Episode 02 · Working lives · 47 min
When plans fall apart
Two guests on pivoting mid-project: what to drop, and what to carry into the next version.
In this episode.
- 03:30The plan that looked perfect on paper — and where it cracked.
- 15:12Quitting vs. pivoting: how to tell which one you’re doing.
- 27:48Carrying the good parts with you — skills, people, strange habits.
- 38:55A new definition of a career: a shelf, not a ladder.
Three things worth keeping.
- 1
A broken plan is data, not failure. Ask what it taught you before you bin it.
- 2
Name what you’re keeping out loud — the skill, the contact, the routine — so the change doesn’t feel total.
- 3
Give a new direction ninety days before you judge it. Most pivots look like mistakes at day thirty.
Show notes.
Nobody’s working life follows the plan — this episode is about the moment the plan stops working. Our guest walked away from a decade-long craft to start over in an adjacent field, and describes the awkward middle months with unusual honesty.
The heart of the conversation is salvage: what to carry across the gap. It turns out the most portable things aren’t credentials but quirks — a way of sketching, a weekly review, a handful of people who tell you the truth.
“I didn’t lose ten years. I moved house with ten years of furniture.”
One last question.
Pick the one that has been nagging you, then start with the newest episode.
Browse the episodes