Hi Friends,
As I round the corner into this ninth year of podcasting—and after over 700 episodes combined across my two shows—I announced over the weekend that I am pausing both podcasts indefinitely.
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 regroup.
❤️ While I will be sad not to bring fresh episodes to your earbuds every week, I truly want to say thank you so much for being here. This only represents a small fraction of listeners, but I was genuinely touched receiving the Spotify Wrapped for Podcasters stats at the end of 2023, after I knew I would be pausing once all the episodes “in the can” went live:
For 681 of you this show is in your top ten on Spotify
For 373 it’s in your top five, and
For 65 of you, this is your number one show, at least in Spotify’s podcast player!
Pivot (not the one with Kara and Scott that launched three years after mine 😭) is in the top 0.5% (!!) of shows according to ListenNotes
I am bowled over by these stats—thank you! There’s one thing I know for sure: I will miss you during this break 🥹
You might also appreciate the deep dive with my longtime friend (and first coach) in Pivot episode 360: 📦 Unpacking a Big Business Decision and Dissolving Related Doubts in the twelfth conversation for our Pivot x Career Pathfinder series.
For another related listen, check out my conversation with on Decision Engineering and Evaluating Quality instead of Outcomes.
Now onto this week’s #PivotList, with bonus goodies over the paywall rainbow at the end :)
📆 Upcoming Events
🧡 Office Hours for Paying Subscribers
Join us on May 15 at 1pm ET for our Quarterly Office Hours hang: ask me anything, connect with fellow Pivoters, and talk through your pivot-in-progress.
Want to join us? See footer (below the paywall) for the link, with lots of additional resources and ideas in the show notes. Upgrade your membership here »
⚙️ Tools for Working Out(ish) While WFH
My new compact walking treadmill that tucks under my adjustable standing desk is a game-changer!! With huge thanks to Sarah Young who did all the research—I saw this in her home office and knew it was exactly what I needed this year :) Responding to emails is already more fun! Now I just need to solve the mystery of whether my Apple watch is accurately tracking steps, which I doubt . . .
🍿 Watching & 📚Reading
Is anyone else watching then diving down online rabbit holes about Jennifer Lopez’s self-funded, pseudo-autobiographical-but-"not her" and “not a music video” hour-long special on Amazon Prime, This Is Me . . . Now: A Love Story?
And what good is celebrity #sponcon for boosting relevance and sales without a behind-the-scenes making of? Thankfully today Amazon dropped The Greatest Love Story Never Told (the documentary) and YES I ALREADY WATCHED WITH MY MORNING COFFEE before starting work.
My favorite line was one of her friends talking about the moment in every artist’s career when they have to go all-in, risking everything by betting on themselves. I can relate . . . that’s often how I feel about my Free Time endeavor. I actually did sell a property to invest entirely in launching that part of my business—with no regrets, but also no windfall of cash on the other side . . . YET! 😅
Back to TIMNALS, I appreciated New York Times critic Wesley Morris’ take in J. Lo and Behold: Is She for Real? (Gift link)
“She has only ever wanted to give us what she’s wanted for herself yet never convincingly attained: comfort. Lopez wants, needs, hungers, craves, desires, seeks, pines, wishes, dreams, hopes, believes, yearns, aches, hustles. You can see all of that in the hard violence of her dancing — nothing comes easy, nothing flows. It’s a lot of bursts and breaks.”
And
’s hilarious review in :“My life’s new goal, and also coincidentally my biggest fear, is to find a fraction of The Audacity. The Gall. The Temerity. To release a project like this one. To put my legal name and my fully recognizable face and $20 million from my bank account to produce a movie with no narrative beginning or end, a cinematic ouroboros that boldly defies the very tenets of logic.”
🎧 Listening
🎁 For complimentary Free Time audiobook access for you and a friend, submit your proof of purchase here and Faye on my team will get you all squared away! You can also host your own book club with this Free Time Leader Kit.
I loved this episode of The Tim Ferriss Show, an actual walk-and-talk that he and Essentialist author Greg McKeown recorded with headsets while they walked outside. Listen through to the end—there are lots of gems even in the final thirty minutes.
🎉 Featured
I always love jammin’ with my friend
for his Sparked podcast. Check out our latest conversation on How to Say No Without Feeling Bad About It, and our full playlist of episodes on Spotify here.✍️ Writing
Recently on :
🎙 Podcasting
Pivot:
363: 🌈 Taking a Quiet Sabbatical and Pausing the Podcasts — For Now . . .
362: Setting Creative Intentions Instead of Expectations with James McCrae
361: On Decision Engineering and Evaluating Quality instead of Outcomes
360: 📦 Unpacking a Big Business Decision and Dissolving Related Doubts
359: “You can’t give what you don’t have” — with Nataly Kogan
358: Crossing the Cringe Chasm when Taking Career and Creative Risks
Subscribe wherever you listen here »
Free Time:
270: 🌈 Taking a Quiet Sabbatical and Pausing the Podcasts — For Now . . .
269: “I am not a bank” — Strategies for Getting Clients to Pay on Time
268: Strategies for Surpassing “The Magic Number” of Book Sales
264: 🦧 What to Do When You Lose Your Biggest Client: Part One and Part Two
Subscribe wherever you listen here »
That’s it for now . . . thank you for reading and listening!
❤️ With Love,
P.S. Extra Goodies Over the Paywall Rainbow 🌈💰
🔐 Thank you to our generous paying subscribers who help sustain PivotList!
Upgrade to unlock this week’s make-you-smile memes as a token of my gratitude :)
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Pivot with Jenny Blake to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.