45: Post-Launch Pivot Point + Visit From the Furry Rest Monster

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What's next? This is a question we're all having to ask and answer more frequently. I'm Jenny Blake, your host of the Pivot Podcast and author of Pivot. The only move that matters is your next one.

For show notes from this episode, visit pivotmethod.com podcast if Change is the only constant, then let's get better at it. Here we go.

Hello friends. It has been a long time since I brought you a solo podcast. Before we jump in, two things that I have to start today's show with. Thank you and welcome. Thank you so much to everybody who helped get Pivot off the ground this last month. It's been so exciting. The official Launch date was September 6th and I have been completely blown away by all of you who tweeted, shared on social media, bought the book, gave it a rating on Amazon or a review. Thank you all so, so much. I am beyond grateful and for being here listening to this podcast. This started as a pilot two years ago and I didn't know what the heck I was doing and I still really don't. I just play it by ear one week at a time. And second, welcome to all the new listeners. If you heard me on the podcast circuit with James or Jordan or Srini or Brian, there were so many awesome shows and it's really been a blast to get to do a podcast tour as the kind of the new way to get a book out into the world. And for any of you who want to go down the Pivot rabbit hole, you can listen to all the shows that I did@pivotmethod.com podcast tour. And in fact, maybe that's just a cool way even if you don't listen to my episodes because you will surely be sick of me by the end of that. A cool way to learn about awesome new podcasts. So thank you so much all of you. And again, welcome to everybody who's new here, all of you new subscribers. I'm thrilled to have you. The reason I'm doing a solo show today is that it is time for a truth podcast. When I've been blogging and running my online websites for about 10 years. And although I love the practical tactical tips, I also really strive to share truth posts, and in this case, a truth podcast. And that is kind of halting the desire to be helpful in a certain practical way, to share what's really going on. It's always been my commitment to share what goes on behind the scenes in my life, in my business, in my mind, in my heart. And that's what today is about. And today's topic is the post launch pivot point. This really wild thing that happens after you launch something, after you make your pivot. I remember when I was working on the book, a friend said to me she had just pivoted. She said, now what can you address what to do once you have successfully pivoted? And what's interesting is that some pivots are more of a continuous flow and then others are a little sharper. So for me, launching this book, after three years of really intensely thinking about it and working on it, has naturally brought in this post launch pivot point. Which is not to say that, oh, I'm gonna change my business, I'm gonna do some kind of one, but it's that here I am once again not exactly sure what's next. And that's as many of you who've read the book know, the question, what's next? When someone asked me as my first book was coming out, they asked that, and I got really flabbergasted and sort of flustered, and I didn't know what to say. And that question bugged me a little bit. It wasn't the person's fault, but because I felt like, oh, man, I just put three years into this project and I'm already expected to know what's next. And here we are again, this time, you know, thanks to riding pivot and researching it. I don't feel anxious about that question, but more curious. So I have all these pilots, different business income streams that are set up, and I'm waiting, you know, if you've heard me on some of the podcasts, I share the analogy that pilots or career experiments are like racehorses at the starting gate of the Kentucky Derby, and we don't always know which one's gonna pull ahead. So I have things like pivot coaching, my private momentum community, pivot workshops for companies, keynote speaking. There's all kinds of stuff that is out there now, and I'll be so curious to see which of those racehorses starts to pull ahead. So the real thing that I want to get into today is what happens when the void opens up and you launch something and you don't know what's next. And while I could try and paint a really happy, shiny picture, I would be completely ignoring the side of pivoting that involves surfing the void. One thing I found really interesting, and there's I think now 63 reviews on the book. Thank you again so much to everybody who wrote such wonderful comments. I'm completely blown away by them all. And there are two, two star reviews or two or three star. What's interesting is they both said that the thing I missed was addressing the real emotional complexity about pivoting and the often gut wrenching feeling of uncertainty that can come in or fear of making the wrong move, or even the inner sense of tumult that can happen from crisis and trauma and what happens when you get pivoted. And I'm so glad for these reviewers and I, you know, there was a whole part of the book called Surf the Void and for space we cut it. And I knew, I knew that there would be a big piece missing. And so my intention is to talk about Surfing the Void in the podcast. I'm gonna write more articles. Now that I'm in another Pivot point myself of a post launch space that has opened up, I can revisit some of those topics again. So I just want to say that thank you to the people who said that. And I agree. I totally wish that there was more room. In the beginning, I wanted this book to be everything. I wanted it to be how to Surf the Void. I wanted it to be about mind, body, business, that connection. And I wanted it to be about the Pivot method. And ultimately my editor and I decided to make it, you know, mostly on the method. And then I worked in essays where I could and figured that I would address the void in other ways. So here we are. My recent experience with this was launching is so exciting. I mean, nothing will take that away. This is one of the biggest accomplishments of my life. I'm just reading Die Empty by Todd Henry because he's going to be a future guest on the show. And I feel when something like this comes out, I'm so proud of it. And it's a Die Empty kind of feeling. I remember even saying to my editor, if I die while working on this, can you please make sure Pivot still comes out? That's how much I cared about this book. And I wasn't joking. I was, I was really serious that this is one of those soul projects that feels like legacy work to me. Whether it's received that way or not, it's something that I've given my heart and soul to. And so the launch, I had two weeks where I I did various launch events in New York and on the West Coast. I did a couple Google events and a launch party in both cities. And I spoke at a really cool tech conference called responsive.org and then I got home about a week ago. As of the day I'm recording this and completely collapsed. And I don't mean physically like, oh, one day I was at the doorway. Those of you have heard my Vertigo podcast, not like that. But I felt this deep, bone deep imperative to rest. And it's not like I couldn't have seen that coming. In certain ways, as you all know, body is such an important part of the equation. I often say your body is your business. Really. I was so mindful going into the launch about doubling down on meditation and spiritual practices and making sure I was maintaining exercise and meditation. I'm currently on a 270 day streak. I'm trying to go at least a full year. And so these things were absolutely top of mind, continuing to eat healthily. And yet still when I came home and I finally had permission with a capital P to collapse, I did. And one thing I'm so glad is that I kind of saw this coming because I blocked this entire last week off on my calendar. I had no meetings, which I knew. I knew months ago that after launching and after the two week push, I would need some space. But what I didn't realize was how strongly it was going to consume me, that space.

There was one morning that I meditated and I sat for 20 minutes. I have a certain special cushion on my couch that is where I sit. And as soon as the bell rang at the end, I just tipped over sideways, found the pillows on the other end of the couch and went to sleep. Like it was that big of an effort just to stay sitting up to meditate for 20 minutes and then tips asleep. That's how the week has gone. And so I had no choice. I mean, I just gave myself permission to do nothing, which is uncomfortable for me, and rest. And I joked in my emails later in the week, I said, you know, apologies for the delay. The rest monster gobbled me up and now I'm just getting back into the swing of things and I realized, rest monster. You know, I don't want to be insulting. I think this monster, he's kind of like the big furry monster from Monsters Inc. Like he's really friendly, but he most certainly swallowed me up, and the couch swallowed me up, and I spent most of the week laid out, horizontal.

And not just joyfully. I think it's so important to say that. I'm sure so many of you can relate that when you finally slow down. For me, it was the psychic release of three years of working on this project. It wasn't even that. The physical burnout, like, oh, I must have been really not taking care of my body. It was just the psychic release of, you've worked so hard. You've hustled so much on this project for three years, even energetically, and now it's out. Now you can relax a little bit. And so when that happens and the energy drops and I'm not feeling energized to even sit up straight, let alone look at email. And of course, there's a lot coming in because the book is very public and it's out there now, and it feels bad. You know, the first reaction is not to celebrate. It's too. It kind of.

There was a feeling of sadness that also sets in, and it's weird to talk about. And I think this is probably why more people don't talk about it either they don't experience it, which is, like, cool. I don't have that life path where I don't have those highs and lows. So either they don't really experience that sadness, or it's hard to talk about because you don't want to sound. I don't want to sound ungrateful. It's the most exciting time, and it's something I'm so proud of. And so when the rest monster gobbles me up, you know, I don't want to necessarily.

Put that energy out. But now that I'm getting some spring in my step back, I felt like it was a good thing to come on the podcast and just talk about it. And to say that, of course, when we put all of our heart and passion and soul and energy into something and then it launches, of course there's gonna be this empty space that opens on the other side. And even if we know it, even if we celebrate it, even if we ever are a creative type, that says that that emptiness, that void is fuel for my fire. We still have to feel it, and it still doesn't make it comfortable, and it still doesn't mean that that's how we prefer to wake up every day feeling like you're being swallowed into the couch, but there it is. And so as I reflected on this launch, it occurs to me that there are some stages and about six stages that I can kind of see at the moment. So one build. And that's, that's. I mean, let's kind of. That's skipping the ideation, but so, you know, ideating, dreaming about something, then building it. Launch. I do think it's important to carve out time for celebration. Oprah said, celebrate what you want to see more of. And I agree. So I made a point. It's uncomfortable for me to celebrate things in a big way. Doing these two launch parties, sending invitations, being in front of the room, like, I feel a little funny. I do. I kind of think something, oh, this is all about me. But really I wanted to honor how big the project was. And I think it's important and it sends a message to our subconscious that, hey, do that again, because I'm going to honor all the work you put in by celebrating. However, celebration feels right to you. Then after the celebration, there's this drop and dissolve, this dissolution. So you dissolve. Like in my case, the book is done and it's launched. Even, you know, finishing the book. That happened earlier this year, let's say January or February. And that was a huge release point as well. But then I had been planning the launch for six, seven months. So once both were done, there's a real sense of dissolving. What can you drop? In those moments, it's so important to ask, what can you drop? And not to take the dissolving personally and to say, oh, there's something wrong with me. And again, I talk about this a lot with pivot in general, not to take pivots or plateaus personally, that it's all part of the natural cycle of hustle and flow. And.

Then after this is dissolving is the sit, wait, listen. And this is what I really try and remember. And it's something I've focused on a lot this year, which is what I call faith in flow, that I have faith in the flow of my life and my work. And can I sit and wait and listen? Can I be patient and curious about what to do next? I think that if we ignore the void, if we don't sit with the void and the discomfort and the dissolving, we rush, we start to over commit, we react. It would be very, very easy for me to automatically say yes to everything, respond to everything. Like I said, it's heightened, which is wonderful. It means that it's working, the message is getting out. But I could spend the whole day reacting and not taking Time to be patient and sit and listen. And if you've read the book, you know, a big part of the book is listening. That in the scan section, it's not just about saying, what do I want? Me, me, me. But it's listening. What's out there? Who can I talk to? What do people need? What's next for me? What do I really feel called to do? And so after the sit, wait, listen, then there's emerging. I had. And it's kind of, I mean, it's cheesy to use the butterfly and the caterpillar analogy, but it's kind of true that when we go through these pivots, there's a certain self. For example, there was the me that was writing the book for three years, writing and launching the book, that was kind of my identity, my project based purpose as I call it in pivot that fit me. That was the hat I was wearing for three years. And now there's a new self emerging and a new story, because the story isn't. I'm working on this book and here's what it's about. I wrote a book and so it's starting to see what emerges as that next phase.

One thing that my dad wrote a book called the Bliss Engine and he was a big editor for Pivot and a thought partner and so he talks about his language is the bliss crash. That there's so much bliss when working on a big soul project and that there will always inevitably be a bliss crash. My friends and I used to joke and we called it birthday party syndrome. Like when you were a little kid and you had so much fun at your birthday that when everybody leaves, you start crying because you had so much fun and now you're sad that they're gone. We shortened it to BPS for short. When you're going through a bliss crash. I think for me, what I've learned in this last week, the best things to do are definitely rest. And I mentioned permission with a capital P. It really becomes clear what the fundamentals are. And I also come back to my friend Julie wrote a book called Work Revolution and she talks about true urgency versus false urgency. And I think in these moments it's so critical to say what is truly urgent. For example, I was speaking at a conference yesterday, that's urgent. Gotta respond to the emails, gotta prepare, gotta show up. False urgency is stuff that seems really important, but nobody would actually truly be impacted if it didn't get done. So for example, I skipped a podcast last week when I was hanging out with The Furry Rest Monster. And I skipped my newsletter. And of course, there was a side of me that said, oh, no, you know, you just launched. You probably have all these new listeners and readers and people waiting on you. What are you doing? You're shooting yourself in the foot. You just launched. Now's not the time to skip a week. And yet, on the other hand, I just couldn't even move off the couch. What was I going to do? And when I really stop and think about it, and maybe those of you listening can tell me if I'm wrong, But one assumption that I've made is that you don't actually care or probably notice too much. Maybe you think, oh, I didn't notice a podcast this week. But my guess is that it didn't stop any of your lives to not get a podcast episode in the queue or a newsletter. And that we're often. We're also inundated by information and podcasts and emails and all of that that, you know, like I said, like, it'd be a nice compliment if you noticed that it wasn't there, but I wouldn't even expect that. But then to actually be negatively impacted somehow. I just. I doubt. My sense is that at least the way I feel about creators who I listen and subscribe to is cool. Yeah, I appreciate when you're consistent, but also, do you. And if you need a week off, I totally get it. One of the really weird things about signing up, raising your hand and say, I'm going to be a blogger, I'm going to be a podcaster, is there's no end date. And I remember feeling that way when I started my blog in 2007. I was a couple months in and I felt like, what's the deal here? Like, do you just. Do I just blog twice a week until the end of time? It's really interesting to start a pursuit that has no clear end date. And so for that reason, although I strive to be consistent and put out the highest quality, I just needed a week off. And what's also I'll say about that is that I have episodes in the can, as they would say in the. In the podcasting world. Like, I have recorded shows that I. I knew launching was gonna be chaotic, so I recorded a bunch of interviews months prior to launching. I could have put any one of those out. And I launched Shane Snow. Cause I really enjoyed that interview. I thought it was really relevant to pivot, so I wanted that one to come out. And then I skipped a week because rather than just send out an Episode from the can. It felt really important to me to come on and give you the truth podcast what's really going on and it didn't feel right to just try and gloss over it and just put out some like a regular interview. Even if you would have liked it, it just wasn't. It didn't feel appropriate to me. I have a value around integrity and authenticity and so I would rather miss a week than.

Put something out just for the sake of it. So that kind of caps the true versus false urgency conversation. And I think it's really good for us all to look at what's truly urgent and how can you tackle that, especially when you have energy. Then I also find it helpful to double down on your happiness formula. This is a concept I talk about in the book. For me that includes spiritual practices. It might mean going to more restorative yoga classes, but still working out, seeing friends, going for walk and talks, meditating in the morning, having tea, reading even when I had a lot to do. Someone asked me this on a podcast interview earlier this week. There were a few tiny things that I did say yes to and I talked honestly about the couch swallowing me situation. And I said even though I had that podcast that I had to get ready for, I still did a two hour morning windup ritual because that's how I stay sane. I think he was asking me about my routines and physical practices and is it hard while running a business? And to me I just said they're non negotiable. I don't even in some ways I don't even have to try to make room for them because I know that I don't function well without them. So I think sometimes people ask me about habits and how do you stick to habits. Well, I think when they involve willpower, as any new habit will in the beginning. But if the only reason you're doing it, you have to make yourself do it, there's probably not enough intrinsic motivation to keep you really with it. So part of the key is finding the joy and the deep knowledge that this is so critical to my well being and to my happiness that you are intrinsically motivated to carve out time and space again. Knowing that even getting back into the swing of habits that we love, like exercise I think is one of these or eating well. Once we've been off the wagon for a few days, it does take a little more energy to reinitiate, but knowing that then ideally it's something self sustaining.

Another thing that's been really helpful is I often say to Anybody who's going through a tough time. And this is not to diminish how challenging these times can be. There's a concept called spiritual bypassing, which is if we just try and gratitude the shit out of something, we don't actually feel it. So if we're only allowing ourselves to say, oh, this is such a blessing, it's a blessing, then we might try and bypass the pain and therefore the learning and the new insights. Because when we feel pain and agitation, I believe that a barring if somebody we love is sick or they die or, I mean, something just absolutely enormous, we don't choose that. But I think other times in life when we're stressed or feeling agitated kind of by our own doing, there's a lesson there. And so become the observer. I've talked on the show before about the petri dish. You're the scientist in the lab, and you're getting to look at this petri dish of emotion and feeling and experience and confusion. What's in there? Another way I've talked about it is you are patient zero. If you're a creator in any way, then you are patient zero right now. If you're a coach, if you're a business person, what can you learn from this experience as patient zero that then you figure out and can share with others? So ask. And then from this comes from Tosha Silver's outrageous openness. You don't have to have all the answers. Ask to be shown the next step. Her work is all about surrendering to the divine. And however you define that, that could be your inner wisdom, the divine within you, but that it's to surrender and say, show me the way. I don't have all the answers. In fact, I throw my hands up. Whatever I've been trying to do on my own isn't working. If that's the case for you and you say, show me the next step. If I'm meant to proceed, what's the one next step? And during my meditation, sometimes at the end, I will gently ask for a word or phrase or do you have any advice for me? And I often hear a response of some kind. Again, even if it's my own intuition, I believe in a kind of super consciousness that we're all connected through an energy Internet that we can tap into and get wisdom from. And so those are really helpful. And ultimately the question is, can you sit at the edge of this uncertainty and its ensuing discomfort and not try to fix it?

Can you sit at the edge of uncertainty and its ensuing discomfort and not try to fix it.

This is something that does not come naturally to me. You guys know I'm a fixer. I love organizing things and creating order out of chaos and creating templates for things and trying to reduce chaos and complexity. At the same time though, sometimes we just have to sit with it until we have a clear way forward. And that's the work in the post Pivot. The post launch pivot point is to sit with it and to recognize that even if it doesn't feel as adrenaline high positive charging forward as it does when we're in hustle mode, that this part of faith and flow is just as important. A couple things to wrap up. I just wanted to say that on October 10, 1010 handy day to remember, we are doing a pivot sprint. So this is something that should be a lot of fun if those of you just want a five day kickstart to get going with something on your mind. Pivot does not have to be huge career moves. It can be just mapping your next move within your business, within your role, within a side hustle. We're gonna do a five day sprint so join us for that. You can learn more@pivotmethod.com sprint and it's five days. You'll get a prompt every day and it should be a lot of fun. And then momentum. We are heading Q4 and that's my private community. I've made a bunch of changes so that we simplify things and it's going to be we now have a private Facebook group and you'll have access to every course I've ever created. I am also going to be doing a twice monthly Q and A calls where you can ask me anything at all and I will answer and record those in case you can't make it. And a workshop every quarter. And so my goal with momentum is the reason I started that community is I feel like because it relates to this conversation, which is that when we become better at pivoting, it's more of a flow. It's a continuous flow and the pivot points become less sharp and jarring. Instead we've moved. We flow with all of the experimentation and changes. And because we are constantly experimenting and getting feedback and listening and doing it over again and doubling down on our strengths and what's working. We are in a constant process. And so I create a momentum as a way for myself included to lean into a group of like minded peers and get feedback and support and cheer each other on and share resources. And that's what it is. It's really been so much fun. It's a very collaborative community. We put out a call for brilliant sparters every Wednesday to ask for what you need help with. We set quarterly goals, we share feedback and resources and I would love to have you join us to close out this year in a really powerful way. So if you want to learn more, that's at Pivot Momentum and after you sign up, mention you heard about it on the podcast and I'll give you we'll do $15 off your first quarter. So it's 97 a quarter and you can cancel at any time. So I'd love to have all of you. I know a lot of you are new here, so if you want to be in closer community after reading the book and want to stay in touch and just keep rolling up our sleeves together, I would absolutely love to have you.

So that's the sprint. Please join us. It should be a lot of fun and momentum. And now I want to end with one of my favorite quotes. I really debated whether I should open Pivot with this or the Rilke quote. Ultimately, I love the Rilke quote about maybe all the dragons of our lives are princesses just waiting to see us once beautiful and brave. And the piece about life has not forgotten you, that it holds you in its hand and it will not let you fall. I think those are so important when you're at a post launch Pivot point. And I'm going to share this Lao Tzu quote now. He says the ancient masters were profound and subtle. Their wisdom was unfathomable. There is no way to describe it. All we can describe is their appearance. They were careful as someone crossing an iced over stream, alert as a warrior in enemy territory, courteous as a guest, fluid as melting ice, shapeable as a block of wood, receptive as a valley, clear as a glass of water.

Do you have the patience to wait till your mud settles and the water is clear? Can you remain unmoving till the right action arises? By itself? The Master doesn't seek fulfillment. Not seeking, not expecting. She is present and can welcome all things.

I have to read my favorite part again which is do you have the patience to wait till your mud settles and the water is clear? So for any of you listening who are at your own void moment, trust, faith and flow. Have faith that if you are patient, the mud will settle, the water will be clear and you will be shown the next steps. Thank you all so so much for listening and for being here. If you have read the book and could leave a review on Amazon, I would be so incredibly grateful. And if you have thoughts on this episode, give me a shout on Twitter ennyblake. Wishing you the best with your next moves and I'm honored to be walking our Pivot paths together. Thank you again for being.

Thanks so much for listening to this episode of the Pivot Podcast. Make sure you don't miss an episode or my insider tips and templates by signing up for PivotList, a curated twice monthly newsletter where I share the inside scoop on what I'm reading, watching, listening to, and the latest tools I'm geeking out on. Sign up@pivotmethod.com pivotlist get show notes from this episode@pivotmethod.com podcast and connect with me on Twitter @jennyblake.

Remember, build first, then your courage will follow. Hasn't it always.