Episode Description:
In this thought-provoking episode of What If for Authors, Claire explores the topic of career pivots and how they relate to the ever-evolving world of writing and publishing. Drawing from her personal experience, Enneagram insights, and industry knowledge, Claire helps authors reflect on when it might be time to make a change and how to approach that transition with clarity and courage.
Claire also shares candid updates about her own journey, including navigating energy shifts, health challenges, and a pivot point in her career. This episode is packed with actionable advice, Enneagram wisdom, and encouragement for authors grappling with the question: What if it’s time for a pivot?
Key Takeaways
What is a pivot?: A career change that arises when the old path no longer serves your goals, values, or circumstances.
Recognizing the right time: How to identify when staying on the current course creates more friction than moving toward a new direction.
Enneagram insights: Each Enneagram type’s tendencies and challenges when it comes to making or resisting career pivots.
Overcoming fear: How core fears and social connections influence your ability to make changes and how to build resilience against them.
The value of outside perspective: Why sharing your pivot idea with a supportive and unbiased group can help shatter limited perspectives and make better decisions.
Support the Show: If you found this episode helpful, please leave a review on your favorite podcast platform and share the show with your fellow authors. Every review helps more writers discover this resource.
Join the Conversation:
Is it time for a pivot in your author career? Share your thoughts and questions by reaching out to Claire at contact@ffs.media.
Happy Writing!
TRANSCRIPT:
Claire: [00:00:00] Welcome back to another episode of What If for Authors. I'm so glad you're here. My name is Claire Taylor and I'm an Enneagram certified coach for authors as well as a humor and mystery writer. You can check out my latest book for authors, Sustain Your Author Career, by going to ffs.media/sustain.
So I've been doing a lot of deep thinking lately and trying to figure out how best I can adapt to changes in the industry and to, you know, the world to continue to offer the form of support that authors will need, whatever that looks like.
Well, you know, also making sure that I'm paying myself fairly for all the hours of work that I do. I have this tendency to spot where I can be helpful, create that thing, and then forget to pay myself for it. John is very patient about this pattern of mine, but I'm not looking to continue testing that patience.
So all of that is obviously not your problem. It's just what I've been thinking about, especially as I adjust to my own lower energy levels lately. [00:01:00] I don't think I've actually mentioned this on the podcast before, but I've been going through the treatment process for endometriosis this year. And it's, it's just been a lot, if you know anything about endometriosis, which most people do not, then you know that it's all kind of a mess and there's almost no medical research on it, despite it affecting one out of every 10 women.
Anyway, I've been managing that along with trying to keep all the plates spinning and. Yo, I'm just about out of gas for the year. So, I want to better support authors and make sure that I'm paying myself a livable wage next year, but I also have to be realistic that my energy, on the whole, ain't what it used to be.
And getting to the gym four times a week, which takes its own amount of time and energy, is a new requirement for me, so that my bones don't all start to break when I'm in my 60s. There is a point to my oversharing, and it's that I find myself at a pivot point in my career. And I know that even saying so aloud is going to make some people [00:02:00] nervous, because when we talk about pivoting, we're talking about change.
If you're one of my frequent clients, you're probably nervous that I'm going to be quiet. less accessible than I used to be, uh, with both my time and my pricing. And, you know, that's a normal concern. It's scary for us when we see others who have close contact with us in a moment of change, because it signals that we might also need to adjust.
And if you're a person in a moment of change at a pivot point, you might notice those close to you trying to fight against your pivot because of what it might require of them. I get it. I don't want my therapist or my doctor to go through a big change because I'm thinking, oh no, what if I can't see them anymore?
Do I really have to start all over with someone new? Like, if Texas laws ran out my OBGYN from the state, which they're doing for a lot of OBGYNs lately, I will literally cry. I would understand why she decided not to practice in a state that threatens her with life in prison if she [00:03:00] crosses some very nebulous and subjective line of care for one of her patients, but I would still be distraught.
So there is a lot of friction around pivots, not just internally, but externally. And sometimes it's still going to happen. So that's why on today's episode, we're going to ask, what if it's time for a pivot?
I always find it interesting what each person's tolerance is for things not working like they used to before it registers that change is the less painful option. It's an interesting question to reflect on. Looking back at your life, how much frustration can you endure with something that just isn't working, usually something that worked well previously, before you're like, screw this, I gotta try something else?
If you're wondering whether Enneagram type plays into this, the answer is most certainly, but probably not, in as simple of a way as we might initially think. For instance, you might be thinking that sevens are the first to go, this isn't working, let's try something [00:04:00] new. And when you look at an individual project, you might be right.
Sevens sensitivity to discomfort and pain might cause them to be the first to see that something isn't working. Now, does that mean it can't work with a little more effort? Let You'd have to stick with it to find out. So are sevens the first to pivot from particular projects? Sometimes. But are sevens the first to pivot from the pattern of jumping from one project to the next?
No. They will continue on with that pattern for a long time, overlooking the pain that it might be causing them before challenging it by staying with something through the initial discomfort point.
Meanwhile, if you're thinking that eights tend to be among the least likely type to pivot away from an issue, you might have a point.
Eights tend to engage in a pattern of forcefulness where they want to bend the external world to their will, whether it puts up resistance to that or not. So I sometimes encounter eights who are trying to force something to work because it once [00:05:00] worked, and they're not seeing that the environment around them, the industry.
has changed so much that they can force all they want, but they will not get the result they're hoping for. This can be incredibly unsettling of a realization for an eight who's unfamiliar with their forcefulness, not getting them what they want.
So your ability to identify when it's time to pivot and not jump the gun on it, but also not resist reality for much longer than necessary out of a fear of the unknown. That is a crucial skill to practice in this industry. It's crucial because it will keep you from burning out or never getting traction in the first place.
But it's a tough skill because it requires seeing things as they are, as much as anyone can claim to, rather than how we wish they were. And it also means risking disconnection with others, which many of us are incredibly reluctant to do. Here's what I mean about that though. So say you've been writing reverse harem books since just before the genre really took off a few [00:06:00] years ago.
You were lucky enough to be first in and made a ton of money and gathered a ton of fans to your pen name. But now those books aren't selling like they used to, and writing them isn't the easy, flowing experience that it used to be. So an argument could be made here that it's time to consider a pivot, possibly to another genre.
But doing so would risk disconnection from your loyal readers and the reverse harem authors you've networked with and created friendships with along the way. Can you still move on to another genre? Sure. But the potential risk to your social connections will likely contribute to your friction in considering it.
Depending on who you are and what other social connections you've developed in your life, the risk of losing those from your reverse harem pen name may be too great for you to take on.
You may instead try to push through on books that you don't want to write, send emails to readers that fake excitement about something you don't feel that excited [00:07:00] about anymore, and agonize over the diminishing sales rather than accept that it might make sense to pivot to a genre where you're either enjoying the writing, getting a lot more in sales, or both.
Humans are much less likely to pull away from a group where they have social connections and a shared identity if they don't have other groups that they feel a part of that will remain intact during the transition. So this is very important. If you want to create an environment where you can see the moment for a career pivot clearly, you must develop communities outside of your writing that you feel a part of.
If your identity is too wrapped up in the particulars of your career, your natural instinct to stay connected to a group will activate fight or flight when you consider leaving the group. That fear response is hugely detrimental to viewing the situation clearly and being able to see if the pain of leaving might be outweighed by the rewards of making changes.
So when I talk about the importance of having a [00:08:00] robust social network outside of writing, This is one of those solid reasons for it. I'm not just being judgmental, like, Ew, get a life. The smaller the portion of your identity and sense of belonging you find in your career, the better your ability to move and flow with the changing currents of the industry and your life situation.
Pivoting in your career may cause social conflict with your industry connections, but we can manage that without going into fight or flight much easier when the industry only makes up like 10 percent of our social connections rather than say 90%. Our sympathetic nervous system is much less likely to keep us in that constant fight or flight and our ability to critically and creatively think, very useful when making changes, will remain more available to us.
Sometimes when I'm working with authors who suspect it's time to pivot, but are refusing the call, the issue is that they are looking for certainty that the pivot will work before they start making it. You probably already know what I'm going [00:09:00] to say here. There is no certainty that anything will work in exactly the way you want it to, sorry.
The question to focus on instead is whether you're at the point where the pain of staying outweighs the risks of trying something new. Additionally, ask whether there is any pain of staying that would feel worse than the risk of leaving. This is a super important thing to be honest with yourself about.
What is the line for you? How much pain and lack of results are you willing to take to avoid confronting the uncertainty of change? And is that working for you the way you'd hoped?
If you find that you'd always rather stay in the thing that isn't working than try something new, then maybe it's time to do some deep work on your fear of uncertainty, and the fact that you will choose certain misery over uncertainty with a chance of happiness.
A lot of people spend their lives doing things that aren't working for them [00:10:00] because they're unconsciously choosing the unpleasant familiar. over the possibly pleasant unfamiliar. And do you want to be one of those people? It's a pretty tragic existence when you think about it. Now, I recognize that the stakes of risk are dramatically increased when your family's income is relying on your book sales.
That's certainly a consideration when looking at pivoting. And this is where the discussion gets incredibly individualized. Are you pivoting out of fear or because you're looking at the industry and your situation with a clear head recognizing. that there is likely a better option waiting for you on the other side of a pivot.
Fear work is unavoidable when one wants to be better at recognizing a wise moment to change course. Because if you haven't done that fear work, your core fear or vulnerability is likely parading as common sense. And that can get us into trouble.
So let's bring a touch of self awareness to this pivot party. Let's put some language to how our fear and avoidances [00:11:00] might be calling for us to pivot prematurely or not pivot when the moment is calling for it. Type one, the reformer may pivot or not out of a sense of self righteousness or to avoid criticism type type two, the helper may pivot or not. Out of pride or a need to people please. Type 3, the Achiever, may pivot or not out of a craving for approval or to appear more successful. Type 4, the Individualist, may pivot or not out of a sense of authenticity or to avoid rejection.
Type five, the investigator may pivot or not to avoid looking foolish or to feel competent and knowledgeable. Type six, the loyalist may pivot or not to avoid losing protection or appearing disloyal.
Type seven, the enthusiast may pivot or not out of a need to avoid [00:12:00] limitations or to seek distraction from pain.
The type eight, the challenger may pivot or not to appear strong and independent or to avoid powerlessness. And type nine, the peacemaker may pivot or not to avoid conflict or to remain unobjectionable.
If we're not aware of why we might be motivated to make a big career change or not, we can hardly view the full situation through anything but our fear colored glasses. What I suggest you try if you're trying to decide whether it's time to pivot or not, is to lay out the situation to someone outside of whatever social group you might be leaving behind with the pivot.
Even better if it's someone who has themselves made a big career pivot and might be able to reflect what parts of it they would do again and what they would do differently next time.
They might not be able to give you a definite yes, do it, or no, stay where you are, but sometimes breaking outside of your own interpretation of the situation by talking to someone whose [00:13:00] connection with you will not be threatened by what you decide to do give us new insight that helps contradict what our fear is telling us.
This is also why I continue to host the Liberated Writer course where we have group calls twice a week. It's an environment where a bunch of people are supportive of one another in a way that lacks self interest.
What I mean is that we understand that your career decisions don't actually affect ours. You're not surrounded by your in group whose self interest means keeping you from changing and possibly outgrowing the group. And when you share your situation and ask if it's time to pivot or not, people of different types offer up perspectives that are so outside of your usual operating system of fear that it's impossible to not gain a more robust perspective on the situation.
That's why I think that these temporary support environments built around a shared desire for each person's success are absolutely invaluable. A lot of the friction around pivoting is rooted in our limited [00:14:00] perspective, but we need added perspective from informed people who don't have a vested interest in us staying the same for the sake of maintaining relationships.
Even better if those people know a little bit about core motivation and can help us spot where our fear is limiting our vision.
I love having a place to run new ideas for pivot by people who can absolutely shatter my limited perspective by offering options, ideas, and even possible pitfalls that I haven't seen before. It calms my anxiety because I don't feel like it's all up to me. I have to think of everything.
So if you're reaching the end of the year when this episode releases or You're in the middle of the year and things just ain't happening like you had planned. Uh, and you know, maybe you're wondering, what if it's time for a pivot? I would say a couple of things. First, identify your core fear and vulnerability and poke around to see where they might be motivating the desire to pivot or your reluctance to do it when it's obviously time for it.
Look honestly at what [00:15:00] feels at stake with your social connections. You might discover that there's not as much at stake as your fear is telling you. Or you might discover that you need to spend a little more time developing connections outside of the industry so you feel freed up to make the best business decisions.
And then don't be afraid to run the situation past some folks with no vested interest in what you decide one way or the other. You don't have to take their word as gospel, and in fact I wouldn't recommend that, but allow it to shatter your narrow perspective so that you can see much more than you did before about the situation.
And then if you decide it's time to pivot, you gotta take action. You gotta actually do the pivot rather than sitting and thinking about it for years. Figure out the first step and then take that. It might be scary, but it might also feel exhilarating. Sometimes it's only through action that we can finally feel the full body recognition that we're headed in the right direction.
Thinking about it won't get us there. [00:16:00] Action will. So that's it for this episode of What If for Authors. Thanks so much for joining me. If you want some support with the pivot, I highly recommend you join the next session of the Liberated Writer five week course. There are payment plans available to make it more accessible, and you can tap into the perspective of me and other authors as you learn more about your Enneagram type and subtype, uh, that are operating below the surface for you.
To join the next session, go to ffs.media/liberated/writer/course, or just go to ffs.media and you can find the link on the front page. I'm Claire Taylor and I hope you'll join me for the next episode. Happy writing!