You don’t need to do more to move forward.

Sometimes, the real breakthrough comes from deciding what to stop carrying.

Ginny Priem is a keynote speaker, TEDx presenter, master certified coach, bestselling author, and creator of the UNSUBSCRIBE™ framework — a practical system designed to help high-achievers reclaim their time, energy, and focus without losing momentum.

In this episode, Ginny shares how burnout, over-functioning, and personal heartbreak led her to rethink success entirely. Together with Dr. Sarah E. Brown, she unpacks why high-performing women often overextend themselves, struggle to set boundaries, and stay trapped in patterns of constant output.

You’ll also learn the four pillars of the UNSUBSCRIBE™ framework — Block, Mute, Swap, and Manage — and how to use them to create more alignment, clarity, and sustainable success.

What you will learn from this episode:

  • Why high-achieving women often confuse busyness with productivity — and how to shift out of hustle culture.
  • The difference between protecting your peace and isolating yourself from meaningful connection.
  • How the UNSUBSCRIBE™ framework helps you reclaim time, energy, and focus.

“When you start to remove things that no longer serve you, what you notice is it starts to create space for the things that are more aligned.”

– Ginny Priem

Topics Covered:

02:05 – Ginny’s corporate leadership background and the personal turning point that changed her career path

04:10 – Why the UNSUBSCRIBE™ framework was created and how it helps high-achievers reclaim time and energy

05:48 – Understanding the four pillars: Block, Mute, Swap, and Manage

06:08 – How “manage” helps reduce overwhelm, improve efficiency, and eliminate unnecessary work

11:18 – How recovering people-pleasers can begin setting healthier boundaries

12:02 – Communicating boundaries clearly without damaging relationships

13:42 – Why women tend to overextend, over-carry, and struggle to ask for help

17:20 – Why the UNSUBSCRIBE™ framework resonates strongly with women leaders today

18:08 – Final reflections on releasing what no longer fits and making room for what matters most

Key Takeaways:

“High-achieving women are shifting away from hustle culture and toward productivity versus busyness.” – Ginny Priem

“The people that respect you and your boundaries will see them as a door to keep them in, not walls to keep them out.” — Ginny Priem 

“I think women tend to feel like they need to carry more.” — Ginny Priem

Ways to Connect with Ginny Priem:

Ways to Connect with Sarah E. Brown:

 

Full Episode Transcript:

(AI helped us put this together, so if you see any weird grammar or missed words—just know we nailed it during the actual chat.)

Ginny Priem

For some people, they’re blocking social media. You know, I’m seeing people completely eliminate and deactivate. For me, a block was I completely removed TikTok. I don’t have it, don’t have an account anymore, and you know what? Hasn’t made a negative impact on my life at all. 

And when you start to remove things that no longer serve you, what you notice is it starts to create space for the things that are more aligned.

Sarah E. Brown

Hello, everyone. Welcome to the KTS Success Factor Podcast for Women, where we talk about challenges senior female leaders face in being happy and successful at work. 

I’m your host, Dr. Sarah E. Brown.

My guest today is Ginny Priem. She is a powerhouse keynote speaker, TEDx presenter, and bestselling author whose work focuses on leadership, emotional intelligence, and sustainable success. With more than 20 years of experience in corporate leadership, she brings a grounded perspective to conversations about ambition, burnout, and growth.

In a culture that rewards constant output, Ginny helps people move forward with clarity, resilience, and intention. She is the creator of the ‘Unsubscribe’ framework, which helps high achievers make intentional change without losing momentum. 

Her podcast, Unsubscribe with Ginny Priem, explores the emotional shifts required to lead well today and has garnered more than three million video views on YouTube.

Ginny is the author of the number one bestselling guided journal, ‘I’m My Favorite’, and the memoir ‘You’re My Favorite: A True Story’, both of which encourage readers to trust their instincts and find their own way forward. 

A frequent television and media guest, Ginny has appeared on Fox 9’s Good Day, Twin Cities Live, and The Jason Show, as well as on podcasts such as the Nicole Waters Podcast and Lori & Julia’s show.

Whether on screen or on stage, she is known for translating complex emotional concepts into language that feels practical, accessible, and honest. Her book, Unsubscribe: Why Letting Go Is the Secret of Getting Ahead, has just been released in 2026 and expands on her framework and offers a clear-eyed approach to releasing what no longer fits.

Welcome, Ginny. 

Ginny Priem

Thank you. I’m so happy to be here. 

Sarah E. Brown

Well, I’m happy to have you. So tell us a little bit more about what you did corporately before you made a shift. 

Ginny Priem

Yeah, so when I was in corporate, I worked in the medical aesthetics industry in a variety of different leadership roles. So I headed up training and education departments, I led high-performing teams, and it was a really fun ride.

I did that for, gosh, over two decades. 

Sarah E. Brown

And what prompted the shift for you? 

Ginny Priem

So the shift was really prompted by the story that I shared in You’re My Favorite, which was a personal story, but at that time in my life, I really was over-functioning. I had the big fancy job. I had this partner and his two kids that were living in my house.

I was doing the grocery shopping and making sure the house was clean, and cooking and laundry and, you know, traveling for work, and maintaining friendships and the workout schedule, right? 

All of that. And basically, I found out that he was living a double life, and it upended everything for me. 

And that led me on kind of this whole healing journey that I share in the book.

And when I published the book, I was actually still in corporate. But it was not too long after that, it was the following year when the book came out, that I decided, look, this is really helping people, and there’s more for me to do in a different line of work, which is what I do now. 

And so say more about what you’re doing now.

So now the main thing I do is keynote speaking, so speaking on stages. I do a lot in women’s events, leadership events, conferences, corporate associations. I do in person, and even I booked a virtual one just today, so I can do both. 

But speaking is the main thing I do, and then, you know, the books. I have my podcast, as you so kindly mentioned, and then I also am a master certified coach.

Sarah E. Brown

Got it. And so the Unsubscribe framework does what? 

Ginny Priem

Ooh, so I call it a filter to reclaim time, energy, and boundaries at work and in life. So we talk about decision fatigue, right? High-achieving, high-performing women. Everybody’s busy, but I feel like people are taking the shift away from hustle culture and are moving towards productivity versus busyness.

So it helps you make better, faster decisions so that you can do less with intention and focus on what really matters. 

Sarah E. Brown

So you had a quote in the book, “What we don’t is as important as what we do.” Is that the gist of it? 

Ginny Priem

Yeah. It’s about being intentional with where you are focusing your time and energy so that you can move the needle forward.

Sarah E. Brown

Okay. And why did you wanna write a book about it? 

Ginny Priem

Ooh, because it’s something that I wish I had. During that time when I, you know, when I explained I was over-functioning, I decided that this is something that can really help more people. And since it’s something I wish I had, and it’s built around these four pillars.

So in the book, there’s actually sections at the end of each chapter where you can dig in, roll up your  sleeves, you know, do application of what I’m teaching, and it’s a really universal approach. 

But what I’m loving hearing already early feedback from, you know, sessions I’ve done, speaking engagements, as well as people that have the book in their hands, is the variety of ways that people are interpreting it and then applying it to their lives.

Sarah E. Brown

Mm-hmm. Okay. So tell me a bit about what you mean by an unsubscribe filter.

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Now back to this informative episode.

Ginny Priem

Yeah. So the filter is based around four pillars. 

There’s block, mute, swap, and manage. 

So I’ll actually go through them in the reverse order of how I just said them. 

So let’s start with manage. Manage is for the most important, urgent, critical things, things that do need your attention. 

And so manage, we can manage them in different ways.

We can look at the way that we are engaging with things, so the type, the duration, the frequency, how much time we’re spending on things. 

Does that Monday morning meeting that we have every week have to be 60 minutes, or could we be a little more efficient? 

Can we manage it down to 30, right? Or could that, you know, phone call have been an email, right?

So we think about manage in terms of communication. 

One speaking engagement recently, the payroll team was so excited because they were managing payroll from a… Like, they were doing it by hand, and they were very excited to implement a new system, right? 

So manage can be delegating. It can mean a lot of different things at work.

So I love manage ’cause that helps you be more efficient with what does need attention right now .

Sarah E. Brown

A little  personal anecdote on that of what my last job in corporate was as a managing director for Accenture, and what those cultures thrive on is lots and lots of conference calls all around the clock.

And what I concluded was is I didn’t need to go to as many of those. 

And so what I did in that space was just stop going. And you know what? It didn’t make a difference. 

Ginny Priem

You probably were more productive. So look, Sarah, you were already implementing unsubscribe before, before the filter even came out. 

Sarah E. Brown

Well, before I  knew what it was.

But I will tell you, I learned that late. Mm-hmm. Had I learned it 10 years or even 15 years earlier, I might have been able to stay in that culture for longer, but it took me a long time to learn that. 

Ginny Priem

Yeah. Well, and I always say, and don’t forget about the meeting for the meeting, right? Like the pre-meeting for the…

You know, it, like you said, the conference calls can just be endless. 

So then there’s swap. Swap is when we exchange something for something that’s an improvement. I think especially as high-performing, high-achieving women, women in leadership roles, we can get in these tendencies to be really hard on ourselves.

That negative self-talk track can, you know, be really detrimental. 

So sometimes it can be something as simple as that. Swap a negative, you know, thought for something a little bit more  positive and see how that impacts your energy, how that makes you feel. 

More practical things, like in life, I often like to use different types of exercise, right?

If people are like, “Oh man, I’m injured,” or, “I’m not feeling the best. That high-intensity interval training isn’t gonna work for me today.” 

But sometimes we have this all or nothing mentality. You can still do something. 

Maybe you could walk or do yoga, do something that’s more gentle, and still feel really good about that decision.

So that’s actually one of my favorite sections in the book. There’s a two-page spread that gives a ton of different ideas of things that we can swap. 

For me personally, one big swap I’ve made in my own life is things for experiences. 

Sarah E. Brown

Hmm. Okay. 

Ginny Priem

Yeah. Swap is fun. And then mute is things that we need to take a temporary break from.

You know, things that, you know, can you mute your notifications for a little while on your phone so that you can focus, right? I love the idea of stepping away and taking a break. I like to call  it, like if you’re frustrated and you’re working on a project and your creativity is just feeling stifled, I like to call it get up and take an emotional lap, right?

Like take a break from it and come back with fresh or clear eyes. 

Again, practical, like real-life applications. 

We just came off of the month of January. A lot of people participate in Dry January. That’s taking that temporary break. 

And so what I always like to remind people what unsubscribe is and isn’t.

It isn’t about just flippantly walking away from things. It is an actionable tool where you take accountability for the things that you are choosing to mute, swap, manage, and then ultimately block. 

So block is for the things that you can remove. 

You know, for me, just based on my own personal experience, this was a lot of toxic relationships. 

For you, like, you know, you managed your schedule by blocking out some of those conference calls and meetings that you didn’t need to participate in anymore.

You found it unproductive. So there’s a lot of different [00:12:00] applications. I like to just give really quick little snap, you know, bites of things that people can apply that are, like, everyday relatable. 

Sarah E. Brown

Great. And give me some more examples of block. This is what I think all of us need, is more examples of that.

Mine was- Yeah, and- … conference calls. 

Ginny Priem

Yeah, yours was conference calls. Mine was toxic people. For some people, they’re blocking social media. You know, I’m seeing people completely eliminate and deactivate. For me, a block was I completely removed TikTok.

I don’t have it, don’t have an account anymore, and you know what? Hasn’t made a negative impact on my life at all. 

And when you start to remove things that no longer serve you, what you notice is it starts to create space for the things that are more aligned, and I think that’s something that so many high-performing women are looking to do, is get real in alignment with themselves.

Sarah E. Brown

Okay, so I get the purpose of the unsubscribe filter or framework. 

I get the steps in here and the various ways that you can do that. But you also address, and I don’t know whether you address it in the book or just address it in your keynotes around some of the other challenges around setting these boundaries.

Like, how do you get into the habit or deal with objections when you decide to say no to something? 

Ginny Priem

Hmm. Yeah, I think that what you start to notice is that the people that respect boundaries when you do start to say no, like, especially for recovering people-pleasers. You know, that’s, that’s me. It’s hard to disappoint people, and you have to sometimes be…get comfortable with discomfort. 

And it is uncomfortable in the beginning when you start to have boundaries and say no, but what you notice is that the people that are meant to be around you and that respect you and your boundaries, they will see it as a door to keep them in and not walls to keep them out.

And that’s the same thing that goes for people that are setting the boundaries. Like, you are using these and you are saying no to preserve that relationship, not to drive it apart. 

Sarah E. Brown

And  what do you do if it becomes a source of conflict? 

Ginny Priem

I think communication, right? It’s manage the expectations and have that dialogue.

You know, I think it’s Brene Brown that says, “Clear is kind.” 

So the more clear you can be, the better that is going to sit and help resolve that conflict.

Sarah E. Brown

Do you think that this problem has gotten worse lately? I think it’s become misunderstood. I think because people throw around boundaries so often or like, or people will say, “I need to set a boundary with you.”

Well, that’s not really a boundary, right? Boundaries aren’t about controlling anyone else. It is about protecting yourself. 

And can we overdo things and be like, “Oh, I’m protecting my peace,” and then all of a sudden you’ve shut everybody out and you’re lonely, right? We have to have the self-awareness and the accountability and take the actionable steps to, you know, do things in a productive way.

Sarah E. Brown

I don’t know if your book was targeted mostly to women or not, but do you think that this problem is more pervasive for women than it is for men? 

Ginny Priem

So the book is really for everybody. It’s universal. In fact, one of my confidants and, and mentors that I go to with everything, he was like, “Why is Amazon promoting this to women? It’s for everyone.”

But it really is for everyone. It’s a universal language. It’s genderless. I do think that women tend to feel like they need to carry more. I feel like for women, it is harder for them to say, “I need help,” than it is to say, “I love you.” 

And that is, I think, a problem. And I always think about how much joy it gives me to help someone, one of my friends, one of my colleagues, when they’re in need.

And so I always try to ask people to shift to that framework. You know, think about a time when you were able to help somebody else out, and when you are in a place of needing help, you get to offer that same kind of joy to somebody that cares about you and let them help you. 

Sarah E. Brown

Well, let me  ask a related question then, since my audience is primarily women.

Do you think more women overextend than men? 

Ginny Priem

Absolutely. 

Women also have this perception. I actually had a woman on my own show recently who shared this statistic. It’s like, women will not apply for a role if they don’t meet 100% of the requirements, whereas men will apply if they meet less than 60%. 

So I think that we overextend. I think that we minimize ourselves, which is why I did my TEDx talk on that, because I think that is also something that women definitely do. I think that we carry more. I think we put more pressure on ourselves in a lot of ways.. 

Sarah E. Brown

Mm-hmm. Okay. So we’ve got a framework that tells us how we can begin to unsubscribe to be available for the things that are important.

And you’ve talked with us about some tips around communicating this with others. 

Is there anything that I didn’t ask you that I should have that would help us understand your key message of, I know this is not your key message, but it stood out for me in the book, what we don’t is as important as what we do.

It just jumped out at me, and I just thought it was, was really, really a great way to summarize what you’re all about. 

Ginny Priem

No, Sarah, thank you for that, and I actually love that that stood out for you. That was one of the very first things that I built Unsubscribe around, and that’s why you probably noticed it in the beginning of the book because it is, it’s really…

We focus so much on what we’re doing and doing more, more, more, more, more. 

But think about the time when you didn’t take that exit, or you didn’t get on that plane, or you didn’t go to that conference call, and the magic that can happen in those moments of when we decide what not to do, right? 

So what we don’t is as important as what we do.

So I love that you took that as a key message because, like I said, it’s one of the foundational principles that I built Unsubscribe around. 

Sarah E. Brown

So did I fail to ask a question that would help us understand the essence of that better? 

Ginny Priem

No, I think you nailed it. I think you nailed it. We got to talk about all four pillars and put them into real-life application, and I think you really did a great job of explaining how this really is valuable for women and women in leadership who are carrying so much and carrying around a lot of burden these days.

Sarah E. Brown

Well, Ginny, thank you so much for being with me today. 

Thanks for listening to the KTS Success Factor podcast for women. If you like what you are hearing, please go to iTunes to subscribe, rate us, and leave a review. And if you would like more information on how we can help women in your organization to thrive, then go to www.sarahibrown.com.

You can sign up for our newsletter, read show notes, and learn more about our podcast guests, read my blog, browse through the books, or contact us for a chat. 

Goodbye for now.

Sarah E. Brown
Sarah E. Brown