100,000!
The Best of Both Worlds Podcast has surpassed 100,000 downloads as of this morning! Laura and I are thrilled that so many have taken the time to listen and spread the word about our podcast. We’re 25 episodes in (we hit our 6 month anniversary in February), and have so much more we want to share!
I have had some great feedback from listeners, both via the blog and in real life. We hope to showcase more guests and tackle some heavily-requested topics (childcare topics seem to be a perennial hit!) in the next 6 months or so. One of the most common requests is to feature more guests with different kinds of schedules + career types — and I think this week’s guest Leanne is an excellent example. I really loved talking to Leanne and found her perspective refreshing and inspiring. She’s a music teacher, writer, and overall amazing human being.
listen here, or wherever you get your ‘casts
I never imagined this project taking off the way it has, and am so grateful for all of the support we have had so far! It’s a lot of fun, and incredibly rewarding to have this new avenue for expression and discourse. So, thank you to anyone out there listening! And if you have Q&As or topic suggestions for us, bring ’em on via comment, Instagram, or email.
I’ll share a list of my current favorite podcasts in an upcoming post, but in the meantime — any new favorites to share?
32 Comments
As a listener who doesn’t have kids but wants them in the next few years, I’d love to hear a podcast aimed at that audience – what advice do you two have? What did you try to do before you had children – on both the "bucket list" and preparation/education fronts?
Woohoo, congratulations! It’s such a great podcast and I look forward to listening every Tuesday morning!
Congratulations on this podcast milestone! I am in the middle of and enjoying this week’s episode. I know this podcast is about the "best" of both worlds, but I’d love to listen to a podcast theme along the lines of "getting real about what’s hard." What challenges have you faced, logistically or emotionally, as working moms? How have you or are you managing such challenges? You could also bring on guests who have talked about low points and how they have been overcome or managed (e.g., postpartum depression, childbirth injuries, sleep deprivation, returning to work before one is ready out of financial necessity, managing expectations at work about presence and face time in the office versus your obligations on the home front, trying to figure out when to make a career move when you are in your childbearing years, and challenges that older kids present).
Congratulations on your milestone! I am a long time reader of your blog and actually Laura’s as well. And although I enjoy reading each of your perspectives on your respective blogs, the podcast has been kind of hit or miss for me. I remember being excited at your idea for a podcast centering around women who have traditional out of the house jobs and children since there is a lack of that in the podcast world. However, I feel like very little of that has actually been the focus of the podcast. Perhaps its just not that interesting to talk about when you tried to design episodes? I feel, at times, by pulling in big name guests it takes away from the realities of the more average working mom (even "high earners"). It’s easy to get the "big" name perspectives (they write books on it). What I would love are more everyday sorts of thoughts from people who aren’t pushing anything. Just living it.
Obviously, though your podcast has appealed to many! And it is your podcast so my feelings are really not that important. I just thought I would put out my thoughts as someone who has been looking forward to his since it was an idea and has seen its reality in fruition. Best of luck!
I definitely understand this feedback – thank you! I do think maybe a few episodes (like the current one with Leanne) would appeal to you but not some of the others. Admittedly it has been really fun to interview the more’ famous’ guests, though, and so I have to say I enjoy (selfishly perhaps!) the mixed format.
nice post
The comments seem more contentious than unusual, which strikes me as very strange, given your guest Leanne Sowul. She is such a positive force, and her perspective was a breath of fresh air.
June, I just wanted to say thank you– this compliment made my day! 🙂
Congrats on the huge milestone! That is awesome and I can’t wait to listen to future episodes. I really enjoyed this one, in particular, because I’m always looking to hear from people who aren’t necessarily super high earners with a high earning spouse as well. It definitely changes the equation and the conversation.
I’m gearing up to move to a new city soon – a big, across several states move. It was daunting before, but is even more intimidating now that I have a baby! I know you have experience in this with your move to Florida, so any tips about moving to a new place with young kids would be great.
ooh we sort of talked about this today (upcoming friendship episode) but have more to say! will save for future question on the podcast!
You may need a guest for this one, but I would be interested in an episode on navigating periods of unemployment and job searching with a partner and/or children to consider and care for.
One situation that a lot of my friends have been in is when their spouse move for a job. Not only do they leave a job they’re happy with, there’s a significant delay due to the requirement for a new state license or bar acceptance. (I know state licensure applies to several professions, but I’m mostly familiar with the health and law fields.) So while there is one person in the family earning money (aka, there IS financial security), the other person struggles with lack of professional fulfillment and the mixed feelings/guilt of having student loan obligations that they are unable to actively contribute money to pay off.
YES great topic – and yes we would need a guest with good experience! I have a feeling we could find someone, though – this has to be common!
Congratulations! I will confess – I didn’t think I’d enjoy the podcast as much as I do 🙂 Here’s to the next 100 000 downloads 🙂
I used to read Julia’s blog at My Life in Transition. She had a "moms make it work" series that was really interesting http://julia-transition.blogspot.ca/2014/01/moms-…. Maybe she could be a podcast guest!
I loved her blog too! I was on it once 🙂 ("making it work")
I don’t have kids – unfortunately blew that timeline while building a career and waiting for "the perfect time." And yet…I love your podcast. Find the kid stuff interesting but can definitely apply some of the ideas to my stage in life (long hours, aging and ill family members.) my big question for you, and I’d love to see some blog posts on the topic, is energy management. This is always the open question I have after reading LVK – where in the world does the energy come from? I feel like collapsing most days and weekends are a blur of work catch up, laundry and errands, then more desire to collapse.
I love the podcast and have relistened to each episode many times. I love the balance of both your and Laura’s approaches – both highly organised but approaching it from different angles. I have similar relationship with my best friend. Which brings me onto my topic suggestions – making time for your existing friendships and navigating making new friends with other parents as your kid starts into the world of play dates. I know you said combining play dates with socialising was one of your successes of the year. Thank you for podcast and I look forward to if you manage to find time for your E book.
I love your podcast! It’s really opened my eyes to not having the mom guilt and taking more time for myself even when it seems like there is no time to give to yourself. It’s so important! I also love how you Sarah, split "me time" with you and your husband on weekends. I’ve just started doing this with my husband and it has helped so much. Other topic suggestions: what to look for in a preschool, how you handle discipline (specifically toddler years), how you handle keeping toys organized.
LOVED this episode! Leanne has such a fresh take on parenting/teaching. Her passion for her work was palpable and I appreciated her positivity towards the early morning wakeups!
Favorite podcasts right now: BoBW, Productivity Paradox, Hippocratic Hustle, Circulation on the Run, NEJM, JACC
I also love Audible and currently I am going through House of God and The Book of Joy (Dalai Lama/Desmond TuTu). They could not be more different 🙂
In case you hadn’t already tried this- I highly recommend trying to pump during your commute to work. It is AMAZING to get that out of the way so that I have one less pump session to make time for during the day.
I have questions of my own about the pumping on commute thing. First, I have to kind of manually massage my breasts to get the pump to work well for me. I get much less without doing this. Not sure what I’d yield on a 35 min commute just passively pumping. I know this isn’t true for all! Second, the timing — I plan to feed G right before I leave, so I’m not sure I’d get much out, especially if I also pump around 5 am when I’m the most full? I will say that if I could make it work it would be great b/c then I could just pump at noon and maybe 3 pm at work (much better than 3x!) but I’m just not sure I’d yield as much as I would otherwise.
Double post! I have a question- when do you find time to read papers/journals/textbooks to keep current in your field? I had kid #1 as a 3rd year resident, #2 as a 2nd year fellow. I do lots of learning in fellowship via protected time for didactic conferences, but still struggle to find time/discipline (maybe more the latter? here I am posting twice on your blog at 10:30pm….) outside of my clinical duties to read.
EXCELLENT question b/c it’s a work in progress for me too. However, I think between email lists that I belong to, attending conferences, preparing to give my own talks (gave 2 this year), and reading based on specific clinical questions I have, it DOES add up (researching what I do do in XYZ case, what are current guidelines for X scenario, etc). But I do less formalized learning (like, just going through a journal or answering questions). I miss it and wish I had time for more. But, I’ll get to do more (bc I have to prepare to teach!) now that I am back doing GME! Board prep is another forced learning ‘opportunity’ too!
I was admittedly one of the few negative nellies in the comments when you announced that Laura would be your co-host, and ultimately I have ended up enjoying the podcast more that I expected!! I can see how her connections in the "productivity" sphere have probably helped you guys land some big-name guests so far! And you guys have a nice rapport.
That being said, I would encourage Laura to continue to work on being open to other people’s experiences and opinions…sometimes she comes across as pretty dismissive/derisive of things she herself wouldn’t do (even of you! for example on making your planner or goals pretty).
And I still REALLY encourage you both to just constantly check your privilege and to mention that in your episodes. Not that you constantly have to caveat "well I know we have it easy" or to undermine your own success, but just an occasional acknowledgment that not only are you both affluent white ladies…but also your husbands are both the biggest earners in your family and probably allow your schedule some flexibility that otherwise you would not have. Obviously the calculus looks different for single-parent families, but I would also bet it looks a lot different for families where the woman is the biggest earner as well.
Hoping to continue to hear more from women in different careers (especially ones with big time consuming, non-WFH, non-part-time jobs!) and women from different income strata and diverse backgrounds as well!
Excellent suggestions and good point. I find myself using my residency days to think of options that might work in other situations, but it”s true I only had one kid then! We are definitely hoping to have more people on like you describe – one is being interviewed that fits that description this week (Attourney , husband also works but I think she is likely higher earner).
Is it LagLiv? 😊 I found her blog via your three kid post and really love it.
I wonder if any told Stephen Covey or David Allen that they had to "check their privilege".
David Allen writes about a productivity METHOD, which is not at all what Sarah or Laura purport to do. They talk about having the "best of both worlds" and explicitly reference both work AND home. All I’m asking them to do is remind themselves that "hey, maybe this advice to just outsource everything doesn’t apply to lower income women" or "maybe I can have this flexible schedule because I’m not the sole/main breadwinner in the family." "Check your privilege" is actually a useful concept for reminding people that their experience might not be everyone’s; it is NOT just an instant dismissal of what they are saying (even though I realize that some people use it that way these days).
Stephen Covey was a Mormon writing about traditional male-dominated business productivity in the 1980s, so no, I imagine he didn’t get told that a lot, but that was 30 years ago at this point and I think we can aspire to do better than that.
I will confess that as the primary breadwinner in my marriage, and now the sole breadwinner, I have been annoyed by some of Laura’s writing. And I do think there is quite a lot of unchecked or unacknowledged assumptions that run through her writing, much more than Sarah’s. However, the only thing that annoys me more than this sometimes cluelessness, is the idea that they must "constantly" check their privilege and acknowledge their fortunate position in their world before offering any advice. Sarah was born a white female. However, she earned that medical degree.
I just wrote this above, but to reiterate, I do NOT mean "check your privilege" as a dismissal of their accomplishments. I specifically said in my comment that I don’t expect them to caveat everything with a mention of their privilege–when I say "constantly," what I mean is that they SHOULD be constantly challenging their assumptions about whether their advice would work for everybody, or if their listeners might be facing more hurdles than what they’ve experienced. I think that makes them responsible podcast hosts as well as more empathetic writers. Otherwise, they may as well call it "Best of Both Worlds (If You’re An Affluent White Lady With a Big Job Husband)."
Congratulations on your milestone; that’s huge and wonderful and so exciting! I found a lot of these comments interesting as well. Keep on doing your thing! You’re rocking it!