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    The Creative Penn Podcast For Writers
    My 2026 Creative And Business Goals With Joanna Penn

    The Creative Penn Podcast For Writers

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 1, 2026 37:17


    Happy New Year 2026! I love January and the opportunity to start afresh. I know it's arbitrary in some ways, but I measure my life by what I create, and I also measure it in years. At the beginning of each year, I publish an article (and podcast episode) here, which helps keep me accountable. If you'd like to share your goals, please add them in the comments below. 2026 is a transitional year as I will finish my Masters degree and continue the slow pivot that I started in December 2023 after 15 years as an author entrepreneur. Just to recap that, it was: From digitally-focused to creating beautiful physical books; From high-volume, low cost to premium products with higher Average Order Value; From retailer-centric to direct first; and From distance to presence, and From creating alone to the AI-Assisted Artisan Author. I've definitely stepped partially into all of those, and 2026 will continue in that same direction, but I also have an additional angle for Joanna Penn and The Creative Penn that I am excited about. If you'd like to join my community and support the show every month, you'll get access to my growing list of Patron videos and audio on all aspects of the author business — for the price of a black coffee (or two) a month. Join us at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn. Joanna Penn writes non-fiction for authors and is an award-winning, New York Times and USA Today bestselling thriller author as J.F. Penn. She's also an award-winning podcaster, creative entrepreneur, and international professional speaker. You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. Leaning into the Transformation Economy The Creative Penn Podcast and my Patreon Community Webinars and live events Finish my Masters in Death, Religion, and Culture Bones of the Deep — J.F. Penn Add merch to CreativePennBooks.com and JFPennBooks.com How to Write, Publish, and Market Short Stories and Short Story Collections — Joanna Penn Other possible books Experiment more with AI translation Ideally outsource more marketing to AI, but do more marketing anyway Double down on being human, health and travel You can find all my books as J.F. Penn and Joanna Penn on your favourite online store in all the usual formats, or order from your local library or bookstore. You can also buy direct from me at CreativePennBooks.com and JFPennBooks.com. I'm not really active on social media, but you can always see my photos at Instagram @jfpennauthor. Leaning into the Transformation Economy I've struggled with my identity as Joanna Penn and my Creative Penn brand for a few years now. When I started TheCreativePenn.com in 2008, the term ‘indie author' was new and self-publishing was considered ‘vanity press' and a sure way to damage your author career, rather than a conscious creative and business choice. It was the early days of the Kindle and iPhone (both launched in 2007), and podcasting and social media were also relatively new. While US authors could publish on KDP, the only option for international authors was Smashwords and the market for ebooks was tiny. Print-on-demand and digital audio were also just emerging as viable options. While it was the early era of blogging, there were very few blogs and barely any podcasts talking about self-publishing, so when I started TheCreativePenn.com in late 2008 and the podcast in March 2009, it was a new area. For several years, it was like howling into the wind. Barely any audience. Barely any traffic, and certainly very little income.  But I loved the freedom and the speed at which I could learn things and put them into practice. Consume and produce. That has always been my focus. I met people on Twitter and interviewed them for my show, and over those early years I met many of the people I consider dear friends even now. Since self-publishing was a relatively unexplored niche in those early years, I slowly found an audience and built up a reputation. I also started to make more money both as an author, and as a creative entrepreneur. Over the years since, pretty much everything has changed for indie authors and we have had more and more opportunity every year. I've shared everything I've learned along the way, and it's been a wonderful time.  But as self-publishing became more popular and more authors saw more success (which is FANTASTIC!), other voices joined the chorus and now, there are many thousands of authors of all different levels with all kinds of different experiences sharing their tips through articles, books, podcasting, and social media. I started to wonder whether my perspective was useful anymore. On top of the human competition, in November 2022, ChatGPT launched, and it became clear that prescriptive non-fiction and ‘how to' information could very easily be delivered by the AI tools, with the added benefit of personalisation. You can ask Chat or Claude or Gemini how you can self-publish your particular book and they will help you step by step through the process of any site. You can share your screen or upload screenshots and it can help with what fields to fill in (very useful with translations!), as well as writing sales descriptions, researching keywords, and offering marketing help targeted to your book and your niche, and tailored to your voice. Once again, I questioned what value I could offer the indie author community, and I've pulled back over the last few years as I've been noodling around this. But over the last few weeks, a penny has dropped. Here's my thinking in case it also helps you. Firstly, I want to be useful to people. I want to help. In my early days of speaking professionally, from 2005-ish, I wanted to be the British (introvert) Tony Robbins, someone who inspired people to change, to achieve things they didn't think they could. Writing a book is one of those things. Making a living from your writing is another. So I leaned into the self-help and how-to niche. But now that is now clearly commoditised. But recently, I realised that my message has always been one of transformation, and in the following four areas.  From someone who doesn't think they are creative but who desperately wants to write a book, to someone who holds their first book in their hand and proudly says, ‘I made this.' The New Author. From someone who has no confidence in their author voice, who wonders if they have anything to say, to someone who writes their story and transforms their own life, as well as other people's. The Confident Author. From an author with one or a handful of books who doesn't know much about business, to a successful author with a growing business heading towards their first six figure year. The Author-Entrepreneur. And finally, from a tech-phobic, fearful author who worries that AI makes it pointless to create anything and will steal all the jobs, to a confident AI-assisted creative who uses AI tools to enhance and amplify their message and their income. The AI-Assisted Artisan Author. These are four transformations I have been through myself, and with my work as Joanna Penn/The Creative Penn, I want to help you through them as well. So in 2026, I am repositioning myself as part of The Transformation Economy. What does this mean? There is a book out in February, The Transformation Economy by B. Joseph Pine II, who is also the author of The Experience Economy, which drove a lot of the last decade's shift in business models. I have the book on pre-order, but in the meantime, I am doing the following. I will revamp TheCreativePenn.com with ‘transformation' as the key frame and add pathways through my extensive material, rather than just categories of how to do things. I've already added navigation pages for The New Author, The Confident Author, The Author-Entrepreneur, and The AI-Assisted Artisan Author, and I will be adding to those over time. My content is basically the same, as I have always covered these topics, but the framing is now different. The intent is different. The Creative Penn Podcast will lean more heavily into transformation, rather than just information — And will focus on the first three of the categories above, the more creative, mindset and business things.  My Patreon will continue to cover all those things, and that's also where I post most of my AI-specific content, so if you're interested in The AI-Assisted Artisan Author transformation path, come on over to patreon.com/thecreativepenn I have more non-fiction books for authors coming, and lots more ideas now I am leaning into this angle. I'll also continue to do webinars on specific topics in 2026, and also add speaking back in 2027. It's harder to think about transformation when it comes to fiction, but it's also really important since fiction books in particular are highly commodified, and will become even more so with the high production speeds. Yes, all readers have a few favourite authors but most will also read a ton of other books without knowing or caring who the author is. Fiction can be transformational. Reader's aren't buying a ‘book.' They're buying a way to escape, to feel deeply, to experience things they never could in real life. A book can transform a day from ‘meh' into ‘fantastic!' My J.F. Penn fiction is mostly inspired by places, so my stories transport you into an adventure somewhere wonderful, and they all offer a deeper side of transformative contemplation of ‘memento mori' if you choose to read them in that way.  They also have elements of gothic and death culture that I am going to lean into with some merch in 2026, so more of an identity thing than just book sales. I'm not quite sure what this means yet, but no doubt it will emerge. I'll also shape my JFPennBooks.com site into more transformative paths, rather than just genre lists, as part of this shift. My memoir Pilgrimage always reflected a transformation, both reflecting my own midlife shift but I've also heard from many who it has inspired to walk alone, or to travel on pilgrimage themselves. Of course, transformation is not just for our readers or the people we serve as part of our businesses. It's also for us. One of the reasons why we are writers is because this is how we think. This is how we figure out our lives. This is how we get the stories and ideas out of our heads and into the world. Writing and creating are transformative for us, too. That is part of the point, and a great element of why we do this, and why we love this. Which is why I don't really understand the attraction of purely AI-generated books. There's no fun in that for me, and there's no transformation, either. Of course, I LOVE using Chat and Claude and Gemini Thinking models as my brainstorming partners, my research buddies, my marketing assistants, and as daily tools to keep me sparkly. I smiled as I wrote that (and yes, I human-wrote this!) because sparkly is how I feel when I work with these tools. Programmers use the term ‘vibe coding' which is going back and forth and collaborating together, sparking off each other. Perhaps that I am doing is ‘vibe creation.' I feel it as almost an effervescence, a fun experience that has me laughing out loud sometimes. I am more creative, I am more in flow. I am more ‘me' now I can create and think at a speed way faster than ever before. My mind has always worked at speed and my fingers are fast on the keys but working in this way makes me feel like I create in the high performance zone far more often. I intend to lean more into that in 2026 as part of my own transformation (and of course, I share my experiences mainly in the Community at patreon.com/thecreativepenn ). [Note, I pay for access to all models, and currently use ChatGPT 5.2 Thinking, Claude Opus 4.5, and Gemini 3 Pro). So that's the big shift this year, and the idea of the Transformation Economy will underpin everything else in terms of my content. The Creative Penn Podcast and my Patreon Community The Creative Penn Podcast continues in 2026, although I am intending to reduce my interviews to once every two weeks, with my intro and other content in between. We'll see how that goes as I am already finding some fascinating people to talk to!  Thank you for your comments, your pictures, and also for sharing the episodes that resonate with you with the wider community. Your reviews are also super useful wherever you are listening to this, so please leave a review wherever you're listening this as it helps with discovery.  Thanks also to everyone in my Patreon Community, which I really enjoy, especially as we have doubled down on being human through more live office hours. I will do more of those in 2026 and the first one of the year will blearily UK time so Aussies and Kiwis can come. I also share new content almost every week, either an article, a video or an audio episode around writing craft, author business, and lots on different use cases for AI tools.  If you join the Patreon, start on the Collections tab where you will find all the backlist content to explore. It's less than the price of a coffee a month so if you get value from the show, and you want more, come on over and join us at patreon.com/thecreativepenn My Books and Travel Podcast is on hiatus for interviews, since the Masters is taking up the time I would have had for that. However I plan to post some solo episodes in 2026, and I also post travel articles there, like my visits to Gothic cathedrals and city breaks and things like that. Check it out at https://www.booksandtravel.page/blog/  Webinars and live events Along with my Patreon office hours, I'm enjoying the immediacy and energy of live webinars and they work with my focus on transformation, as well as on ‘doubling down on being human' in an age of AI, so I will be doing more this year. The first is on Business for Authors, coming on 10 and 24 January, which is aimed at helping you transform your author business in 2026, or if you're just getting started, then transform into someone who has even a small clue about business in general!Details at TheCreativePenn.com/live and Patrons get 25% off. In terms of live in-person events, it looks like I will be speaking at the Alliance of Independent Authors event at the London Book Fair in March, and I'll attend the Self-Publishing Show Live in June, although I won't be speaking. There might be other things that emerge, but in general, I'm not doing much speaking in 2026 because I need to … Finish my Masters in Death, Religion, and Culture This represents a lot of work as I am doing the course full-time. I should be finished in September, and much of the middle of the year will be focused on a dissertation. I'm planning on doing something around AI and death, so that will no doubt lead into some fiction at a later stage! Talking of fiction … Bones of the Deep — J.F. Penn The Masters is pretty serious, as is academic research and writing in general, and I found myself desperate to write a rollicking fun story over the holiday break between terms. I've talked about this ‘tall-ship' story for a while and now I'm committing to it. Back in 1999, I sailed on the tall-ship Soren Larsen from Fiji to Vanuatu, one of the three trips that shaped my life. It was the first time I'd been to the South Pacific, the first time I sailed blue water (with no land in sight), and I kept a journal and drew maps of the trip. It also helped me a make a decision to leave the UK and I headed for Australia nine months later in early 2000, and ended up being away 11 years in Australia and New Zealand. I came home to visit of course, but only moved back to the UK in 2011, so that trip was memorable and pivotal in many ways and has stuck in my mind. The story is based on that crossing, but of course, as J.F. Penn my imagination turns it into essentially a ‘locked room,' there is no escape out there, especially if the danger comes from the sea. Another strand of the story comes from a recent academic essay for my Masters, when I wrote about the changes in museum ethics around human remains and medical specimens i.e. body parts in jars, and how some remains have been repatriated to the indigenous peoples they were stolen from. I've also talked before about how I love ‘merfolk' horror like Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant, All the Murmuring Bones by A.G. Slatter, and Merfolk by Jeremy Bates. These are no smiling fantasy mermaids and mermen. They are predators. What might happen if the remains of a mer-saint were stolen from the deep, and what might happen to the ship that the remains are being transported in, and the people on board?  I'm about a third in, and I am having great fun! It will actually be a thriller, with a supernatural edge, rather than horror, and it is called Bones of the Deep, and it will be out on Kickstarter in April, and everywhere by the summer.  You can check out the Kickstarter pre-launch page with photos from my 1999 trip, the cover for the book, and the sales description at JFPenn.com/bones Add merch to CreativePennBooks.com and JFPennBooks.com I've dipped my toe into merch a number of times and then removed the products, but now I'm clear on my message of transformation, I want to revisit this. My books remain core for both sites, but for CreativePennBooks, I also want to add other products with what are essentially affirmations — ‘Creative,' ‘I am creative, I am an author,' and variants of the poster I have had on my wall for years, ‘Measure your life by what you create.' This is the affirmation I had in my wallet for years! For JFPennBooks, the items will be gothic/memento mori/skull-related. Everything will be print-on-demand. I will not be shipping anything myself, so I'm working with my designer Jane on this and then need to order test samples, and then get them added to the store. Likely mid-year at this rate! How to Write, Publish, and Market Short Stories and Short Story Collections — Joanna Penn I have a draft of this already which I expanded from the transcript of a webinar I did on this topic as part of The Buried and the Drowned campaign. It turns out I've learned a lot about this over the years, and also on how to make a collection, so I will get that out at some point this year. I won't do a Kickstarter for it, but I will do direct sales for at least a month and include a special edition, workbook, and bundles on my store first before putting it wide. I will also human-narrate that audiobook. Other possible books I'm an intuitive creative and discovery writer, so I don't plan out what I will write in a year. The books tend to emerge and then I pick the next one that feels the most important. After the ones above, there are a few candidates. Crown of Thorns, ARKANE thriller #14. Regular readers and listeners will know how much I love religious relics, and it's about time for a big one! I have a trip to Paris planned in the spring, as the Crown of Thorns is at Notre Dame, and I have some other locations to visit. My ARKANE thrillers always emerge from in-person travels, so I am looking forward to that. Maybe late 2026, maybe 2027. AI + religion technothriller/short stories. I already have some ideas sketched out for this and my Masters thesis will be something around AI, religion, and death, so I expect something will emerge from all that study and academic writing. Not sure what, but it will be interesting! The Gothic Cathedral Book. I have tens of thousands of words written, and lots of research and photos and thoughts. But it is still in the creative chaos phase (which I love!) and as yet has not emerged into anything coherent. Perhaps it will in 2026, and the plan is to re-focus on it after my Masters dissertation.  I feel like the Masters study and the academic research process will make this an even better book, But I am holding my plans for this lightly, as it feels like another ‘big' book for me, like my ‘shadow book' (which became Writing the Shadow) and took more than a decade to write! How to be Creative. I have also written bits and bobs on this over many years, but it feels like it is re-emerging as part of my focus on transformation. Probably unlikely for 2026 but now back on the list … Experiment more with AI translation AI-assisted translation has been around for years now in various forms, and I have experimented with some of the services, as well as working with human narrators and editors in different languages, as well as licensing books in translation. But when Amazon launched Kindle Translate in November 2025, it made me think that AI-assisted translation will become a lot more popular in 2026. AI audiobook narration became good enough for many audiobooks in 2025, and it seems like AI-translation will be the same in 2026. Yes, of course, human translation is still the gold standard, as is human narration, and that would be the primary choice for all of us — if it was affordable. But frankly, it's not affordable for most indie authors, and indeed many small publishers. Many books don't get an audiobook edition and most books don't get translated into every language. It costs thousands per book for a human translator, and so it is a premium option. I have only ever made a small profit on the books that I paid for with human translators and it took years, and while I have a few nice translation deals on some books, I'm planning to experiment more with AI translation in 2026. More languages, more markets, more opportunities to reach readers. More on this in the next episode when I'll cover trends for 2026. Ideally outsource more marketing to AI, but do more marketing anyway You have to reach readers somehow, and you have to pay for book marketing with your time and/or your money. Those authors killing it on TikTok pay with their time, and those leaning heavily on ads are paying with money. Most of us do a bit of both. There is no passive income from books, and even a backlist has to be marketed if you want to see any return. But I, like most authors, am not excited about book marketing. I'd rather be working on new books, or thinking about the ramifications of the changes ahead and writing or talking about that in my Patreon Community or here on the podcast. However, my book sales income remains about the same even as I (slowly) produce more books, so I need to do more book marketing in 2026. I said that last year of course, and didn't do much more than I did in 2024, so here I am again promising to do a better job! Every year, I hope to have my “AI book marketing assistant” up and running, and maybe this will be the year it happens. My measure is to be able to upload a book and specify a budget and say, ‘Go market this,' and then the AI will action the marketing, without me having to cobble together workflows between systems. Of course, it will present plans for me to approve but it will do the work itself on the various platforms and monitor and optimize things for me. We have something like that already with Amazon auto-ads, but that is specific to Amazon Advertising and only works with certain books in certain genres. I have auto-ads running for a couple of non-fiction books, but not for any fiction. I'd also ideally like more sales on my direct stores, JFPennBooks.com and CreativePennBooks.com which means a different kind of marketing. Perhaps this will happen through ChatGPT shopping or other AI-assisted e-commerce, which should be increasing in 2026. More on that in trends for the year to come in the next show. Double down on being human, health and travel I have a lot of plans for travel both for book research and also holidays with Jonathan but he has to finish his MBA and then we have some family things that take priority, so I am not sure where or when yet, but it will happen! Paris will definitely happen as part of the research for Crown of Thorns, hopefully in the spring. I've been to Paris many times as it's just across the Channel and we can go by train but it's always wonderful to visit again. Health-wise, I'll continue with powerlifting and weight training twice a week as well as walking every day. It's my happy place! What about you? If you'd like to share your goals for 2026, please add them in the comments below — and remember, I'm a full-time author entrepreneur so my goals are substantial. Don't worry if yours are as simple as ‘Finish the first draft of my book,' as that still takes a lot of work and commitment! All the best for 2026 — let's get into it! The post My 2026 Creative And Business Goals With Joanna Penn first appeared on The Creative Penn.

    Magic Mics Podcast
    The End Step of 2025 - Year-End Recap, Best Sellers, Arena Direct Drama & Much More!

    Magic Mics Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 1, 2026 42:31


    PRIMARY SPONSOR:   Use the promo  manapool.com/promo/magicmics  to get 5000 mana, that's $5 free, while supplies last at  manapool.com. Use ManaTraders.com Promo Code: MAGICMICS_4CI for 10% off your next subscription! Check out the twitch channel: http://twitch.tv/magicmics Visit our subreddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/magicmics Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/magicmicscast Like us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/magicmics First Pick   Year End Magic Mics Recap   Best Selling Sets of 2025: https://old.reddit.com/r/MagicArena/comments/1q068h6/the_best_selling_sets_of_2025_were_final_fantasy/   Gather the Townsfolk   Kai Budde Update: https://x.com/i/status/2001743422223454597   Black Nerds in USA Today: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2025/12/29/black-nerds-magic-the-gathering-community/87846728007/   Urza's Legacy Survey Sheets: https://old.reddit.com/r/magicTCG/comments/1pzq49v/anyone_know_anything_about_these_urzas_legacy/   Desperate Ravings   Arena Direct Distribution Issues: https://x.com/i/status/2003144371039080794 https://bsky.app/profile/jupiterbrando.bsky.social/post/3maa67oqxyc2y   The Finisher   It's New Year's Eve! So as we say goodbye to 2025, tell me: what have you learned this year?

    Lets Have This Conversation
    Business Which Captures Societal Changes with: Paul Shrater

    Lets Have This Conversation

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 1, 2026 60:51


      Serial entrepreneurs drive significant economicimpact in the U.S., with firms generating 67% higher sales anddisproportionately boosting job growth, despite making up only about 3.5% ofbusiness owners, while overall small businesses are booming (5.2M newapplications in 2024), average nonemployer revenue hovers around $58k, andmillions of one-person companies are hitting the million-dollar mark, showingvaried revenue landscapes, Shopify reports.Entrepreneur Paul Shrater is currently the owner or co-owner of over a dozencompanies and brands in various sectors, including e-commerce, third-party logistics/fulfillment,contract packaging in food and beauty, promotional products, foodservicedistribution, joint ventures, supplements, homeopathics, art, and TikToktalent/brand management. The companies span 3 buildings that total approximately.100k sq. ft.  He is a graduate of the acclaimed Wharton School ofBusiness, a speaker at national conferences in the areas of e-commerce, and hasappeared in numerous national television and print media.From 1995 to 2004, Shrater worked in the film and televisionindustry, with offices on the Sony lot, and highlighted by selling anaction-comedy script based on Shrater's original idea for over a milliondollars. Shrater is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania'sacclaimed Wharton School. He has spoken at several national conferences, such as theIRCE, IRCE Focus, B2B Online, B2B Connect, and B2B Multichannel Summit; locallyat EDC, Hub 101, 805 Startups, and VC Innovates.He has participated as a judge in venture competitions andhas guest lectured at universities on topics such as e-commerce, supply chainmanagement, and change management.  He has authored a blog for WhartonMagazine and has been an adjunct faculty member at California LutheranUniversity, where he taught an experiential class in integrated marketingcommunications. Shrater has also appeared on such networks as CNBC and beenquoted in such publications as Forbes and USA Today. He consults with companies in various industries, includingdigital streaming, alternative advertising platforms, ESG, and more.  LinkedIn @PaulJ.ShraterDiscover More: Minimusfulfillment.bizLearn More: Minimusproducts.bizGet Digital: https://digitalcommerceagency.com/For more information: https://paulshrater.com/  

    Niagara Frontier Radio Reading Services Podcast

    Monday - Friday Noon - 2pm

    IRIS Central Iowa News
    Des Moines Register HOUR 1 01-01-2026

    IRIS Central Iowa News

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 1, 2026 59:17


    Front Page, Metro and National News articles from The Des Moines Register and USA Today. The volunteer Voices of IRIS read newspapers aloud to keep over 11,000 blind and print disabled listeners informed and connected to their communities. Learn more at IowaRadioReading.org

    IRIS Central Iowa News
    Des Moines Register HOUR 2 01-01-2026

    IRIS Central Iowa News

    Play Episode Listen Later Jan 1, 2026 59:59


    Birthdays, Obituaries, Opinions, Sports and more from The Des Moines Register and USA Today. The volunteer Voices of IRIS read newspapers aloud to keep over 11,000 blind and print disabled listeners informed and connected to their communities. Learn more at IowaRadioReading.org

    Courageous Wellness
    Narcissism Expert, Dr. Ramani, on Identifying and Healing from Narcissistic Abuse (Re-Release)

    Courageous Wellness

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 31, 2025 73:29


    Re-Release! Today on the podcast, we have a great conversation with  narcissism expert Dr. Ramani Durvasula. Dr. Ramani is a licensed clinical psychologist. She has spoken at various universities and institutions including Coca-Cola, Amazon, and Universal Studios. Dr. Ramani is a sought-after expert with appearances on the Today Show, Red Table Talk, and Vogue's "Open Minded" series with Kendall Jenner. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Men's Health,BBC, USA Today, Refinery29, and more. She discusses narcissism on her popular YouTube channel, on social media as @DoctorRamani, her popular online program on healing from narcissistic abuse, and as the host of the podcast Navigating Narcissism with Dr. Ramani. Her fourth book will be released on February 20th and is a transformative guide titled: It's Not You: Identifying and Healing from Narcissistic People. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Disaster Tough Podcast
    The Gratitude Sandwich - 2025 Leadership Lessons For 2026

    Disaster Tough Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 31, 2025 39:32


    Looking for more DTP Content? Click here: www.thereadinesslab.com/dtp-linksMajor EndorsementsImpulseBleeding Control Kits by Professionals for Professionalshttps://www.impulsekits.comDoberman Emergency ManagementSubject matter experts in assessments, planning, and traininghttps://www.dobermanemg.comThe Readiness LabTrailblazing disaster readiness through podcasts, outreach, marketing, and interactive eventshttps://www.thereadinesslab.comFor Sponsorship Requestscontact@thereadinesslab.com314-400-8848 Ext 2In this milestone year-end episode of the Disaster Tough Podcast, host John Scardena delivers a raw, strategic, and personal recap of 2025—highlighting leadership lessons learned in emergency management, business growth, disaster response, and life.This final episode of Season 6 reflects on a year defined by complexity, transition, and decisive leadership. From FEMA uncertainty and disaster deployments to major shifts in business models and personal priorities, this episode is a candid breakdown of what worked, what failed, and what leaders must understand heading into 2026.Episode Highlights & Key Topics

    Untold Patriots Stories
    Author of Every Day Is Sunday Ken Belson New York Times reporter & Sophie Weller of Heavy Sports and Patriots Wire USA Today

    Untold Patriots Stories

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 31, 2025 47:43


    Send us a textWe discuss Kens book EVERY DAY IS SUNDAY. How Jerry Jones, Robert Kraft and Roger Goodell tuned the NFL into a Cultural & Economic Juggernaught. Ken shares his thoughts on Krafts being on the H.O.F ballot, the difference between owners Robert Kraft and Jerry Jones. Ken also gives us a view into the owners meetings as well as when the booing of Roger Goodell started at the NFL Draft. Other topics as deflategate as well as if he was commissioner who would he pick to award a franchise to Kraft or Jones. You also don't want to miss a couple of stories of his interactions with  Robert Kraft including receiving an odd gift from Robert while writing the book. I hope you all enjoy and as always thank you all for listening!

    IRIS Central Iowa News
    Des Moines Register HOUR 1 12-31-2025

    IRIS Central Iowa News

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 31, 2025 58:54


    Front Page, Metro and National News articles from The Des Moines Register and USA Today. The volunteer Voices of IRIS read newspapers aloud to keep over 11,000 blind and print disabled listeners informed and connected to their communities. Learn more at IowaRadioReading.org

    IRIS Central Iowa News
    Des Moines Register HOUR 2 12-31-2025

    IRIS Central Iowa News

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 31, 2025 59:59


    Birthdays, Obituaries, Opinions, Sports and more from The Des Moines Register and USA Today. The volunteer Voices of IRIS read newspapers aloud to keep over 11,000 blind and print disabled listeners informed and connected to their communities. Learn more at IowaRadioReading.org

    Why Isn't Everyone Doing This? with Emily Fletcher
    103. Why Isn't Everyone Taking a Power Pause? with Neha Ruch

    Why Isn't Everyone Doing This? with Emily Fletcher

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 30, 2025 80:14


    What if stepping back wasn't failure, but strategy? In this episode of Why Isn't Everyone Doing This?, I sit down with Neha Ruch, founder of Mother Untitled and author of The Power Pause, for one of the most validating conversations I've had about ambition, identity, and motherhood. Neha names something so many women feel but rarely have language for: the tension between wanting a meaningful career and wanting to be deeply present with our children, without burning ourselves out or betraying ourselves in the process. She reframes the idea of a “career pause” as an empowered, intentional choice, not a step backward, but a recalibration. We talk about why motherhood has been intellectually and culturally diminished, how internalized capitalism keeps women stuck in guilt loops, and why the most ambitious thing you can sometimes do is choose what matters most right now. This conversation is honest, nuanced, and deeply relieving, especially if you've ever felt like you were failing at something when you were actually just listening to your intuition. If you've ever felt pulled between ambition and presence… this episode is for you. In this episode, we explore: • Why motherhood has been “dumbed down” culturally • The concept of the Power Pause, and why language matters • How to make intentional choices without shame or guilt • Ambition vs. intuition (and why it doesn't have to be either/or) • Internalized patriarchy and capitalism in working motherhood • Seasonality, boundaries, and redefining success • Why presence matters more than hours About Neha Ruch Neha Ruch is the founder of Mother Untitled, a leading platform for ambitious women navigating parenthood, and the author of The Power Pause. Her work is reshaping how society understands stay-at-home motherhood, ambition, and identity. Neha has been featured on Oprah, USA Today, and beyond. Where This Work Continues This episode touches on questions we explore more deeply inside Level 3 — how to redefine success, work with seasons instead of against them, and make choices that actually support the life you're living now. Level 3 focuses on the inner practices that help those choices feel steady and sustainable. Explore Level 3 here:

    The Business Credit and Financing Show
    Tyler Wagner: Become a Profitable Author and Maximize Your Impact

    The Business Credit and Financing Show

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 30, 2025 31:50


    Tyler Wagner is a #1 Wall Street Journal bestselling author, book publisher, marketer, and founder of Authors Unite, a hybrid publishing company helping authors successfully publish, market, and distribute their books. Since 2011, his team has guided over 4,000 authors to reach millions of readers and hit bestseller lists across Amazon, Barnes & Noble, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and The New York Times. With expertise spanning book campaigns, ghostwriting, editing, audiobook marketing, and digital distribution, Tyler transforms books into high-performing business assets that drive credibility, leads, and long-term growth. His proven strategies have powered entrepreneurs, executives, and thought leaders to leverage publishing as a core brand and revenue accelerator. Beyond publishing, Tyler has built an eight-figure business through scalable referral relationships—without paid ads—and teaches others to do the same. Reaching an online audience of more than 500,000, he also hosts The Tyler Wagner Show, where he shares actionable insights on business growth, marketing innovation, and the future of publishing. During the show we discuss: Turning a book into a profitable business asset, not just a passion project. The essential steps to creating a book that generates income and impact. How the Authors Unite process guides first-time authors from idea to bestseller. What separates books that sell from books that build long-term authority. Why most authors struggle with marketing and how to overcome it. How bestseller campaigns elevate credibility, visibility, and brand power. Using a book to drive referrals, speaking engagements, and coaching clients. The strategy for sustaining book sales and audience growth beyond launch week. Resources:  authorsunite.com  

    Bleav in Rams
    Rams Lose 27-24 in Heartbreaker to Falcons Monday Night. Immediate Analysis, Takeaways Plus Playoffs AND '26 Draft Implications!!

    Bleav in Rams

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 30, 2025 36:11


    Welcome to Bleav in Rams presented by Fanduel. Erin Coscarelli is joined by Tyler Dragon of USA Today and Ryan Anderson of LAFB Network to break down immediate analysis of what went wrong for the Rams in week 17. LA entered Monday night looking like one of the most dangerous teams in the NFL. They left Atlanta humbled. How much do theyn miss Davante Adams, Kevin Dotson, Alaric Jackson and Quentin Lake? When do they expect them back? After falling behind 24-3, Bijan Robinson carved up the defense for historic numbers, the Rams managed to tie the game but couldnt shake off Stafford's three interceptions. A late Atlanta field goal sealed a 27-24 loss that pushes the Rams into a road playoff path. How does a team that led the league in scoring get shut out for a half? What Stafford's turnover spike means heading into January, why the comeback still matters, and how Sean McVay is approaching the final week with no rest planned. Plus, what this loss tells us about the Rams as a playoff team and how did this impact their draft next year? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    Bleav in Eagles
    Rams Lose 27-24 in Heartbreaker to Falcons Monday Night. Immediate Analysis, Takeaways Plus Playoffs AND '26 Draft Implications!!

    Bleav in Eagles

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 30, 2025 36:11


    Welcome to Bleav in Rams presented by Fanduel. Erin Coscarelli is joined by Tyler Dragon of USA Today and Ryan Anderson of LAFB Network to break down immediate analysis of what went wrong for the Rams in week 17. LA entered Monday night looking like one of the most dangerous teams in the NFL. They left Atlanta humbled. How much do theyn miss Davante Adams, Kevin Dotson, Alaric Jackson and Quentin Lake? When do they expect them back? After falling behind 24-3, Bijan Robinson carved up the defense for historic numbers, the Rams managed to tie the game but couldnt shake off Stafford's three interceptions. A late Atlanta field goal sealed a 27-24 loss that pushes the Rams into a road playoff path. How does a team that led the league in scoring get shut out for a half? What Stafford's turnover spike means heading into January, why the comeback still matters, and how Sean McVay is approaching the final week with no rest planned. Plus, what this loss tells us about the Rams as a playoff team and how did this impact their draft next year? Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    Niagara Frontier Radio Reading Services Podcast

    Monday - Friday Noon - 2pm

    IRIS Central Iowa News
    Des Moines Register HOUR 1 12-30-2025

    IRIS Central Iowa News

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 30, 2025 59:18


    Front Page, Metro and National News articles from The Des Moines Register and USA Today. The volunteer Voices of IRIS read newspapers aloud to keep over 11,000 blind and print disabled listeners informed and connected to their communities. Learn more at IowaRadioReading.org

    IRIS Central Iowa News
    Des Moines Register HOUR 2 12-30-2025

    IRIS Central Iowa News

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 30, 2025 59:54


    Birthdays, Obituaries, Opinions, Sports and more from The Des Moines Register and USA Today. The volunteer Voices of IRIS read newspapers aloud to keep over 11,000 blind and print disabled listeners informed and connected to their communities. Learn more at IowaRadioReading.org

    The Ohioan
    Is there such a thing as healthy cheese? Let's break it down

    The Ohioan

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 30, 2025 1:05


    Is there actually a healthy cheese option? Believe it or not, there are a few that stand out. In this episode, Chris looks at a recent USA Today story that breaks down cheeses like mozzarella, cottage, ricotta, feta, and goat cheese. Each has pros and cons, from protein and calories to sodium levels. While no cheese is perfect, some choices are clearly better than others depending on your goals. Join the discussion and share your favorite cheese picks.Read the story at https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/nutrition/which-cheese-is-healthiest-see-comparison-of-calories-fat-and-sodium/ar-AA1T5sK2?ocid=BingNewsVerpSupport our podcast at https://linktr.ee/ChrisPughEdits #healthycheese, #nutritiontalk, #fooddiscussion, #healthyeating, #cheeselovers, #mozzarella, #cottagecheese, #ricottacheese, #fetacheese, #goatcheese, #diettips, #foodpodcast, #wellnesstalk, #healthyliving, #foodchoices, #viewfromthepugh, #podcastlife, #nutritiontips

    Unlocking Your World of Creativity
    Amani Roberts, Award-Winning Music Business Professor & Author The Quiet Storm: A Historical and Cultural Analysis of the Power, Passion, and Pain of R&B Groups

    Unlocking Your World of Creativity

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 29, 2025 20:46


    Today is Episode: 398 as we near the end of our 7th year of Your World of CreativityI'm thrilled to welcome Amani Roberts — an award-winning music business professor, international keynote speaker, and global DJ performer.He's a USA Today bestselling author, and his upcoming book, The Quiet Storm: A Historical and Cultural Analysis of the Power, Passion, and Pain of R&B Groups, offers a powerful deep dive into how Black R&B groups shaped music, identity, and community.Amani's Website @amaniexperience on Instagram Amani on YouTube From DJ Booth to Classroom — The Creative JourneyAmani, your career bridges music, business, and education. How did your early experiences as a DJ evolve into this mission of helping others unlock their creativity and confidence?The Quiet Storm — Why This Story Matters NowYour new book, The Quiet Storm, is a cultural and historical analysis of Black R&B groups — from The Temptations to TLC. What inspired you to take on this topic, and why do you think it's so important to tell this story today?Beyond Entertainment — R&B as Social CommentaryYou write that R&B groups didn't just make music — they moved culture. How did these artists influence identity, social change, and even the civil rights movement through their art and community presence?Resilience, Reinvention, and Relevanceo With over 30 years in hospitality and 17 years in the music industry, Amani has collaborated with brands like Marriott, 7-11, Calendly, and Chartmetric, generating millions in revenue while inspiring professionals to unlock their creativity, take risks, and stay resilient.o You've led in corporate settings, creative spaces, and classrooms. What are the biggest lessons you've learned about staying relevant and resilient — whether you're spinning records, teaching students, or advising executives?o Amani's leadership extends beyond the stage — he was the first African American President of Meeting Professionals International's Southern California Chapter in 45 years and is co-host of the podcast Adventures in Business. His work has been featured in Forbes, People Magazine, NBC, and Yahoo! Finance.The Future of R&B and Creative LeadershipAs we look forward, how can today's creatives — musicians, entrepreneurs, or educators — apply the lessons from R&B's rise, dominance, and decline to keep their work meaningful, collaborative, and authentic?Thanks to our sponsor, White Cloud Coffee — fueling creative conversations everywhere. Listeners, enjoy 10% off your first order at whitecloudcoffee.com.And as we close out this special 7th anniversary episode of Your World of Creativity, remember to grab your free e-book, A World of Creativity, when you visit mark-stinson.com.Join us next time as we continue our round-the-world journey, talking with creative people about how they get inspired, how they organize ideas, and how they build the confidence and connections to launch their work into the world.

    The Creative Penn Podcast For Writers
    Review Of My 2025 Creative And Business Goals With Joanna Penn

    The Creative Penn Podcast For Writers

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 29, 2025


    Another year ends, and once more, it's time to reflect on our creative goals. I hope you can take the time to review your goals and you're welcome to leave a comment below about how the year went. Did you achieve everything you wanted to? Let me know in the comments. It's always interesting looking back at my goals from a year ago, because I don't even look at them in the months between, so sometimes it's a real surprise how much they've changed! You can read my 2025 goals here and I go through how things went below. In the intro, Written Word Media 2025 Indie Author Survey Results, TikTok deal goes through [BBC]; 2025 review [Wish I'd Known Then; Two Authors], Kickstarter year in review; Plus, Anthropic settlement, the continued rise of AI-narrated audiobooks, and thinking/reasoning models (plus my 2019 AI disruption episode). My Bones of the Deep thriller, pics here, and Business for Authors webinars, coming soon. If you'd like to join my community and support the show every month, you'll get access to my growing list of Patron videos and audio on all aspects of the author business — for the price of a black coffee (or two) a month. Join us at Patreon.com/thecreativepenn. Joanna Penn writes non-fiction for authors and is an award-winning, New York Times and USA Today bestselling thriller author as J.F. Penn. She's also an award-winning podcaster, creative entrepreneur, and international professional speaker. You can listen above or on your favorite podcast app or read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights and the full transcript is below. J.F. Penn books — Death Valley, The Buried and the Drowned, Blood Vintage Joanna Penn books — Successful Self-Publishing, 4th Edition The Creative Penn Podcast and my community on Patreon/thecreativepenn Unexpected addition: Masters in Death, Religion and Culture at the University of Winchester Book marketing. Not quite a fail but definitely lacklustre. Reflections on my 50th year Double down on being human. Travel and health. You can find all my books as J.F. Penn and Joanna Penn on your favourite online store in all the usual formats, or order from your local library or bookstore. You can also buy direct from me at CreativePennBooks.com and JFPennBooks.com. I'm not really active on social media, but you can always see my photos at Instagram @jfpennauthor. J.F. Penn — Death Valley. A Thriller. This was my ‘desert' book, partially inspired by visiting Death Valley, California in 2024. It's a stand-alone, high stakes survival thriller, with no supernatural elements, although there are ancient bones and a hidden crypt, as it wouldn't be me otherwise! The Kickstarter campaign in April had 231 Backers pledging £10,794 (~US$14,400) and the hardback is a gorgeous foiled edition with custom end papers and research photos as well as a ribbon. As an AI-Assisted Artisan Author, I used AI tools to help with the creative and business processes, including the background image of the cover design, the custom end papers, and the Death Valley book trailer, which I made with Midjourney and Runway ML. The audiobook is also narrated by my J.F. Penn voice clone, which took a while to get used to, but now I love it! You can listen to a sample here. I published Death Valley wide a few months later over the summer, so it is now out on all platforms. J.F. Penn — Blood Vintage. A Folk Horror Novel, and Catacomb audiobook I did a Kickstarter for the hardback edition of Blood Vintage in late 2024, and then in 2025, worked with a US agent to see if we could get a deal for it. That didn't happen, and although there were some nice rejections, mostly it was silence, and the waiting around really was a pain in the proverbial. So, after a year on submission, I published Blood Vintage wide, so it's available everywhere now. My voice clone narrated the audiobook, listen to a sample here. I also finally produced the audiobook for Catacomb, which is a stand-alone thriller inspired by the movie Taken and the legend of Beowulf set in the catacombs under Edinburgh. I used a male voice from ElevenLabs, and you can listen to a sample here. The book is also available everywhere in all formats. J.F. Penn — The Buried and the Drowned Short Story Collection One of my goals for 2025 was to get my existing short stories into print, mainly because they exist only as digital ebook and audiobook files, which in a way, feels like they almost don't exist! Plus, I wanted to write an extra two exclusive stories and launch the special edition collection on Kickstarter Collection and then publish wide. I wrote the two stories, The Black Church, inspired by my Iceland trip in March, and also Between Two Breaths, inspired by an experience scuba diving at the Poor Knights Islands in New Zealand almost two decades ago. There are personal author's notes accompanying every story, so it's part-short story fiction, part-memoir, and I human-narrated the audiobook. I achieved this goal with a Kickstarter in September, 2025, with 206 Backers pledging almost £8000 (~US$10,600) for the various editions. I also did my first patterned sprayed edges and I love the hardback. It has head and tail bands which make the hardback really strong, gorgeous paper, foiling, a ribbon, colour photos, and custom end papers. The Buried and the Drowned is now out everywhere in all editions. As ever, if you enjoy the stories, a review would be much appreciated! Joanna Penn Books for Authors Early in the year, How to Write Non-Fiction Second Edition launched wide as I only sold it through my store in 2024, so it's available everywhere in all formats including a special hardback and workbook at CreativePennBooks.com. While I didn't write it in 2025, I made the money on it this year, which is important! I also unexpectedly wrote the Fourth Edition of Successful Self-Publishing, mainly because I saw so much misinformation and hype around selling direct, and I also wanted to write about how many options there are for indie authors now. The ebook and audiobook (narrated by human me) are free on my store, CreativePennBooks.com and also available in print, in all the usual places. If you haven't revisited options for indie authors for a while, please have a read/listen, as the industry moves fast! All my fiction and non-fiction audiobooks are now on YouTube After an inspiring episode with Derek Slaton, I put all my audiobooks and short stories on YouTube. Firstly, my non-fiction channel is monetised so I get some income from that. It's not much, but it's something. More importantly, it's marketing for my books, and many audiobook listeners go on to buy other editions especially non-fiction listeners who will often buy print as well. I'm one of those listeners! It's also doubling down on being human, since I human narrate most of my audiobooks, including almost all of my non-fiction, as well as the memoir, and short stories. This helps bring people into my ecosystem and they may listen to the podcast as well and end up buying other books or joining the Patreon. Finally, in an age of generative AI assisted search recommendations, I want my books and content inside Gemini, which is Google's AI. I want my books surfaced in recommendations and YouTube is owned by Google, and their AI overviews often point to videos. Only you can decide what you want to do with your audiobooks, but if you want to listen to mine, they are on YouTube @thecreativepenn for non-fiction or YouTube @jfpennauthor for fiction and memoir. The Creative Penn Podcast and my Patreon Community It's been another full year of The Creative Penn Podcast and this is episode 842, which is kind of crazy. If you don't know the back story, I started podcasting in March 2009 on a sporadic schedule and then went to weekly about a decade ago in 2015 when I committed to making it a core part of my author business. Thanks to our wonderful corporate sponsors for the year, all services I personally use and recommend — ProWritingAid, Draft2Digital, Kobo Writing Life, Bookfunnel, Written Word Media, Publisher Rocket and Atticus. It's also been a fantastic year inside my Patreon Community at patreon.com/thecreativepenn so thanks to all Patrons! I love the community we have as I am able to share my unfiltered thoughts in a way that I have stopped doing in the wider community. Even a tiny paywall makes a big difference in keeping out the haters. I've done monthly audio Q&As which are extra solo shows answering patron questions. I've also done several live office hours on video, and shared content every week on AI tools, writing and author business tips. Patrons also get discounts on my webinars. I did two webinars on The AI-Assisted Artisan Author, which I am planning to run again sometime in 2026 as they were a lot of fun and so much continues to change. If you get value from the show and you want more, come on over and join us at patreon.com/thecreativepenn We have almost 1400 paying members now which is wonderful. Thanks for being part of the Community! Unexpected goal of the year: Masters in Death, Religion and Culture at the University of Winchester During the summer as I did my gothic research, I realised that I was feeling quite jaded about the publishing world and sick of the drama in the author community over AI. My top 5 Clifton Strengths are Learner, Intellection, Strategic, Input, and Futuristic — and I needed more Input and Learning. I usually get that from travel and book research, but I wasn't getting enough of that since Jonathan is busy finishing his MBA. So I decided to lean into the learning and asked ChatGPT to research some courses I could do that would suit me. It found the Masters in Death, Religion and Culture at the University of Winchester, which I could do full-time and online. It would be a year of reading quite different things, writing academic essays which is something I haven't done for decades, and hanging out with a new group of people who were just as fascinated with macabre topics as I am. I started in September and have now finished the first term, tackling topics around thanatology and death studies, hell and the afterlife in the Christian tradition, and the ethics of using human remains to inspire fiction, amongst other interesting things. It was a challenge to get back into the style of academic essay writing, but I'm enjoying the rigour of the research and the citations, which is something that the indie author community needs more of, a topic I will revisit in 2026. I have found the topics fascinating, and the degree is a great way to expand my mind in a new direction, and distract me from the dramas of the author community. I'll be back into it in mid-January and will finish in September 2026. Book marketing. Not quite a fail but definitely lacklustre. I said I would “Do a monthly book marketing plan and organise paid ad campaigns per month for revolving first books in series and my main earners.” I didn't do this! I also said I would organise my Shopify stores, CreativePennBooks.com and JFPennBooks.com into more collections to make it easier for readers to find things they might want to buy. While I did change the theme of CreativePennBooks.com over to Impulse to make it easier to find collections, I haven't done much to reorganise or add new pathways through the books. I'm rolling this part of the goal into 2026. I said I would reinvigorate my content marketing for JFPenn, and make more of BooksAndTravel.page with links back to my stores, and do fiction specific content marketing with the aim of surfacing more in the LLMs as generative search expands. I did a number of episodes on Books and Travel in 2025, but once I started the Masters, I had to leave that aside, and although I have started some extra content on JFPennBooks.com, I am not overly enthusiastic about it! I also said I would “Leverage AI tools to achieve more as a one-person business.” I use AI tools (mainly ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini) every day for different things but as ever, I am pretty scatter gun about what I do. I lean into intuition and I love research so I am more likely to ask the AI tools to do a deep research report on south Pacific merfolk mythology, or how gothic architecture impacted sacred music, or geology and deep time, rather than asking for marketing hooks. I intended to use more AI for book marketing, but as ever, I was too optimistic about the timeline of what might be possible. There's lots you can do with prompting, finessing things and then posting on various platforms, but I'm not interested in spending time doing that. My gold standard for an AI assistant is to feed it the finished book and then say, “Here's a budget. Go market this,” and not have to connect lots of things together into some Frankenstein-workflow. That's not available yet. Maybe in 2026 … Of course, I still do book marketing. I have to in order to sell any books and make money from book sales. We all have to do some kind of book marketing! I have my Kickstarter launches which I put effort into, as well as consistent backlist sales fed by the podcast, and my email newsletter (my combined list is around 60K). I have auto campaigns running on Amazon Ads, and I have used Written Word Media campaigns as well as BookBub throughout the year. This is basically the minimum, so as usual, must do better! I'm pretty sure I'm not the only author saying this! However, my business has multiple streams of income, and I have the podcast sponsorship revenue as well as the Patreon, plus sporadic webinars, which add to my bottom line and don't require paid advertising at all. Reflections on my 50th year I woke up on my 50th birthday in March in Iceland, by the Black Church of Budir out on the Skaefellsnes peninsula. As seals played in the sea and we walked in the snow over the ancient lava field under the gaze of the volcano that inspired Jules Verne Journey to the Centre of the Earth, and my short story, The Black Church, which you can find in my collection, The Buried and the Drowned. On that trip, we also saw the northern lights and had a memorable trip that marked a real shift for me. I've been told by lots of people that 50 is a ‘proper' birthday, as in one of those that makes you stop and reconsider things, and it has indeed been that, although I have also found the last few years of perimenopause to be a large part of the change as well. A big shift is around priorities and not caring so much what other people think, which is a relief in many ways. Also, I don't have the patience to do things that I don't think are worth doing for the longer term, and I am appreciating a quieter life. I'd rather lie in a sunbeam and read with Cashew and Noisette next to me then create marketing assets or spend time on social media. I'd rather go for a walk with Jonathan than go to a conference or networking event. In my Pilgrimage memoir, I quote an anonymous source, “Pilgrim, pass by that which you do not love.” It's a powerful message, and I take it to mean, stop listening to people who tell you what is important. Listen to yourself more and only pay attention to that which you feel drawn to explore. On pilgrimage, it might be turning away from the supposedly important shrine of a saint to go and sit in nature and feel closer to God that way. In our author lives, it might be turning away from the things that just feel wrong for us, and leaning into what is enjoyable, that which feels worthwhile, that which we want to keep doing for the long term. Let's face it, as always, that is the writing, the thinking, the imagination. As ever, I have this mantra on my wall: “Measure your life by what you create.” It's the creation side of things that we love and that's what we need to remember when everything else gets a little much. Many authors left social media in 2025, and while I haven't left it altogether, I don't use it much. I post pictures proving I am human on Instagram @jfpennauthor which automatically post to Facebook. I barely check my pages on Facebook though. I'm also still on X with a carefully curated feed that I mainly use to learn new cool AI things which I share with my Patreon Community. Double down on being human. Travel and health. Yes, I am a human author, and yes, I continue to age! When you've been publishing a while, you need to update your author photos periodically and I finally had a photoshoot I loved with Betty Bhandari Photography, which means I can add the new pics to my websites and the back of my books. Are you up to date with your author photos? (or at least within a decade of the last photoshoot?!) Here are a few of the pictures on Instagram @jfpennauthor. Healthwise, I gave up calisthenics as it was too much on top of the powerlifting and the amount of walking I do. I did another British Powerlifting competition in September in the M2 category (based on age) and 63kgs category (based on weight). Deadlift: 95kgs. Squat: 60kgs. BenchPress: 37.5kgs. While this is less overall than last year, I also weigh less, so I'm actually stronger based on lift to body weight percentage. I have also done a few pull-ups in the last week with no band, which I am thrilled with! On the travel side, Iceland was the big trip, and I also had a weekend in Berlin for the film festival, where I met up with a producer and a director around an adaptation of my Day of the Vikings thriller. That didn't pan out, as most of these things don't, but I certainly learned a lot about the industry — and why it doesn't suit me! Once again, I dipped my toe into screenwriting and then ran away, as has happened multiple times over the years. When will I learn? … Over the summer of 2025, I visited lots of gothic cathedrals including Lichfield, Rochester, Durham, York, and revisiting Canterbury, as part of my book research for the Gothic Cathedral book. I have tens of thousands of words on this project, but it isn't ready yet, so this is carried over into 2026 as it might happen then, depending on the Masters. I spoke at Author Nation in Las Vegas in November 2025, and before it started, I visited (Lower) Antelope Canyon, one of the places on my bucket list, and it did not disappoint. What a special place and no doubt it will appear in a story at some point! How did your 2025 go? I hope your 2025 had some wonderful times as well as no doubt some challenges — and that you have time for reflection as the year turns once more. Let me know in the comments whether you achieved your creative goals and any other reflections you'd like to share.The post Review Of My 2025 Creative And Business Goals With Joanna Penn first appeared on The Creative Penn.

    SharkPreneur
    Episode 1231: From Homeless to Nine Figures with Stephen Scoggins

    SharkPreneur

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 29, 2025 16:39


    When you focus your energy like a laser, the right single move can change everything.   In this episode of Sharkpreneur, Seth Greene interviews Stephen Scoggins, Faith-Driven Entrepreneur, Speaker, and Author, who rose from homelessness to build Custom Home Exteriors into one of the East Coast's largest exterior service companies—~400 employees and just under nine figures annually—before exiting in 2023. Stephen now leads Unstoppable Solutions, creating media and events and empowering education to help founders align purpose, performance, and profit. He shares the mentor lessons that saved his life, the pitfalls that stall entrepreneurs, and how “presence over hustle” creates compounding momentum.   Key Takeaways: → Why being busy doesn't equate to being proactive and how focused presence beats hustle culture. → How to overcome the five constraints: arrogance, ignorance, impatience, fear, and insecurity. → Why starting from scratch requires ingenuity, initiative, and brick-by-brick systems that scale. → How profit without meaning leads to isolation and how to build both wealth and fulfillment. → Why many founders need alignment more than another playbook. Stephen Scoggins is a business strategist, bestselling author, and founder of Unstoppable Solutions by Scoggins International Inc. Once homeless, he went on to build and exit multiple companies, becoming a serial 9-figure entrepreneur and mentoring thousands through his Unstoppable Entrepreneur Programs and frameworks for aligned, sustainable growth. Named by USA Today and The Wall Street Times as one of the fastest-growing entrepreneurs in 2023, Stephen has also reached over 48 million podcast views through his show Build, where he helps purpose-driven leaders scale without compromising who they are. Known for challenging hustle culture, he teaches an integrated approach to entrepreneurship that prioritizes meaning, integrity, and legacy-level impact—proving that lasting income follows radical alignment.   Connect With Stephen: Website: https://stephenscoggins.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stephen_scoggins X: https://x.com/stephen_scoggin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/stephenscoggins/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenscoggins/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@stephen_scoggins   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Alone at Lunch
    Alone Being Co-Authors with Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka

    Alone at Lunch

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 29, 2025 46:04


    This week we are joined by Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-Broka. Emily and Austin met and fell in love in high school. Austin went on to graduate from Harvard, while Emily graduated from Princeton. Together, they are the authors of multiple novels including The Roughest Draft and Reese's YA Bookclub Pick Heiress Takes All. They are also two-thirds of USA Today bestselling author E.B. Asher. Now married, they live in Los Angeles, where they continue to take daily inspiration from their own love story. Check them out!In this episode, Emily and Austin discuss their unique journey as a couple and co-authors. They discuss the challenges and joys of writing together, balancing their personal and professional lives, and the inspiration behind their latest book, "Seeing Other People." The couple shares insights into their creative process, the influence of their backgrounds, and how they navigate the complexities of parenthood while maintaining their collaborative spirit. Recommendations From This Episode: The Ghost of UsNational TreasureFollow Emily: @wibbs_inkFollow Austin: @austins_bFollow E.B. Asher: @eb_asherFollow Carly: @carlyjmontagFollow Emily: @thefunnywalshFollow the podcast: @aloneatlunchpodPlease rate and review the podcast! Spread the word! Tell your friends! Email us: aloneatlunch@gmail.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    The Leadership Vision Podcast
    Re-Broadcast: The Power of Alignment in Leadership

    The Leadership Vision Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 29, 2025 52:48 Transcription Available


    Send us a textIn the quiet space between Christmas and New Year's, we revisit a favorite 2025 conversation with Dr. Linda and Brian Schubring on alignment.This episode explores why high-performing teams aren't just working hard—but moving in the same direction—and how leaders can create clarity, trust, and momentum at every level.Reflection for the year ahead: Can your team clearly see how their daily work connects to the bigger mission?What You'll Learn in This Episode:How organizational alignment fosters clarity and momentum.Why leadership alignment sets the tone for team success.The role of team alignment in creating a high-trust culture.How personal well-being impacts leadership effectiveness.Practical steps for ensuring alignment within your team and organization.Key Quotes:"When an organization is aligned, people feel enthusiastic, energized, and connected." – Brian Schubring"The speed of the leader is the speed of the team." – Linda Schubring"When leaders communicate their vision clearly, their teams feel seen and heard." – Nathan Freeburg

    Sco-ing Long
    Orange Bowl Preview! How Oregon Ducks Can Beat Texas Tech in CFP Quartertinal

    Sco-ing Long

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 29, 2025 32:58


    Oregon Ducks legend Jonathan Stewart and USA TODAY's Zachary Neel break down Oregon's upcoming game against the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the Orange Bowl, breaking down major keys to victory for the CFP quarterfinal and offering score predictions for the matchup. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

    Niagara Frontier Radio Reading Services Podcast

    Monday - Friday Noon - 2pm

    IRIS Central Iowa News
    Des Moines Register HOUR 1 12-29-2025

    IRIS Central Iowa News

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 29, 2025 59:56


    Front Page, Metro and National News articles from The Des Moines Register and USA Today. The volunteer Voices of IRIS read newspapers aloud to keep over 11,000 blind and print disabled listeners informed and connected to their communities. Learn more at IowaRadioReading.org

    IRIS Central Iowa News
    Des Moines Register HOUR 2 12-29-2025

    IRIS Central Iowa News

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 29, 2025 59:53


    Birthdays, Obituaries, Opinions, Sports and more from The Des Moines Register and USA Today. The volunteer Voices of IRIS read newspapers aloud to keep over 11,000 blind and print disabled listeners informed and connected to their communities. Learn more at IowaRadioReading.org

    IRIS Central Iowa News
    Des Moines Register HOUR 3 12-28-2025

    IRIS Central Iowa News

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 28, 2025 57:43


    Articles from The Des Moines Register and USA Today.  The volunteer Voices of IRIS read newspapers aloud to keep over 11,000 blind and print disabled listeners informed and connected to their communities.  Learn more at IowaRadioReading.org

    IRIS Central Iowa News
    Des Moines Register HOUR 1 12-28-2025

    IRIS Central Iowa News

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 28, 2025 59:09


    Front Page, Metro and National News articles from The Des Moines Register and USA Today. The volunteer Voices of IRIS read newspapers aloud to keep over 11,000 blind and print disabled listeners informed and connected to their communities. Learn more at IowaRadioReading.org

    IRIS Central Iowa News
    Des Moines Register HOUR 2 12-28-2025

    IRIS Central Iowa News

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 28, 2025 58:12


    Birthdays, Obituaries, Opinions, Sports and more from The Des Moines Register and USA Today. The volunteer Voices of IRIS read newspapers aloud to keep over 11,000 blind and print disabled listeners informed and connected to their communities. Learn more at IowaRadioReading.org

    Explore and Engage with Anam
    What should America's priorities be in the new year?

    Explore and Engage with Anam

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 27, 2025 23:08


    Share your thoughts and comments by sending me a text messageS.12 E.39 As we enter the new calendar year 2026, it is important to think about our priorities as a nation. In this episode, share my thoughts about what I believe America's priorities should be going forward.ABOUT: Tawsif Anam is a nationally published writer, award-winning public policy professional, and speaker. He has experience serving in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors in United States and overseas. Anam earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and a Master of Public Affairs degree from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Tawsif Anam's opinions have been published by national, state, and local publications in the United States, such as USA Today, Washington Examiner, The Washington Times, The Western Journal, The Boston Globe, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin State Journal, The Capital Times, and The Dodgeville Chronicle. His writings have also appeared in major publications in Bangladesh including, but not limited to, The Daily Star and The Financial Express. Visit my website www.tawsifanam.net Visit my blog: https://tawsifanam.net/blog/ Read my published opinions: https://tawsifanam.net/published-articles/ Check out my books: https://tawsifanam.net/books/

    UBC News World
    How to Get Published on USA Today, AP & Business Insider: The Big 6 Secret

    UBC News World

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 27, 2025 7:40


    The insider strategy behind landing your content on platforms like USA Today, AP, & Business Insider. The Big 6 distribution approach that transforms organic visibility, why traditional PR tactics fall short, and how businesses measure real ROI from premium media placement without the advertising trap. Ethos Media & Marketing LLC City: Washington Address: DC - MD - VA - LA - FL Website: https://www.ethosm2.com Phone: +1 202 935 9953 Email: info@ethosm2.com

    IRIS Central Iowa News
    Des Moines Register HOUR 2 12-27-2025

    IRIS Central Iowa News

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 27, 2025 59:23


    Birthdays, Obituaries, Opinions, Sports and more from The Des Moines Register and USA Today. The volunteer Voices of IRIS read newspapers aloud to keep over 11,000 blind and print disabled listeners informed and connected to their communities. Learn more at IowaRadioReading.org

    IRIS Central Iowa News
    Des Moines Register HOUR 1 12-27-2025

    IRIS Central Iowa News

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 27, 2025 58:54


    Front Page, Metro and National News articles from The Des Moines Register and USA Today. The volunteer Voices of IRIS read newspapers aloud to keep over 11,000 blind and print disabled listeners informed and connected to their communities. Learn more at IowaRadioReading.org

    IRIS Central Iowa News
    Des Moines Register HOUR 3 12-27-2025

    IRIS Central Iowa News

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 27, 2025 57:41


    Articles from The Des Moines Register and USA Today.  The volunteer Voices of IRIS read newspapers aloud to keep over 11,000 blind and print disabled listeners informed and connected to their communities.  Learn more at IowaRadioReading.org

    The Pete the Planner® Show
    The Pete the Planner origin story

    The Pete the Planner® Show

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 26, 2025 59:38


    Pete the Planner on Humor, Habits and the Psychology of Money On this episode of Off the Record, host Nate Feltman sits down with Peter Dunn, better known as Pete the Planner, one of America's most trusted voices on personal finance. Dunn shares how a sixth-grade stock market contest launched his career, how he blends comedy and financial coaching to help people build better habits, and why the psychology of money matters more than math. He opens up about building Your Money Line, a fast-growing financial technology company using AI to deliver personalized advice to more than 800,000 people, and how leading a startup taught him hard-earned lessons about leadership, responsibility and giving back. A former columnist for USA Today and author of 10 books, Dunn discusses his national media presence, his roots in Indianapolis, and why financial wellness is critical in today's workplace.

    Prison Breaking With Sarah & Paul
    FanFiction Friday S2E14: "Recipe For Disaster" Pt 2 by Rachel26401

    Prison Breaking With Sarah & Paul

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 26, 2025 10:48


    Every Friday, Prison Break's Sarah Wayne Callies (Sara Tancredi) and Paul Adelstein (Agent Paul Kellerman) read YOUR FanFiction! Sometimes it's plucked from the archives, sometimes it's YOUR submission. Tune in every Friday because you never know what you're going to hear.... Hit "Subscribe" so you're always up to date! This week's episode is "Recipe For Disaster" Pt 2 by Rachel26401 aka Bestselling author Rachel Louise Adams. Rachel's recently released NO REST FOR THE WICKED is a USA Today's Bestseller and was People Magazine's October 2025 Pick of the Month. When Sara Tancredi is kidnapped by two strange men, all she can think of is cooking and domestication, going against everything her father wanted for her. As she internally battles societal norms and father's wishes, she also notices how hot one of her abductors is...and the other even hotter... This is release is a teaser. For the full episode, subscribe to our Patreon where you'll get access to all of our Watch Parties, FanFiction, exclusive Ask Me Anything's with Sarah & Paul, and you can join our always rollicking Discord server with fans from around the world, all for just $4/month. Subscribe here:  ⁠https://patreon.com/user?u=116411884⁠ Follow us on Instagram - ⁠https://www.instagram.com/prisonbreakpodcast/⁠Follow us on TikTok - ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@prisonbreakpodcast⁠ Merch!!! - ⁠https://pbmerch.printify.me/products⁠Email us at prisonbreaking@caliber-studio.com And leave us a message with all your burning questions at (401) 3-PBREAK Logo design by John Nunziatto @ Little Big Brands.  If you want one yourself, reach out at ⁠https://www.littlebigbrands.com/⁠ and tell him we sent you. PRISON BREAKING WITH SARAH & PAUL is a Caliber Studio production. Enjoy and we'll see you there!    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Justin Kendrick: The Devoted Life Podcast
    The Devoted Life Podcast : Episode 24 - Look Back and Look Ahead

    Justin Kendrick: The Devoted Life Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 26, 2025 37:35


    It's easy to live life and not examine where you have been or where you're going. Taking time to reflect is one of the most powerful habits to develop. How do we look back at 2025? How do we prepare for 2026?Justin Kendrick is the Lead Pastor of Vox Church, which he founded in 2011 with a group of friends on the doorstep of Yale University. Since then, the church has grown to multiple locations across New England with the dream of seeing the least-churched region of the U.S. become the most spiritually vibrant place on earth. Justin is the author of the USA Today bestseller How to Quiet a Hurricane, as well as Bury Your Ordinary and The Sacred Us (David C Cook). In addition to hosting Justin Kendrick: The Devoted Life Podcast, he continues to create sermon material, small group studies, and video content weekly through Vox Church. Justin and his wife, Chrisy, live with their four children in the New Haven area. To learn more about Justin, visit JustinKendrick.com.

    Niagara Frontier Radio Reading Services Podcast

    Monday - Friday Noon - 2pm

    Explore and Engage with Anam
    Why is Bernie Sanders going to lead Zohran Mamdani's public swearing-in ceremony?

    Explore and Engage with Anam

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 26, 2025 17:25


    Share your thoughts and comments by sending me a text messageS.12 E.37 Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani will soon be sworn in as the new Mayor of New York City. Reportedly, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont is going to lead Mamdani's public swearing-in ceremony. But why would Bernie Sanders lead the swearing-in when he is not from New York. What is the significant of this move? In this episode, I share my thoughts on this issue.ABOUT: Tawsif Anam is a nationally published writer, award-winning public policy professional, and speaker. He has experience serving in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors in United States and overseas. Anam earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and a Master of Public Affairs degree from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Tawsif Anam's opinions have been published by national, state, and local publications in the United States, such as USA Today, Washington Examiner, The Washington Times, The Western Journal, The Boston Globe, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin State Journal, The Capital Times, and The Dodgeville Chronicle. His writings have also appeared in major publications in Bangladesh including, but not limited to, The Daily Star and The Financial Express. Visit my website www.tawsifanam.net Visit my blog: https://tawsifanam.net/blog/ Read my published opinions: https://tawsifanam.net/published-articles/ Check out my books: https://tawsifanam.net/books/

    Explore and Engage with Anam
    Are the federal student loan borrowers facing wage garnishment?

    Explore and Engage with Anam

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 26, 2025 15:40


    Share your thoughts and comments by sending me a text messageS.12 E.38 Federal student loans are back in the news cycle. People are talking about federal student loans, because it has been reported that the Trump administration is taking action to address the problem of loan delinquency. Many people are asking: Are the federal student loan borrowers facing wage garnishment? In this episode, I discuss the matter.ABOUT: Tawsif Anam is a nationally published writer, award-winning public policy professional, and speaker. He has experience serving in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors in United States and overseas. Anam earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and a Master of Public Affairs degree from the University of Wisconsin – Madison. Tawsif Anam's opinions have been published by national, state, and local publications in the United States, such as USA Today, Washington Examiner, The Washington Times, The Western Journal, The Boston Globe, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Wisconsin State Journal, The Capital Times, and The Dodgeville Chronicle. His writings have also appeared in major publications in Bangladesh including, but not limited to, The Daily Star and The Financial Express. Visit my website www.tawsifanam.net Visit my blog: https://tawsifanam.net/blog/ Read my published opinions: https://tawsifanam.net/published-articles/ Check out my books: https://tawsifanam.net/books/

    5 Things
    Peanuts turns 75 and still speaks to the child in all of us

    5 Things

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 25, 2025 12:23


    For 75 years, Charles Schultz's Peanuts gang has reflected our humor and hope, as well as our struggle to navigate some of life's everyday curveballs. How is it that the characters he created so poignantly reflect how we experience other people and the world around us? And why do a ragtag group of comic strip kids who debuted in newspapers in 1950 post-war America, still resonate with children and adults around the world? Andrew Blauner, author of “THE PEANUTS PAPERS: Writers and Cartoonists on Charlie Brown, Snoopy & the Gang, and the Meaning of Life,” sat down with USA TODAY's The Excerpt to discuss the 75th anniversary of the Peanuts gang and its enduring impact. (This episode originally aired on October 3, 2025.)Have feedback on the show? Please send us an email at podcasts@usatoday.com. Episode transcript available here.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    Niagara Frontier Radio Reading Services Podcast

    Monday - Friday Noon - 2pm

    ADHD for Smart Ass Women with Tracy Otsuka
    Ep. 364: *Encore*: The Doctor Who Changed the ADHD Conversation

    ADHD for Smart Ass Women with Tracy Otsuka

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 24, 2025 64:55


    Tired of ADHD strategies that don't work? Here's what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signup_____Join Tracy as she breaks her women only guest rule by welcoming Dr. Edward Hallowell to Episode 106 of ADHD for Smart Ass Women. If you know anything at all about ADHD you recognize Dr. Hallowell's name as the leading authority in the field of ADHD. Dr. Hallowell is a board-certified child and adult psychiatrist, and a New York Times bestselling author. He, along with Dr. John Ratey wrote what Tracy considers to be the bible of ADHD, Driven to Distraction. Now retired from the faculty of Harvard Medical School, Dr. Hallowell has been featured on 20/20, 60 Minutes, Oprah, PBS, CNN, Today, Good Morning America, and in The New York Times, USA Today, Newsweek, Time. He is a regular columnist for ADDitude magazine, and is also the host of his weekly podcast called Distraction. Dr. Hallowell is the founder of The Hallowell Centers in Boston, New York City, San Francisco, Palo Alto, and Seattle. He lives in the Boston area with his wife and their three grown children.Dr. Hallowell shares the circumstances surrounding his ADHD diagnosis, Why he and Dr. John Ratey decided to write their new book ADHD 2.0: New Science and Essential Strategies for Thriving with Distraction. Who he wrote this book for, Why most medical professionals have ignored the strengths in ADHD for so long, His opinion on ADHD and intelligence, Exciting research around the task positive network and default mode network and how you can use them to benefit the ADHD brain, The ADHDers need to create and constantly improve their life, Why those of us with ADHD should never worry alone, Where he believes the field of ADHD research and treatment is going, Whether he believes that there's a relationship between introversion/extroversion and ADHD types, Why ADHD women have not been part of ADHD studies.Resources:Website: drhallowell.comADHD 2.0 Book: https://drhallowell.com/read/books-by-nedAmazon: ADHD 2.0: https://www.amazon.com/ADHD-2-0-EssenSend a Message: Your Name | Email | Message If this podcast helps you understand your ADHD brain, Shift helps you train it. Practice mindset work in just 10 minutes a day. Learn more at tracyotsuka.com/shift Instead of Struggling to figure out what to do next? ADHD isn't a productivity problem. It's an identity problem. That's why most strategies don't stick—they weren't designed for how your brain actually works. Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy is different. It's a patented, science-backed coaching program that helps you stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits.

    5 Things
    Dr. Eric Topol shares a new vision for living longer and better

    5 Things

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 24, 2025 14:36


    What if the second half of life could be just as healthy, active, and fulfilling as the first? Drawing on the latest science, world-renowned cardiologist and researcher Dr. Eric Topol challenges outdated ideas about aging and reveals how factors like exercise, sleep, social connection and cutting-edge AI tools can help us extend not just our lifespan—but our healthspan. Dr. Topol joins The Excerpt to share insights from his new book "Super Agers: An Evidence-Based Approach to Longevity."Have feedback on the show? Please send us an email at podcasts@USATODAY.com. Episode Transcript available hereSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    The Root of All Success with The Real Jason Duncan
    336: Why College Isn't the Only Path to Wealth (A Blue-Collar Millionaire's Truth) ft. Ken Rusk

    The Root of All Success with The Real Jason Duncan

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 24, 2025 29:56


    What if the life you want didn't require a college degree—just grit, vision, and the courage to bet on yourself? In this episode of The Root of All Success, I sit down with Ken Rusk, best-selling author of Blue Collar Cash, founder of Rusk Industries (a nine-figure construction company), and host of the Comfort, Peace, and Freedom podcast. Ken started digging ditches at just 15 years old—and never stopped designing a life on his own terms. We dive deep into: Why the belief “you must go to college to succeed” is one of the biggest lies we tell young people How blue-collar skills are creating the next generation of millionaires Why freedom, not money, is the real definition of success How empowering your people—not controlling them—unlocks massive growth Why AI will enhance, not replace, skilled trades How to design a life built around comfort, peace, and freedom (your version, not someone else's) If you're an entrepreneur, leader, or someone questioning the traditional path to success, this conversation will challenge how you think about work, wealth, and fulfillment.

    The Remarkable Leadership Podcast
    Creating Strength in Chaos with Kevin Black

    The Remarkable Leadership Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 24, 2025 35:09


    Is chaos something to fear or something we can leverage? Kevin sits down with Kevin Black to discuss why chaos isn't inherently good or bad and how leaders can prepare to succeed in it. Kevin Black explains how natural behaviors, deeply rooted in our personality and life experiences, influence our reactions to chaos and shape team dynamics. He shares his chaos model, which features a taxonomy of control outcomes, from anarchy to deliberate resistance, and how leaders can identify and respond to each stage. They also discuss the four components of constructive chaos and how mishandling these can lead a team into destructive chaos. Listen For 00:00 Introduction 00:40 Chaos can be used to your advantage 01:16 How to join the podcast live 01:59 Guest introduction: Kevin Black 02:50 Definition of chaos 03:35 Chaos comes from the perception of losing control 04:20 People experience chaos differently based on natural behaviors 05:18 Big idea of the book 07:07 Why Kevin Black wrote the book 07:56 Natural behaviors drive chaos 09:07 How natural behaviors affect reactions to chaos 10:17 Chaos dynamic explained 12:17 Control as the source of chaos 14:32 Control continuum overview 15:04 Anarchy 15:46 Undisciplined initiative 16:35 Disciplined initiative 17:11 Mechanical compliance 17:36 Malicious compliance 18:25 Deliberate resistance 19:57 Constructive vs. destructive chaos 21:01 Unity as the first requirement 22:21 Forward integration 26:00 Mission command 27:47 Trust as the highest level 28:36 Strength in chaos 29:27 Where leaders should start 30:13 Team is the measure of success 31:14 What Kevin Black does for fun 31:32 What he is reading 32:15 Where to connect with Kevin Black 33:24 Closing and Kevin's "Now what?" challenge Kevin's Story: Kevin Black is the author of Strength in Chaos: The Ultimate Leadership Blueprint for Mastering the Uncontrollable, the first book to measure chaos at the leader and team level. He is a veteran U.S. Army officer, strategic advisor, author, and founder of Chaos Studies in Leadership, a new domain exploring how leaders, strategies, and behaviors intersect under pressure. Known for his innovative use of computer wargaming and behavioral profiling, he helps organizations craft flexible strategies and build high-performing teams that thrive under pressure. Kevin's been published in Forbes and USA Today and lives in Scottsdale, Arizona, with his two Australian Cattle Dogs and an American Dingo. https://www.kevinblack.co/ https://www.thechaosbook.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinblack1999 https://www.youtube.com/c/blackmarketleadership   This Episode is brought to you by... Flexible Leadership is every leader's guide to greater success in a world of increasing complexity and chaos.    Book Recommendations Strength in Chaos: The Ultimate Leadership Blueprint for Mastering the Uncontrollable by Kevin Black  Like this? Leading Through Disruption with Tony Hunter The Disruption Mindset with Charlene Li The Upside of Disruption with Terence Mauri  

    5 Things
    The 'dirtbag' who built Patagonia — and gave it away

    5 Things

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 23, 2025 14:39


    Patagonia is worth billions. But founder Yvon Chouinard never wanted the title of billionaire. From his days as a dirtbag climber to his reluctant role as CEO, Chouinard built one of the world's most influential outdoor brands — then shocked the business world by giving it all away. Author David Gelles whose biography of Chouinard "Dirtbag Billionaire" is out now, joins The Excerpt to talk about Chouinard's unconventional life, his fight to align business with values, and what his legacy means for capitalism today. (This episode originally aired on September 11, 2025.)Have feedback on the show? Please send us an email at podcasts@USATODAY.com. Episode transcript available here.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

    The Game On Girlfriend Podcast
    312. Awakening, Abundance & Ancient Wisdom — Rewriting Your Money Story with Halle Eavelyn

    The Game On Girlfriend Podcast

    Play Episode Listen Later Dec 23, 2025 47:52


    What if money isn't as "real" as we think it is? This week, Sarah talks to spiritual coach, tour leader, and money mindset mentor Halle Eavelyn about the deep, often hidden beliefs that shape women's relationships with wealth. From a life-changing awakening in Egypt to writing The Passive Income Power Plan, Halle shares how she helps women remember their power—and step fully into it. Here's something wild: women couldn't open their own bank accounts until 1974. Today, we still receive only 3% of venture capital funding. These aren't just statistics—they're symptoms of deep programming affecting how we approach money right now. Halle had a profound moment in the dining room of a Nile cruise ship during a guided meditation. She received a download that hit every cell of her body: "You have a soul and you will never die." That spiritual awakening sparked a 30-year exploration into consciousness, intuition, and how women can reclaim their birthright to wealth. If you've been wondering why you haven't been making more money, or if you've been feeling stuck around the idea that you deserve wealth - this conversation is for you. This is episode 312 of the Game On Girlfriend podcast. I'm Sarah Walton, and I help women entrepreneurs build businesses they love through authentic sales strategies and money mindset work.   What You'll Learn Halle's unshakable spiritual awakening in Egypt—and what happened at the Temple of Philae Why money is energetic (not just emotional) The "trauma inheritance" that affects women's wealth-building How women become their own gatekeepers around funding and wealth (and how to stop) Why money is just a story we tell ourselves—and how to rewrite that story What's coming economically and why women need to prepare now (financial tsunami by 2027) Simple ways to start rewriting your money story right now Practical steps to reclaim your financial power, including passive income strategies Why Sarah loved the idea of creating small wealth circles with friends How to follow your intuition breadcrumbs from awareness through action into results   Related Episodes You Might Love Ep 307: The Grace Codes: Leading with Feminine Power https://sarahwalton.com/grace-codes-feminine-leadership-women-entrepreneurs/ Ep 263: How Your Nervous System Shapes Your Money Habits https://sarahwalton.com/nervous-system-regulation/ Ep 227: How to Clear a Money Fog https://sarahwalton.com/clear-money-fog/   Connect with Halle Eavelyn https://hallewealth.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/eavelyn https://www.facebook.com/eavelyn/  https://www.instagram.com/halle.eavelyn/  https://youtube.com/@halleeavelyn    About Halle Eavelyn Featured in Time Magazine, USA Today, and Good Morning America, Halle is a Transformational Wealth Coach, speaker, and writer who helps women clear their old patterns and beliefs so they can call in the financial power that brings freedom. Drawing on over 30 years of business experience in software, real estate, film production, and travel, Halle's work with intuitive modalities is both deep and extremely fast, with clients experiencing powerful shifts in their thinking, feeling, and behavior regarding wealth. Her latest programs include Wealth Elevation and CryptoCurious. After her awakening in Egypt, Halle wrote the spiritual travel memoir Red Goddess Rising and has led over 30 spiritual journeys up the Nile. She's also the author of 100 Ways To Be In Joy, NutriGlamorous: How To Be Beautiful Inside and Out, and her latest book, The Passive Income Power Plan: 108 Ways to Make Money While You Sleep.   Halle's Free Gift: Download "Top 10 Secrets Every Woman Needs to Know About Money" at HalleWealth.com Halle's Book: The Passive Income Power Plan: 108 Ways to Make Money While You Sleep   Free gift from Sarah Book a free 15-minute call to explore working together: https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=13047670&appointmentType=34706781 Ready to shift from chasing to receiving in your business? Book your call with Sarah today and discover how she can help you scale with soul, strategy, and sanity.   Work with Sarah Apply for The Abundance Academy group coaching program https://sarahwalton.com/abundance-academy/   Connect with Sarah Website: https://sarahwalton.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesarahwalton/ You can check out our podcast interviews on YouTube, too! http://bit.ly/YouTubeSWalton Thank you so much for listening. I'm honored that you're here, and would be grateful if you could leave a quick review on Apple Podcasts by clicking here, scrolling to the bottom, and clicking "Write a review." Then, we'll get to inspire even more people! (If you're not sure how to leave a review, you can watch this quick tutorial.)   About Sarah Walton Sarah Walton is a business coach specializing in helping women entrepreneurs overcome internal barriers to success. With a background in trauma-informed coaching and nervous system regulation, she takes a holistic approach that addresses both mindset and tactical business skills. Featured on The Today Show and speaking at women's conferences worldwide, Sarah has helped hundreds of women build profitable, sustainable businesses aligned with their values while healing the deeper blocks that keep them playing small. She's the creator of The Money Mindset Course, The Abundance Academy, and Effortless Sales, and the host of the 5-star-rated Game On Girlfriend® Podcast, becoming the go-to source for women who want to build businesses that honor both their ambition and their nervous system's need for safety.