Polly Mertens: 0:23

hey, superstars, welcome back polly here and sam what’s?

Samantha Pruitt: 0:27

up beautiful humans oh my goodness, my dear what is today our six month anniversary of the everyday awesome project podcast yes, I think we need a high five just for that. So we made it six months right on, right on, and this started.

Polly Mertens: 0:47

You know the birth of this was more than six months ago, but let’s say we went live six months ago and what a beautiful ride, huh, totally so. We want to invite you in today to share with you what this ride has looked like for Polly and Sam on the backend, and how we got here and where we are now, like what’s real for us and what’s new for us and what we’re still open to.

Samantha Pruitt: 1:10

And even a little bit what it looks like for our audience Absolutely and the impact and things like that. Yeah. Yeah, so let’s start with some fun stuff, which is the why the origin story, the origin story Right. Where did this come from?

Polly Mertens: 1:24

And which is the why the origin story, the origin story right, right this comfort and tell each of us like what was it like for you? What was it like for me too? So, yeah, what’s the why? Why? Why did we start this? Why did? Why did we do?

Samantha Pruitt: 1:33

this so in case you don’t know about poly and I in any other capacity, and this is just how you’re finding us. We don’t live in the same town and we don’t hang in the same hood every day and do all the things Like. We have a friendship of many years going back. A lot of it was around business and being professionals in the space, and then also we have a lot of connectedness and camaraderie around endurance, sports and adventure and things of that nature. So we’ve been friends for many years. This creative project, however, was something that we came out of the pandemic. We went back on with our lives trying to get normalized as possible. Many changes happened for all of humanity including ourselves.

Samantha Pruitt: 2:24

Yeah, relationships ending, moving, things like that, yeah, and we kind of like circumnavigated back to a connection, reigniting our friendship and doing some fun shenanigans together, which we strongly advise everybody to do. Oh, all the time, yeah, all the time. And in some of those conversations we started talking about a stronger desire individually for more creativity in our lives. I had had a previous podcast and have done some writing. I love to write and have done some other creative types of things. You are an artist by just birthright and nature of who you are in the world.

Samantha Pruitt: 3:01

Your life is art, just birthright in nature of who you are in the world, your life is art, so I think it was for me in those conversations where we came to should we do a shared creative project? What would it be? And the podcast was the most natural fit, based on the fact that we’re coaches and teachers and guides you said it so elegantly. Here’s my little thing, yours was more chaotic than that.

Polly Mertens: 3:25

Well, I feel like mine was a little bit more of a bang on the side of the head.

Samantha Pruitt: 3:29

Okay.

Polly Mertens: 3:30

Is the moment how it felt, or there was a bang on the side of the head and then the opportunity for us to work together and do this came out of that. So a little back story. So we’re sitting here, our six-month anniversary is mid-2024. And in spring of 2023, we had talked about, in 2023 we’re going to do a PCT Pacific Crest Trail, which is a long trail in California and into Oregon whatever. Do a backpacking trip. Neither one of us backpackers we’re like let’s do a backpacking trip. So that was in spring of 2023. And we’re like okay, we’ll do that in the fall of 2023. Well, I think we should practice a little bit. You know like do we have any? Do you have a backpack? I don’t have a backpack.

Samantha Pruitt: 4:13

do you have a tag, nothing by the way.

Polly Mertens: 4:14

Nothing, yes, but that idea sounds good, let’s do that, and so we. You, I think you initiated hey, let’s go to the santa monica mountains, which is outside of Los Angeles, and do this. And then you enlisted a local friend at the time, mandy, bless her soul, and she was courageous enough to go on a weekend jaunt with us through the Santa Monica Mountains. And we survived and we lived and it was great, and you know just us being on the adventure.

Polly Mertens: 4:42

Yeah, it was fantastic and then. So that was the summer, and then we led into the summer of 2023. I had a dear friend and mentor who had been battling leukemia for over 10 years, not battling, succeeding, and then it came back and then it turned to brain cancer and so lost her in I think, august, july or August of last year, and Mandy, bless her soul, took her life and so I think the two of them I remember us in like the late summer just going. Life is freaking short. What the hell Are we getting up to the things that we want to get up to?

Polly Mertens: 5:25

And a wake-up call I mean Mandy, you know, taking her and we just spent, you know, a couple months earlier time with her and not seeing this happening, or that we didn’t see that coming. The extreme pain, yeah, the extreme pain. I felt like coming out of the summer, I was kind of in this, not shock, but in that grief and the what is life for and time is precious and stuff like that, and you and I were both like damn it, we’ve got to get up to stuff.

Samantha Pruitt: 5:54

Yeah.

Polly Mertens: 5:55

And I remember you saying like I, I how I remember it was dude, what about like a podcast? And I just was like, yes, I was like time to hang out with Samantha Pruitt more. Yes, yes, yes. And I didn’t even know what that was going to look like at the time. I think that was like July or August or something. We came up with that and then we actually didn’t do the PCT.

Samantha Pruitt: 6:18

Life caught in the way.

Polly Mertens: 6:19

Life navigated us into other pathways, but that was my kind of origin story. Life navigated us into other pathways, but that was my kind of origin story. It was like, okay, let’s do a podcast, and then what the hell and when? And I think we actually wanted to start it in the fall of 2023. But it was just too chaotic.

Samantha Pruitt: 6:33

A lot of other things going on.

Polly Mertens: 6:35

Yeah, so things prevented that. And then we said, okay, put a hard stake in the ground, january 1.

Samantha Pruitt: 6:42

And you remember, me with the hard stuff I’m like we’re doing this January 1. Program project manager, organized, everything is structured.

Polly Mertens: 6:48

This thing is happening by the first. No, it’s not going to be the second or the fifth.

Samantha Pruitt: 6:53

I know she held my feet to the fire. I was like, well, yeah.

Polly Mertens: 6:58

So we got busy on it, we did.

Samantha Pruitt: 7:00

And we had very different ideas, super, respectively, and fun and creatively, because, as I’ve said before, you know you’re the woo-woo like I’m the grounded earth being or whatever. We have this very different way of being in the world and it’s incredibly complimentary, yeah, and very powerful when you get these kind of like-minded humans around you and with you on collaborative projects.

Polly Mertens: 7:27

Um, but, and we went to a weekend retreat, we took ourselves on a little retreat, we took ourselves on a weekend retreat.

Samantha Pruitt: 7:33

We went to podcast boot camp and creative, you know.

Polly Mertens: 7:37

So we have both worked with businesses and our own business and stuff and helping people. You know, with that incubation period of like okay, mission, mission, vision, values, what, do you what?

Samantha Pruitt: 7:48

what is this thing Like you?

Polly Mertens: 7:49

know, not like what are we going to call ourselves?

Samantha Pruitt: 7:51

You know, it’s the work we do with others. We did it with ourselves and we have done this many times in our lives, but with this project together, for the first time, we did it together. That was super fun and it was so fun.

Polly Mertens: 8:00

And it was playful and fun.

Samantha Pruitt: 8:02

It was three days of serious creative energy, but also really looking at this as a reality. Taking on a project like this, a public-facing project, is a commitment, and we were making a commitment to each other, but to the work into what we would put into the world.

Polly Mertens: 8:26

Yeah, because I think the birth for me, the birth story of this was not out of pain but out of witnessing, you know, just that presence, you know so.

Polly Mertens: 8:36

You know we’re both in our 50s and I say often in some of the things that we do on social media and stuff is like, you know, we’re closer to the finish line than we are to the starting line of our marathon of life. And so as that finish line gets closer, you get more reflective. You know, and am I doing meaningful things in the world and not just working in the world or getting by? And neither one of us are into survival, we’re into thriving, right. And so that birth story. And then we went into this creative and we’re like fun and play and boy, I didn’t know what the hell where this was going to go either.

Samantha Pruitt: 9:09

And we coach humans in a lot of different capacities and modalities, and so we wanted to bring that work that we’re so passionate about and it’s one of the other things that we have so deeply in common is we strongly believe in our impact upon humanity. We have something to deliver to the world. Everybody does, yeah, and so this was going to be a form, an expression of that yeah, and we didn’t have.

Polly Mertens: 9:33

And I think, you know, one of the things we want to be clear on is we didn’t have all the answers, we didn’t have the whole world that’s kind of the funny part about it.

Samantha Pruitt: 9:41

Well, there’s many funny things, but what I well loved so many and I still continue to love so many things about it. That’s why we’re all in on it, like we’re not even. You know, there’s been, for me, no negative experiences. So we’ve had a lot of growth and we’ve had a lot of, just like, incredible experiences, and sometimes it’s just us talking to each other and so let’s talk a little bit about. Well, actually it’s always just us talking to each other.

Polly Mertens: 10:13

We have guests. We have guests.

Samantha Pruitt: 10:25

But so the podcast and what your expectations were. What did that look like back in the day, six months ago?

Polly Mertens: 10:34

um, you know, that’s interesting. I would say the technical side of my brain focused more on because I’ve launched online programs and I’ve been through the how do I record all the videos, how do I develop the content, how do I build a class? I’ve taught in-person workshops and 12-week classes and online classes and stuff, so I was more about how are we going to build this and you have a technology based background.

Samantha Pruitt: 11:06

To some extent, your business comes from that. You were also a teacher.

Polly Mertens: 11:09

Like you, have so many other of these skills that Samantha Pruitt doesn’t have, and you’ve got the marketing right, you know one of the things that we little, uh, one of our parts in the creative weekend retreat was what are the roles and responsibilities Like? There’s a lot of this stuff to do and building a business and building the plane and getting it off the ground.

Samantha Pruitt: 11:30

And what are you good at? What am I good at?

Polly Mertens: 11:31

Exactly, and so that’s where I think the vision for me is, as we looked at our roles of like, okay, what does what? What do two people so far in this entity, this company, do? And it was like, oh, you’re good at that. Okay, you, you clearly take on the social media. You’ve got the voice, you’ve got the creativity to express us. You’ve got the experience way more experience in the marketing of a podcast and other people and whatnot in your own brand, and I was like that clearly should be your. You had that up and I’m your support. You know we go back and forth in this right, so, you know, in the production, let’s call it. So when you had done your previous podcast, I think you had a support. I think Travis was your support in kind of the technology if you will.

Polly Mertens: 12:14

And so I was like a lot of my vision was oh, I need to step into this role and what do I need to learn to get this produced and get it out into the world? And I’ve built websites and stuff. So that’s. Most of my vision was mechanical. I would say producer role, yeah, producer role and co-host and co-host and the. Where is this?

Samantha Pruitt: 12:37

gonna go. I was just expectations.

Polly Mertens: 12:38

yeah, like, I think, um, I think and this goes, I think, a little bit would say to who we still see ourselves as is, if this becomes a world-recognized brand, awesome, we’re making a huge impact. If people tune in and our work in the world goes that big, we’re on board for that. If it stays boutique and it stays talking to the people that intimately know us, or we can touch more, you know, like in your circle. Yeah, our core circle, so be it.

Samantha Pruitt: 13:10

Right.

Polly Mertens: 13:11

So my vision wasn’t. Oh, if this isn’t, you know, like I have a friend, she’s like I want to impact 10 million people and get 50,000 downloads and I’m like, wow, you know, I never had.

Samantha Pruitt: 13:21

More power to you.

Polly Mertens: 13:22

Yeah, so I think one of the things we talked about is, I would say, who we are in the world is like. If there’s a bell curve of, like you know, societies in the top of the bell curve or the bulk of people, we’re definitely out in those outer layers, you know, and so I didn’t have the expectation we need to be in that bell curve. We need to get the growth, the money, the subscriber base, whatever. It was more about for me, spending time with you and us having conversations that matter, that people can hear right, having an impact through our voice, through our life, through the people that we find doing awesome things in the world, just being themselves, if you will. That was more of my vision is be true to bringing everyday awesome out into the world, and what we share, I think, in our conversations is awesome. Who we are are awesome, and the people we’ve talked to and what we’ll talk to, they’re awesome as well. How about you?

Samantha Pruitt: 14:20

Sure, I remember there were some periods in the beginning of working out the kinks, if you will, and getting some handle around all the moving parts and pieces that are required to produce something like this and then put it out into the world, where we attempted different models together. We were very open about like let’s try doing it like this. Let’s talk about the first episode. Yes, flashback to the first episode. The first episode. We were so thrilled to be like even doing it right. We were like two little kids, like we um, so we took ourselves out to the middle of the desert.

Polly Mertens: 15:03

Well, first we like, did our not did our hair, like you know, but we like put on a little bit of makeup. We dressed up a little bit in our tried to make a set. You know, like, whatever I was, like where can we do this?

Samantha Pruitt: 15:13

And you know, because we don’t have a studio. We’re going to put that up on YouTube, by the way, because people will be like, oh, that’s that first episode. So we did have pretty strongly an idea that it would be video and audio. That’s what we thought in the beginning. Yeah, yeah.

Samantha Pruitt: 15:27

And as much as I resisted putting even on makeup or putting on and it’s not like I don’t respect those things, it’s just not how I operate in the world on the regular so you and I kind of working through that and then going out into the space, setting it up and videotaping and whatever, and we decided the subject matter since it was the beginning of the year and you were taking on this project for yourself in terms of a reading for the year. You know we’re both big book fans. The pivot year. Brianna Weiss, right? Yeah, that was the first episode, right, and little did we know the impact it would actually have on our entire body of work.

Polly Mertens: 16:11

Yeah, wow, and I think you know let’s double click on that, because it’s like sometimes you don’t know, you know, like life is a bit of a scavenger hunt. You go over here and you meet this person and you go over to this thing and sometimes it looks like a detour or a setback or a why am I talking to this person, or why did this come into my life, or what you know whatnot. And I think now we can look back. You know what is it Steve jobs is, is you can, you can connect the dots looking backwards, and I think that was a dot connector for us to where we’re going, and we’ll talk about that. But you know that was definitely and even our tagline. You know which we were like.

Polly Mertens: 16:49

Oh, we should have like a little tagline, opener or whatever, which is and we’ll say, say it now, but we say it at every one is how your life feels is more important than how it looks. Yeah, right, and we still believe in that and yeah, even double down on it.

Samantha Pruitt: 17:02

So which speaks to vision and expectations versus reality. Yeah, right, so you go into new relationships, new jobs, new projects, new experiences on this lifelong journey with generally some kind of vision and expectations, and that can be great and wonderful and powerful, right. But you do need to course, correct as needed, have awareness around what’s working, what’s not working, and really, for I, it always was that core thing that we have. Does this feel right to us? How it looks is not relevant. Does this feel right? Does this feel right?

Samantha Pruitt: 17:41

And we would have those conversations and we very quickly realized that the videotaping of us and how we appeared was completely irrelevant, meant nothing to us, was not important whatsoever and we were detached from it. So why were we trying to share that with our audience? It didn’t feel authentic. We moved away from it very quickly. And then also just how we would tape our episodes and how we would speak to each other or our guests had to be completely authentic, completely real. These are in real time conversations you and I have been having for years and years and years, and part of this coming together as a creative project was like, wow, we could share some of this with the world.

Polly Mertens: 18:29

Yeah, and I think you know what we realized also is the you know all of the things that we’re getting in the way of the authenticness, right, and one of the things I think you and I have learned and are evolving is if there’s resistance, yeah, there can be some resistance, but how can we shed the resistance to?

Polly Mertens: 18:45

You know, like it’s sort of like fine tuning on a piano or an instrument. You know when the sound is pure, it’s got less resistance to it, right, and or like light goes through air when there’s not, you know, chemicals in the air. Or you know, right, yeah, and so like, what’s the most pure message? Right, and it wasn’t. I mean, I think at the time we did, we’re like, oh, let’s get this on YouTube, cause we would like to have those audiences or have people see us and know us and stuff, not for how we looked, but just spreading the message, if you will. And I mean there’s so many platforms. Yeah, the time, the time suck, the energy suck, we were noticing is like this isn’t the pure message or this. This is distracting from the purity of what our energy wants to flow.

Samantha Pruitt: 19:33

You know, like it was getting in the way. You know, what’s so important I want to drop in here is we could have easily said and, by the way, this happens all the time, I’ve done this, you’ve done this, humans do this quite frequently Well, it’s not going to be perfect, it’s not going to look a certain way, people aren’t going to respond a certain way. People aren’t going to respond a certain way. It won’t be quote unquote successful air quotes. So we should just stop. Obviously it’s not going to work, because if we couldn’t do it perfectly right, as it’s supposed to be in the world, ha ha ha then we should stop the project.

Polly Mertens: 20:10

What did we do?

Samantha Pruitt: 20:12

We pivoted.

Polly Mertens: 20:13

Well, and I think that’s where creators, people who are.

Samantha Pruitt: 20:16

We don’t give up.

Polly Mertens: 20:18

Well, so you know, and I think you know, we’re in our 50s now, so there’s many experiences, whether it’s in business relationships not functional in the beginning, making them more workable, or, you know, training, like you know, I just experienced, you know, with my six-month Ironman journey it was messy in the beginning and constant adaptation, constant adaptation I mean, that’s evolution Right.

Polly Mertens: 20:41

Constant evolution Right right and we’re a stand for that. Like, just because something’s going to be awkward, hard, unknown, uncomfortable, not pretty, not perfect, it’s like, if it’s a yes, if it’s like, oh, you should do that thing, ok, well, just go in. You know, as you know, in hypnotherapy, one of the things that I’ve studied and understand about people is we forget how, as children, we have this curious learning brain. We’re totally open for I don’t, I don’t understand language and I don’t speak well. And parents, you know, correct you or whatever. Or kids, you know they make forts and they fall down. You know it doesn’t have to be like I’m gonna build a skyscraper, right, and we get into adulthood and we forget the learning is messed up, it’s not perfect, you can’t start it.

Polly Mertens: 21:30

Yeah, yeah, yeah, so that’s just for sure so one of those is like lean into the unknown, yeah lean into if it feels good like if it feels good enough to go. Oh, yeah, I have energy for that. I want to do that, like, yeah, I’m a yes for this. Don’t know how it’s all going to turn out.

Samantha Pruitt: 21:45

Lean into the unknown of that, okay, well, you know, as you know, as my you know mentor and be flexible yes, be nimble, be willing to adapt, be willing to try new things, be willing to shed expectations yeah and preconceived ideas, whether they came from your crazy head or somebody else’s.

Polly Mertens: 22:06

Totally.

Samantha Pruitt: 22:07

Let it go, totally Let it go.

Polly Mertens: 22:09

And I think you know one of the things we talked about is you and I make great play partners. You know like we have a sense of adventure. We’re okay not doing it perfectly. Let’s see how this goes. A workability you know, workability, yeah, one of the things we didn’t talk about in the beginning, when we had that retreat, was like we created some agreements and roles and responsibilities was like okay. Well, there’s 10 things that need to get done right, okay, I’ll do that, yeah, yeah roles, respond and there’s like little agreements like, okay, we’ll do this and we’ll do these.

Polly Mertens: 22:38

How often? And, oh my gosh, finding people in your life, yes, right, yes, finding yes, those people, whether it’s unknown now or people that are in your life already, uh-huh, that will play with you in the realms that you want to play with and double down on them.

Samantha Pruitt: 22:55

It comes from a place of values. We have shared values. We go there completely different we are different. We’re so all of us, every one of us, uniquely different, but that shared values is the foundation of all things. Great, all things great, true? Yeah? So because we had that at our core and we were honest about it, we connected on it, we shared that the vibration grew and grew and grew and finding those people that you have shared.

Polly Mertens: 23:29

You know so when, when you find unstoppable yes, yeah, right, and you and I’ve been episodes on like teams and when they get dysfunction is like there’s no buy-in because the values are out of alignment or different things, you know, but a lot of it.

Samantha Pruitt: 23:42

Value misalignment is a big piece of the dysfunction A hundred percent. Yeah.

Polly Mertens: 23:46

And so that’s what you know when you don’t do it. I mean, you know, like we said, we didn’t do it for the looking good or like, what will this look like and we get 10 million fans or something like that? It was like we have a shared values. We feel good about this cause, this mission. Do we have the bandwidth, do we have the energy for it? Does it feel like a? Yes, great, let’s get. Let’s just get, get it going.

Samantha Pruitt: 24:12

And it was. You know, you don’t have to see the whole staircase, let’s just start taking some action. Okay, what do we do first? Well, I want to talk about next, just to transition a little bit of how fun it was to get the feedback from the world.

Samantha Pruitt: 24:20

So we’re not saying that we didn’t care, sure, sure, we are all about humans. Yeah, impact upon positive impact upon humanity is why we literally exist in the world. So of course, we cared about humans. That means you people listening. But how fun was it when we started to put ourselves out into the space in a different way than you know people who knew us were accustomed and then to get that feedback. What was that like for you?

Polly Mertens: 24:49

yeah, unnerving. No, no, I mean, you know, I, you know, you know we’ve been talking recently. So one of the things I’m studying right now is human design gene keys, and so it categorizes me or part of my traits or whatever. Is this hermit right? And so it’s like, oh shit, being out in the world more you know I need to be seen on social media, right, right.

Polly Mertens: 25:11

So it’s just I’m. You know, I don’t quote put. You know, I’m not super flashy or trying to be known for something or seen for something, so that was a being seen moment. You might say being seen, being seen and people saying, oh, wow, check you guys. You know that sounds, or I’m enjoying this and whatnot. Um, I guess validation, but I don’t seek validation. So, um, I just love you know.

Polly Mertens: 25:40

One of the things I said to myself many, many years ago when I got conscious about life and purpose and stuff like that and started wanting to help people in coaching was you know, I want to grow myself to be a big enough rock that the when I land in the pool or the pond, it makes a big ripple, nice, right. So. So growing my ripple size or growing my impact on people in a positive way, as you said. So these were the positive ripples, right. And when I’ve done coaching or teaching or just cause work, you know, around animals and stuff in the past, often it looks like people in my area come to me years later and say I took your class and that was five years ago or whatever, and wow, this is the impact it had on me and I’m like whoa, that’s so cool. So these little claps, or whatever from our audience, if you will, was reflections.

Samantha Pruitt: 26:35

Yeah, how about you? How about you? Yeah, and it’s interesting because, as you’re saying that and I was thinking about some of the things we went through together in this growth curve we’ve been on, was the public, new people and existing relationships or known entities to you did mirror back for you many times. You know, this is actually who I’ve always known you to be in the world. Wow, and you’re like, oh yeah, check it out. So it’s a little um, I don’t know if they were claps, necessarily, they were more like, or what I witnessed you going through was a reawakening. That’s always been there. You’ve known that about yourself. It’s who you are and in your deep core, that’s absolutely one thousand percent. Nothing new, but it’s like you were like oh, I fell asleep for a minute, yeah, and I forgot about that.

Samantha Pruitt: 27:24

Yeah, yeah, who I really am in this particular um part, part of me, or?

Polly Mertens: 27:29

aspect or public facing piece.

Samantha Pruitt: 27:31

How about you? Yeah, for me it was a continuation of what I thrive on, which is connection to other humans, and so having touch points, conversations, feedback moments, sharings, etc. Like feeling connected to bigger and more and expansive, was the experience that I had after coming out of making some career change and shifts. My world was very large for a long period of time, meaning I touched a lot of humans and I was big in the space, and then it kind of shrunk down during the pandemic. It did for all of us but my own personal, and so then it was like a reopening again. It’s like, oh yeah, those are my people, let’s share with my people.

Samantha Pruitt: 28:24

So, connection for me connection.

Polly Mertens: 28:26

Yeah, as I pick what was coming for me as a metaphor for you is like you walk around in the world with your hand up to give high fives to people, like that’s just how you go in the world, and like, and then there was people there.

Samantha Pruitt: 28:37

You’re like oh, hey, yeah, you know, and it was like there was people to high five me back.

Polly Mertens: 28:40

The high fives were happening, you were like yeah, you, and like like the comeback moment or something like that, like back.

Samantha Pruitt: 28:53

I’m back. You know didn’t was never there, but not not there, but like the high-fiving moment back with your people and it’s the personal expression that I got to come back around to re-express, reignite definitely like spark back up and like create the inferno once again of like who I am in the world and an evolution, because you’re for you.

Polly Mertens: 29:10

The podcast that you had done for years was very niche Not niche, I mean but it was around sports and adventure which was what you are still, but you were really.

Samantha Pruitt: 29:21

I was full submersion. Yeah, yeah.

Polly Mertens: 29:23

For a long long time. And now it’s like who am I now Right, and you’re still that, and Right and still that and right and yeah, yeah.

Samantha Pruitt: 29:36

So an evolution of that, I love it. I love it. So, getting into the work, right. So when we think about the work, what we’re doing with the everyday awesome project, it’s a project. For a reason we didn’t just call it the everyday awesome or everyday awesome, you know, like we came to the word project. Yeah, because that’s the work. Yeah, it’s never it’s never finished, just like our life right, you know it’s, it’s a work in progress.

Polly Mertens: 29:59

It’s like a piece of art. You know you’re constantly building, yeah, you’re, you’re adding to it, you’re tweaking it, you’re fine, tuning it, you’re um, looking at it from a different angle and is it done? You know, like, so I think, uh, the project, part of it, because we could have called it the everyday awesome show. You know, right, we bounced that around. It was like, oh, the everyday awesome show, which is kind of what it is, but how it related to who we are and what we’re up to in the world and ourselves. Like it’s a reflection of us as a project and this is a project.

Samantha Pruitt: 30:31

The project to me is it’s messy. We’re going to get dirty by the way we’re going to sweat. There’s this whole thing that’s going to happen because we’re not only individually in the build of our life, our body, our brain, all of the complexities. Complexities were in the build, yeah, but we’re in the build together, on this everyday awesome project.

Samantha Pruitt: 31:00

Taking people with us what, yeah Right. So to me, that’s why I keep calling it like the work, because it’s like we’re doing it as individuals. We want it to be awesome, by the way, yes, but we’re also doing it now together, yeah.

Polly Mertens: 31:15

I love that. I love that I didn’t get you know I’m just you know the project manager me is when you started to say that I don’t know.

Samantha Pruitt: 31:21

I’m seeing were you making spreadsheets and graphs and starting to?

Polly Mertens: 31:23

no, we were building a little house. And so it was like you know. I saw the foundation going in and the walls starting to go up and what I saw, as you were saying, that was like you know, how they do in olden days, when somebody would buy a piece of land. Olden days, it was like a town would come together for that family, oh wow, and they would put all the walls up together.

Samantha Pruitt: 31:49

Help build the house for the new family that moved to town.

Polly Mertens: 31:57

That’s cool. As you were saying that, I was like, oh look, we’ve got this project and somebody’s brought hammers and somebody’s brought some nails and somebody’s brought, you know, just their labor and some people have made some food and we’re like doing this day. But you know, the project is it goes on beyond a day, but it’s that leanto moment where the house is coming together, if you will. And it’s work, and it’s fun work together and everybody’s a contribution to it.

Samantha Pruitt: 32:19

That’s what I was picking up and the foundation, of course, being the value system of humanity and of good humanity, doing good in the world For sure.

Polly Mertens: 32:30

And we’re all in this together, and then it’s a beautiful together, yeah, and then it’s a beautiful home, or maybe it’s a community center and then, we all play in it together yes, so we’re six months in.

Samantha Pruitt: 32:41

We’ve talked about the origins, the vision, our expectations and then our reality, and here we are moving forward now, yeah, more More committed than ever to doing this.

Samantha Pruitt: 32:54

So we have taped religiously, we have guests now, that’s a new incorporation we started to add to the repertoire. We hope that people are enjoying that. Um, next steps for us actually is to take the project and turn it into life and business coaching programs, which we already do that. So this is not a new thing for us, but it’s our collaborative effort of bringing a particular type of work to humanity. So maybe you could share a little bit about what that’s going to look like.

Polly Mertens: 33:32

Well, so you know, like we said, the looking back.

Polly Mertens: 33:35

It’s funny that our first episode was, you know, like we literally in the video if you watched it is we held up the book the Pivot Year and we called it the Pivot Year and it was like, oh little did we know we’re in this. You know this process as well and I think there’s many pivots and what you and I, as if we’ve had off air conversations and exploration, and what do we want to do next? And I mean, one of our favorite things is a we invite people into these conversations with us because we just want people to hear the things that we talk about, because sometimes, you know, being around you don’t not everybody talks about the things that we talk about, so we want to share that. And then we have a shared love of adventure and so we’ve thought about let’s do retreats and take people out into the mountains and get their bodies moving and take them on. You know, like we were doing this backpacking trip this summer, like what if we brought six of our, you know six?

Samantha Pruitt: 34:24

people. This weekend we’re hosting an event for lululemon and we’re having 40 people in a workshop format and the subject matter is emotional fitness, but it’s basically an integration of physical body health and those components, and mental, emotional health, and it’s an integration of those things and getting people to really understand the concepts and then giving them some tools and stuff. It’s a workshop, but those are things that we do already do in the world, and we want to expand upon those things. We already host community events, and we already do, you know, work, retreats and stuff like that.

Samantha Pruitt: 35:01

This is different, though. What’s coming next? Because each person, the individual, the listener, for example can join this program, no matter where they’re at with their life’s journey, so they don’t need to be invited because everybody’s invited. They don’t have to be at a certain phase of their personal growth or whatever. Their trajectory is as unique as they are. That’s what we want to bring their uniqueness out, but utilizing the pivot as a concept, so not the pivot year, but at any moment at every possible junction there could be a consideration for a pivot.

Polly Mertens: 35:44

Well, I think because, as you and I, either we have told our stories publicly or we share it with ourselves. We look back. It’s like teach what you know. It’s like holy smokes. Have we had some pivots?

Polly Mertens: 35:55

Just a few, I mean some messy and some brilliant whatever but you know, and I think why we leaned on this, or leaned into this phrase, if you will, is like a pivot program is to help people in whatever phase, like you said age of life, season of life, whatever you want to call it, and dimension of life. You know. So, you know you have a lot of experience with the health concerns that you had and how to navigate that. And then you have this beautiful relationship and family dynamic that you’ve had. That’s deep, rich and in roots, of raising children and navigating motherhood and being a wife. And you know running a business and all of that. And you know my work and you know jobs that don’t fulfill you and transitioning out of that and relationships that don’t fulfill you and what you know going, you know being a overcoming addiction. Overcoming addiction, you know lots of things evolving into a creative yeah.

Polly Mertens: 36:49

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So helping people with the path of a pivot, navigating a pivot in their life like what does that look like? And having the courage to take on things that, like I was taking on this project right, it’s like it was a pivot in our life to go deeper in with each other and, you know, close some doors and open some new ones.

Polly Mertens: 37:09

So these programs are designed to help people recognize it’s time for a pivot maybe, if they’re not already recognizing it or get damn freaking clear okay, I gotta do something right and helping sort of push people up against that wall if they’re not ready or haven’t have felt they needed it right, like okay, like, yeah, it’s time.

Polly Mertens: 37:30

But giving them also the tools and the resources and the support of a community and the path and whether it’s the one-on-one coaching that we’re going to offer or in the community that we’re creating through these programs to navigate those right, have the tools, the resources, you know. So one of the things we’ve talked about is like I think we were, oh yeah, we were talking about the Lululemon event and we said, oh, we should, you know, have people share about this and that, and it’s like they don’t know the tools to get out of. If they did, they would be doing it right, and so the content let’s call it of this program is to help people with hey, we’ve been down that road, you know. We know what it’s like to leave that.

Polly Mertens: 38:17

And here’s what that could look like, right like learn from people who’ve been down some of the roads so you can miss some of the pitfalls of it right, or if you fell in a pothole, how to get out? How to get out?

Samantha Pruitt: 38:23

and then, of course, yeah, I’m sorry, but yeah, you know also, the fact that you and I as the coaches of the program in a collective format is very unique. So I do want to speak to that because we know a lot of coaches also and we’ve seen and maybe experienced a lot of programs. How we will be doing this is, you know, not teaching the same material in a particular format to whoever the humans are like. Where you come from, where I come from, are very different. We bring all of our gifts, and what your experience and your skill set is is not mine. So the complementariness of this opportunity for people to work with two very different coaching styles and methodologies and ideas and experiences, and I would even say really different energies, will allow them a much deeper, wider experience than maybe you wouldn’t get with just a coach or a particular individual. For sure, right, for sure. So our idea would be and it’s already proven true, but we’ll really bring this to another level with this is to.

Samantha Pruitt: 39:38

Whoever the humans are showing up in the space, they will open themselves up wider and deeper because the space is so much larger and expansive right and so, yeah, there will be obviously a core program in there, but how it will be taught and expressed and experienced will be very deep and wide and I want to.

Polly Mertens: 40:00

I feel like you know, because I think we enjoy being transparent. So, where we sit right now, as we’re, we’re talking about this and, just like the, the whole everyday awesome wasn’t? We didn’t plan A to Z before we just said, let’s do it.

Samantha Pruitt: 40:16

We’re in the build.

Polly Mertens: 40:18

Exactly, and I just want people to know get it started, get it out there. Just start taking those steps. Build it as you’re getting it off the ground, if you will. And so I think the beauty of what you said is we know it’s going to be amazing. We have some structure in our mind. We’ve already talked about some of the skeleton of what this could look like, but I also want to be transparent so that people take that on for themselves Like trust in your own process, trust to get started. Don’t wait until oh, I’ve got to get it all perfect and all this stuff. It’s like no, just start doing it.

Samantha Pruitt: 40:54

Well, that speaks a little bit to why should somebody decide that it’s time for a pivot. First of all, you don’t need permission yeah, not from us. No, nobody, no, nobody is here to grant you permission. You can do it whenever you damn well please, and it can be about anything.

Samantha Pruitt: 41:15

So it doesn’t have to be well, I didn’t hit rock bottom yet, or it’s really not that bad yet, or you can think of a thousand things you would be saying to yourself right now that would make you, or try to convince you, that this is not for you right. And when we say hey, pivot can happen at any time and it looks different for everybody and we’ll meet you where you’re at, and all of that stuff, which is all true you know in your core, core, core, core core. This life that I’m currently living is not enough for me. I want more, I expect more, I deserve more.

Polly Mertens: 42:03

Let’s go. Yeah, One of the things we talked as we were preparing for this is you said you know we don’t need to give you permission. Right, the permission comes, we would say, from your inner authority, recognizing and tuning into that inner authority that each one of us has that inner knowing.

Samantha Pruitt: 42:20

And some people, it’s a little quiet.

Polly Mertens: 42:22

They haven’t been tuning out to the outside world or the needs of other people, or should have, would have every.

Samantha Pruitt: 42:28

We’ve done all that, oh yeah.

Polly Mertens: 42:30

No, we’re not saying we’re perfect, but we’re better and better at knowing and that’s one of the things we want to give you a nudge and a reminder to tune into is you have an inner authority already, maybe a little quiet, maybe out of practice, maybe out of tune, but you can find that and the liberation that comes from trusting and acting in accordance with your own inner authority, not some outer thing, and the pivots happen when you stop accepting for yourself or stop accepting and tuning into the outer authority. Somebody else knows better, or it should look like this in life, but if it just doesn’t feel good for you, that’s your inner authority, it ain’t you, it ain’t for you or I made these choices, just kind of flashing back to some roles I’ve had.

Samantha Pruitt: 43:23

Um, yes, I am a wife, I’m a mother, I’m a stepmother, I’m a grandmother, I was, you know, a daughter, I’m a sister, like all of those traditional roles. Some were given to us by inheritance, some were chosen roles. We’re not stuck in those, a lot of people feel stuck in those.

Polly Mertens: 43:45

Oh well, it’s our identity that we feel stuck in Boom. So yeah, you can still be a daughter, but like the identity and how you play that role right. So like for me, I mean we’ll just go a little off here, but I recognize the suffering I was creating for myself because I was self-labeling in an identity quote good, daughter air, quote Right, and what I made that up about, based on the world, like oh, the world, whatever, and I, and I accepted it. I had never defined it for myself.

Samantha Pruitt: 44:16

Right.

Polly Mertens: 44:16

It. The role that I thought I needed to play according to society’s standards to be a good daughter had me doing X, y and Z. I was freaking unhappy in that role, especially as an adult. And I just took that and I cleaned the slate and I said what is a quote? Good daughter for me? What does that look like? That would feel integrous from my inner authority, feel good to me and I started acting from that right. So the the role might not even change.

Polly Mertens: 44:44

Like you know one of the things we talked about is like it doesn’t necessarily mean you break up your life and you take a new direction in life, but you just take a different approach to the life you’re already in you to the life you’re already in.

Samantha Pruitt: 44:54

You know what came up for me when you were describing that is. I have had nine businesses and I have been in many other work environments besides that, but just taking the boss role when I first became a self-employed, or even before self-employment, became a higher-rank ranking manager in my workspace and started to feel like a boss.

Samantha Pruitt: 45:22

Right, I had mirrored to me what that looked like From somebody else, from the external world, from somebody else from family and also from the workspace and just society and culture, right, and here I was at that time a very young female and it did not feel good at all. So I got that role because I was successful at doing what I was doing and was granted those opportunities Great. But in my personal evolution, as in one of my identities, which is Lady Boss, right, it has looked so different every time because I would go into the role and I would try and adopt ideas from other things outside of me and it didn’t feel good those or it wouldn’t be successful because I wasn’t really being true to myself in what that piece of me looked like and needed to be in the world right and so all these years later, jobs, responsibilities and businesses it’s so different now.

Samantha Pruitt: 46:30

The type of quote-unquote boss I am now is so different and has evolved so radically, because I gave myself that freedom to figure it the hell out. And sure that shocked a lot of people along the way, and sometimes it made my business very successful and other times it did not, and that’s part of the lessons in learning too, right. So I want to encourage people to look at all areas that maybe isn’t feeling so great right now.

Polly Mertens: 47:02

That’s true sometimes it is, I don’t know. Sometimes it’s an inner shift and sometimes it is an outer, external pivot, that change and like this relationship’s got to go or this business has got to. I’m shutting this down, whatever you know. So sometimes it is external and sometimes it’s internal, but you’re always answering and addressing that from your internal authority. You know, like, tune out what, even what you’ve adopted as an internal story. You can. You question it? Yeah, you can let that story that you think is is that even true? Like you know what is a good daughter? You know kind of thing. Or like what is a good daughter, you know kind of thing. Or like what is a boss supposed to look like? Like maybe there’s different definitions. If I just change that, I can stay in this role or I can stay in this family.

Samantha Pruitt: 47:46

I can say this the reason I believe that coaching is so impactful. There’s lots of reasons, but, speaking specifically to what you’re saying, is because you have somebody on the other side of the table from you, if you pick the right coach, obviously in the right type of programming, based on what your needs are and who you are. But, that said, who creates a space that it is very safe to be your deepest, most authentic self, without judgment, without criticism, without trying to impose their own ideas and methodology upon you. That’s not what coaching is. So some people, I think, are a little confused about coaching because you know there’s a career coach and there’s a sports coach.

Samantha Pruitt: 48:33

We think of coaches in a certain way in the world. There’s a sports coach. We think of coaches in a certain way in the world, but we as coaches don’t come in to the environment or with the person in relationship, with an idea of how we were going to fix their life and make it all better. That’s not what coaching is, or telling them what to do, because there’s a right and a wrong way. It’s completely the opposite. It’s to bring out what their right is.

Polly Mertens: 48:56

Let their inner knowing guide the conversation, guide the opposite. It’s to bring out what their right is Exactly.

Samantha Pruitt: 49:01

Let their inner knowing guide the conversation, guide the journey, their suffering. There’s fog, there’s confusion, there’s pain, there is dissatisfaction, there’s all these levels of what we’ll just call suffering, and they deserve.

Polly Mertens: 49:14

Each person deserves the opportunity and the space to release that I think coaching gives you the courage to take the steps to trust that knowing and act upon it. You know, sometimes it’s a damn hard conversation, or I got to get damn real with myself about what I’m doing to myself sometimes, you know. So it’s having the courage be based on empowerment. I think you know, like we put the power back in people, we give them the permission to take their power back whatever you want to call it so that they trust that, knowing they act upon it, they have someone in their court to make the steps and do those hard things, whatever that looks like saying yeses and noes out in the world, choosing different choices, um, from a place of I got you, I got you, yeah, and you got you, yeah, right, you got you.

Samantha Pruitt: 50:08

Yeah, I see my work many times as a cracking open. So, like the person or the group come in, you definitely do that Totally and they’ve got a shell on them because, they’ve moved through life. There could be layers of the shell. It can be thick, it can be thin, it can be. You can see through it, it can be. You know all of that, and so I come along with a little chisel sometimes it’s a drop Well because it’s the shell has become very thick and hardened.

Polly Mertens: 50:41

Yes.

Samantha Pruitt: 50:41

And they’re so trapped in there and the suffering is so deep. Sometimes you, the hammer is what is required but many times. It’s a very gentle little pick.

Polly Mertens: 50:50

Yeah, and sometimes you just pour some water on it and it’s just dissolves too Like they they. They soften you you know it’s a softening to themselves. Okay, well we’re, we’re off tangent. Yeah, I love that where that’s going, but uh we should wrap this up for our people well, so let’s, I do want to break, well, a couple things.

Polly Mertens: 51:09

So I do want to say, like, where are we now? Like you, like, where are you? Okay, so six months, you know, let’s call this a year that we first ideated almost the Everyday Awesome seedling, if you will. Where do you sit now? What’s real for you in this project?

Samantha Pruitt: 51:28

What’s real for me related to this project is I see it as the beginning of an unknown story. That’s cool, yeah, and I felt that way even in the beginning and I still feel that way, yeah, like what’s the next chapter going to look like? Totally, you know, it’s a grand adventure, yeah, and it has to me unlimited expansion because of that.

Polly Mertens: 51:57

Wow.

Samantha Pruitt: 51:58

You know it’s very freeing.

Polly Mertens: 52:01

Why do I keep getting these pictures as you talk? So here’s what picture came to me as you started to do that. So you and I are going to Chamonix some year we don’t know if it’s next year or whatever and we are going to hike the hell out of it.

Samantha Pruitt: 52:13

If you want us to come next year, you can invite us right now.

Polly Mertens: 52:15

Yeah, hike the hell out of it. If you want us to come next year, you can invite us right now. Yeah, buy us some tickets, we’ll go. And, um, I started to picture that everyday awesome project is our passport and we’re just like oh, where do you want to go today? Like, oh, let’s get on a plane and go over here. Oh, we’re going to fly over there. It’s our own little amazing race. You know, we’ve got little pieces and clues along the way of where we’re going today. Oh, we’re going to go do this thing today. Oh, how fun. Look, we’re going to eat some yucky stuff, or we’re going to talk to these people, and we’re going to.

Samantha Pruitt: 52:43

You know, the little element of that Jump off of a building today.

Polly Mertens: 52:45

Okay, you know, it’s maybe not as life-threatening as that, but we get into these little circles and, oh, pick up some gems. You know like playing little games, video games, and then we go to the next thing and the next thing, and I think, you and I, as an adventure of spirits and hearts, the not knowing is perfectly fine, absolutely, it’s actually we prefer it.

Polly Mertens: 53:09

You know like if it was like oh so, Samantha, the next 14 days of your itinerary are going to look exactly like this. So at 6 o’clock you’re going to get up and then you’re going to go here for three days and then you’re going to sleep here. But you’d be like throw that away.

Samantha Pruitt: 53:20

That’s why we spend very little time on the business model of this industry, because we know it, we’re business people, we’ve obviously looked at that and we’ve done that. But that’s not where the joy is.

Polly Mertens: 53:32

I think that would stifle our creativity and possibility. Exactly, open door to all possibility. You know, who knows who’s going to call us after hearing this and say like hey, I’ve got this for you.

Polly Mertens: 53:44

OK, great, we’ll listen to that. Listen to that, awesome, awesome. So let’s, as you said, you know, let’s tell them a little bit about this pivot year and where this is going. And I’d like to take a moment to, as I did. I wonder which you know. We’d have to go back and look at that first one. Which? Which one? This would be funny if I read the same thing. I don’t think I did, but I would assume you read the day one. Oh, maybe I did. Okay, well, yeah, I don’t even remember.

Samantha Pruitt: 54:10

Look at that Well, the book 365.

Polly Mertens: 54:15

And we are, I think, yeah, what day. Well we’re 157 today as of recording, but I want to read us day 153, if you’re reading along in your pivot yearbook, so I love how this even starts Like her language. Sometimes you’re like who?

Samantha Pruitt: 54:31

writes like that. Who is her?

Polly Mertens: 54:32

Oh, excuse me, Brianna Weiss, day 153. Starts with that, that’s her. Oh, excuse me, brianna Weiss. Day 153 starts with no, it is not comfortable to make your own way within this world. Yes, it is simpler to follow the well-walked path, one that is certain and clear, but it is far less comfortable to live with that quiet knowing within you that you were meant for something more, that you’re here for something important, something your whole life has been preparing you for, waiting for you to choose. When the moment comes, learn to live beyond the expectations you once had for yourself. Have faith, and by God this is my words, by, by god believe in yourself before anyone else does, because it is because it is the consistency with which you act on your visions that enables them to transform from ideas into realities the entire world can see boom, boom.

Samantha Pruitt: 55:34

The consistency to act on your visions yeah, enabled.

Polly Mertens: 55:39

So you know it’s the alchemy. It’s well not alchemy, but it’s the turning thoughts to things you know, like how do things come, how does how does the microphone come into the being? How does you know to me, the human.

Samantha Pruitt: 55:53

The critical element is the consistency in becoming. I think it’s the believing, but, yeah, okay, I see it in the consistency in the action with which you act To continue to become. It’s true, it’s true, wow.

Polly Mertens: 56:09

Having faith. I mean all of these words you know it’s gorgeous. I mean it’s follow the you know, forget the well-walked path. Like you and I are like what no Comfortable?

Polly Mertens: 56:19

Where are we? We’re lost, we’re bushwhacking. And no, it’s not comfortable to make your way in the bushwhacking, you know, but it’s worth it. Oh yeah, it’s damn worth it. And when the moment comes and you live beyond the expectation you once had for yourself, living beyond I love that Right, and believing in yourself before anyone else does, that’s, that’s the creative life, that’s the. I don’t know how this is going to go, but it’s worth it. I want to give it a try and if it doesn’t turn into anything, crumple that up, start the next chapter. Right, start the next chapter, but don’t be afraid to start if you will. So I think for us you know we’re in this, we’re still believing.

Samantha Pruitt: 56:57

We’re all in, yeah all in this.

Polly Mertens: 56:59

The next you know, six months for us is building the programs, launching them, putting it out into the world, having invite, creating invitations this is the first invitation You’re hearing about this on the Everyday Awesome Project that this is coming about. So if you’re inspired to already you’re like I don’t know what that is, you know you’re like us, you’re like I don’t know, just click. You know like I want that. So in the show notes you’ll learn ways that you can. Um, if, depending on when you’re hearing this, it’s already on our website, so you might be hearing this in 2026, who knows? Right, like register, like go, go check us out. Right, or if it’s soon after this episode goes live, then click and get on the waiting list you know, so that you just have a curiosity.

Samantha Pruitt: 57:43

Yeah, let’s talk.

Polly Mertens: 57:45

Yeah, of course start early like don’t have to wait for this.

Samantha Pruitt: 57:49

Yeah we get that many times. You don’t know. Yeah, because life is complicated and you might have a hard show. But if there’s enough of a curiosity, reach out and we’ll talk to you about it.

Polly Mertens: 58:02

Or if you’re like, damn, I am ready for a pivot. Okay, you don’t have to wait for that program. You don’t have to. You can just get to working with us, like, roll up our sleeves, we’re ready to go. That’s true, right, that’s true, okay. So what? True, right, that’s true, okay. So what’s our? What’s our? You know, at every episode, we leave them with a one thing and we said, um, it’s that listening and acting, even taking a small step in that direction. Right, and we just talked about, it’s like that consistent action.

Samantha Pruitt: 58:29

So take the first step yeah, uh, to say the same thing slightly different, stop hesitating. Yeah, there’s a reason that people hesitate. Yeah, right, there’s a reason that people pause before they make decisions, especially decisions generally, that are scary and really impactful on their lives, right Like where it really matters. Yeah, Mm-hmm. Yeah, really impactful on their lives, right like where it really matters, naturally. Yeah, so that hesitation is there’s something there that you know you have, maybe some fear, anxiety, unknown about. That’s the good stuff, hallelujah, you’re having those feelings like having real feelings of what if and curiosity and you and I are like act anyway.

Polly Mertens: 59:22

Act, you know, Take action.

Samantha Pruitt: 59:24

You’ve got to take action.

Polly Mertens: 59:25

If we circle this back to our original birthing of this, it was life’s too short to wait, like reminding you, if you are, like us, closer to your finish line than your starting line, don’t wait’t wait and even if it’s not like, don’t waste any moment of this life because you don’t know when your finish line is coming right and additionally, we need you yeah if you forgot for a minute you’re needed in the universe.

Samantha Pruitt: 59:51

You were born for a reason, born for more, and the universe needs you. You need you, of course, the collective humanity, the collective humanity is waiting, yes, and we’re growing impatient. Yes, yeah, we’re growing impatient for your gifts, if you were in this room.

Polly Mertens: 1:00:09

We would knock you upside the head, samantha, would give you the big boom in the head and be like do it now, no more waiting. So you know, yeah, call us, click on us, let’s go, let’s do this. So what do you want to? Uh, leave people with that.

Samantha Pruitt: 1:00:23

We leave them with gentle reminder by now, if it’s not tattooed to the inside of your left wrist so you can see it at any point in the day. How your life feels is more important than how it looks, and every day is your opportunity to find your awesome. Okay, here’s to the next six months.