Jenny Blake
363: 🌈 Taking a Quiet Sabbatical and ...

As I round the corner into this ninth year of podcasting, after over 700 episodes today, I’m announcing a pause for both shows.

Listen in to hear what factors helped me reach this decision across time, money, energy, depressing industry articles, the pace of both shows’ growth, and mix of additional business factors that make this an important moment to pause and regroup. You might also appreciate the even deeper dive with my longtime friend (and first coach) Adrian Klaphaak in Pivot episode 360: 📦 Unpacking a Big Business Decision and Dissolving Related Doubts.

Jenny Blake
362: Setting Creative Intentions Instead of ...

“Expectations are the enemy to the creative process. Sometimes you have to let go of the known to see the unknown.”

Today I’m speaking with James McCrae, an author, poet, and meme artist based in Austin, Texas. He is the founder of 🌻 Sunflower Club, a global school and community dedicated to conscious creativity.

Jenny Blake
361: On Decision Engineering and Evaluating ...

Good decision-making is not about omniscience or clairvoyance—it's more about resilience, according to today’s guest, decision engineer Michelle Florendo. “Decision-making is harder than ever before, and it's not your fault,” Michelle says. “People feel like they ‘should just know’ how to decide.”

Today we’re talking about a framework more helpful than pro-con lists, tuning into your head, heart and gut; why the quality of your decision is not equal to the outcome—did good or bad things happen; keeping a decision journal to evaluate the quality of your decisions regardless of the outcome; and how to drop the guilt of “bad” past outcomes.

Jenny Blake
360: 📦 Unpacking a Big Business Decision ...

What happens when you make a big decision but still have lingering doubt, fear, and even despair? How do you know when a “download” from the universe is worth following, and what does test-driving a decision look like? What happens on the other side or when a pivot is taking far longer than planned?

We’re unpacking all these topics in today’s twelfth and final (for now) conversation for the Pivot x Career Pathfinder series with Adrian Klaphaak.

Jenny Blake
359: “You can’t give what you don’t have” — ...

“You can’t give what you don’t have.” That’s just one of the powerful lessons that Nataly Kogan learned the hard way seven years ago, after suffering a debilitating phase of burnout. As a former refugee from the former Soviet Union, she began her American journey in the projects and on welfare, then going on to build an impressive career as a finance and tech executive and serial entrepreneur over the next 25 years. Until she crashed at thirty-eight years old and needed to find a new way of moving forward.

As part of her healing process, Nataly began to paint when she was 40 by signing up for a painting retreat in Tuscony (that turned out to be for semi-professional watercolorists), and now her paintings are on the cover of her books—front and center as part of her bold self-expression.

Mindset

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[Best Of] Rebirth: On Fear, Flow, Love and Magic with Kamal Ravikant

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[Best Of] Rebirth: On Fear, Flow, Love and Magic with Kamal Ravikant

As I get up to speed in my first semester at Union, I’m re-launching a few of my favorite podcast episodes from four years of archives: I hope you enjoy some of these oldies but goodies, particularly if you missed them the first time around! Here’s a conversation I loved from January 2017 with Kamal Ravikant :)

What lies on the other side of our fear? According to Kamal Ravikant, magic. "That's the promise of the heart," he writes in an early chapter of his wonderful new book, Rebirth: A Fable of Love, Forgiveness, and Following Your Heart. This is one of my all-time favorite Pivot Podcast conversations: Kamal inspires courage in vulnerability, living with an open heart, and road-tested practices on loving yourself and living your truth. Every moment of talking with him was a delight, and I hope you enjoy this week's conversation on life's biggest topics as much as I did! 

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115: "People are People" — Exploring Neurodiversity with Mark Rufino

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115: "People are People" — Exploring Neurodiversity with Mark Rufino

Mark Rufino is a social worker and audio engineer, who works with adults with developmental disabilities and their families. However, even the term "developmental disability" or "intellectual disability" is becoming a misnomer. Mark is part of a growing movement of people who believe it's time we upgrade our old way of thinking "that we need to fix you to fit into our society."

The term neurodiversity is growing in popularity, and implies that there is no “normal” way of thinking and “autistic” way of thinking, for example; we are all wired to do different things. I think you'll love this conversation around exploring what's behind behavior, Mark's emphasis on deeper listening (in surprising and novel ways), and his reference to a book that states "the opposite of anxiety is not calm, it’s trust.”

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114: Illuminating Invisible Privilege with Karen Pittelman (and Why She Gave Away Her $3 Million Trust At 24)

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114: Illuminating Invisible Privilege with Karen Pittelman (and Why She Gave Away Her $3 Million Trust At 24)

This is one of my favorite interviews, and a conversation that is crucial for understanding and revealing the hidden influences that shape many of our views on society, wealth and power. I have heard terms like white privilege (which applies to me), but I hadn't thought to look into the notion of invisible privilege until earlier this year. You may think it doesn't apply to you (as I used to), especially if you're not in the "Top 1%."

But as a recent Atlantic article revealed, The 9.9 Percent is the New American Aristocracy, privilege is something that affects more of us than we might immediately self-identify with, particularly for many who see themselves as part of the "middle class." (A necessary note: some of you may be in the Top 1%—and you're welcome here!—and some of you may be struggling to get by, and  you're welcome here too).

After hearing it thrown around quite a bit in social change circles, I got curious. What does invisible privilege really mean? How does it affect me, and others like me? And how does it relate to broader social change? I'm so grateful for Karen Pittleman, who answers these questions with kindness, compassion, and clarity in this week's conversation. I can't wait for you to hear her story of giving away a $3 million trust fund when she turned 24 years old (now she's given over $13 million to activist-led funds), and her input on how we can all work together to redistribute wealth and power as we work toward a more just society.  

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112: Whose Voice is in Your Head? Perfection Detox Round Two with Petra Kolber

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112: Whose Voice is in Your Head? Perfection Detox Round Two with Petra Kolber

I am beyond lucky to have the brilliant Petra Kolber as one of my best friends in New York City, and just delighted to celebrate her book launch this week!! It's been a long journey, and one that forced her to confront the very message of her book: overcoming the inner critic and imposter syndrome because "the world needs your voice, not your perfect silence."

As I wrote in the show notes for our first Pivot Podcast interview in January 2017, Petra just radiates joy and truly walks her talk. When she enters a room, it lights all the way up with her positivity, passion for life and joie de vivre.

But that doesn't mean she hasn't wrestled with her own dragons, particularly around perfectionism (as have so many of us). Coming from decades in the fitness industry, Petra struggled with the pressure to be perfect in looks, body, business, and beyond. 

As a two-time cancer survivor, she is passionate about waking people up to the precious gift of time. Her mission is to inspire people to move more and to fear less, so they can stretch their dreams, strengthen their courage muscle, and build an inspired life full of joy and gratitude. In this follow-up show we explore her book publishing process ups and downs, moving past the mirror, the platinum rule (a favorite new concept!) of self-compassion, and much more. 

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99: My Morning Routine—How Successful People Start Every Day Inspired with Benjamin Spall

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99: My Morning Routine—How Successful People Start Every Day Inspired with Benjamin Spall

Although many of us aspire to rewarding morning routines (and enjoy geeking out on the best of what others come up with), on some days just getting out of bed is a victory. To this end, one of my favorite quotes from Benjamin Spall and Michael Xander's new book, My Morning Routine: How Successful People Start Every Day Inspired, comes from Ana Marie Cox, a political columnist and culture critic.

Cox says, "When you come up with a morning routine, understand that you’re undertaking it in order to do something good for yourself, not to meet some stranger’s standard of productivity."

With that in mind, I invite you to this week's conversation with Ben where we discuss common themes across morning routines, and how to take some pressure off of trying to meet impossibly high Inner Critic Morning Routine Police expectations. I'm also honored to be featured in My Morning Routine, with a subtitle for my chapter that made me chuckle: "When your evening routine starts at 3:00 in the afternoon." Listen in to find out what I do with all that wind-down time :) 

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98: Defying the Odds: Jason Wang's Pivot from Prison to Helping Others Transform Their Hustle

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98: Defying the Odds: Jason Wang's Pivot from Prison to Helping Others Transform Their Hustle

Jason Wang knows a thing or two about being an underdog. Growing up as an only child of two immigrant parents living through poverty and abuse, he knows all too well the challenges of overcoming obstacles to transform generational legacies of poverty, crime, and violence.

I had the great pleasure of meeting him earlier this year at a mentoring night for Defy Ventures, an organization that teaches entrepreneurship to men and women with criminal histories to help "transform their hustle." (Find a volunteer opportunity near you here!) Jason's radiance, joy and contagious positive energy blew me away. And then I heard his powerful comeback story and knew I had to share it with all of you. But first, a little context about what brought me to that mentoring night . . . 

In the years since Pivot launched, I have developed a strong desire to work with those who aren’t fortunate enough to pivot by choice, or who are perhaps embarking upon one of the greatest pivot opportunities of their lives: rebuilding after poverty, homelessness, and prison.

Earlier this year, I blazed through Defy founder Catherine Hoke’s book, A Second Chance, with an urgency that I couldn’t explain. Simultaneously, I read books on addiction, ADD, and the mind-body stress-disease connection by Dr. Gabor Mate. Next I sought out further reading on our incredibly broken criminal justice system, and read dozens of stories of people who had been wronged or disadvantaged because of their race and economic circumstances in runaway bestsellers like Just Mercy, The Other Wes Moore, The New Jim Crow, and Hillbilly Elegy. I read about Father Gregory Boyle’s inspiring work to employ and empower former gang members in downtown Los Angeles in Tattoos on the Heart and Barking to the Choir.

Many, if not all, of the people described within the pages experienced unthinkable trauma as children. Drugs and criminal activity were not the problem, they were their attempted solution to the pain of disconnection. Their stories made me cry, and cracked my heart open in a thousand new places. Stories of intense physical, mental, and emotional abuse. One parent’s form of childcare for her son? Putting him in the dryer until she was ready to let him out again. Another’s involved asking her six-year-old to “just kill [himself] already,” for being such a burden, before dropping him off at an orphanage saying she had no clue whose child this was. Or like Jason whose father tried to kill him three times before he was ten years old. 

As the authors above illuminate, many of these people never had a true first chance at life, let alone a second. Father Boyle describes as “a compassion that stands in awe at what the poor have to carry rather than in judgment at how they carry it.” It is with this reverence for the resilience of these incredible souls that I bring you Jason's story, and hopefully many more like it moving forward.  

Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at PivotMethod.com/podcast/defy-jason-wang. Enjoying the show? Make my week by donating just $1 and episode at Patreon.com/pivot.

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94: Second Chance at Life After Kidney Donation — with Keith McArthur

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94: Second Chance at Life After Kidney Donation — with Keith McArthur

On a sunny, spring day in 2016 doctors told Keith McArthur his kidneys were about to fail.  Over the next 12 months they continued to break down, no longer able to filter toxins. Poisons built up in his body and brain. He began to feel sick and tired and confused.

After a life-saving transplant from one of his sisters, and despite being a lifelong skeptic, Keith began "ingesting every self-help resource [he] could get [his] hands on." No longer convinced they were all "written by charlatans and mansplainers," he began a journey to discover how to truly live.

As he writes in his new book, 18 Steps to Own Your Life: Simple Powers for a Healthier, Happier You, “It’s not like I was unhappy before…but something was missing. Like most of us, I never really learned how to be human. No really. So, I made a decision to learn the skills I needed to finally own my life.”

In this conversation, we cover Keith's powerful story and insights about life before and after almost dying from kidney failure, lessons from raising a child with severe mental and physical disabilities, how he listens to his body's signals more after the operation, and what it means to "permit the pivot."

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89: Turning Pain Into Purpose: Blind Adventurer Erik Weihenmayer on Kayaking the Grand Canyon, Climbing Everest and Building No Barriers

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89: Turning Pain Into Purpose: Blind Adventurer Erik Weihenmayer on Kayaking the Grand Canyon, Climbing Everest and Building No Barriers
"My father had been like a broom, constantly sweeping me out into the world, and my mother was like the dustpan gathering up the shattered pieces and rebuilding me, only to have my father sweep me out again."
—Eric Weihenmayer, No Barriers: A Blind Man’s Journey to Kayak the Grand Canyon

This week's guest, Erik Weihenmayer, needs no introduction beyond his incredible life story and mission, and I cannot wait for you to meet him. Erik is an adventurer, author, activist and motivational speaker, who has also become a celebrated and accomplished athlete despite losing his vision at the age of 13. 

He was the first blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest, on May 25, 2001, and completed the Seven Summits the following year, joining 150 mountaineers at the time who had accomplished that feat, but as the only climber who was blind. In 2005, he co-founded No Barriers, a nonprofit organization with the tagline, “What’s within you is stronger than what’s in your way.” The organization helps others with diverse backgrounds and abilities attack challenges head on, problem solve, build winning teams, and serve others. In September 2014, Erik and blinded Navy veteran, Lonnie Bedwell, kayaked the entire 277-miles of the Grand Canyon, considered one of the most formidable whitewater venues in the world.

That’s the focus of his recent book, No Barriers: A Blind Man’s Journey to Kayak the Grand Canyon. In the foreword, Bob Woodruff said, “Erik is simply one of the most remarkable men I have ever met.” I agree, and not just for what he has accomplished, but for who he is—full of heart, soul and inspiring hustle. This episode is one you won't want to miss. 

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87: Penney Interviews Jenny—We Are Souls: On Past Lives, Alignment Practices, Conscious Creation and Non-Icky Marketing and Manifestation

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87: Penney Interviews Jenny—We Are Souls: On Past Lives, Alignment Practices, Conscious Creation and Non-Icky Marketing and Manifestation

We're back! Penney Peirce and I continue our ongoing series based on her vast spiritual oeuvre—this time with the microphone tables turned. She's interviewing me as we dive deeper into past lives, alignment practices, saying no to "sexy shoulds," clearing one's personal field to contribute to collective energy healing, marketing and manifesting in an authentic way, and so much more. Be sure to check out Penney's new book, Transparency: Seeing Through to Our Expanded Human Capacity, for which I was delighted and deeply honored to write the foreword :) 

This episode of the Pivot Podcast is the sixth in our series series together—the Penney & Jenny Show! Check out our previous conversations here: Transparency Part 1: What does your soul know?, Transparency Part 2: Soul Groups, Intuition and Frequency, Dreams as a Doorway to 24-Hour Consciousness, and Perception: Navigating Our Non-Linear Universe.

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81: Create, Serve, Receive, Be Prosperous: Soulful Business with Jeffrey Shaw

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81: Create, Serve, Receive, Be Prosperous: Soulful Business with Jeffrey Shaw

I had such a blast talking with Jeffrey Shaw for this week’s episode. He has been running his own photography and coaching business for over 33 years, including a podcast called Creative Warriors to help heart-centered entrepreneurs create, serve and be prosperous. We talk about how Jeffrey went from overlooked to overbooked, how to find, connect and speak to your ideal customers, and the energetics of business—how to tune-in to your intuition to guide strategy and next steps. 

In Jeffrey’s own words, we are entering “The new renaissance—a time when artists, coaches, designers, authors, speakers and other purpose-driven entrepreneurs will run profitable businesses, be highly respected for their talents and free to express their work across a variety of mediums.” I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did :) 

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78: How to Stop Feeling Like Sh*t — With Andrea Owen

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78: How to Stop Feeling Like Sh*t — With Andrea Owen

"I stopped following, bypassing my inner critic, knowing full well the future of my total physical and mental health was not dependent on Ms. Bendy Six Pack Von Instagram."

—Andrea Owen, How to Stop Feeling Like Sh*t

Although it seems like the holidays should be nothing but rosy and bright, filled with gratitude and good cheer, sometimes being back in our home of origin (with family, longtime friends, and/or in-laws) can send us into a personal growth regression machine. In past years I’ve caught myself reverting to my worst habits—whether it’s using the tone of voice of a high-schooler, layering on guilt for not being my best self, or not taking care of myself in the ways I know that i need in order to recharge and stay sane amidst the extraversion and people-immersion this time of year. 

So I purposefully scheduled this awesome episode with my good friend Andrea Owen for this exact week. A time when, despite your best intentions, you might find yourself falling into the familiar traps of perfectionism, people-pleasing, controlling, and about 10+ others that get in our way and make us feel like sh*t. I hope you enjoy this conversation and find as much relief in it as I did! 

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74: Soul Groups: Transparency in Relationships with Penney Peirce

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74: Soul Groups: Transparency in Relationships with Penney Peirce

“See yourself from the soul's point of view: flaws are just temporary mistakes of perception."
—Penney Peirce, Transparency

We're back at it, folks! There was so much juicy material from Penney Peirce's new book, Transparency: Seeing Through to Our Expanded Human Capacity, that we decided to dive in even deeper in a follow-up episode of the Pivot Podcast (if you haven't already, check out first part, Transparency Part 1: What does your soul know?

In this conversation, we talk about transparency as it relates to relationships: how does it help us connect with soul groups and soul mates? What happens when we're trying too hard or putting on a show just to gain approval? Why, if we're all part of a collective soul group, does it seem like there's so much chaos and violence in the world? What's it like to connect with a business or book community from a transparent/soul perspective rather than marketing shoulds? I absolutely loved hearing Penney's insights on all of the above, and I know you will too :) 

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73: What's more important to you than perfection? With Jenny Blake

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73: What's more important to you than perfection? With Jenny Blake

What is more important to you than perfection? This episode is coming to you unpolished and unedited . . . to prove a point to myself and my inner perfectionist.

I realized it had been a while since I did a solo show (one where there’s no guest), just me riffing on a topic that’s on my mind. And why not? Because my perfectionism monster started running the show! I worried that if conditions weren’t perfect, if I didn’t have my fancy mic while on the road for speaking gigs, or a perfect content outline, that I’d be better off not doing one. Pfft! So for this 30-minute show I just awkwardly shared from the heart ways I push past perfection when it starts blocking my life and creative work. 

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69: Worrier's Guide to the End of the World with Torre DeRoche

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69: Worrier's Guide to the End of the World with Torre DeRoche

Contrary to what she'd probably tell you herself, Torre DeRoche is one of the bravest people I know. When we first encountered each other online, she had just finished sailing the world for two years with her boyfriend at the time. Just the two of them . . . on the open seas . . . despite her deathly fear of sharks. I've been captivated by her story and her writing, under the moniker Fearful Adventurer, ever since, and I had the pleasure of meeting her in person for a meal in Chiang Mai when we crossed paths there in 2013. 

Fast forward a few years after that, and Torre found herself in a deep state of grief and loss. Her dad was dying of cancer, and her relationship of ten years was dissolving because of it. Her new book is the story of finding her way back to life — and this time without the worry that had plagued her since she was a child.

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68: On the self-help taboo of staying inside your comfort zone—when and how to reach with Andy Molinsky

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As Andy Molinksy writes in Reach, chances are if you've ever been interested in the topic of personal growth as it relates to risk, you've heard tropes like "life begins at the end of your comfort zone" and have encountered this meme-of-all-memes: 

comfort-zone-magic-happens.jpg

He says, "And then of course, there are the stories—successful and confident people who had the courage to go for it, and are now spokespeople for Comfort Zone, Inc., imploring us to do the same: Take the leap! Go for it! The only thing to fear is fear itself!" 

But what if, as someone asked me recently at the end of one of my keynotes, you're actually (gasp!) happy in your comfort zone? Do you always have to reach? I'm excited to unpack this question in this week's episode—Andy and I talk about when to reach outside of your comfort zone, how to build a risk portfolio, and common pitfalls that get in the way such as fear of what others will think, insecurities about our own competence, and resentment, or "Why do I have to do this in the first place?"

More About Andy Molinsky

AndyMolinsky.jpg

Andy Molinsky is a Professor at Brandeis University’s International Business School. Andy helps people develop the insights and courage necessary to act outside their personal and cultural comfort zones when doing important, but challenging, tasks in work and life. His work has been featured in HBR, the Financial Times, the Boston Globe, NPR and Voice of America. Andy is the author of Reach: A New Strategy to Help You Step Outside Your Comfort Zone, Rise to the Challenge, and Build Confidence and Global Dexterity: How to Adapt Your Behavior Across Cultures and Not Lose Yourself in the Process
 

Topics We Cover

  • When is it okay to stay inside your comfort zone?

  • Managing your comfort vs. risk portfolio: when to reach and when to adjust so you don't enter your panic zone

  • Authenticity and remaining joyful in stepping outside our comfort zone

  • The vicious cycle of avoidance

  • The three C's to successful reaches: conviction, customization, and clarity

  • We tend to catastrophize stepping outside our comfort zone. Clarity helps ground our perspective

  • No matter the reach or their outcome, it is all a learning experience

  • Our reaches are also the ways we support people

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.

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67: What Does Your Soul Know? Flow and Transparency with Penney Peirce

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67: What Does Your Soul Know? Flow and Transparency with Penney Peirce

“To know yourself as a soul . . . you must dissolve everything in the way. The clutter composed of fear, fixed beliefs, and unconsciously ingrained habits."

—Penney Peirce, Transparency: Seeing Through to Our Expanded Human Capacity

What does it mean to make enlightenment normal? How do you remove the filters that dim your soul's wisdom? How can you feel into what wants to happen and find greater flow in life and work? What does it mean to be so authentic and transparent that we live as truth with nothing to hide? Penney and I dive into these questions and many more on this week's show as we discuss her new book, Transparency: Seeing Through to Our Expanded Human Capacity, which I was incredibly honored to write the foreword for. 

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62: Real Artists Don't Starve with Jeff Goins

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62: Real Artists Don't Starve with Jeff Goins

"Being a starving artist is a choice, not a necessary condition of doing creative work."

—Jeff Goins, Real Artists Don't Starve

Is it possible to do creative work and make a living? What does it take to thrive, not just survive? This week on the Pivot Podcast I'm thrilled to chat with bestselling author, keynote speaker, and popular blogger Jeff Goins. Listen on as we bust the myth behind the "starving artist," the return to creative patronage (and how you can become your own best patron), and why "exposure gigs" are out and charging for your work is in.  

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59: Captivate: Secrets from Viral TED Talks with Vanessa Van Edwards

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What makes a person captivating? How can some instantly connect with an audience, while others fall flat? 

This week I'm thrilled to have one of my kindred spirits on the podcast with me. Vanessa Van Edwards is a professional people watcher, self-described "recovering awkward person," and author of the new book Captivate: The Science of Succeeding with People. 

Listen on to learn how Vanessa bootstrapped her Science of People research company, the best place to stand at a networking event, and the top secrets to make your TED talk go viral. 

More About Vanessa Van Edwards

Vanessa Van Edwards is a published author and behavioral investigator. She is a professional people watcher—speaking, researching and cracking the code of interesting human behavior for audiences around the world. Vanessa’s groundbreaking workshops and courses teach individuals how to succeed in business and life by understanding the hidden dynamics of people. Vanessa is a Huffington Post columnist and Penguin author. She has been featured on NPR, the Wall Street Journal, the Today Show and USA Today. She has written for CNN, Fast Company and Forbes.

Topics We Cover

  • Pivot blessings in disguise

  • How Vanessa bootstrapped Science of People and why she decided to pivot away from her original passive income business

  • How to avoid reinventing the wheel—especially "broke down rickety wheels"

  • Why conducting original research makes your work more viral

  • How Vanessa started a research-based company without a Ph.D. in social science

  • Secrets from the most successful TED speakers: on hand gestures, how you share your message, why smiling makes you seem more intelligent, and the difference between memorized vs. internalized content

  • The most strategic spot to stand at a networking event for making the best connections

  • How to recover from social awkwardness

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.

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Links Mentioned:

❤️ 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

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🗣 Submit a question or comment for future episodes at http://pivotmethod.com/ask

🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: https://pod.link/1054817076

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250: Staycation in the City

Solo episode on a sanity-saving strategy for #2020 on the perks (and quirks!) of staycationing in the city you live in . . . especially when hotel rates are at record lows :) Pardon the mic noises — it’s a travel mic and therefore part of my #PerfectlyImperfect audio that gets the episode out at all.

Key questions: What makes your soul sing? What is most important to your spirit? Remember, Radical Reimagining means everything is up for grabs.

HotelTonight: Use my code JBLAKE9 to get up to $50 back after your first HotelTonight booking.

Heart-Based Business Owners: Join us in the private Momentum Community

❤️ 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 with Jenny: http://pivotmethod.com/insider

📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/podcast/staycation

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247: Cultural Appreciation and Remote Team-Building with Chris Littlefield
247: Cultural Appreciation and Remote Team-Building with Chris Littlefield

(Recorded July 2020) Thanks to Chris, we’ve got a new term for 2020: “Coronavating” — a portmanteau of coronavirus and innovating. Chris is an expert in employee appreciation, recognition, and workplace culture, and I think you’ll love this episode on how to build trust and teamwork even in virtual (and often chaotic) settings. He is the founder of Beyond Thank You, and author of 75+ Team Building Activities for Remote Teams – Simple Ways to Build Trust, Strengthen Communication, and Laugh Together from Afar.

📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/247

❤️ 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 with Jenny: http://pivotmethod.com/insider

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246: What is Your Job Today? (You Decide)
246: What is Your Job Today? (You Decide)

What’s your job today? It might not be what you think . . . and you get to decide anew every day, especially for sanity and health preservation in #2020. In this solo episode, I’m riffing on perfectionism, streaks, and combinatorial questions to create possibility.

Peloton—If you're in the US, Canada, or the UK, use referral code 7ED7VQ to receive $100 towards accessories at purchase.

❤️ 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 with Jenny: http://pivotmethod.com/insider

📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/246

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[Best Of] Penney & Jenny 2: Dreams and 24-Hour Consciousness (May 2016)
[Best Of] Penney & Jenny 2: Dreams and 24-Hour Consciousness (May 2016)

Happy summer, friends! I’m taking a short break to pause and design what’s next for the podcast content-wise. Please enjoy this series with Penney Peirce, released M/W/Fri in keeping with my latest experiment.

Penney is consistently named as a listener favorite when I get feedback notes, and after our first interview together we jokingly started naming these follow-up conversations “The Penney & Jenny Show.” Until now, these interviews were spread out over the last four years — now they’ll be bingeable as a consecutive series :)

🗣 Want to help shape what’s next? Take the listener survey if you haven’t already! http://pivotmethod.com/survey »

📝 View full show notes from this episode at http://pivotmethod.com/podcast/penney2 »

***

Original air date: May 8, 2016

“At night, the soul is rejuvenating the personality. All dreams are data about our own personal process of growth and evolution.”

—Penney Peirce

Dreams. Although we often laugh them away today (if we remember them at all), many ancient and tribal cultures treated the dream world as absolutely real and worthy of our respect, an extension of the waking world. As Penney Peirce writes in Be the Dreamer, Not the Dream: A Guide to 24-Hour Consciousness (previously published as Dreams for Dummies), “Everything we do in the dream world is real; it’s just happening at other dimensions of our awareness.”

So what’s going on in that noggin’ of yours in the (hopefully) 8 hours of the day that you’re not on your feet? In today’s show we talk about the fascinating and ever-elusive subject of dreams: how to better remember and even program dreams, how to interpret them, and much more.

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241: Get Off Autopilot & Be Your Own Benefactor with Antonio Neves
241: Get Off Autopilot & Be Your Own Benefactor with Antonio Neves

What happens when you find yourself on autopilot, even with a perfect-on-paper role or business? It can be hard to admit—even to oneself—not being 100% #grateful, #blessed, and #fulfilled.

Longtime friendtor Antonio Neves and I talk about how to find the courage to boldly go your own way—to be your own benefactor—even when your next direction isn’t a proven Pivot yet. You’ll hear about Tony’s aha moment that helped him kick a secret coping habit, and starting taking authentic steps in a new direction into a new phase of life and work where he’s betting on himself.

📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/241

🎧 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

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237: 16+ Software Tools Behind the Pivot Podcast
237: 16+ Software Tools Behind the Pivot Podcast

Software geeks, rejoice! In today’s show I’m sharing every tool I use to produce the Pivot Podcast. This episode builds on 233: Stepping up Systems—How I Shifted to Daily Podcasting (across five key areas: mindset, motivation, systems, skills, and software).

Both are in preparation (and to give you a head-start) for my upcoming LIVE (He)art of Podcasting masterclass! I have the ambitious goal of taking you from zero to show, because the world needs your voice, and we need it now.

I’m facilitating a 3-hour workshop on June 25 where you can ask me anything, get my best templates for visioning, interview prep, and post-production, and request walkthroughs of the most confusing aspects of podcasting and systems. Learn more at http://pivotmethod.com/heart »

Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/237 and the full Pivot podcast archive at http://pivotmethod.com/podcastarchive »

I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Pivot listener survey at http://pivotmethod.com/survey and submit a question for future episodes at http://pivotmethod.com/ask

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231: Vulnerability As a One-Way Ticket to Trust with Billy Anderson
231: Vulnerability As a One-Way Ticket to Trust with Billy Anderson

“Vulnerability is a one-way ticket to trust,” says today’s guest Billy Anderson, founder of The Courage Crusade and mutual friend of longtime friendtor Michael Bungay Stanier (two-time guest of the Pivot Podcast).

Billy is the author of Your Comfort Zone is Killing You: Finding the Courage to Be You. In this conversation we cover finding the courage to move past others’ expectations toward greater authenticity, transparency, vulnerability, and self-expression.

Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/231

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57: What's a Silent Meditation Retreat Like? Sweet Sound of Silence (Part 2)

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Silent meditation retreats always intimidated me. What would it be like? Would I get bored? Antsy beyond belief? So uncomfortable I can't stand it anymore? Could I handle something like that? Do I even want to try?

At the end of 2016 I released an episode called the Sweet Sound of Silence (Part One)—on the powerful calm and insight that stillness has brought into my life—before heading into a five-day silent meditation retreat for New Year's to ring in 2017. This week on the Pivot Podcast I share what the experience was like.

And here's a haiku that came to me at the start of the retreat that I incorporated as a mantra to help me drop more deeply into meditation—try repeating it while releasing all the tiny muscles around your eyes, and any tension in your jaw, face or body:

Melt, soften, release
your grip. Open hand allows
space for everything.

Topics We Cover

  • What goes on at a silent retreat?

  • Releasing our grip

  • Gratitude and living with our inner truth

  • Soul speaks in stillness

  • Reentry to the world

 

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.

Related Episodes
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Aired 3/8/20 — just before the pandemic hit! This is the last major event I attended live . . . replaying now for some thought-starters to help shape our 2021 new year visioning :)

This week’s Pivot Podcast is a field report from seeing one of my heroes live! I attended Oprah’s 2020 Vision Tour: Your Life in Focus in Brooklyn in early February, and I was so curious going into this event that I thought you might like to hear about the experience and key takeaways.

Oprah is inviting a different headliner from each stop on the tour (ours was Michelle Obama), so if you want a peek into other cities and guests, listen to her Super Soul Conversations podcast — she’s had equally wonderful conversations with Jennifer Lopez, Lady Gaga, Kate Hudson, Tracee Ellis Ross, and more.

Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://PivotMethod.com/158.

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 where you can ask me anything, and discuss the latest books, tools and topics I’ve shared in recent episodes. Next up: We’ll be kicking-off the new year together on January 13 and I’d love for you to join us!

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249: Self-Defense Strategies with Sensei Ando Mierzwa
249: Self-Defense Strategies with Sensei Ando Mierzwa

“Your smile is your shield and your sword.” That’s just one of many wisdom gems from today’s guest and longtime Pivot advocate, Sensei Ando Mierzwa. He’s sharing many of the principles from his free self-defense basics course on turning intuition into action, the importance of projecting (and feeling!) confident, ignoring social niceties when it comes to making “bad guys” uncomfortable, and how to maintain a zen state even in tense situations. I hope you love this conversation as much as I did!

Ando’s Free Course: Self-Defense Basics

❤️ 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

📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/249

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[Best Of] Penney & Jenny 7: On Spirituality and Small Business (July 2018)
[Best Of] Penney & Jenny 7: On Spirituality and Small Business (July 2018)

Happy summer, friends! I’m taking a short break to pause and design what’s next for the podcast content-wise. Please enjoy this series with Penney Peirce, released M/W/Fri in keeping with my latest experiment.

Penney is consistently named as a listener favorite when I get feedback notes, and after our first interview together we jokingly started naming these follow-up conversations “The Penney & Jenny Show.” Until now, these interviews were spread out over the last four years — now they’ll be bingeable as a consecutive series :)

🗣 Want to help shape what’s next? Take the listener survey if you haven’t already! http://pivotmethod.com/survey »

📝 View full show notes from this episode at http://pivotmethod.com/podcast/penney7 »

***

Original air date: July 15, 2018

I'm delighted to bring you the seventh (!) episode in a side series of this podcast we affectionately call the Penney & Jenny show :) It's a growing set of conversations with one of my dear friends and mentors (friendtors), Penney Peirce. We had so much fun during our first interview together that we added a second . . . which became a third . . . and so on, until it was a regular feature on the Pivot Podcast!

This week we're riffing on the intersection of spirituality and small business—how we apply intuition, transparency, non-physical realms, and personal practices toward business-building, attracting clients, and earning a living in a way that feels easeful and joyful. You can check out all of our interviews here, and for easier listening, tune in on our SoundCloud playlist.

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242: Nahko—Take Your Power Back + "Love Letters to God" Live
242: Nahko—Take Your Power Back + "Love Letters to God" Live

Nahko is an artist, a seeker, a storyteller, and a medicine man through soulful music. I love that his music sits at the intersection of deep personal introspection with social justice activism.

Although we didn’t discuss it in this conversation, Nakho was born as a result of human trafficking—his birth mother gave him up for adoption when she was fourteen years old; he was nine months old, then raised in Oregon just 20 minutes away. You can learn more about that in these conversations with Untangled: Take Your Power Back and with Rachel Brathen: Believe In The Good Things Coming.

Nahko and Medicine for the People has provided the soundtrack to everything important in my life these last five years: solo journeying, writing and then launching Pivot, meeting my husband, getting married, and navigating the 2020 coronacoaster.

🎵 Listen to the end for a special acoustic performance

📝 Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://pivotmethod.com/242

🎧 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

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194: Deep Souls with Kathryn Haydon
194: Deep Souls with Kathryn Haydon

Pivot Insider and creativity expert Kathryn Haydon is back to discuss her emerging studies of Deep Souls, building upon her background in education and creativity. As she describes in her article, 7 Strengths of Deep Souls: The Thinkers We Need But Rarely Understand:

"Is Everyone a Deep Soul? The underlying traits that fuel deep soul strengths are universal characteristics of creative thinking. Research shows that nearly all of us have an intense combination of these strengths in early childhood, but they get dulled over time—especially during our school years. Deep souls, however, have resisted this dulling. They can't help it. The intensity of their ability to think differently cannot and will not be stopped.”

Listen in as we discuss the seven strengths, and how to best support and encourage the deep souls around you in life and work.

View full show notes from this episode at http://pivotmethod.com/194

What’s on your mind? Submit follow-up questions for a future conversation at http://pivotmethod.com/ask

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🦠172: Self-Care for Empaths and HSPs with Sarah Santacroce
🦠172: Self-Care for Empaths and HSPs with Sarah Santacroce

If you ever feel like a sponge for the energy (and moods) of people around you, particularly during times of massive change or crisis; if you feel flooded by emotion, overwhelmed with empathy, more sensitive than usual to sights, sounds, and media; and/or hit with powerful bursts of intuition, this episode is for you.

Sarah Santacroce and I recorded a two-way conversation for Pivot and her podcast, Gentle Business Revolution (be sure to also check out the PDF of her manifesto, Gentle Business Revolution Manifesto).

View full show notes from this episode at http://pivotmethod.com/172 »

What’s on your mind? Submit follow-up questions for a future conversation at http://pivotmethod.com/ask »

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158: Trip Report—Oprah's 2020 Vision Tour
158: Trip Report—Oprah's 2020 Vision Tour

This week’s Pivot Podcast is a field report from seeing one of my heroes live! I attended Oprah’s 2020 Vision Tour: Your Life in Focus in Brooklyn in early February, and I was so curious going into this event that I thought you might like to hear about the experience and key takeaways.

Oprah is inviting a different headliner from each stop on the tour (ours was Michelle Obama), so if you want a peek into other cities and guests, listen to her Super Soul Conversations podcast — she’s had equally wonderful conversations with Jennifer Lopez, Lady Gaga, Kate Hudson, Tracee Ellis Ross, and more.

Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://PivotMethod.com/158.

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 where you can ask me anything, and discuss the latest books, tools and topics I’ve shared in recent episodes. Our next session is coming right up on Wednesday, March 11 — I’d love for you to join us!

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[Best Of] 91: Divine Time Management and Putting Faith Forward in Business and Love with Elizabeth Grace Saunders
[Best Of] 91: Divine Time Management and Putting Faith Forward in Business and Love with Elizabeth Grace Saunders

Originally posted March 2018 — part of a “Best Of” series as I get caught up from a round of travel and puppy-adjusting :)

When my friend Elizabeth pivoted from time management author and coach to divine time management, her faith-based practice of "trusting God's loving plans for you," and with the release of her new book in November, I wanted to have her on the show. But I was nervous at the same time.

Is it okay to put faith forward in business? On the podcast? I'm not Christian—would that adversely affect the interview? Would it be divisive in any way for listeners? Our culture prides a separation of church and state, but what about spirituality and business?

In the months since Elizabeth's book launched, I have been sloooowly finding the courage to talk about these topics more prominently on the Pivot Podcast. And believe me, coming from an atheist-turned-agnostic, this was not an easy or obvious choice. But my soul's curiosity and passion for finding deeper meaning in our work says YES. I am grateful to now be exploring people and philosophies of many ranging faiths on this show.

With that, let's dive into this week's awesome episode! I love Elizabeth's advice on loosening the reigns of control, paying attention to inner stirrings, and her vulnerability in sharing how she has surrendered her timing around finding love. 

Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at PivotMethod.com/podcast/divine-time.

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152: Glowing in the Dark with Kristoffer 'KC' Carter
152: Glowing in the Dark with Kristoffer 'KC' Carter

This week’s episode is another one of my favorite formats, just two new (soul) friends shooting the breeze in what we’ve dubbed a “podcast tango” :) Given that we both have podcasts, we decided to just hit record and do this joint conversation, neither of us officially interviewing the other. I hope you enjoy this conversation jam with insta-BFF Kristoffer “KC” Carter (shout-out to our mutual mensch mentor Jonathan Fields who introduced us!), whose new podcast This Epic Life is one I know you’ll also love. We deepen our budding BFF-ship and discuss the BIG topics of life—including death, dips, permission to shine, business pivots, his yogic and meditation practices, and much more.

Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at PivotMethod.com/152.

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 where you can ask me anything, and discuss the latest books, tools and topics I’ve shared in recent episodes.

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143: Transmogrify with Neil Pasricha
143: Transmogrify with Neil Pasricha

“I don’t even care if we talk about the new book,” Neil said as we started our Skype call, while I thumbed through dog-eared, underlined, and marked-up pages of the You Are Awesome galley. Ooh, fun!

Knowing I have a tendency to focus too much on the paper artifact in front of me while interviewing authors, rather than what’s True and present in the moment, I decided to chuck all my potential questions and just shoot the breeze with a longtime blog-friend (February marks our ten year friendiversary!).

Neil was on the Pivot Podcast in the early days (check out 44: Want Nothing, Have Everything: The Happiness Equation with Neil Pasricha), and that episode has been a long-time listener favorite. I think you’re going to love this unfiltered, unplanned conversation every bit as much!

Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at PivotMethod.com/143.

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56: Perfection Detox with Petra Kolber

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56: Perfection Detox with Petra Kolber

Petra Kolber radiates. When she walks into a room, it lights all the way up with her positivity, passion for life and joie de vivre. But that doesn't mean she hasn't wrestled with her own dragons, particularly around perfectionism (as have so many of us). Coming from decades in the fitness industry, Petra wrestled with the pressure to be perfect—looks, body, business, you name it. 

As a two-time cancer survivor, Petra is passionate about waking people up to the precious gift of time. Her mission is to inspire people to move more and to fear less, so they can stretch their dreams, strengthen their courage muscle, and build an inspired life full of joy and gratitude. In this week's show we explore how to dissolve the pressure to be perfect so that you can do the same.