Podcasting 254: The Practice—On Generosity, Peculiarity, and Showing Up with Seth Godin 276: Behind the Free Time Pivot 100: Ten Lessons Learned in 3+ Years of Podcasting 291: Free Time Crossover – Protect Your Idea Factory, Build a Creative Flywheel, and Go Behind-the-Scenes of Book Publishing with Todd Henry 213: Flex Your Flywheel (for Solopreneurs) and 212: Virtuous Circles in Pivot Portfolio Planning 292: True Fun vs Fake Fun with Catherine Price 304: Through the Crux—Pivoting from Acting to Entrepreneurship with Ryan Devlin Free Time: 077: Happy Launch Day! Antonio Neves Guest Hosts (Part 1) and 079: Behind the Launch with Antonio Neves (Part 2) ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💻 Check out Jenny’s Pivot courses on LinkedIn Learning: Figuring Out Your Next Move, Holding 1:1 Career Conversations With Your Team, Managing Introverts, Coaching New Hires, and Coaching New Managers 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey ☎️ Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/300 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When times are uncertain should we be playing it safe? We all have a different relationship to risk—and recession-talk tends to turn the dial up on anxiety about what the future has in store. Today, I’m back in conversation with Adrian Klaphaak, talking about how to be pragmatic, taking the economic environment into account, while also keeping a flame lit for pursuing our bigger dreams. More about Adrian: Adrian Klaphaak is a coach, purpose guide, entrepreneur, and founder of A Path That Fits Career and Life Coaching. His coaching approach is holistic—a constant balance between getting results and a quest for meaning and fulfillment. He describes himself as “a deep seeker with a constant itch to make things happen.” Are you looking for a little support and guidance on finding your purpose, or best next step? Check out Adrian’s Career Pathfinder Program and use the code PIVOT for a special offer on the group training. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Your calling can evolve over time and adapt to your changing situation. Be open to altering or amending your immediate next steps to meet current needs while still working towards your ultimate purpose. Even when it’s not a good time to make a big change, you can still plant seeds for the future: cultivate your relationships, enhance your skills and abilities, and start a new project. We ask a lot of careers: that they provide for us financially, fulfill our emotional and aspirational goals, and meet our social needs, among other responsibilities. If your career can’t do all of that, the solution might not be to replace it but to add what is missing elsewhere. ✅Next Action: Take a success inventory for something you are feeling insecure or unsure about: What gifts has this area given you? What have you gained? When you listen deeply, what’s in you that wants to be expressed? Identify what is working, and decide from there if you need to make changes. 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick) by Seth Godin Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life by Luke Burgess 🔗Resources Mentioned: Adrian on the web, Yelp, Facebook, LinkedIn Course: Career Pathfinder Video: Finding Your Calling by a Path the Fits 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 283: What Are You Here to Do? How to Find a Path That Fits with Adrian Klaphaak 288: Embracing Uncertainty — Mic Flip with Adrian Klaphaak 114: “Failure is the Frame, Not the Picture” ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey ☎️ Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/299 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have you ever gotten a sudden sense of certainty that you need to pursue something — maybe something totally different than your career or typical areas of interest? I had the pleasure of podcasting in-person with today’s guests, Alisa Cohn and Dorie Clark, to learn more about how their interest sparked to co-found a Broadway theater investing company together. Building upon their successful careers in the business arena, we talk about what it’s like to start from scratch in a new industry when it comes to networking, investing, collaborating, and experimenting. More About Dorie: Dorie Clark helps individuals and companies get their best ideas heard in a crowded, noisy world. She is a keynote speaker and teaches executive education for Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and Columbia Business School. Dorie is the author of The Long Game: How to Be a Long-Term Thinker in a Short-Term World (her latest), Reinventing You, Stand Out, and Entrepreneurial You. More About Alisa: Alisa Cohn has been coaching startup founders to grow into world-class CEOs for nearly 20 years. She is the author of From Start-Up to Grown-Up. A one-time startup CFO, strategy consultant, and current angel investor and advisor, she was named the number one “Global Guru” of startups in 2021 and has worked with startup companies such as Venmo, Etsy, and more. She was also featured on Tim Ferriss’ podcast in episode 539, where she shared publicly for the first time that she coached his team for several years 🌟3 Key Takeaways: When you’re starting something in a new industry, build your network in that direction by hosting, not just waiting for invites. Try Alisa’s go-to opener for conferences—so simple it’s easy to skip: “Hi, my name is X, What’s yours?” At networking or professional events, most people are there because they want to make connections. On failure: There is a difference between asking yourself, “Did you make a good decision?” and, “Did you get a good outcome?” If you are confident in your decisions, the outcome becomes less important. ✅Next Action: Host an event in the next few months where you can bring together a variety of people who wouldn’t ordinarily meet each other, ideally in an industry you are passionate about (even if you’re new to the space). 📘Books: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College From Start-Up to Grown-Up: Grow Your Leadership to Grow Your Business by Alisa Cohn The Long Game: How to Be a Long-Term Thinker in a Short-Term World by Dorie Clark 🔗Resources: Dorie on the web, Instagram: @dorieclark, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube Alisa on the web, Twitter: @AlisaCohn, LinkedIn: @AlisaCohn Alisa’s Podcast: From Start-Up to Grown-Up Videos: The Real Reason You Feel So Busy and What to Do About It (Dorie's TEDx talk), How to Start Investing in Broadway Theater Podcast Recording: Gotham Recording Studio 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 058: Monetize Your Ideas with Dorie Clark 066: Create Multiple Streams of Income with Dorie Clark 033: Find Your Breakthrough Idea and Build a Following with Dorie Clark 297: How to Create a Failure Resume Free Time 043: From Start-Up to Grown-Up (and Coach to Author) with Alisa Cohn and 035: The Long Game with Dorie Clark ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💻 Check out Jenny’s Pivot courses on LinkedIn Learning: Figuring Out Your Next Move, Holding 1:1 Career Conversations With Your Team, Managing Introverts, Coaching New Hires, and Coaching New Managers 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey ☎️ Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/298 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What’s your favorite kind of failure? The question isn’t if you’ll fail or get rejected, but when. So don’t let it stop you from taking action or making decisions. Today I’m sharing more on a favorite practice that I’ve heard others espouse: creating a failure resume. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Being afraid is fine. Ask, “Is it enough to stop you?” If the answer is yes, what can you do to sidestep that issue or shift direction? How do you define failure? Are you thinking about quantitative outcomes like financials or metrics, or is your definition more qualitative? Remember to consider the third side of the coin: the neutral middle where you can reflect, learn, and adapt. ✅Next Action: Compile your failure resume. List everything that you personally consider a failure, including a few rejections large and small. While you’re doing so, consider what the outcomes of those failures were: What did you learn? Who did you meet? What next action did it inspire? 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College: The Complete Guide to Getting What You Want Blitzscaling: The Lightning-Fast Path to Building Massively Valuable Companies by Reid Hoffman and Chris Yeh The Power of Regret: How Looking Backward Moves Us Forward by Daniel Pink 🔗Resources Mentioned: Jenny’s private BFF Community for Heart-Based Business owners Submit your best do’s and don’ts by leaving Jenny a voicemail Share this episode with a fellow Pivoter Articles: Create a Failure Resume, Do You Keep a Failure Resume?, and Wearing Your Failures on Your Sleeve TheFailCon.com Videos: The Gambler, Three Sides of the Coin Podcast: FLOPS: A Podcast About Failure 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 296: Top 3 Do’s and Dont’s When Leaving a Corporate Job 118: Union Theological Seminary—Reflections on My First Month of Grad School 123: Peeking Out from the Plateau — My Latest Pivots (and Why Plateaus Actually Signal Progress!) 60: How Emotionally Agile Are You? Strategies for Setbacks with Susan David 127: Live from the Vulnerability Hangover! Launching @LifeOfALebaneseArtist with Michael Karsouny JB on SPARKED with Jonathan Fields 112: My 3 Biggest Business Regrets 114: “Failure is the Frame, Not the Picture” 019: Most Valuable Activities with Dave Crenshaw ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey ☎️ Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/297 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We have had so many shakeups in the last couple of years that I’d be surprised if most of us haven’t considered pivots large, small, and totally surprising. Inspired by a thread in our BFF Community, I’ve put together a list of do’s and three don’ts for leaving a corporate job. How you leave any relationship is as important to how you begin, especially if there are personal or professional connections you want to bring forward with you! If you’re all set, but you know someone who is in the midst of a big career transition, you can share this episode with them via pod.link/pivotmethod, allowing them to open the episode in the podcast player of their choice :) If you have a question about navigating what’s next, leave me a voice note at Pivotmethod.com/ask » ✅ Do’s Add work friends to LinkedIn while you work at your current organization. Even better, make a list and set reminders of the top 20 that you want to proactively keep in touch with over the next few years. Craft a heartfelt message sharing what you’ll be up to in your next phase and ways to get in touch. Make sure to send one to your internal contacts and one to people outside of the company, like vendors you have good relationships with. Spend time on your internal resume, focusing on reach, results, and impact of the projects you worked on. Bonus: Create a guide to the role. What does the next person need to know? What will help them get up to speed? What would you suggest changing? 🚫 Don'ts Leave the next team member in a lurch when it comes to your role and responsibilities. Create a transition doc with as much documentation and project next steps. Fail to set boundaries for how available you will be to questions after you go. Decide in advance: how/when/for how long can people get in touch? Worry if you need a month (or more) to downshift and decompress. If you can, take a pre-cation before starting your next opportunity, or you might risk a visit from the Furry Rest Monster! Bonus: Don’t be hard on yourself if the next move doesn’t quite pan out…remember, decisions are data! 📘Books: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One, Life After College Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport 🔗Resources: Jenny’s private BFF Community for Heart-Based Business owners Submit your best do’s and don’ts by leaving Jenny a voicemail Share this episode with a fellow Pivoter Podcast: SPARKED by Jonathan Fields Articles: Why You Should Take a Pre-Cation Before Starting a New Job and For Millennials, Is a "Pre-Cation" the Next Big Perk? 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: JB on SPARKED with Jonathan Fields: How to Choose Freedom Over Familial Responsibility, How to Scale While Staying True to Yourself, and How to Know When to Jump Into Your Side Hustle Pivot 045: Post-Launch Pivot Point + Visit From the Furry Rest Monster Free Time 125: How to Create Your Own CRM with Alex Sherwood ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💻 Check out Jenny’s Pivot courses on LinkedIn Learning: Figuring Out Your Next Move, Holding 1:1 Career Conversations With Your Team, Managing Introverts, Coaching New Hires, and Coaching New Managers 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey ☎️ Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/296 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Twenty years ago, my dear friend and today’s guest, Inna Aizenshtein, moved to New York City to pursue a career in fashion. She succeeded despite dealing with a succession of demanding, stress-inducing bosses and eventually realized she was no longer willing to suffer the health consequences of doing work that was no longer aligned. Today we’re talking about the many small shifts that led to a more monumental pivot into a completely different career, now running her own business as a hypnotherapist, leveraging the power of TikTok to attract clients. More About Inna: Inna Aizenshtein is a hypnotherapist and coach who examines the role that shame and fear play in the unfolding of our lives. Prior to her career in hypnotherapy, Inna worked in the fashion industry for 14 years, most recently as a creative director. Inna initially became interested in hypnotherapy while searching for a healing modality to help repair her nervous system after years of physical and emotional burnout. She now helps people work through and release outdated subconscious blocks so they can reclaim their worthiness and become more magnetic, primarily through TikTok shorts (where she has over 1.5 million views) and in 1:1 sessions with clients. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: The subconscious mind is responsible for the majority of your actions and impulses. When you can access it, a huge amount of your own mind becomes available to you. Creating a memory of your future self, seeing yourself having achieved what you want to achieve, gives you the feeling of freedom, health, and happiness. Then your body can help you understand how to get there. Be willing to notice when a scarcity mindset kicks in. Remember to allow more to come to you. Life is a creative process, and nothing is wasted. ✅Next Action: The next time you’re “in the grip” of a stressful experience, change your state by first noticing how those emotions feel in your body, allowing all sensations to have their say. Name what you are experiencing, and if you can, journal on what you are going to do about it. 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self 🔗Resources Mentioned: Inna on the web, Instagram, TikTok 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 016: Stacy Sims On Somatics: Why How You Sit Might Cause Stress 027: Intuition And Frequency With Penney Peirce Free Time 111: Building a Second Brain with Tiago Forte Free Time 137: Attracting Clients Through TikTok (without Letting the Algorithm Drive You) with Inna Aizenshtein ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey ☎️ Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/295 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Creativity is a muscle, not a metric.” If you hold back because you’re afraid of feedback, you won’t have a life infused with creativity. After all, your attention budget is limited, so where do you want to spend it? My friend Terri Trespicio is joining me today (in person!) to talk about navigating compliments and criticism, keeping our creative muscles strong, and slowly but surely building confidence along the way. More About Terri: Terri Trespicio is an award-winning writer, speaker, brand advisor, and author of Unfollow Your Passion: How to Create a Life That Matters to You (Atria / Simon & Schuster, December 2021). Her TEDx talk Stop Searching for Your Passion has more than 7 million views, and Hubspot named her one of the Top 18 female speakers who are killing it. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: If you can’t trust yourself, trust your audience — see what it feels like to be warm, open, connected, and vulnerable. This can go a long way in terms of how confident you feel and appear. Uncouple wanting something from the idea of missing or lacking something. You can desire without coveting, and that wanting keeps us striving. Having an intermediary can help you hold boundaries, especially when you know you may be likely to negotiate yourself down. ✅Next Action: Hit publish on something (anything!) even if you’re not fully confident in it yet, giving yourself the chance to be surprised. 📘Books: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One, Life After College Unfollow Your Passion: How to Create a Life That Matters to You Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life Think and Grow Rich The Practice: Shipping Creative Work 🔗Resources: Terri on the web, Unfollow Your Passion, Instagram: @ttrespicio TEDx talk: Stop Searching for Your Passion Videos: Girl, You Don’t Need Makeup, What Female Military Leadership Can Teach Us about Overcoming Self-Doubt Marketing Mentor: Ilise Benun Jenny’s blog post from 2017: Self-Love Formulas Are Bulls**t 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 269: How to Stand Out When Everyone is Peddling the Same Sh*t with Terri Trespicio 277: Expansive Impact with Sarah Young 254: The Practice—On Generosity, Peculiarity, and Showing Up with Seth Godin 107: How to Know When You’ve Gotten Pricing Wrong with Jacquette M. Timmons 020: Pricing Psychology with Jacquette Timmons 123: “Pricing is Branding” — Anti-Time Management with Richie Norton 228: How I Run My Business Without Social Media ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💻 Check out Jenny’s Pivot courses on LinkedIn Learning: Figuring Out Your Next Move, Holding 1:1 Career Conversations With Your Team, Managing Introverts, Coaching New Hires, and Coaching New Managers 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey ☎️ Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/294 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are you an asker or a guesser? In 2015 while I was deep in hermit mode writing Pivot while living in a tiny studio apartment in Nolita (North of Little Italy), a friend texted: “Hey, do you mind if I crash on your couch tomorrow night?” To this day, I still feel somewhat bad about my answer . . . but every bone in my body was saying, “Yes, I mind.” I said no. Years later, I still wonder: Should I have rolled with the punches, accepted the spontaneous company, and just said yes? Today I’m sharing a framework that changed my life when I first read about it in Jocelyn Glei’s book, Unsubscribe—the difference between ask culture vs. guess culture. Or, as I like to think about it, spaghetti throwers vs. spaghetti twirlers. Which one are you? 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Would you go out of your way to initiate what someone just asked you for? If not, say no! Build awareness about your own style: Are you a giver, taker, or matcher? A spaghetti twirler or a spaghetti thrower? If you know what you are by nature, you can respond to (and make!) requests more intentionally. As Jocelyn Glei writes, “What if you stepped into the asker's shoes every time you got an email that felt like an imposition? Reframe the situation, put the ask in perspective, and consider the opportunity with a relaxed attitude.” ✅Next Action: Establish your own rule of thumb for asking and giving in your relationships. Do you want to wait for 10 touchpoints before making a request like Alex Rodriguez? A year of time like Dorie Clark? Find something that feels joyful and in integrity to you. 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Unsubscribe: How to Kill Email Anxiety, Avoid Distractions, and Get Real Work Done Give and Take: A Revolutionary Approach to Success 🔗Resources Mentioned: Articles: Tangerine’s (Andrea Donderi) reply to What's the Middle Ground Between FU!' and 'Welcome!'? and Oliver Burkeman’s Guardian column: Are You an Asker or a Guesser? Podcast episode: Clearer Thinking—Ask Culture vs. Guess Culture 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: Free Time 035: The Long Game with Dorie Clark Jocelyn Glei’s Hurry Slowly Podcast 254: The Practice—On Generosity, Peculiarity, and Showing Up with Seth Godin 205: Delightful "5-Star" Relationships with Marriage Coach Maggie Reyes 282: The Honor Roll Hangover with Melody Wilding ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey ☎️ Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/293 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Fun isn’t just a result of human thriving; it is a cause.” Our guest today, Catherine Price, is breaking down the difference between True Fun (the intersection of playfulness, connection, and flow) and Fake Fun, the hypnosis of passive consumption. Fun creates the ultimate flow state: a self-reinforcing cycle that helps us prioritize the things that bring us joy. Life isn’t all joy, of course, and we also talk about the nerves that can result from things like preparing to give a TED talk. We discuss overcoming those nerves and how Cathering gave one of the most well-received talks that year. More about Catherine: Catherine Price helps people scroll less, live more, and have fun. She is a science journalist, speaker, and the author of books including How to Break Up With Your Phone: The 30-Day Plan to Take Back Your Life and The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again. Catherine is also the creator and founder of Screen/Life Balance. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Fun is a feeling, not an activity. It can result from anything, even trivial things! Seek out what gives you the feeling of playful connected flow. What are your fun magnets? The situations, settings and groups you know are likely to be fun. If you identify where you’re the most likely to have fun, you can plan for it and enjoy it more often - but keep your mind open for unexpected, serendipitous fun, too. Notice and call out the moments when you are having real fun. The more new experiences you have, and the more aware you are of the fun you’re having, the more opportunities you are going to have for it. ✅Next Action: Provided by Guest Conduct a mini-science experiment on yourself to identify your fun magnets. Think of a few moments recently where you have felt true fun (playful, connected flow) and write them down. Do they have anything in common like people, setting, activity, and mood? Once you have identified something likely to be fun, try to schedule it for yourself in the next week. Notice if you have fun doing it, and what kind of impact it has on your energy and mood. 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One How to Break Up With Your Phone: The 30-Day Plan to Take Back Your Life The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again VITAMANIA: How Vitamins Revolutionized the Way We Think About Food Mindfulness: A Journal 101 Places Not to See Before You Die The Big Sur Bakery Cookbook 🔗Resources Mentioned: Catherine on the web, Instagram, Twitter Personality Quiz: What's Your Fun Personality Type? TED Talks: Why Fun is the Secret to a Happier Life, Flow, the Secret to Happiness NYT Quiz: What's Your Fun Vibe? 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 281: Feeling Impostery? Become a Qualified Curator Instead of an Expert 251: Listener Q&A on (Furry) Imposter Monsters 228: How I Run My Business Without Social Media 059: Captivate: Secrets from Viral TED Talks with Vanessa Van Edwards ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey ☎️ Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/292 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s episode is a crossover from the Free Time podcast. Enjoy! Today’s guest is an expert in cultivating creativity — and in remaining consistent over the long arc of content creation. Todd Henry is the author of six books, and today we’re talking about how to stay motivated in the publishing industry, where the market reflects winner-take-all dynamics, and the long tail is verrrry long. More About Todd: Todd is the author of six books, including The Accidental Creative, Die Empty, Louder Than Words, Herding Tigers, and Motivation Code, and host of The Accidental Creative podcast and the Herding Tigers podcast. He empowers companies and teams to be creative, prolific, and brilliant in their work through his books, podcasts, and keynote speaking. Today we’re going behind the scenes His new book, Daily Creative: A Practical Guide for Staying Prolific, Brilliant, and Healthy, encourages you to thrive as a creative through daily practice. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Solve a problem that people know they have; frame your products and services in terms of how they accomplish a job that people need done. Your creativity is one of your most precious resources. Protect your Idea Factory and measure the quantity and quality of ideas you generate Set Wildly Important Goals; Todd’s are: quality, awareness, and revenue diversity. Every day you should be figuring out how your work will help you achieve them. 📝Permission: Practice pruning; there’s probably something you’re doing right now that has already served its purpose and run its course. You hereby have permission to drop it! ✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Outline your business model as a flywheel. For help with this, read Jim Collins’ fantastic monograph, Turning the Flywheel. 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One The Accidental Creative: How to Be Brilliant at a Moment's Notice Die Empty: Unleash Your Best Work Every Day Louder than Words: Harness the Power of Your Authentic Voice Herding Tigers: Be the Leader That Creative People Need The Motivation Code: Discover the Hidden Forces That Drive Your Best Work Turning the Flywheel: A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't The Practice: Shipping Creative Work 🔗Resources Mentioned: Todd on the web, Instagram: @toddhenry, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook Todd’s Podcasts: The Accidental Creative podcast, Herding Tigers podcast Articles: NYT on the long tail of book publishing: Will the Biggest Publisher in the U.S. Get Even Bigger?, Video: Elizabeth Gilbert’s TED Talks: Your Elusive Creative Genius, Success Failure and the Drive to Keep Creating Cal Newport: Write an Attention Charter Disney Business Model 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 111: Building a Second Brain with Tiago Forte 123: “Pricing is Branding” — Anti-Time Management with Richie Norton Pivot 051: Die Empty with Todd Henry Pivot 088: Artist Seth Price on Finding Freedom in Bad Ideas, Balancing Commerce and Creation in Business Pivot 254: The Practice—On Generosity, Peculiarity, and Showing Up with Seth Godin ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey ☎️ Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/291 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“The [drugs] exist only for my mind, each orange prescription bottle a subconscious reminder that I Am Depressed and I Am Broken and I Need Fixing.” Brooke Siem returns to the podcast today to talk about her new memoir, May Cause Side Effects, and her conviction that: “It’s not my responsibility to edit my story for the sake of somebody else’s feelings.” Brooke believes that you can recover from long-term chronic depression, and after huge trauma and grief—that your brain and your body are primed to be in a state of healing, but you have to help. We also discuss the writing and publishing process, and how she stays true to herself while discussing these sensitive and often controversial topics. If you haven’t already, you might consider listening first to episode 107: (Un)Medicating Grief—Recovering Feeling After Decades on Anti-Depressants with Brooke Siem. More About Brooke: Brooke Siem is the author of the upcoming book, May Cause Side Effects: A Memoir, in which she reveals the messy reality of antidepressants and withdrawals. She is also an award-winning chef, Food Network “Chopped” champion, and co-author of the cookbook, Prohibition Bakery. Brooke understands first-hand how antidepressants are not the solution to combating depression; ultimately it takes deep self-work to come out on the other side of depression. For the full backstory of her experience going on and off prescription drugs, listen first to our previous Pivot conversation: 107: (Un)Medicating Grief—Recovering Feeling After Decades on Anti-Depressants with Brooke Siem. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Antidepressants don't help everyone, and there's nothing wrong with you if they don’t. Similarly, roughly 50% of people will have withdrawal symptoms from antidepressants. That’s a huge chunk of people, and it’s not a reflection on anything about you if it happens. Stream-of-consciousness writing can unearth surprising details and memories. If you set yourself a word quota and have to meet it whether or not you’re feeling inspired or on-topic, you can come up with some surprising ideas. 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One May Cause Side Effects: A Memoir Prohibition Bakery 🔗Resources Mentioned: Brooke Siem on the web, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn Articles: Washington Post: I spent half my life on antidepressants. Today, I’m off the medication and feel all right. New York Times: Many People Taking Antidepressants Discover They Cannot Quit, NYT: This Teen Was Prescribed 10 Psychiatric Drugs. She's Not Alone, NYT: What if the Placebo Effect Isn't a Trick?, Brooke's NY Post article: Why We Should Stop Casually Prescribing Antidepressents to Teens Brooke on Medium Videos: The Legacy Show: Taking Control, Chopped - Season 32, Episode 6 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 107: (Un)Medicating Grief—Recovering Feeling After Decades on Anti-Depressants with Brooke Siem 073: What's more important to you than perfection? With Jenny Blake 103: Strong Inside Out—Pivoting from OCD and Depression toward Mind-Body Alignment with Amy Clover 083: Pivot From Working in the Morgue to the Ministry with Former Forensic Pathologist Dr. Thomas Andrew Free Time 079: Behind the Launch with Antonio Neves (Part 2) ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey ☎️ Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/290 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Believe it or not, you can get mentorship from anyone you’d like by employing a strategy today’s guest calls “stealing Wi-Fi.” According to today's guest, Jenny Wood, the creator of Own Your Career at Google, you can get mentorship from anyone you like by paying closer attention to what they do and how they do it. In this episode, The Jenny-s dig into multiple elements of career strategy, including navigating plateaus, sidelining imposter syndrome, and course-correcting when you screw up. More about Jenny Wood: Jenny is mom to Ari, aged six, and Noa, aged almost five, and the Director of Americas Media Operations at Google. She is currently working on her first book. Learn more at ItsJennyWood.com. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: When you’re asking for someone to sponsor you (or provide any other kind of mentorship), make it specific and time-bound, and don’t forget to include what you can provide to them as well. When at a plateau: Consider making a lateral move. Sometimes a little zig-zag can help you push through stagnation. Keep a failure resume, and celebrate those failures as reminders of when you take risks and make mistakes; remember that being vulnerable and sharing those stories allows others to empathize and connect with you. ✅Next Action: Ask for what you want. Your manager is busy, they don’t remember what you’re working on, what you need, or even what types of project excite you most. Remind them. (For pointers on this, check out Jenny’s LinkedIn Learning course, Figuring Out Your Next Move). 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Build for Tomorrow: An Action Plan for Embracing Change, Adapting Fast, and Future-Proofing Your Career Untamed: Stop Please, Start Living Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention--and How to Think Deeply Again 🔗Resources Mentioned: Jenny on the web, LinkedIn Jenny’s Articles: Serendipity: 1, Spreadsheet: 0, Did Your Company Just Go Through A Reorg? Here's How to Thrive In It, The Rule of 3 David Moldower of Bookitect 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: Bethanie Baynes’ podcast, Working Wife, Happy Life! Three Points Podcast with Tony McGarahan 275: Charisma and Cues with Vanessa Van Edwards Dorie Clark episodes: 184: Reinventing You + Pivoting in the Crisis with Dorie Clark, 066: Create Multiple Streams of Income with Dorie Clark, 058: Monetize Your Ideas with Dorie Clark, 033: Find Your Breakthrough Idea and Build a Following with Dorie Clark Free Time episodes 103: How to Land a Literary Agent and Publisher with David Moldawer (Part One) and 105: “Don’t write the wrong book!” with David Moldawer (Part Two) ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey ☎️ Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/289 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When did you discover what you wanted to do with your life? I knew from a young age that I wanted to connect and communicate with people, and later refined that into a lot of people, helping them feel a sense of relief when navigating change, with plenty of practical tools to circumvent unnecessary confusion. Learning to trust myself, and trusting that there is always something new emerging even when I’m in a dip, has been a lifelong process. My guest today, Adrian Klaphaak, returns to the show by interviewing me about career drivers and ongoing challenges. Be sure to also check out our earlier conversation in episode 283: What Are You Here to Do? How to Find a Path That Fits. Do you ever feel that you are meant to be doing something else? Adrian has a special offer for Pivoters: If you aren’t sure what career path is right for you, check out his signature Career Pathfinder coaching program. It has helped thousands of people find their calling and use it to take their career to the next level. Visit apaththatfits.com/pivot and use the promo code PIVOT when you enroll. Happy pathfinding! More about Adrian: Adrian Klaphaak is a coach, purpose guide, entrepreneur, therapist, and founder of A Path That Fits Career and Life Coaching. His coaching approach is holistic—a constant balance between getting results and a quest for meaning and fulfillment. He describes himself as “a deep seeker with a constant itch to make things happen.” 🌟 Key Takeaways: You don’t need to settle on a single title or elevator pitch when asked “What do you do?” Share whatever you’re most excited to talk about at the moment. Try to emphasize curiosity when you’re in the thick of uncertainty, even when you are getting impatient. Trust that solutions will emerge, but often take longer than your mind might think they should. 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One 🔗Resources Mentioned: Adrian on the web, Yelp, Facebook, LinkedIn Course: Career Pathfinder Video: Finding Your Calling by a Path the Fits Voxer Coaching Pilot 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 047: Live Fiercely, Study Deeply . . . While Earning a Living — with Jonathan Fields 067: What Does Your Soul Know? Flow and Transparency with Penney Peirce 283: What Are You Here to Do? How to Find a Path That Fits with Adrian Klaphaak Free Time 028: When the Financial Tides Recede ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey ☎️ Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/288 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do you like puzzles? If you do, you’re far from alone. An estimated 50 million people do crosswords every day and more than 450 million Rubik’s Cubes have been sold. People like puzzles. In his new book, today’s guest, A.J. Jacobs, quotes Maki Kaji—the late godfather of Sudoku, who said puzzles are a journey, articulated with just two punctuation marks: ? → ! “Kaji said the key is to embrace the middle part, the arrow, the journey. Don’t be obsessed with endings and perfection.” Today, we’re talking about that arrow, the journeys we find ourselves on, and the different ways puzzles can come up in our lives. More About A.J.: A.J. Jacobs is an author, journalist, lecturer, and human guinea pig. He has written four New York Times bestsellers that combine memoir, science, humor, and a dash of self-help. Today we’re talking about his latest book, The Puzzler: One Man's Quest to Solve the Most Baffling Puzzles Ever, from Crosswords to Jigsaws to the Meaning of Life. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: While outsourcing is critical to growing your business and freeing up more of your time, consider keeping research on your own desk. No one else will pick up exactly the same key ideas, details, or inspiration that you will. Many of our ideas go nowhere, and that’s fine because that 1% that sticks can be huge. If an idea keeps popping up for you weeks after having it, pay attention to it. Don’t keep up with the details of every news story. It’s bad for you, and for the world. It keeps you from seeing the big picture of how you can help the world. Wear overalls. ✅Next Action: Try to go a week without gossiping. Some gossip can be good and valuable, but most of it isn’t helpful. Long term, it won’t make you feel good, so try not saying any negative things about people for a week and see how you feel. 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One The Puzzler: One Man's Quest to Solve the Most Baffling Puzzles Ever, from Crosswords to Jigsaws to the Meaning of Life The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich The Future Is Analog: How to Create a More Human World The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses 🔗Resources Mentioned: A.J. Jacobs on the web, Twitter: @ajjacobs, Facebook, LinkedIn Article: My Outsourced Life World Jigsaw Puzzle Championship Spelling Bee Duolingo 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 061: Virtual Freedom: Overcome Superhero Syndrome and Start Outsourcing with Chris Ducker 207:How to Develop Your Book and Big Idea (Part 1) 208: Your Book and Big Idea (Part 2) 273: On Powerful Questions and New Neural Pathways Arm Chair Expert: A.J. Jacobs (on puzzles and living biblically) Making Sense: #110—The Change Artist, A Conversation with A.J. Jacobs Tell Me Something I Don’t Know: Farming Without Sun or Soil and Eating Manna From Heaven: TMSIDK Episode 35 Free Time: 113: Pivoting from Breather to Practice While Setting Better Boundaries with Julien Smith ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey ☎️ Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/287 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are you living in a pressure cooker? One of my all-time favorite meals is two-day slow-cooked ribs from a fancy restaurant, where the meat is so soft it falls right off the bone. (Sorry to my vegetarian and vegan friends who might not appreciate today's metaphor!) I have an Instant Pot at home — a pressure cooker that produces a meal in mere minutes. Take stock about the work you’re doing and the path you’re taking: are you unnecessarily “cooking” your projects and goals with high-pressure settings, sacrificing quality in the process? Today’s episode is about making sure that you’re spending time where you get the most joy and value, and being intentional about what you throw in the pressure cooker to complete quickly (and overcome perfectionism in the process). 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Put your time and care into the projects that matter most, and try to be patient with yourself; as the Zen saying goes, “Nature doesn’t rush a flower.” The glass could be half full or half empty, but is it the right container for what you want to drink? Don’t get so caught up in the details that you forget to ask if you’re going in the right direction. Keep what Penney Peirce calls “an idea pantry” full of insights and nuggets that you can rummage through when you need to get something shipped quickly. ✅Next Action: Start a file or folder where you can collect ideas, inspirations, snippets, quotes and anything else you might want to revisit. When you need to create quickly, you’ll have a ready-made place to start thinking. 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One 🔗Resources Mentioned: Instant Pot 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 056: Perfection Detox with Petra Kolber 073: What’s More Important to You Than Perfection? 112: Whose Voice is in Your Head? Perfection Detox Round 2 with Petra Kolber 160: 11 Ways to Maintain Momentum for Solopreneurs, 246: What is your job today? (You Decide) Free Time 034: Organizing Research and Ideas - Notion Walkthrough #1 ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey ☎️ Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/286 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“I don’t want fans, I want friends.” This is one of many approaches to relationship-building that I admire in this week’s guest, super-connector Jon Levy. I learned that when Jon texts with “free for dinner tonight?” you cancel all plans and say YES. Both times I did, I ended up at one of his influencer dinners with famous actors, public figures, pro athletes, and C-suite executives. Jon’s secret? Designing experiences to facilitate a shared sense of awe, connection, and accomplishment—with job titles revealed only at the end of the evening. Today we’re talking about these principles and more behind his bestselling book, You’re Invited: The Art and Science of Cultivating Influence. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did! More about Jon: Jon Levy is a behavioral scientist and New York Times bestselling author known for his work in trust, human connection, belonging, and influence. More than a decade ago, Jon founded The Influencers Dinner, a secret dining experience for industry leaders ranging from Nobel laureates, Olympians, celebrities, and executives, to artists and musicians. Guests cook dinner together, but can’t discuss their career or give their last name, and once seated to eat, they reveal who they are. Over time, these dinners developed into a community. With thousands of members, Influencers is the largest community of its type worldwide. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Say yes to invites. If you want higher levels of creativity, new relationships, new ideas—it’s going to happen outside of your standard routines. Novelty is critical if you want to be noticed. What are you doing that only you do? Make that one of the key things you talk about and promote. Instead of asking why you’re not on social media, or forcing yourself into it, ask “Why should I be on social media? If you don’t have a good reason, don’t stress about it! ✅Next Action: What next group invitation can you send? How can you create a memorable experience around it? 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One The 2 AM Principle You’re Invited: The Art and Science of Cultivating Influence 🔗Resources Mentioned: Jon on the web, Instagram: @jonlevytlb, Twitter: @JonLevyTLB New York Times feature: Want to Meet Influential New Yorkers? Invite Them to Dinner Video: Ted Talk: What Makes Us Influential?, Fortune: The Science of Adventure Resources: Upwork, Notion TV Show: Old Enough Reddit.com 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 228: How I Run My Business Without Social Media 263: Conduct a Relationship Audit with Ximena Vengoechea ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey 🗣 Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/285 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Trust is not just a feeling. It’s also an action, and it’s a process that happens over time. Be slow to take, and quick to give.” These are just some of the gems that Grant Golliher has picked up in three decades of horse whispering, training, and teaching the art of trust-building. Today we’re talking about what horses can teach us about reading people and intuition. More About Grant: Grant Golliher is a horseman and the proprietor of the historic Diamond Cross Ranch in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, where he teaches corporate executives, coaches, celebrities, and families from all around the world the skills necessary to tame troubled horses and become leaders and better people. Today we’re talking about his new book, Think Like a Horse: Lessons in Life, Leadership, and Empathy from an Unconventional Cowboy. 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Honor the smallest try; congratulate the smallest progress. We like to work hard for people we respect. We need to lead by example and be the type of leader that people are excited to be loyal to. An argument can be made that we’re so afraid of abuse that we’ve stopped disciplining. There is an important place in work and life for firmness and boundaries. 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Grant’s books: Think Like a Horse: Lessons in Life, Leadership, and Empathy from an Unconventional Cowboy, Horses Never Lie: The Heart of Passive Leadership 🔗Resources Mentioned: Grant on the web, Instagram: @grantgolliher, @diamondcrossranch Articles: Wyoming Honor Farm: ​Inmate/Wild-Horse Program Video: The Superpower in You, How to Train Your Dog to Leave It with No Command 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 140: What Horse Whispering and Entrepreneurship Have in Common with Eileen Kenney Tim Ferriss interviewing Susan Garrett — Master Dog (and Human) Trainer (#200) Susan Garrett’s Shape by Dog Podcast ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey ☎️ Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/284 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Instead of asking, “What should I do?” Ask yourself, “Who am I?” Today you’ll hear from someone who has been deeply influential in my life and career: my very first coach and longtime friendtor, Adrian Klaphaak, founder of A Path That Fits. More about Adrian: Adrian Klaphaak is a coach, purpose guide, entrepreneur, therapist, and founder of A Path That Fits Career and Life Coaching. His coaching approach is holistic—a constant balance between getting results and a quest for meaning and fulfillment. He describes himself as “a deep seeker with a constant itch to make things happen.” 🌟3 Key Takeaways: Getting discouraged is a part of figuring out what you should be doing with your life. The ‘dip’ is normal, and the way out is to explore your gifts and interests. You can be laid off from a job, but you can’t be laid off from your purpose. Knowing your purpose is the ultimate protection. Name the parts of you that feel the most strongly about the decisions you are making, it will make it easier to explore how you are really feeling. ✅Next Action: Be yourself. There are so many expectations for us to be a certain way, but we all have our own genius and unique way. The path to a fulfilling life is being authentic, using your gifts, and doing what you love to do. 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One When the Body Says No: Understanding the Stress-Disease Connection 🔗Resources Mentioned: Adrian on the web, Yelp, Facebook, LinkedIn Course: Career Pathfinder Articles: New York Times: The World’s a Mess. So They’ve Stopped Saving For Tomorrow, How to Discover Your Purpose Video: Finding Your Calling by a Path the Fits 🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 177: Pivot Method as 4-Stage Coaching Framework [Workshop Replay] 47: Live Fiercely, Study Deeply . . . While Earning a Living — with Jonathan Fields 67: What Does Your Soul Know? Flow and Transparency with Penney Peirce 16: Stacy Sims on Somatics: Why How You Sit Might Cause Stress 72: BREATHE. From Burned-Out Bodybuilder to Yin Strength Trainer with Anders Varner 89: Turning Pain Into Purpose: Blind Adventurer Erik Weihenmayer on Kayaking the Grand Canyon, Climbing Everest and Building No Barriers ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey 🗣 Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/283 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Believe it or not, your emotions are a competitive advantage: 90 percent of top performers are also high in emotional intelligence, and 92 percent of executives rate soft skills like the ability to manage emotions as a critical priority in today’s business environment. That said, if you relate to the idea of being a Sensitive Striver, you may still be suffering from what Melody Wilding calls The Honor Roll Hangover—a tricky trifecta of perfectionism, people-pleasing, and overfunctioning. Listen in to this conversation for the antidote. More About Melody: Melody Wilding, LMSW is an executive coach, human behavior expert, and author of Trust Yourself: Stop Overthinking and Channel Your Emotions for Success at Work. She is a human behavior expert and executive coach and teaches graduate-level human behavior and psychology at the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College in New York. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: Leave margin in your life for serendipity and fluctuations. Don’t be afraid to book yourself to only 80% capacity. Protect your time and energy by protecting your calendar. Sensitive strivers need the time to switch gears between activities. Trusting yourself is the antidote to perfectionism, overfunctioning, and people-pleasing. Depend on your intuition more. 📝 Melody’s Permission List: I hereby grant myself complete and unlimited permission to: In order to: Specifically, I have permission to feel: I have permission to be: Specifically I have permission to push when: I have permission to rest when: I have permission to start: I have permission to try: I have permission to stop: I have permission to let go: Giving myself full permission and wholeheartedly believing in myself is important right now because: I trust myself to: 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Trust Yourself: Stop Overthinking and Channel Your Emotions for Success at Work Boundary Boss: The Essential Guide to Talk True, Be Seen, and (Finally) Live Free The Highly Sensitive Person: How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Melody on the web | LinkedIn | Twitter | Instagram Video: Celebrating one year of Trust Yourself Articles: Medium Article on Trust Yourself, Forbes on Being an Overfunctioner at Work Related Podcast Episodes: The Penney & Jenny Show (12 episodes) 277: Expansive Impact and Spacious Scheduling with Sarah Young 172: Self-Care for Empaths and HSPs with Sarah Santacroce 148: Penney & Jenny Show—Pivoting From Toxic Situations Toward Self-Entertainment 112: Whose Voice is in Your Head? Perfection Detox Round Two with Petra Kolber 73: What's more important to you than perfection? With Jenny Blake 56: Perfection Detox with Petra Kolber 78: How to Stop Feeling Like Sh*t — With Andrea Owen ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey 🗣 Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/282 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Self-doubt isn’t all bad. It means you’re stretching outside of your comfort zone, that you’re willing to learn, and that you aim to surround yourself with people who challenge you. So if you often grapple with imposter syndrome (or as I like to call it, an Imposter Monster sitting beside you), you are not alone. If you sometimes fall into the trap of feeling like you’re not good enough or ready yet to tackle your biggest creative aspirations, here’s a new perspective to consider. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: There is a big difference between acting like you are the ultimate expert, and being a curious and informed curator of ideas and resources. One of the biggest gifts you can give others is curating people, and allowing them to connect and share with each other. We have no control how a project is going to land in the world, so “don’t suffer twice,” in terms of worrying before you hit publish and after — just put it out there, then deal with what follows in the moment. ✅ Next Action: Shift your mindset from “I need to be an expert before . . .” to “I’m curious.” Start curating the people and ideas that inspire you, then share them with others through your unique lens and experiences. 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Perfection Detox: Tame Your Inner Critic, Live Bravely and Unleash Your Joy You’re Invited: The Art and Science of Connection, Trust, and Belonging The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Shane Snow’s article on Intellectual Humility Related Podcast Episodes: 251: Listener Q&A on (Furry) Imposter Monsters 112: Whose Voice is in Your Head? Perfection Detox Round Two with Petra Kolber 86: Grab Bag! Upcoming NYC Workshop, BookRx on Interviewing Tips, and the Upside of Awkwardness 56: Perfection Detox with Petra Kolber Penney & Jenny 8: Embracing Liminal Space (July 2019) ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey 🗣 Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/281 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Energy introduces you before you even speak.” We all sense that energy is contagious; the question is, how well are you protecting and recharging yours? That’s what we’re discussing today with Simon Alexander Ong: strategies for creating a not to-do list, for recognizing energizers and drainers in your life, and why slowing down is a superpower. More about Simon: Simon Alexander Ong is the author of the brand new book Energize: Make the Most of Every Moment. He is also a personal development entrepreneur, coach, and public speaker. His work has seen him invited onto Sky News, BBC Radio London and LBC Radio to be interviewed, while in 2018, Barclays UK featured him in a nationwide campaign asking him questions on how families could embrace better lifestyle habits. His insights have been featured in HuffPost, Forbes, Virgin, and the Guardian. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: Stop treating your health as a side hustle, and shift your focus from time management to energy management. Create a “Not-To-Do” List of items you commit to not do that will free up time to focus your energy on things that really matter to you. Say “no” more often so that you can say “yes” to bigger opportunities later. 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Energize: Make the Most of Every Moment The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to High Performance and Personal Sparked: Discover Your Unique Imprint for Work that Makes You Come Alive The Go-Giver: A Surprising Way of Getting More Than You Expect The Long Game: How to Be a Long-Term Thinker in a Short-Term World Top Five Regrets of the Dying: A Life Transformed by the Dearly Departing 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Simon on the web, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube Exercise: Ideal Day Mad Lib Video: Bill Gates and Warren Buffett on Charlie Rose Josh Allan Dykstra, #lovework, LoveWork Related Podcast Episodes: 047: Live Fiercely, Study Deeply . . . While Earning a Living — with Jonathan Fields 275: Cues - On Charisma with Vanessa Van Edwards 027: Intuition And Frequency With Penney Peirce 047: Live Fiercely, Study Deeply . . . While Earning a Living — with Jonathan Fields Free Time 035: The Long Game with Dorie Clark Free Time 039: Permission to Glow with Kristoffer (KC) Carter ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey 🗣 Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/280 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today’s episode is adapted from a workshop I teach within organizations for managers, mentors, and coaches on how to apply the four-stage Pivot Method framework as a 1:1 coaching framework. I’m sharing seven of my go-to coaching questions and practical tips to make rapid progress and generate memorable aha moments in any career coaching conversation. What’s your favorite strategy for accelerating aha moments? Share with me for a future follow-up podcast episode at http://pivotmethod.com/ask. If you’re interested in hosting a session like this within your organization, learn more at http://pivotmethod.com/companies. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: Breathe life into idea balloons: Pay attention to the little clues in body language and/or voice tone, then prompt them by noticing and inviting them to “say more about that.” You don’t need the most creative or original questions of all time—or even original at all. Simple is best: What do you really want to happen? What else? What’s important to you about that? Ask for insights or aha moments: Invite your coachee to share what stood out most from your conversation, and what small resonant steps they want to take action on. ✅ Next Action: Practice allowing awkward silence, especially when you ask a zinger like, “What does your gut say?” 📘 Books Mentioned: Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Life After College: The Complete Guide to Getting What You Want mBraining: Using Your Multiple Brains to Do Cool Stuff 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Coach: Adrian Klaphaak Adrian’s Program: Career Pathfinder Jenny’s LinkedIn Learning Courses: LinkedIn Learning—Holding 1:1 Career Conversations With Your Team LinkedIn Learning—Figuring Out Your Next Move Coaching New Hires Coaching New Managers Managing Introverts Related Podcast Episodes: 273: Powerful Questions and Neural Pathways 177: Pivot Method as 4-Stage Coaching Framework 153: How to Create an Internal Coaching Program for Your Organization 26: Tame the Advice Monster with Michael Bungay Stanier ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey 🗣 Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/279 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From cupcake tweetups to avoiding compare-and-despair traps, Jamie Varon is a long-time friend—the first person I met from Twitter back in 2008—who I always appreciate catching up with. Today we’re talking about her debut book, Radically Content: Being Satisfied in an Endlessly Dissatisfied World. More about Jamie: Jamie Varon is a writer, designer, course creator, and creative consultant. Her writing has been featured across the internet for over a decade, from Complex to the Huffington Post, Teen Vogue, The Liberty Project, and GOOD. 🌟Key Takeaways: Recognize and choose not to play the unwinnable games like looking a certain way, or being liked by everyone. Mind the gap. Appreciate the time and space in between where you are and the outcomes you’re working towards for the joyful journey it is, rather than waiting for a finish line that might never come. Have conviction in the work you create, and promote it confidently. ✅ Next Action: Embrace non-conformity. It may feel like a flaw, but it is the source of your strength and creativity. Cherish it. 📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life After College: The Complete Guide to Getting What You Want Radically Content: Being Satisfied in an Endlessly Dissatisfied World Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Jamie on the Web, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Jamie’s Course: Live with Intention Jim Carrey on Being Famous (Start at 18:25) Related Podcast Episodes: 047: Live Fiercely, Study Deeply . . . While Earning a Living — with Jonathan Fields Work in Progress with Sophia Bush Podcast Ep 128 Free Time 031: Eleventh-Hour Creative Gremlins ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey 🗣 Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/278 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Does your calendar reflect your values and priorities? Do you pause before responding to requests, or are you saying yes to things out of fear, pressure, or obligation? I’m delighted to be in conversation with my dear friend Sarah Young this week on creating clear containers, clean vs. dirty energy, navigating “spiritual tornados of leadership,” handling inevitable criticism, and moving past people-pleasing toward acting in the path of highest integrity. Be sure to check out Sarah’s brand new beautiful book, Expansive Impact: An Invitation to Lead in Everyday Moments, and subscribe to her fantastic Friday Favorites newsletter! It’s one of my favorite messages in my inbox every week :) More About Sarah: Sarah Young is the Founder and CEO of Zing Collaborative and the author of Expansive Impact: An Invitation to Lead in Everyday Moments. She works with a handful of highly conscious and committed clients who want to elevate and expand their leadership capacity. Sarah runs retreats, workshops, and speaking events to help leaders further develop through an approach that blends corporate experience, research, mindfulness, leadership, coaching, and experiential learning. She has a deep appreciation for nature, travel, sunshine, warm weather, paddle boarding, rescue dogs, cooking, coffee, and the precious hours of the early morning. 🌟 3 Key Takeaways: If you find it hard to create time for yourself, building time for personal projects and R&R right into your calendar. Ask to meet over the phone or while walking, instead of screen-fatigue inducing video calls. Use a decision filter before saying yes. Ask yourself: “is this fully in line with my values and priorities?” Remember that you can do everything right to communicate clearly and with integrity, and sometimes it still may not work if the other person doesn't have the desire to meet you halfway. 📝 Permission: Skip the comment section. You don’t need to engage where the energy doesn’t feel right. Sometimes people are just waiting to pounce, and you don’t have to provide the opportunity. ✅ Do or Delegate This Next: Pause. Find a moment in the day where you can pause before you respond to something, reflecting on whether it connects with your values and how you want to engage in the world. 📘 Books Mentioned: Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Expansive Impact: An Invitation to Lead in Everyday Moments The Four Tendencies: The Indispensable Personality Profiles That Reveal How to Make Your Life Better (and Other People's Lives Better, Too) 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Sarah Young on the web, Instagram, LinkedIn Sarah’s book: Expansive Impact: An Invitation to Lead in Everyday Moments Articles: 999 Problems, Why I don’t have Comments by Seth Godin, An Ex-Google Career Coach Tells Why Pleasing Everyone Will Never Help You in Your Career Quiz: Gretchen Rubin’s Four Tendencies Related Podcast Episodes: Free Time 077: Happy Launch Day! Antonio Neves Guest Hosts (Part 1) Pivot Episode 132: The Making of a Manager with Julie Zhuo ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey 🗣 Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/277 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

While the Pivot ecosystem and this podcast aren’t going anywhere, when my speaking gigs stopped during the pandemic I gave myself permission to also branch out and start talking about something new. Specifically, doubling down on and digging into my passion for businesses powered by Delightfully Tiny Teams — and helping other heart-based entrepreneurs do the same. This week I am taking you behind-the-scenes of launching the Free Time book and podcast. Reminder: through end of March If you order a hardcover you can get a free audiobook - go to ItsFreeTime.com (Once you’ve read it, please consider leaving a rating and review on Amazon - it’s a huge support!) 📘 Books Mentioned: Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One, Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business, Life After College The Lean Startup Quit (Annie Duke) Find Your Zone of Genius (Laura Garnett) 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Penny and Jenny Show ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey 🗣 Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/276 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Did you know that we can predict a leader’s charisma based solely on five seconds of exposure? That nonverbal signals account for 65 to 90 percent of our total communication? Today we’re talking about cues, specifically the formula for charisma (hint: a combination of cues that project warmth and competence). As a self-described “recovering awkward person,” Vanessa’s secret sauce is combining the latest research, real-life case studies of success, and fascinating examples of notable figures (like Oprah and Britney Spears) with practical strategies you can start using immediately. More About Guest Vanessa: Vanessa Van Edwards is a speaker, researcher, and national bestselling author. More than 50 million people have seen her engaging YouTube tutorials and in her viral TED Talk, You Are Contagious. Vanessa is Lead Investigator at Science of People. She is the bestselling author of Captivate: The Science of Succeeding with People, translated into 16 languages. Today we’re talking about her new book, Cues: Master the Secret Language of Charismatic Communication. Key Takeaways: Your all-important first impression starts at the very first moment of an experience with someone: when you walk into the room, or when the camera flips on, and not with the first word you speak. We all have patterns for when we feel awkward and out of place, which are not the ingredients for charismatic communication. But we also have patterns for when we are at our most confident and natural. Tracking those and taking advantage of them to give yourself more comfort and ease in your communications can immediately increase your charisma. It’s extremely hard to lie with your voice, so spending time (and creating the best environment) for your body is going to make your competence and warmth much more evident in the subtle cues of your voice. ⭐️ Permission: Skip the happy hour! Drop the scheduled phone calls! Think about the times and places where you feel the happiest and most confident, and engage with people then, instead of sticking to the ‘normal’ times and places you feel you should. ⭐️ Do (or Delegate) This Next: Practice “I see you” acknowledgments when you first start talking to people in person or over video. A wave, a nod, or a smile all show the people you are talking to that they belong. 📘Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot, Captivate: The Science of Succeeding with People Cues: Master the Secret Language of Charismatic Communication 🔗Resources Mentioned: Vanessa on the Web, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn Charisma Diagnostic Cues Bonuses Learn the Secrets Behind the Best Shark Tank Pitches of All Time 8 Powerful Ways to Tap Into Your Intuition (That Work!) http://pivotmethod.com/274 The First Year of Parenting—What I Wish I Had Known Related Podcast Episodes: Pivot Episode 59: Secrets from Viral Ted Talks with Vanessa Van Edwards Pivot Episode 155: Becoming a Successful Speaker with Grant Baldwin Free Time Episode 11: Pitching Shark Tank with Sarah Apgar ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey 🗣 Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/275 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For a big decision you’re facing: What if you could suspend judgment or disapproval from others? What if you didn’t have to make anyone else happy? Would that make it easier to follow your heart? It might - and you can! Using the steps in the Pivot Process: Plant, Scan, Pilot, and Launch, you can separate the decision you need to make from the fact that you need to communicate it to others. This gives you the space to be clear and honest with yourself about what you really want to do. In this episode you’ll learn how to separate the decision itself from the pressure to communicate it to others, giving you space to be clear and honest with yourself about what you really want to do. Key Takeaways: Often what keeps us stuck in decision fatigue is worry about how it will impact others - you can create a sense of psychological safety by making the decision itself a separate task from talking about it. You can try on a decision like an outfit, just to see how it feels. Everything else related to the decision; acting on it, and communicating it, can come later. If you’re feeling conflicted about a decision, take a moment and ask yourself three questions: 1) What does my head say? 2) What does my heart want? And 3) What does my gut say? Your gut is often the referee between the others. Books Mentioned: Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Resources Mentioned: Pivot Coaching (Use code PODCAST at checkout) ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey 🗣 Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/274 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens when you ask someone a question they’ve never heard before? Today I’m answering a question from a listener about what questions do to our brains and exploring the magic of neuroplasticity: the property of our brains that allow them to physically change to encourage creative thinking and new knowledge. Books Mentioned: Quiet Leadership: Six Steps to Transforming Performance at Work The Coaching Habit Resources Mentioned: Pivot Coaching (Use code PODCAST) Neural Pathways - Wikipedia What Effect Do Questions Have On Our Brain? How Experience Changes Brain Plasticity The Neuroscience of Asking Insightful Questions Related Episodes: 177: Pivot Method as 4-Stage Coaching Framework [Workshop Replay] ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey 🗣 Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/273 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is it time to break up with your work? Samantha Clarke is a happiness consultant, TEDx & Keynote Speaker & author of Love It or Leave It: How To Be Happy at Work. She is on a mission to help individuals decide whether to LOVE IT or LEAVE IT and get to the crux of what it means to work and live with real meaning, purpose and intention. Books Mentioned: Pivot, Love It or Leave It: How To Be Happy at Work Resources Mentioned: Samantha on the web, Instagram: @Samanthaand_, Love It or Leave It, Be a Changemaker Podcasts: Love It or Leave It and How to Be a Changemaker TEDx: Are You Ready to Break Up With Work? Related Episode: Take a Stand with Antonio Neves ❤️ Enjoying the show? I'd be grateful for a rating and/or review! Even better? Share this episode with a friend :) 💌 Get my curated weekly(ish) PivotList newsletter 💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey 🗣 Submit a question or comment for future episodes 🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts 📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/272 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is anyone else exasperated by too much time working from home? If so, you are not alone! Whether it's the level of distractions or monotony, many of us are ready for a break—even if we still aren't interesting in returning to an office full time. In this episode I'm answering a listener question from Omar who says, "It's getting to the point where I just extremely dislike it." Resources Mentioned: Books: Free Time, Pivot Pivot Podcast: 🦠163: 25 Favorite Tips for WFH (Working From Home), 246: What is Your Job Today? (You Decide), 250: Staycation in the City Free Time Podcast: 018: Workcation in the City, 052: Perceived Capacity vs. Actual Capacity Websites: WeWork OnDemand ($29/day) App: HotelTonight — Use my code JBLAKE9 to get up to $50 back after your first booking Amazon: Foam Door Hangers if you live with others, for indicating what type of meetings you're in, whether you're open to interruptions or not 🎉 Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business launches on 3/22/22! Give the gift of free time to yourself and others in the new year by participating in our Buy One, Get One, Give One bonus. Here's how it works: Buy One: Preorder the hardcover edition and submit proof of purchase at http://itsfreetime.com/bogogo Get One: Within one business day, you'll get early access to the audiobook and brand new Free Time Toolkit with over 15 new templates to free your mind, time, and team! Give One: You will get details on how to gift early audiobook access to a friend :) Thank you in advance for your support! I can't wait to hear how you start freeing up time, and what you do with it :) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

🎉 Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business launches on 3/22/22! In this episode I'm walking you through the Free Time Framework—Align, Design, Assign—so you have a technique to move from friction to flow in any project or area of your life and work in 2022. Resources Mentioned: Books: Free Time, Pivot, Who Not How Podcasts: Free Time #052: Perceived Capacity vs. Actual Capacity, Centered in the City with Wade Brill Websites: Agile Manifesto for Software Development 🎁 Give the gift of free time to yourself and others in the new year by participating in our Buy One, Get One, Give One bonus. Here's how it works: Buy One: Preorder the hardcover edition and submit proof of purchase at http://itsfreetime.com/bogogo Get One: Within one business day, you'll get early access to the audiobook and brand new Free Time Toolkit with over 15 new templates to free your mind, time, and team! Give One: You will get details on how to gift early audiobook access to a friend :) Thank you in advance for your support! I can't wait to hear how you start freeing up time, and what you do with it :) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices