Pivot with Jenny Blake

“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 co...

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...

“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, an...

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...

“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 l...

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, includi...

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...

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 m...

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...

“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...

“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 Goll...

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 a...

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 H...

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 y...

“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 autho...

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...

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 wr...

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 peopl...

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-...

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...

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 g...

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  T...

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...

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:...

🎉 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...