361: On Decision Engineering and Evaluating Quality instead of Outcomes with Michelle Florendo

As I round the corner into this ninth year of podcasting and 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. 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.

“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. As a creative strategist, he has worked with top brands and startups. James is the author of Sh#t Your Ego Says and How to Laugh in Ironic Amusement During Your Existential Crisis, and today we’re talking about his new book, The Art of You: The Essential Guidebook for Reclaiming Your Creativity.

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. More About Adrian: Adrian Klaphaak is a coach, purpose guide, entrepreneur, and founder of A Path That Fits Career and Life Coaching. His coaching approach is holistic—a constant balance between getting results and a quest for meaning and fulfillment. He describes himself as “a deep seeker with a constant itch to make things happen.”

“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. Today we’re talking about how she got through that tough burnout period, the ways she practices putting her full self into the world, why it’s never too late to start something new, and how to drop the self-care guilt when filling your own energy reserves. More About Nataly: Nataly Kogan, a leading expert on emotional fitness and leadership, is a dynamic entrepreneur, best-selling author, and sought-after international keynote speaker. Despite starting from challenging circumstances, Nataly achieved remarkable success in her career, reaching top positions at McKinsey, Microsoft, a venture capital fund, and founding/executing five startups and tech companies. Her influential books, including HAPPIER NOW, GRATITUDE DAILY, THE AWESOME HUMAN PROJECT, THE AWESOME HUMAN JOURNAL, reflect her mission to help others thrive. Nataly hosts The Awesome Human Podcast, recognized as a transformative "best-self hour."

Bravery requires being off balance. You will only find the courage to “cross the cringe chasm” by remembering that the risk of losing your identity is greater than the risk of losing approval. As today’s guest Henna Pryor writes in her wonderful debut book, Good Awkward: “The idea of releasing this book into the world without knowing how you’ll receive it makes me cringe. But it makes me cringe even more to imagine walking through life as a person who doesn’t write and release the book that matters so much to her because she’s worried how it will land. Either one is a risk.” The Approval Paradox that we all confront is that we are social, communal creatures; for most of us, what other people think of us does matter. And yet, we can’t allow others’ approval to outweigh whether we personally improve. Cheers to the real reel, and I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did! Awkward bits and all :) More About Henna: Henna Pryor, PCC is a highly sought after Workplace Performance Expert and an award-winning keynote speaker, author, and executive coach. Her clients call her their “secret weapon for impossible change,” an honor she wears proudly. She’s known for her science-backed approach to improving the performance, habits, and actions of hungry high achievers – in her fun, no-nonsense, no-jargon way – to move them from their first level of success to their next one. Today we’re talking about her bestselling book, Good Awkward: How to Embrace the Embarrassing and Celebrate the Cringe to Become The Bravest You, which received the rare Kirkus Star for excellence in writing.