Cracking Creativity Podcast with Kevin Chung

The Cracking Creativity Podcast shows you how creatives turn their ideas into action, create interesting projects, and build an engaged audience through shared passions.

[Recap for Episode 91] Creativity vs. Natural Inspiration, Stealing in Art, Taking Chances, and Learning from Your Mistakes – Cracking Creativity Episode 91 03/06/2019

92: Nick Gray on Turning Your Hobby Into a Business, Standing Out in a Crowded Market, and Being a Leader 02/21/2019

92: Nick Gray on Turning Your Hobby Into a Business, Standing Out in a Crowded Market, and Being a Leader is the founder of Museum Hack, a twist on the traditional museum experience. The funny thing about Nick is, he used to hate museums. That is until he went on a date that forever changed his life. During a snowy day in NYC, a girl brought him to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and showed him artifacts, furniture, and other interesting things in the museum. This changed Nick’s perception of what a museum tour could be. That’s when he started frequenting the MET, and learned to love museums. The first time Nick charged for a museum tour, he even tried to give money back to the people who took it. He had so much fun with the tour that he thought he shouldn’t charge people for it. “The first tour that I actually charged money for, it was a Sunday morning tour at 11 in the morning, and I was like ‘Alright I’ll just see if I can charge money. I’ll charge them $20. See if they come.’ And everyone gave me their cash, and I gave them the tour. And I had so much fun Kevin, I had so much fun, that at the end of the tour, I think I freaked everybody out because I gave them all of their money back. And they were like ‘Why are you giving us… is this Candid Camera or something?’ and I was like “No, I had so much fun. It feels dirty for me to take your money, to do something that I love, something that I’m having so much fun with.’ So for me that was the first time I experimented, but it didn’t really go so well.” Before Nick started Musuem Hack he was a salesman of flat screen monitors. But the success of his initial tours, and the experience he gained as a salesman, allowed him to turn his passion project into a business. “What I think is special about what I’ve done with Museum Hack that your listeners might find fascinating, is that I took something that was a passion project, something that I just did for a hobby, for fun, and I was able to convert it and make it into a business. And my time selling these screens really taught me the importance of marketing and sales and dollar value of creating premium experiences. So for me that was really helpful.” The thing that makes Museum Hack different from other museum tours is what Nick likes to dub the 3 G’s. While most other tours are zigging, Museum Hack is zagging. “The three Gs. These are the three things that makes Museum Hack completely different from most museum tours. Three Gs. Number one, guides. Number two, games. and number three gossip. So it’s the tour guides that are so engaging, that are actors and educators, and science teachers, and musicians who write their own tours who are so special. That’s the guides. The games means that the tours are so fast paced. They’re ultra fast paced. They’re two to three times as fast as most museum tours. And we also do selfie challenges. We takes shots of espresso or drink some wine. And then the gossip, that’s the juicy back story. The cool stuff about the art that we like to talk about.” Instead of trying to find people who are knowledgeable in history and museums, Nick hires guides who are good with people. Anyone can learn about art, but not everyone is good at connecting with people. “The number one thing we look for is someone’s ability to be a good host. How is their body language? How comfortable to they make people? Do they make us laugh? That’s the most important thing. It’s not about their knowledge. It’s not about how much they know about the art history. It’s about how do they make the guests feel. Because that’s what we’re trying to do, right? We’re trying to make people comfortable and we’re trying to get them to warm up inside the space. So that’s really what we hire for first and foremost. And then we can teach them about the art. We can teach them about the museum… We hire folks that are really good with people.” He also gives his guides the freedom to create their own tours. When you are building something yourself, you become passionate about it. So, Nick gives them the freedom to come up with their own tours and write their own scripts. “We think that having our tour guides write their own tours is so powerful because the guests and the visitors can hear that excitement and that passion, and you can hear me talk right now, right? I’m excited. I’m pumped up. I’m jazzed to talk about my business with you, and that’s because I’m not going off a script. No one is telling me what to do. Our tour guides have to be the same way, so we let them explore the whole museum, come up with their own tours, stuff that they’re excited about and they write their own scripts.” One would think that competing with instant gratification culture would be a detriment to Museum Hack, but it isn’t. Nick tells his guides to embrace people’s attention spans and work it into their tours. “We’re dealing with an increasingly ADD generation. These are people that are like me that are on their phones every two or three minutes. I mean, it’s not just millenials. It’s people of all ages that have a short attention span, and we try to teach our museum friends ways to engage with that type of audience. Make it personal. Keep it fast. Don’t be afraid of smart phones. Encourage people to take selfies and pictures. Things like that.” In a world where museums can seem stale and uninteresting, Nick has captured people’s imaginations. That sort of innovation requires curiosity, risks, and failures, and that’s exactly what he has done with Museum Hack. “Figuring out like you did, people who have that curiosity, and people who are willing to troubleshoot and make failures, and I’m guessing the podcast hasn’t been perfect since day one, would that be a correct assumption?… That willingness to make mistakes and resourcefulness to figure things out. Those are two key things we look for.” /episode/index/show/crackingcreativity/id/8729717

91: Erik Young on Creativity vs. Natural Inspiration, Stealing in Art, Taking Chances, and Learning from Your Mistakes 01/08/2019

[Recap for Episode 90] Chalky White on Asking What If, Being Persistent, and Never Giving Up 12/04/2018

90: Chalky White on Asking What If, Being Persistent, and Never Giving Up 11/13/2018

90: Chalky White on Asking What If, Being Persistent, and Never Giving Up grew up in an abusive household, so much so that he gave up trying in school as an act of rebellion. When he 17 he joined the police cadets where he worked with alcoholics and drug addicts. It was at this point that Chalky realized he wanted to be in service of others. One day his friend asked Chalky if he wanted to go skiing. By saying yes to his friend’s request, Chalky unknowingly changed his life. Even though he wasn’t very good at skiing on that first trip, he was hooked. A year after that first ski trip Chalky went to Andorra and decided to become a ski instructor. When he ran out of money, he went back to Britain to become an encyclopedia salesman just so he could go back to Andorra. After a series of tests in Andorra, and failed attempts to become a licensed instructor, Chalky went to New Zealand to get certified. Chalky was constantly told he was never going to be good enough to be an instructor, but through persistence and his system of What If? questions, Chalky was finally able to gain his certification. Chalky not only became a certified instructor. He also wrote his own book on skiing and became a motivational speaker through it all. In this episode, Chalky talks about asking yourself what if, being persistent, and why continuing to try leads to success. Here are three things you can learn from Chalky: Ask Yourself What If Many of us give up at the first sign of failure. We let our lack of success define and shape us. What if it didn’t have to be this way? What if we could continue on despite our doubts? That’s why Chalky developed his what if factor questions. These questions help him decide whether or not he should pursue his goals, despite his doubts. “The big dream came true because I never, never quit, and it all happened… because I got the semblance of something I now use in my speech, “How to say nay to your naysayers and have the last laugh,” which I call my What if factor. “What if I don’t continue on with this? What if I don’t follow through? What are the consequences of that?” Of course when you ask yourself that sort of question, you really don’t like the answers at all. In fact, you sort of despise and hate them, but they’re enough to stimulate you to want to be asked the opposite question. “What if I do continue on? What can be the repercussions and consequences of that?” And of course you really like your answers to that.” The benefit of constantly asking yourself positive what if questions is that they make you want to continue on. They help to push you forward instead of falling back or giving up. “By keeping on asking yourself those questions, the negatives and the positives of the What If? factor, it tends to make you want to go on and on and on. And that’s really the premise of my speech.” Chalky believes these what if questions helped him publish his book. They helped him get past his biggest naysayer, himself. They have helped guide him through many things in life. “If I hadn’t asked myself those What If? questions, I’m not sure that I would have followed through and published that book. So by making myself not listen to a naysayer… it tends to translate into… self-doubt. Doubting yourself can obviously be the biggest naysayer of all. So by following through and continually asking myself those What If? questions, I actually was successful. And that’s basically what I’ve done with very many things through my life.” Be Persistent There are many things that help you sustain a long career as an artist. Talent and luck help a lot, but one thing is often overlooked. It’s something we can all control. That thing is persistence. Most of us give up after the first sign of failure. We give up when things are looking grim. We give up when things don’t go our way. We give up when someone says no. But we can’t let those setbacks stop us dead in our tracks. We must go on despite our doubts. Chalky doesn’t believe no means no forever. He follows up with people until he gets a yes. “Every time somebody says no to you, that you can’t do something, or says no I don’t want to buy that, it gets you closer to the big yes. So in other words you get “No I don’t want it, no I don’t want it…” then… because you kept following through, he says yes, and that big yes, if you’re a salesperson… could end up being the biggest sale of the year for the company.” We need to constantly push ourselves, especially when we are down. It’s easy to lose morale when things aren’t going your way, but if you really want to achieve your goals, you have to be persistent. Sometimes we just need that extra push to keep us going. That’s why Chalky constantly asks himself what if. If you don’t like the answer to those what if questions, you have no choice but to keep going. “It’s no good just asking yourself that question once, you’ve got to keep with those questions. You have to keep on asking, sometimes several times a day… Because those questions can really help to keep your morale up because when someone keeps saying no to you all the time, it’s very easy for your morale to go completely down the toilet, and if it’s a dream or a goal that you really really want to achieve, you’ve got to find a way of not allowing yourself to quit.” The Only Way to Succeed is to Continue Trying If you want something bad enough, you will put all your effort into it. You will do everything you can to succeed. That’s often the thing that separates people who eventually succeed and those who don’t. Some people just can’t handle the constant grind, the constant rejections, the constant failure. Failure never stopped Chalky from achieving his dreams. He kept attempting his exams even after multiple failures. He became an instructor despite the doubters. He wrote a book even though people told him he shouldn’t. There’s something inside him that told him to keep going. “Some people just can’t be bothered. There are those out there who go “Who really cares?” But then there are others that really want it, but sometimes the fear of failure stops them, there’s no doubt about it. When I was trying to go through those exams where I kept failing and failing and failing, I was very scared that I wasn’t going to actually get there. There’s no doubt about that. But there was just something inside me that just kept saying “You’ve go to keep going,” When you want something bad enough, you will go on no matter what happens. Chalky uses his system of what if questions to help him stay persistent. “In my opinion, if it’s the right dream for you or the right goal for you, you will find a way to keep going, and the What If? factor is just a way of helping that effort and determination to go on and on and on, whatever happens.” I know it’s scary to put yourself out there. Rejections and failures get to everyone, but think of the alternative. Think of all those people who had great things to share with the world, but were too scared to overcome their fears. Do you want to let your great ideas go to the grave with you? “I’m sure there’s all kinds of people who’ve invented great things and written great things, and are great entertainers, and on and on… but didn’t actually get their things out in front of the public just because they couldn’t be bothered, they were scared, and were too afraid maybe to try and overcome that fear. As has been said in the past, the only thing to fear very often is fear itself.” /episode/index/show/crackingcreativity/id/7525961

[Recap for Episode 89] Victor Yocco on Tailoring Your Message, Finding Support, and Having an Effective Website 10/23/2018

89: Victor Yocco on Tailoring Your Message, Finding Support, and Having an Effective Website 10/01/2018

89: Victor Yocco on Tailoring Your Message, Finding Support, and Having an Effective Website Victor Yocco went to school and studied psychology and communication. After school he became a researcher for zoos and science centers, but after a while he decided he needed a change. So he asked a friend who worked at Intuitive, a design and research company, if they had any open jobs. Even though he didn't have any experience in design or user research, Victor found that he was a good fit for the job. His background in psychology and research allowed him to make the transition from researching zoos to researching user experience design. The biggest obstacle Victor faced didn't have anything to do with his new job. While everything in his professional life was going well, his battle with alcohol was not. Victor's problem with drinking was interfering with his relationship and productivity. So he sought counseling and made a vow of sobriety. Since his pledge of sobriety, Victor has accomplished many things from articles to writing a book. In this episode, Victor talks about why your message should change based on your platform, the importance of a support system, and the power of creating an effective website, among many other things. Here are three things you can learn from Victor: The Way You Communicate With Your Audience Matters One thing artists often fail to realize is that the way you communicate with your audience can make a huge difference. You wouldn't communicate with people the same in person as you would online. The same applies to how you present information on your website. When you talk to someone in person, you can take your time and gain rapport. But when someone comes to your website, you only have a limited amount of time to capture their attention. "If you take that into the digital world, we know people have such short attention spans, and you are somewhat forced through a screen to project your message immediately... what it is they should be doing and why? So looking at what makes sense for your product... What key messages should you try to get across to people in that three seconds that you have?... You have to draw somebody's attention and you have to show them immediately why they should be there." Something we can do as artists is start filtering what we show people on our websites. Instead of trying to show all of our art to people when they land on our homepage, we should share a curated selection of the type of work we do. To get this point across, Victor points to the example of restaurants with a lot of items on their menus. When you give people a lot of choices at once, you make it hard for them to make a decision. "When you were speaking earlier... and you used the word filtering, I really like that word because it's an important concept in psychology especially in persuasion, which there is such a thing as information overload and even too much of a good thing. An example is when you go to a restaurant and they hand you a menu, and there are eighty five things on there and they all sound good, that it's very hard to make a decision." One of the best things you can do with your website is use ideas you see on other sites. For example, you can provide recommendations for people. This creates a more curated and focused experience for people who are interested in your art. "Provide people with recommendations because they're on your site because they like your work or they trust you and think that your recommendation is going to hold weight. So really filtering is something that helps people process information in a lot better way then just providing 'Oh, here's everything. Do what you will with it." Find a Support System As artists, we believe we need to do everything ourselves. We don't want to rely on anybody else. We want to work as independent creators. But this way of thinking often backfires on us. We become stressed out. We take on too many projects. We can't handle all the things coming at us. That's why it's so important to have a support system. This is especially true if you going through struggles with drugs or alchol like Victor was. "I say to everybody who feels like they might have an issue like drugs or alcohol... that one of the first steps that I found to be helpful was finding support. I don't know how I would have been able to do it." You might think asking for help is a sign of weakness, but it's not. People want to help you through struggles because they care. Asking for support is a strength, not a weakness. "Definitely when I was drinking, I thought asking for support was just an admission of being weak... and what I found was the exact opposite. Through AA, through my counselors, through my family members when I would talk to them about what I was going through. That I found support and I found people who wanted me to succeed." Having a support system was critical to Victor's development and growth. He believes it was one of the most important things he did to change his behaviors. "Asking for and getting support around what you want to accomplish I think is critical. And then if you are trying to change I behavior, I think you need to insert some other behavior." Make Your Website a Positive Experience There are a few simple ways you can make your website better for potential and returning customers. Your website is the best representation of your work online. So it should be as positive of an experience as possible. One of the first ways to do this is by showing people that your website is secure and sells what people are looking for. "People need to believe that using your product is a positive thing that will lead to the outcome they want and again you can address that through telling them 'Buying through my site is safe and secure but also showing them through different ways of displaying information that their information is secure using your site or that the products you have on your site are unique to you, and so that influences the behavioral belief that using your site is a good thing to get the products that you're selling." Another thing you can do to convince people to buy your art is by showing that other people trust you. It's easier for people to buy when they see other people already trust you and like your work. "Then there's also social norms that people need to understand that other people think that using your product or your website is a good thing. Can you display testimonials? Can you have people like or rate your product? So that it shows that other people have been there and used it and that it's a good thing for people too." If you want to convince people to buy from you, the best thing you can do is show them how it will affect their lives. It's great that you love your art and want to sell it, but that doesn't mean other people will automatically want to buy it. You have to show them how your art can make a positive impact on their lives. You have to show them how their life will change when they buy your work. "When it comes to persuasion, one of the biggest things you can do is making sure people understand why what you're doing and why what your product is, is relevant to their life. So that's about how you display information and how you do capture people's attention immediately to say 'How does using my website make my life better? How does making sure that I purchase my art through you make my life better? What are some opportunities that you have to show people this immediately or make the experience so usable that they realize using your product saves them time, saves them effort that they wouldn't want to go a competitor to do that, or they wouldn't want to choose not to buy your product because your site, they don't understand how to use it, therefore they don't see how it's relevant to accomplishing the task they are trying to accomplish?" /episode/index/show/crackingcreativity/id/7102417

[Recap for Episode 88] Shawn Coss on Being a Popular Artist, Defining Your Success, and Business Being Hard Work 09/18/2018

88: Shawn Coss on Being a Popular Artist, Defining Your Success, and Business Being Hard Work 08/22/2018

88: Shawn Coss on Being a Popular Artist, Defining Your Success, and Business Being Hard Work grew up loving cartoons, but never dreamed it could become his full-time job. He grew up in a time and place where art wasn't considered a viable career. His dad told him he should get a "real job" instead of pursuing his dreams. The thought was, you could only be a professional artist if you went to an art institute, or learned at Disney. Like most people who grow up in difficult financial situations, Shawn's dad didn't want Shawn to grow up with the same hardships he had to go through. Shawn hit his first break when he met Kris Wilson of Cyanhide and Happiness through MySpace. Kris liked Shawn's work so much, that he invited him to work on the C&H team. Cyanide and Happiness provided Shawn enough financial stability to start his own clothing company, Any Means Necessary. One of the clothing company's campaigns, Inktober, brought an influx of fans and attention. This brings Shawn to a an exciting but difficult crossroads. Should he go all-in on his company or keep it as a side hustle. In this episode, Shawn talks about why there's no formula for becoming a popular artist, defining success on your own terms, and why running an art business is such hard work, among many other things. Here are three things you can learn from Shawn: There's No Secret Formula For Becoming Popular When we see other artists living out their dreams, we often wonder how they achieved success. We want to know exactly what they did so we can copy their path. The problem is, there is no secret formula for becoming a popular artist. There's no shortcut for gaining raving fans. Sometimes all it takes is a little luck. Here's how Shawn explains his break in the art world. "When people ask me 'How did I do it?' I always tell them 'Look, I was just super lucky.' I've been gifted this ability to draw well enough to where other people, large masses, appreciate it, but the chances of someone like Kris Wilson, someone of his caliber, having a company that popular, finding me, was just a needle in a haystack. He could have messaged anyone else he wanted... but at that moment he messaged me. And that kind of changed my life." One thing you can do to keep your sanity is, stop chasing the idea of being a popular artist. Popularity comes when people appreciate your art. It's not something you can manufacture. "I'll have other artists message me, and be like 'How do I become a popular artist?' Well that's your first mistake, because you're trying to be a popular artist. I never pursued the popular art, I just did artwork and unfortunately, not everyone gets to do it." Define Success on Your Own Terms Success is such a subjective thing. My version of success is different from yours, which is why it's so hard for artists to define what success means. We all think that once we "make it", everything will get easier. But as Shawn explains, there's no such thing as making it. There's only re-defining your goals. "There is no making it as an artist. You make it to a point, but there's always another point. There's always a next level to get to or achieve to." One of the problems many of us encounter as artists is the ups and downs of being a creative. One day everything is going great and everyone loves your work. The next day there's radio silence. That's the problem with riding the wave of social media success. We have no control over who sees our posts. We are at the whims of Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter. "It's definitely a weird emotional ride because some days you're riding cloud nine and everything's awesome, and then maybe in a week or two, there's nothing happening. You're not getting the accolades that you're used to and I feel like social media has a lot to blame on this because I feel we are programmed in a way... to chase these likes and these shares and all these accolades on social media that really have no weight to anything." Social media provides that jolt of endorphins we all crave. But what do these likes and hearts really mean? When it comes to our success as artists, they feel great, but they don't really mean anything. They don't help our businesses. They don't build our fan base. They are just vanity metrics. We need to stop chasing the shallow feeling of success social media provides us. We need to redefine our goals based on tangible success instead of our social media stats. "How do I get that, how do I chase that back? I feel like that's been a huge issue. That happiness we get, a lot of it is being fueled by social media, and a lot of these new artists are wanting that notoriety on social media, but it's such a shallow feeling." Running an Art Business Takes Hard Work Many of us fantasize about growing our art hobby into a business, but there's a lot that goes into making a business work. You are going to face hardships and low moments. So the best way to deal with it is to grow a thick skin. "Grow a thick f*cking skin. I think that's a good one because there's going to be a lot of down times, a lot of hardships you're going to go through. I thought there were a lot more downs than there were ups initially and that weeds out a lot of people. And then giving yourself time to figure out 'How long will I pursue this before I say, okay, this isn't going to happen," and I think being honest with yourself is one of the hardest things to do." At some point in our journeys we will question whether or not we should continue pursuing art as a career. The reality is, not everyone can make it as an artist. Not everyone is going to find success. Sometimes we have to be brutally honest with ourselves. "You just have to say 'Do I really want to keep pursuing this to make it successful, or in reality, is this going to be successful? Maybe it's not going to be successful, maybe it's not going to.' And maybe I'm wrong to say that as an artist who is successful, but again, not everyone is going to be successful. That's the reality of it. Otherwise we'd all be rich. We'd all be doing it. and some people can do it, and some people can't." Running a sustainable art business takes a lot of work. It's not for everyone. Don't think just because you are doing what you love that everything will go smoothly. Be prepared to put in the work. "It's not a popular thing because I don't think a lot of artists like to discourage other artists, but it's a hard thing. It's a lot of work. I tell artists I work more doing this than I've ever worked any nine to five job. I'm working day in and day out... and it doesn't bother me but it's definitely not for the weak who want to draw a picture once every couple of weeks and sit on their laurels." If you fantasize about resting on your laurels as an artist, you might want to reconsider your path. Just because you make art for a living doesn't mean you get to just create for a few hours and call it a day. There's a business involved too, and running a business takes hard work. "People think as an artist I draw a piece of art and I just get to hang out all day. I'm working so much all the time... There's a lot of work involved... No, there's a business in there too. I think that's where you get that separation of people who get it and people who don't. They see the fantasy of it and then you get people who actually understand that's there's actually hard work involved." /episode/index/show/crackingcreativity/id/6955594

[Recap for Episode 87] Derek Miller on Creative Action, Having Positive Mindsets, and Not Getting Down on Yourself 08/02/2018

87: Derek Miller on Creative Action, Having Positive Mindsets, and Not Getting Down on Yours 07/25/2018

87: Derek Miller on Creative Action, Having Positive Mindsets, and Not Getting Down on Yours has always had a creative side to his life. As a kid he wanted to be a cartoonist, and little did he know, he would become deeply entrenched in that world as an adult through the web comic Cyanide and Happiness. While he was in college, and a few years afterward, Derek was part of a small metal band and also ran a small music blog. He was also a part of a non-profit to help artists turn their passion into full-time jobs. All that experience in the art world helped Derek run three successful Kickstarter campaigns at Cyanide and Happiness. Instead of treating Kickstarter like another crowdfunding tool, he treated each campaign like its own event. After three successful Kicstarter campaigns and constantly being approached by creatives about crowdfunding, Derek decided to write a book on the topic. This led to the creation of his book Six Figure Crowdfunding. In this episode, Derek talks about why you need to keep your creative momentum, the power of a positive mindset, and not getting down on yourself, among many other things. Here are three lesson you can learn from Derek: The Importance of Acting on Your Creativity As someone interested in creativity, you have probably felt the urge to do something, anything, to get your idea out there. The problem is, a lot of times, we feel that creative urge, but never take action on it. Derek believes movement is the most important thing about creation. Creative people suffer when they stop creating. So remember to always leave time for your own creative projects. “The act of creation is very important for intellectual growth and happiness. I really think the most important thing about creation is movement. And the movement of creating it forces you to make decisions, figure out what’s important to you and what’s not, and what kind of emotion, what kind of world you’re trying to create. So any time I’d be overwhelmed with too many projects or something, it came down to I had to drop a project to give myself breathing room to create, because… the process of creation improves all other aspects of your life because it teaches you to generate ideas.” The problem many of us have is, we bog ourselves down with too many projects. We feel the need to occupy all our time to stay busy, but we don’t leave enough time to work on creative projects of our own. That’s why Derek advocates for coming up with, and more importantly, executing your ideas. “Everything you do is ideas and executing ideas. That’s the basic equation for getting anything done… It’s been very important, and any time I’ve jumped in the deep end too much with too many projects, it made my performance suffer and everything, if I didn’t have time to be creative.” Just remember creativity is not a binary thing. There’s no such thing as being creative or not creative. Creativity is a process. “It seems a lot of people view creativity like you are or you are not. That’s a weird way to do it. Oh, you’re either healthy or you’re not. No. It is a process. It’s a process of self-care. It is a process of development. It’s a process of just using your brain and stretching it. It’s not something you are or are not. It’s either you are behaving in creative ways or not creating. It’s not a binary thing. It’s not just Oh I’m creative so that part of my life is handled.” The Power of a Positive Mindset Many of us believe talent and luck are the things holding us back from finding success. Luckily for us, that usually isn’t the case. The thing that most holds us back is our mindset. You can have all the talent in the world and still find failure if you have the wrong mindset. That’s why Derek believes in the power of a positive mindset. “The biggest thing holding most anyone back, myself included, it’s mindset, it’s behaviors, it’s the strategies you use. Those are the thing that hold you back more than in-born talent or whatever aptitude you’re born with. It’s the mindsets and strategies you use and the way you’re able to push past the uncomfort that makes you good.” One of the most helpful mindsets you can develop is one of an experimenter. Don’t let the fear of failure prevent you from trying things out. After all, trial and error is one of the best teachers you can have. “I like the test and failing mindset because again, that gives you the right mindset to focus on the fact that, yes some things you do are going to suck, no matter what. There’s no artist that I can think of, regardless of context, that has not put out one or two bombs… That’s the process of learning and figuring out what your art is. You’re going to bomb. Just learn. Every time you bomb, learn from it.” Just remember that failure isn’t final. It is is our ability to dust ourselves off after failures that allows us to grow and become better. “A failure now doesn’t necessarily mean it won’t turn out being something fantastic a couple years down the line.” Don’t Get Too Down on Yourself No matter how much success we have, we will inevitably face some failure. That’s why you should never let yourself get too wrapped up in your own success or failure. Celebrate your success, but also keep in mind failure could be just around the corner. “Even when there’s a lot of public facing ‘Oh, this is going great.’ Again, struggle, and difficulty, and uncomfortableness, it’s a constant in life.” The thing to remember is to not let your struggles get to you. Most people don’t see your struggles. If you are creating great work, most people will actually like your work. Don’t let negativity drag you down. Know that there are people who will be behind you, no matter how much you don’t like it yourself. “It’s very easy to get down on yourself and focused on the moment of ‘This thing is bad right now.’ But when it comes down to it, the majority of people watching anything or any piece of art you do are not going to know and see all the struggle… A majority of the audience won’t notice that, and the few of them that do, that’s fine. You put a piece of art out there. Nothing’s perfect, but you put a piece of art out there that makes people happy.” /episode/index/show/crackingcreativity/id/6849158

Katie Hornor on Sharing Your Gifts, Respecting People, and Defining Success 06/19/2018

Katie Hornor on Sharing Your Gifts, Respecting People, and Defining Success Katie Hornor knew from a young age that wanted to serve God. She also realized that she had a teacher's heart, so she majored in education. After finishing school with a degree in education and a minor in Spanish, Katie and her husband moved to Mexico as missionaries. While in Mexico she worked at a Bible college and local mission college. But one of the most pivotal decisions in her life was deciding to home school her children. This was the moment she realized that other parents in Mexico had no resources for home schooling their children. So, to supplement her income and help out parents who wanted to home school their children, Katie and her husband started a home school blog. Katie realized their was a massive whole in the market for home schooling in Spanish, so she filled that gap. Her home schooling blog became so successful that bloggers started approaching her asking how she grew her business. Katie now helps teach bloggers from all over the world how to grow their blogs and businesses. In this episode Katie talks about sharing your gifts with the world, respecting everyone even if they don't deserve it, and defining what success means to you. Here are three things you can learn from Katie: Share Your Gifts with the World One of the things that many creatives take for granted is their ability to change the world through their art. We are so concerned with creating our art that we overlook how much of an impact our work has on everyone else. Katie believes we should share our message with the world, and the best way to do that is by working for ourselves. "Working for yourself is so much more fun. It's something that you offer. There's a couple different analogies. When you have a message to gift to the world, when you have something to offer to the world, your vision and your passion come out as the answer to 'What does the world need?" If you can answer that question, then you know where your passion lies and what it is you have to offer. The world just needs that, and you can offer it to them, and that can get you excited about it and excited enough to get up early and work on it before you go to your job or to state up late... and things like that." One of our biggest fears as artists and creatives is not being good enough. We think that our work isn't good enough. We fall into the comparison trap. Katie's solution to that problem is focusing on our unique message. Sure, other people may do the same thing as you, but no one does it exactly like you do. Embrace that advantage. "Working for yourself, you're getting that message out there... I deal with a lot of bloggers who are afraid of comparison. I'm doing the same thing as somebody else. Either I don't want to compete or I'm not doing it as well. I just tell it. You have to stop comparing. You're going to reach people with your own unique message. Yours is different because your life is different. Your life experiences are different. Your training is different. The people who are drawn to you is different than the people who are drawn to that other person. And there's going to be people you can reach with this message that those people would never reach. And if you don't give that message, then those people who you were going to reach are going to go without. If you don't bring this dish to the table, there's somebody on the other side that's going to go hungry because you didn't do your part. And that is a big motivator." It's up to us to share our message with other people. Our gifts can help people who are trying to succeed. All we can do is try to share our message with the world. It's up to others to decide whether or not they want to listen to you. "When you have that knowledge or when you have that experience that can help other people, and when you have that message that's going to change someone else's life, it's your job to give it. Whether the person on the receiving end takes it or refuses it is not a reflection on you, but it's your job to offer." Respect Everyone Sometimes working with potential customers makes you want to tear your hair out. But the thing is, you should always put your best foot forward. It's easy to become angry or frustrated when dealing with tough customers, but as the face of your business, you need to always be your best self. Katie believes this means doing the right thing no matter what. "Those messages of 'Do it right no matter what it costs you, and do it right even if someone looks down on you for it,' and the messages of respect them because they are a person and treat them right even if they act in a way that doesn't deserve it. All of those messages have been huge with us building our business." These interactions are all important because business is all about connections. It's about connecting with your customers and potential customers too. You don't want to lose future business because one person was unprofessional to you. We need to treat each and every person we encounter in our business with respect because our relationships form the foundation of our businesses. "It's the connections that matter... and it is the people. If it wasn't for people, there would be no business, so the relationships are huge." Create Your Own Definition of Success When we start our creative journeys, we often forget to define what success means to us. We know we want to be successful, but we rarely define what success actually means. Katie is a huge proponent of defining what success means to us. While most of us have a general idea of what success is, our definitions of success probably vary a lot. Success to you might be quitting your full-time job to work on your art, but my version of success might be traveling the world while practicing my creativity. Before you do anything else, you should define success for yourself. "If you want to begin building your own online presence, number one you need to know what your goal is and what your definition of success is. So your goal for building an online business might be different from mine or the next guy's, and that' okay, but you need to know what it is or you're not going to be able to make good decisions about how to get there and then to know what your definition of success is: How are you going to know? How are you going to evaluate if what you are doing is working? How are you going to know if you've reached success?" Although your definition of success might not be making a lot of money, you still need to make money to support your creative practice. The only way to make enough money is by educating yourself on marketing. This is especially true if you are trying to do everything by yourself. Once you know how to effectively communicate with your audience, connecting with them will become much easier, and you will have an easier time selling to them. "You need to educate yourself well... because if your business is online, you're competing in words a lot, and so you need to learn marketing and you need to learn copywriting. Learn how to sell, how to formulate your story, how to communicate and connect with people in a way that's meaningful and memorable so that you can compete in the different areas that you are present in with your business." /episode/index/show/crackingcreativity/id/6720774

[Recap for Episode 85] Ron Dawson on the Power of Stories, Putting in the Work, Learning on the Fly 05/23/2018

85: Ron Dawson on the Power of Stories, Putting in the Work, Learning on the Fly 05/10/2018

85: Ron Dawson on the Power of Stories, Putting in the Work, Learning on the Fly Ron Dawson‘s earliest experience with film came through a time traveling caper film he created when he was a kid. Unfortunately, like many creatives, “real life” aspirations took over. Instead of following his passion for film, he followed his interest in business. Ron’s first endeavor in business was attempting to buy and sell businesses with his cousin. Although this idea did not work out, it gave him a taste of the business world. After failing to launch his business buying venture, and graduating with a business degree from UC Berkley, Ron got a job at Screen Play Systems. After some time there, he later moved up to become a business manager at Intuit. While working for these different businesses, Ron was also working as a wedding videographer on the side. This was a pivotal crossroads for him. He could either continue with his six-figure salary, or he could venture out on his own. Instead of continuing to work at a high paying job he didn’t love, he chose to do a job he did love, making films. In this episode Ron talks about the power of storytelling, putting in the work, and learning on the fly among many other things. Here are three things you can learn from Ron: Tell Stories with Your Work One of the things that sets artists apart is their ability to tell a great story. Stories give your work meaning. They impact your audience in a way that your work can’t do on its own. Ron believes his ability to tell a story set his work apart from other wedding videographers. Instead of just documenting the wedding, he got to the emotional truth of the moment. “There is a documented truth in the images that you capture because this is what happened on that day, but I would argue that it’s not an emotional truth of what happened, but then you take those same emotions… and you kind of reduce them down to their core essence and you edit it in a way that flows like a story… and instead of an entire 60 minute Catholic ceremony… you just have the poignant parts of it and all those kinds of things that punch the emotion and you show that in such a way that anyone who watches it will be moved… then that has a more ringing of emotional truth.” The ability to tell a good story allows you to connect with anyone, even if they aren’t naturally connected to what’s happening on camera. Ron realized that anyone can document an event, but not everyone can tell a story that makes an impact. “The emotional truth of the day is that this is a day that moved people to tears or to laughter or to whatnot, and the best way to capture that and instill that in people who are not that emotionally connected naturally is through storytelling and music and the kind of things that filmmakers have used for a hundred years in order to tell stories.” Being able to tell a story through your art makes a huge difference. It allows you to connect directly to the moment. “It makes a huge difference the way that you deliver and tell a story in terms of being able to communicate a message or like I said, an emotional truth.” Put in the Work Before You Think You’re Ready I’ve talked a lot about how the perfect moment does not exist. It’s a lie we tell ourselves so we don’t have to put in the effort. But you will never get anywhere if you continue to wait for the perfect moment. You just have to walk through that open door when the opportunity presents itself. “As you do projects like that, ideas come up and the industry evolves, opportunities and doors are opened, and so it’s about doing that kind of stuff, and being mindful of the doors that open, and walking through them when you have the opportunity to do so.” Don’t wait until you have the right amount of money or equipment for the job. There is no right formula. The perfect moment doesn’t exist. Get started where you are with what you have. “I think a lot of creatives want to wait… until they have all the money that they need or they want to wait until they have all the equipment that hey need. They’re always waiting for just the right time or just the right formula and you can’t wait. You just have to start working on it.” The best way to make progress with your business is by building momentum and learning by doing. Don’t make excuses. Just do the work. “You need to actually get the momentum and start doing the thing you want to do, and then start learning along the way. But it’s the momentum of doing it, because you can always find excuses as to why you can’t or shouldn’t.” Learn and Do We’re all guilty of placing blame for why we haven’t found success as artists. One excuse we like to use is saying we don’t know enough. “I don’t know how to do that” is a phrase commonly heard among artists. The only way to learn is by doing. You have to put yourself out there. Like Ron says, if you want to be a filmmaker, start making films. “Always be learning anyway, but going back to that Pressfield quote about putting your ass where your heart wants to be, go out and start doing it. If you want to be a filmmaker, start shooting, start making films. This is going to be the number one piece of advice any filmmaker is going to tell you… if you want to be a filmmaker, start making films.” I know everyone wants to be prepared before they get started. But you can’t prepare for everything. There are some things you can only learn by doing. You have to learn as you go. “Start making something and learning how to make it and kind of learn as you go. Don’t feel like you have to learn everything at once.” The point is that you have everything at your disposal to become a successful creative. Stop making excuses for why you can’t do something. If you truly want something, you have to put in the effort to achieve it. “It’s so easy with all the tools at our disposal to do any kind of creative endeavor online now or offline. There’s no excuse whatsoever. Price is not an excuse. Time is not an excuse. There is no excuse to not just get out and start doing whatever it is you that you want to do.” /episode/index/show/crackingcreativity/id/6577683

[Replay] Colin McCann on Productivity, Taking on an Ambitious Project, and the Power of Beliefs 05/01/2018

[Replay] Colin McCann on Productivity, Taking on an Ambitious Project, and the Power of Beliefs This is a replay of episode 31 with . Colin believes there is a better way to be productive in our lives, so he set out to create it himself. Most of us would be way too scared to leave our cushy jobs and try to go at it on our own, but with a plan of action and comfortable savings, Colin took that chance. --- Here are three things you can learn from Colin: Big Risks Don’t Need to Be Made with Snap Judgments Just because you are doing something drastic or daring, doesn’t mean you have to do it on a whim. Before Colin thought about quitting his job, he saved up enough money to make the jump. He lined up his finances so he would have the freedom to work on his project without worrying about how he was going to pay for things. If you want to take a risk, don’t make it a blind risk. Make sure you have everything lined up and planned out. Get all your ducks in a row before taking that leap. Break Things Down Into Small Steps Instead of approaching projects like this great big thing you need to tackle, approach them like many small tasks that can be conquered. When you are trying to accomplish any goal, figure out what the next small task is. When you keep tasks small, your brain can focus on the task at hand. Otherwise, you can get bogged down by the enormity of it. Break each task into bite sized pieces. This allows you to feel a sense of accomplishment as you make your way towards your goal. Believing in Yourself is the Best Way to Self-Improvement Self-improvement is all about your beliefs. Before you can better yourself, you must believe in yourself. Your beliefs are not accidental, they are the result of everything you do. If you want to make improvements in your life, you have to believe you are capable of making them. Once you do, everything becomes easier. We may not be conscious of it, but our beliefs shape who we are and how we approach each day. /episode/index/show/crackingcreativity/id/6542512

[Recap for Episode 84] Brett Michael Innes on Adapting to Your Situation, the Power of Mentorship, and Not Giving it to Fear 04/10/2018

84: Brett Michael Innes on Adapting to Your Situation, the Power of Mentorship, and Not Giving it to Fear 03/28/2018

84: Brett Michael Innes on Adapting to Your Situation, the Power of Mentorship, and Not Giving it to Fear didn't know if he would ever fulfill his dream of becoming a film maker. As a teenager, he knew he wanted to make movies but there were a few things that stood in the way of him accomplishing his dream. During that time, his family went into debt, so he couldn't afford to go to film school. He also had to work at a call center just to support himself. After some introspective thinking, Brett decided he wanted to pursue his dream of film making. So he worked a year at the call center so he could afford to go to film school. With the help of his parents and a scholarship, he was able to finish with a degree in film production. Although Brett wanted to major in directing, he was forced to get his degree in film production. This ended up being a stroke of luck because this experience with production helped him land a contract with M-Net, the HBO of South Africa. With the help of M-Net, Brett was able to work on his novel, Rachel Weeping, and his movie Sink, at the same time. Both the novel and movie were met with critical acclaim, which has allowed him to continue work doing the thing he loves, making films In this episode Brett talks about adapting to your situation, why mentorship is powerful, and not letting fear get the best of you. Here are three things you can learn from Brett: You Can Always Adapt Many of us feel stuck in our jobs or our careers. We believe it's way too late to change. Should haves flood our thoughts. I should have started earlier. I should have taken a different path. I should have taken more chances. If your mind is filled with should haves, I have good news for you. It's not too late. Stop dwelling on the past. Everything you've done up to this point will help you moving forward. "I think nothing is wasted. A lot of people may switch a degree or change jobs or careers in their forties and feel that everything that led up to that point now has been wasted because they take a sharp right, but actually, it all feeds into that thing that you're doing. Now I'm appreciative of it, but when I was in the midst of it all, it completely overwhelmed me." The most most important thing you have at your disposal is your ability to adapt. Human beings have adapted and evolved many times over millennia. Brett was able to adapt to his surroundings. You can too. "I think if I look at myself, it's that flexibility of not saying this is the only way it's going to be done and if I don't it won't work out. If it doesn't work out this way, it's a failure. But to now see that as with water, I've just got to find the grooves that are in the landscape and the career landscape that's happening around me, and just keep going at it." All you have to do is be like water. Even when things get in its way, water learns to maneuver through the gaps. "Just keep being creative and to just move like water through that space. I'm able to find success and see something happen not according to my own plan." The Power of Mentorship Artists often overlook one of the most beneficial relationships they can be a part of, mentorship. Before the industrial revolution, that's how most occupations worked. You would work under the tutelage of a master. You learned directly from someone who was skilled in the craft. Nowadays we try to do everything ourselves. We aren't interested in learning from others. Brett believes we can greatly benefit from having a mentor. "A lot of guys disregard what someone with thirty years of experience could teach them. And for me it's that curiosity of learning from those who have gone before even though market is changing drastically and how we do things changes, there's just something incredible about just the emotional intelligence of someone who's done it before is able to impart to you." The only problem is mentors have to be willing to take you on. They must want to impart their wisdom on the upcoming generation. "The reality is it comes from his side, someone who is older actually seeing that they want to father or mentor a younger creative. And it is as it is in life... Babies don't bring themselves into existence... It's the parents who make them and father them and choose to impart knowledge into their lives." Brett's goal is to become skilled enough to impart his wisdom on others. He wants to pass down wisdom so future generations can find success like he has. "Hopefully when I get to the point where I can teach someone something, I will see that that young filmmaker who just needs someone as a sounding board, to be there for them." Don't Let Fear Hold You Back One of the biggest reasons artists don't have successful careers is that they let fear control them. Instead of going out and doing the things they dream of, they do nothing. They give in to insecurity and fear. "If I look at a lot of my peers who are wanting to do stuff, who are single with nothing standing in their way, the biggest thing that holds them back is insecurity and fear, and I don't have that side to myself when it comes to pursuing a career." Another problem many artists have is one of perfectionism. They wait for the right moment of perfect opportunity. But there's no such thing as the perfect moment. You can't wait for permission. You can't wait for some imaginary benevolent patron. You just have to go out and seize things yourself. "I know a few artists who really, they don't want to do anything because, if it can't be done perfectly, they don't want to attempt it at all, and I think that's a mistake to make. It's a thing of starting to do it and not waiting for someone to pay you to do it either... If you have a job that enables you to do the stuff that stuff for free, don't try and make it so that you have to... make a career out of it. That can come later. Just do it on your own dollar." Stop waiting to be discovered. That rarely happens. Most artists who are discovered have worked many years at their craft. They worked relentlessly at their craft with an obsessive passion. "I think there's a big discovery kind of fairy tale that's fed by your idols or... if someone just discovers that I can tell or write a story and they'll pay me to do it, then I'll do it. That's absolute B.S. Firstly those people who are discovered... have been doing it for years and it's just the way these shows work... that's not real. It's a scene that we love because in our own heads it means that someone can wave a magic wand and our lives can be transformed in a creative lotto, where suddenly we get to do this. But some of the best artists in the world never received a dollar for the paintings that they made or the poems that they wrote. They were just obsessed with this thing and they did it. I think that's a healthier approach to how we do things." /episode/index/show/crackingcreativity/id/6417400

[Replay] Natalie Kim on Choosing Yourself, Being Vulnerable, and Dealing with Mixed Reactions 03/13/2018

[Replay] Natalie Kim on Choosing Yourself, Being Vulnerable, and Dealing with Mixed Reactions This is a replay of episode 30 with . Natalie believes we should not rely on others to further our careers. We are no longer beholden to decisiosn from the gatekeepers. We are the deciders of our own destiny. In this episode, Natlie tells us why we need to pursue own own dreams. --- Natalie Kim is an actress, writer, and artist. She also hosted It’s a Draw With Natalie Kim, where she interviewed comedians and cartoonist while they drew. On this episode, Natalie talks about why you need to work on your own projects, lessons she’s learned from stand-up and improv, and why vulnerability helps with acting and in life. Here are three things you can learn from Natalie: Choose Yourself For a while, Natalie listened to what other people told her. She let her manager and others decide what roles she would appear in, which led to burning out. It was only when she went back and worked on her own projects that she was able to find happiness in her work. Don’t let other people tell you what you should be working on. Decide for yourself. If you don’t like the projects that people are offering you, work on your own projects instead. The Power of Vulnerability Natalie has learned that being being vulnerable and open not only helps you with acting, it also helps you in life. By being more open, it allowed her to be more human and to experience things more fully. We often go through life trying not to show too much emotion, but the thing is, people are more trusting when we are open. It is much easier for people to empathize with you when you are being honest with them. This mutual honesty and trust allows you to build a strong connection with each other. Dealing with Inconsistent Audience Reactions As a stand-up and improv performer, Natalie has learned to deal with different reactions from the audience. Some nights people will laugh, others it will be silent. The only way to deal with this is to realize that not everyone will have the same reaction to your work. Instead of worrying about it or letting it get to you, learn to move on. Don’t let what others think dictate what you think about yourself. You just have to hone your craft and be so good people can’t ignore you. The difference between professionals and amateurs is the ability to deal with criticism and the reaction of your audience. /episode/index/show/crackingcreativity/id/6360002

[Recap for Episode 83] Cebo Campbell on Putting Everything Into Your Work, Taking Your Time, and Striving to be the Best 03/07/2018

83: Cebo Campbell on Putting Everything Into Your Work, Taking Your Time, and Striving to be the Best 02/20/2018

83: Cebo Campbell on Putting Everything Into Your Work, Taking Your Time, and Striving to be the Best grew up with a father and a community only interested in one of his talents: football. When he was a kid, his father was the coach of his football team where he stressed one thing, be the best you can be. Cebo took that advice to heart and became a dynamic football player, but due to his height, only got a football scholarship from one school. So he took it. This is when Cebo started to shift his focus from athletics to academics. He was always creative, but it wasn't until his teacher encouraged him to major in writing that he truly started to focus on it. When you're a football player, your teammates shun you for being smart, so Cebo always tried to hide that part of his life. But after winning a writing competition as a freshman, he realized there was something there, so he ran with it. After graduating and spending a short stint on the west coast, Cebo moved back to Florida and worked at a hotel. While working at the hotel, he convinced the owner to let him work on the hotel's website. This would be the second big shift in his life. Cebo became interested in everything he could accomplish with website design and writing. So much so that he went to a conference centered around it. That's where he met AJ Leon. Cebo and AJ hit it off immediately. This fateful meeting ended up being the beginning of a great friendship, and eventually a job as the creative director of Misfit Inc. In this episode, Cebo talks about why you should put your all into your work, why you should take your time, and why you should always strive to be the best. Here are three things you can learn from Cebo: Put Your All Into Your Work Something Cebo believes in is the power of pouring yourself into your work. Most people believe talent is the ultimate predictor of great work, but Cebo believes great work is the result of being completely present when you're creating. "When it comes to what is good... that whole measure, I don't think measure exists in your talent. I think the measure is in how much of you are you allowing into be present in the work that you do. Can I see it? Can I feel it?" One of the things that prevents most of us from putting ourselves into our work is that when you make something personal, you open yourself up to criticism. But Cebo doesn't let that criticism stop him. "The minute that you allow yourself to be into the work that you created, you open yourself up to criticism and I have no fear of criticism." That's the problem many creatives have. They are afraid to expose themselves to criticism from the world, so they play it safe. "That's true of a lot of creatives. They're afraid of being exposed, and so they do just enough as opposed to letting it all hang out." And that's what separates Cebo's remarkable work and distinct style from most creators. He is willing to put everything into his work, even if it means opening himself up to vulnerability. If you want to make an impact with your work, you have to be willing to accept and embrace views from the outside world. Don't Be in Such a Hurry One of the burdens of being an artist is knowing when one of our pieces is ready for the world. Sometimes we toil over it for days, and other times we try to get it out as quickly as possible. Cebo believes we shouldn't be in such a hurry to release our work. We need to own it and chisel it until it's ready. "Not everything has to be shipped so fast. Not everything has to get out the door. Not everything has to be expedited. Start. Control it. Own it. Make it the way you want it to be. Chisel it if it needs to be chiseled. That's just how I look at it... I don't want to be here today, gone tomorrow." Our necessity to get things out quickly is especially true of people who work in the digital space. "We have a tendency, in particular with the web, any digital interface, to time stamp it to the trends of today." Cebo doesn't believe in following today's trends. He wants his work to stand the test of time. "I am very particular about my art. The same way I was very particular about playing sports... When it comes to art, I have no problem saying it's not ready." Even though much of his work lives on the web, Cebo doesn't treat projects like one and dones. He doesn't let other people dictate his work. He treats everything he does like a piece of art. "If it's not ready, it's just not ready. I hold to that because I think in the end it's art. If you abide by the rules that other people are imposing on both time and completion, then it's not your art anymore." That's the way we should all consider approaching our work. Whether you're a writer, musician, or painter. You should treat each piece like a work of art you can be proud of. Always Strive to Be the Best Often times we will settle for good enough. We work so long on a project that it starts to feel like a burden. We want to get it out of our hands so we can stop worrying about it. This mindset often holds us back from achieving greatness in our work. But if we want to create our best work, we need to trust ourselves and stop holding back. "I believe wholeheartedly that you have to trust your talent... and there's so many people that I work with, where you can feel them holding back. You can feel it. You can see it in the work, where they're just holding back, holding back, holding back because they're afraid their skill set doesn't allow them to go further. But I will tell anyone, when I do design workshops, don't let up. What you don't know now, you'll learn. You have everything you need to do everything you want so just keep at it and you'll get where you want to go." Always doing your best can be a challenge, but no one ever said being an artist would be easy. Anyone can create art, but very few people can create great art. "I think it's a challenge, and it's not just a challenge to art. it's a challenge to us as humans to be the best that you can be. Take it there... If it's not where you think it should be, hold onto it." Cebo doesn't settle for good enough. He puts everything into his work. Even though he knows he might not be the best at everything, that doesn't stop him from doing his best. That's the attitude he wants everyone to pursue, not just with their art but in everything they do. "It's only the best that I know. It doesn't mean I'm going to be better than every person in the world. I just want to realize the potential that I feel that I have, and I think individually as a pursuit for everyone, not just in art, but in their lives just go out with intention and purpose. Take yourself seriously." /episode/index/show/crackingcreativity/id/6280270

[Replay] Kim Nicol on Her Journey into Mindfulness, How Mindfulness Helps High Powered People, and the Many Ways She Teaches 02/06/2018

[Replay] Kim Nicol on Her Journey into Mindfulness, How Mindfulness Helps High Powered People, and the Many Ways She Teaches This is a r. Kim's journey from marketing, to law, to mindfulness and meditation is an inspiration for anyone who feels stuck at their jobs or in their career. There's a lot we can learn from Kim, so check out our great conversation. --- Kim Nicol teaches meditations and mindfulness and has helped thousands of people find calm in everyday moments. In this episode Kim talks about how she went from marketing, to being a lawyer, to becoming a mindfulness and meditations teacher. She also talks about how to relate to others and the many different ways she helps bring mindfulness into people’s everyday lives. Here are three things you can learn from Kim: Your journey doesn’t need to be linear Many people settle for their lot in life. They went to college, got a job, and are stuck there. At least that’s the thought. It doesn’t have to be this way. Many people think of life as a singular path, but it’s much more complicated than that. Kim’s path took her from marketing and branding, to being a lawyer, and finally to her calling as a mindfulness and meditation teacher. If you feel like you can’t do anything about your job, think again. Look at Kim as an example, and remember, many other people are finding their way too. How high powered people can overcome stress People in positions of power often get stressed because they can’t control everything. They lived most of their lives getting what they wanted, but when things don’t go exactly as planned, they stress out over it. The best way to overcome this stress is to shift your perspective. It doesn’t do any good to get angry over something you can’t control. Instead take a breath and decide from a place of calmness. Explore your options and shift your relationships, choices, and momentum so you aren’t burning energy. Advice on getting started with meditation When people here meditation, they often think of monks sitting on the floor chanting to themselves. This often turns people away because they are daunted by how intense it can be. The good news is, meditation comes in many forms. It doesn’t need to be that intense or intimidating. If you want to get started with a mindfulness or meditation practice, Kim advocates starting small. People often give up because they start off trying to meditate for 20 minutes. Instead, start with a 3 minute meditation and increase the amount of time as you become more comfortable with it. Kim also advocates approaching your practice with a sense of curiosity and adventure. Don’t worry about getting it right. See how you can make it fun. /episode/index/show/crackingcreativity/id/6229988

[Recap for Episode 82] Erik Kruger on Lessons from Failure, Letting Principles Guide You, and Creating Value for Your Audience 01/24/2018

82: Erik Kruger on Lessons from Failure, Letting Principles Guide You, and Creating Value for Your Audience 01/17/2018

82: Erik Kruger on Lessons from Failure, Letting Principles Guide You, and Creating Value for Your Audience is like many of us who became entranced by the idea of lifestyle design. He read Tim Ferriss's Four Hour Workweek and felt the desire to work as few hours as possible so he could "run around and do other things" with all his extra free time. So he tried to build businesses that let him live that lifestyle. His first attempt was a local freelance network, which fizzled out. He also tried to create web directories for physical therapists, gyms, and models, but those never gained traction either. He describes all of these unsuccessful projects as his "graveyard of domains" because of all the sites he tried and failed to build. These failures taught him a valuable lesson. When he started out, his main goal was trying to make a lot of money while working as few hours as possible. But over time, he discovered he was focusing on the wrong thing. Luckily for Erik, our failures often lead to our greatest success. His success came in the form of Better Man, a site dedicated to helping men change their behaviors to become more productive, habit driven, and successful. This project has grown into a thriving community of like-minded men driven to make the most out of life. In this episode Erik talks about the lessons we can learn from failure, why you should let your principles guide you, and the importance of creating value for your audience. Here are three things you can learn from Erik: Failures Can Teach Us Valuable Lessons We are all afraid of failure. No matter what level you've reached, how much money you've made, or how much success you've achieved, there's still something in the back of our minds that's deathly afraid of failure. It's a part of human nature. The difference between those who continue to find success and those who give up is that successful people learn from their failures. Erik failed many times before hitting on Better Man, but these failures taught him valuable skills. "When I look back, it's really embarrassing to talk about them, but they taught me incredibly valuable skills, to the point where Better Man is what it is because of the digital skills that I built up during all these horrendous sites." Your moments of failure might seem frustrating in the moment, but they can also teach you valuable lessons. "It's always nice to look back and know that you've gone through all these things and at the time you might be frustrated and looking back you might think of them as failures, but they actually taught you so much." The biggest lesson Erik learned was changing his mindset. When he started, he was enamored with lifestyle design and let that dictate his decisions. But once he shifted his effort towards something he was passionate about everything changed. "Probably the biggest mistake that I made, and I don't want to say I regret it, but I wish my mindset was a bit different, is that, during that same time lifestyle design became this buzz word and everyone was flocking to this idea of building a business while working extremely few hours a week and being able to just run around and do other things the rest of the time and I got really hooked by that idea, and I wish I didn't. I wish I'd just stuck to working hard and not fell into the trap of wanting to put in as few hours as I can, but trying to get maximum results from it... A big deal with what I teach is that you want to put in as little effort as possible for maximum return but it doesn't mean you're not still working ten hours. It just means those ten hours are more focused and working on the correct things and not just things that are keeping you busy." Let Your Principles Guide You Often times our biggest challenge isn't that we don't know what to do. It's that we forget what we stand for. We stop letting our principles guide us in the right direction. We follow those shiny objects hoping that this new tool or technique will help us break through. But shortcuts rarely work. What we need are some principles to guide us. Better Man's guiding principle is to take responsibility for your life. "I think what we all just want is that magic wand... that's just going to figure out everything for us, but you have to go back and actually start taking responsibility for your life, and once you start doing that, then... things start falling into place because you start designing your life around the responsibility that you take. So, I guess if I had to say the number one value... of Better Man, it would be to take responsibility for your life. And to not just sit back and wait for life to happen to you, but to go out and to say 'This is what I want in life and I'm going to make it happen. It's going to be up to me.'" Being productive, building habits, and changing your behaviors are wonderful tools for becoming better people, but those changes are possible if you don't take responsibility for yourself and your actions. "The rest of the things that we speak about, productivity, world power, habits, behavior change, none of that is possible without you saying 'I'm showing up today. I'm getting out of bed and I'm going to kick some ass.' So I would guess that would be number one for me, the number one principle." People are always trying to jump ahead in the process, but the only way to build something sustainable is by doing it step by step. "People want to shortcut the process. The effort that it takes to get there. The grind, and the hustle, and the pain, and the days and weeks of feeling like you're not getting anywhere... you want to shortcut it, and I completely get it, but ultimately there's only one way to really get anywhere. And that's brick by brick, step by step. That's the only way you can build something significantly." Create Value for Your Audience We are constantly bombarded with lists telling us what to do. "Here are five hacks for this" or "Ten ways to do that" but these lists are rarely helpful. They rehash the same tired information. Erik believes these lists are extremely unhelpful. There's nothing tangible you can actually implement from them. "One of the things that quite irritates me the most is the five life hacks that will make you successful... and then you go and read these articles and it's the same stuff that's been rehashed over and over and over, and they give you this one thing and they give you one supplemental thing to fill it up, and it just means nothing. There's nothing you can grab onto and that you're going to implement in your life and it's going to take you further." There's so much information out there that it becomes hard to distinguish what's useful and what's not. That's why Erik likes to distill his ideas for his audience. He knows they're busy. He knows they wants something that works. So he does all the heavy lifting for them. "I think that's one of the big problems we have at the moment is that there's so much out there in the world. You literally have millions of sites at your fingertips, and if you're just getting started in self-development, it can be so overwhelming to go and search and sift through all these blogs and to find good quality content. And then you think you've found something, and the next thing you read completely contradicts it. So, what do you believe? And what I'm trying to do is say to people 'I've already put in the effort and the time to make sure this is good information that I'm giving to you, and I've put my filter over it. My Better Man filter over it... and this is what I've come up with." Another thing Erik realized is we aren't going to be the right fit for everyone. We need to concentrate our efforts on people who will get the most out of what we have to say. "At some point you just have to realize that no matter what you create, it's never going to be for everyone. And the quicker you can get to that point, the quicker you can start serving the people that you will do an excellent job of serving." So stop trying to create for everyone. Stop worrying about your unsubscribes. And focus on your loyal audience instead. "I think what happened for me is I just realized there's so many other things I need to focus on instead of my unsubscribes. I need to focus on people who remained and who said I want more of what you have. Like, why not put your energy and effort into those people?" /episode/index/show/crackingcreativity/id/6159247

[Recap for Episode 81] Ja-Nae Duane on Vulnerability, Staying in Touch with Creativity, and the Power of Mindsets 01/09/2018

81: Ja-Nae Duane on Vulnerability, Staying in Touch with Creativity, and the Power of Mindsets 12/20/2017

81: Ja-Nae Duane on Vulnerability, Staying in Touch with Creativity, and the Power of Mindsets has worn many creative hats in her career. She started off as an opera singer where she performed at places like The Met and the White House, but soon realized it wasn’t a sustainable career. So she branched out and started working for a social networking company, which was the beginning of her entrepreneurial journey. While working there she realized the major difference between the way men and women approached entrepreneurship. This led her to start a group called Wild Women Entrepreneurs, which grew to 55 chapters in nine months. After a stint running her own companies, Ja-Nae realized other people probably needed help with their own entrepreneurial journeys too, which is why she wrote The Startup Equation, a book that helps owners throughout their business journeys. In this episode, Ja-Nae talks about how vulnerability leads to great work, why you need to stay in touch with your creativity, and why your mindset is so important. Here are three things you can learn from Ja-Nae: Vulnerability Often Leads to Our Best Work When it comes to our art, many of us take the easy road. We work on things that come easily to us. We work within our comfort zone. We work on things we think will be popular. But the truth is, our best work comes when we open ourselves up to vulnerability. Our best work comes when we dive deep and create something personal. Our best work comes out when we feel anxious about it, but put it out there anyways. That’s exactly what Ja-nae discovered about her greatest work. “Whenever I start to feel anxious about something that I’m putting out, particularly something that’s creative, because when we’re creating something it’s usually personal. And what I find the more personal that you can get in all of your work, and that can be professionally, that can be in stuff that you’re doing artistically, but the more that you can actually gear it into diving deep and really getting it close and under your skin, and then exposing it to the world, almost like ripping off a Band-aid and just exposing that sort of flesh to the world, that’s really where vulnerability and fear can be drivers, and that’s usually what our best work is.” Ja-nae feels like our work is concentrates too much on the surface level. She feels like a lot of people are creating just to put stuff out there. She believes we are creating too much fluff. Ja-nae believes our best work gets to the heart of humanity. It explores boundaries. It helps us connect with other people. It transforms the way we live. “I find that many people are just putting stuff out there to just put stuff out there, but if we’re not actually getting to the heart of humanity, what’s the point? If we’re not really exploring the boundaries of what life is, and what it could be, and how we can interact with one another, and how we can transform in the way that we live and breathe and create, that’s interesting. Everything else is just fluff and noise in my book.” Stay in Touch with Your Creativity Ja-nae began her career as an opera singer, but later transitioned into marketing after realizing how unsustainable being an opera singer was. She found a lot of success in marketing and even created her own marketing company. What she didn’t realize was that she was becoming depressed because she lost touch with her creativity. “You know, I actually think there was a little bit of depression in there… You know, I knew something was wrong. I knew something was off for years and I didn’t necessarily know exactly what it was. And it wasn’t all of this, but it was a large part of this. And what I found was, I was the least happiest when I was known as a marketer, and I was viewing that as my primary living and running that company… I liked the challenge and I love strategies, so those two things fueled at least my brain, but there was nothing that really intersected with my heart. And I think that emptiness was really something that stuck out more than I knew. And sometimes when you live in it so long, or with something for so long… you almost forget that it’s there or life could be without it.” Ja-nae forgot what drove her. She was so concentrated on her business and being successful that she lost sight of something that made her happy. So she decided to bring creativity back into into her life. “I realized how far I had gotten from my roots, we’ll say, and how much that had affected me, and so that’s actually one of the things that I have really started to bring back into my life.” What she discovered was that sometimes we need other people to point out the obvious. With the help of her husband, Ja-nae was able to get back on track with her creativity. “I find that that type of reaction is something that, unless we have people to call us out on it or unless we are super self-aware all the time, that we fall in to the patterns, and we sometimes forget our potential and the potential of what life could be.” That’s why Ja-nae advocates surrounding yourself with the right types of people. We need people who will help push us. Sure, you could rest on your laurels, but when you have people pushing you, you tend to create your best work. “I am truly a firm believer in surrounding myself with people who will push me. Who won’t just allow me to sit idly by rest on my laurels but will really say… ‘Are you good with this? Is this what you want or do you feel like there’s more that you can do here say in the project or in life? I noticed this pattern.’ To me you have to surround yourself with people that won’t just allow you to go idly through life but will really be your… companions to help you to thrive, so that you get the most out of it.” Mindsets Make All the Difference Often times the hardest thing we have to overcome to be successful is the way we think. We hear things all the time that sound right, but are actually a deterrence to our success: We need to be thrifty. We are not good enough. We are stuck in our current situation. One of the things Ja-nae had to overcome was growing up poor. She started off believing she had to horde her resources, but what she realized was that giving lead to great success. “When a person grows up poor or has a lack of resources it becomes very easy to horde those resources and keep things close to you because you’re afraid that they’re going to go away if you don’t. And the thing is, it’s the exact opposite. If you’re looking for things and for more resources, being that connector and opening yourself up, and whether or not you’re volunteering time or you’re connecting people with one another or even if you’re offering up a bit of expertise to people… Being in a state of giving is one of the first things that I would say to people.” But the most important thing Ja-nae did, was changing her negative self-talk. Instead of looking at things in a defeatist way, she looked at ways she could solve her problems. “The other thing I would say… and this was huge for me. This would actually be number one is change your self-talk. So instead of I can’t or the world’s against me or I don’t have enough. Just switch that slightly to I will find a way. I have what I need for today. What are the ways that we can push this forward? Just change it to… it doesn’t have to be fluffy… but if you do change it to this almost problem solving verbiage instead of this defeatist verbiage, then it allows your brain to start to compare and contrast different ways, and find a solution.” Another thing Ja-nae found helpful was surrounding herself with the right type of people. The people around you can have an immense impact on the way you think. So if you often find yourself in a negative mood, see if the people around you are affecting the way you think. “If you’re looking for a change… you’re just not happy with where you are, then I would take a close look at who you’re surrounding yourself with and listen to how they talk to you, how they talk to one another. What is their work ethic? How do they contribute to the world? Are they in a constant state of giving? You know, we are the average of the five people we surround ourselves with the most.” One of the biggest positive changes we can make in our lives is surrounding ourselves with people who push us to do our best. “If you are unhappy with where you are, change your environment. Change the game, and surround yourself with people that you don’t feel deserve to be around or you feel like an impostor. Because again, that fear… will force you to be a little more vulnerable but will also open up more doors.” /episode/index/show/crackingcreativity/id/6074206

[Recap for Episode 80] Angela Ferrari on Believing in Yourself, Having Fun, and Struggles and Success 11/29/2017

80: Angela Ferrari on Believing in Yourself, Having Fun, and Struggles and Success 11/21/2017

80: Angela Ferrari on Believing in Yourself, Having Fun, and Struggles and Success Angela Ferrari has always lived a creative life. When she was young she lived in a rural area where she figured out creative ways to play. She would build tree forts, spray paint plants, and turn her mundane environment into stories. Angela continued that creative streak in college where she studied studio art and painting. After college, she moved to Portland, Maine and started working at a restaurant. While working as a waitress, Angela forged relationships with the restaurant owners and patrons. After a while, Angela was able to quit her job as a waitress to work on her art full-time. For some, having a successful business as an artist would be enough, but that wasn’t the case for Angela. One day while doing yoga, she had a vision about a dog doing yoga. This would eventually turn into her first children’s book Digger’s Daily Routine. Even with three completed books and a newly released podcast, it still feels like Angela has more creativity to share with the world. In this episode Angela talks about believing in yourself, having fun, and how struggles can lead to success. Here are three things you can learn from Angela: Believe in Yourself When we are first starting out in our creative careers, a lot of self-doubt creeps in. “I’m not a professional artist, why would anyone buy from me?” we ask ourselves. We believe in our work, but don’t believe in ourselves. That’s why it’s so important to believe in who you are and what you are doing. That’s what Angela did when she went from being a painter to also being a writer. “A big part of it too was I was afraid of the impostor syndrome, especially transitioning from painter to writer. I was afraid to call myself a writer, and therefore I was afraid to promote myself as a writer. Once I got established painting, I liked being called a painter. I liked that being part of my identity, but it was a little harder when I was unpublished or before I launched a podcast, calling myself a podcaster. It’s hard to almost validate yourself when you don’t feel like you’ve accomplished anything. But then I realized the action of doing it is what makes me a writer. The action of recording and creating episodes is what made me a podcaster.” The only way you can overcome the impostor syndrome is by believing in what you do. You have to own it. “Once I started being kinda comfortable with myself and saying yes, I do belong in this space, and I can put myself out there, not just my work, but myself into my work, and that’s now part of my identity.” Many of us believe we just have to reach our goals and we’ll have “made it.” The truth is, there’s no such thing as making it. The bar is constantly moving. You have to evolve with that sliding scale. “You never really arrive. You’re always going to be growing in this creative space. You’re always going to be evolving in staying current in your field. So once you start that initial page in the book, you now are a writer. The more you say to yourself, “I am this. I am doing this.” Then it kind of positively reinforces and motivates you to say “I need to follow through because this is now part of who I am.” Have Fun Most creative people discover their love for art early in life because they had a blast while creating. We enjoyed every moment of the creative process from dipping the brush into the paints to wrapping up a finished painting. But along the way, we lose sight of that fun and joy. We let the business side of creativity distract us. We become discouraged when we don’t see immediate results. Angela found a way around this by making sure everything she does is fun. “For me, I don’t like doing something if it’s not fun. I like to have fun and it’s everything from cooking to working out, once I find a method of ‘Oh, this is a creative way I can do this. This works for me.” This was especially true for the way she approached marketing. She found a way to make marketing fun. “My approach to marketing, I knew it’s necessary and it feeds into that big picture goal I have of ‘Okay, I want to tell stories. That’s my big goal.’ So I start telling stories when I market. I find really fun images to use when I create campaigns for social media. And starting a podcast was a way I could promote myself in an authentic way or I could use my voice and speak directly to people. I knew that was something I could have fun with for marketing.” Sure there are some tedious elements to starting and maintaining a business, but the best way to get around the tedium is to have fun with it. “The business side, yeah there are definitely some tedious things that are hard to do, but once you learn something, you can find a way to have fun with it because the learning part of it is definitely I think the hard part of any part of a business.” Struggles Can Help in the Long Run We’ve all faced struggles in our creative careers. It’s why the term “starving artist” exists. No one said living a fulfilling creative life would be easy. You will face ups and downs. You will soar to the highest highs and hit rock bottom. That’s just how the uncertain life of a creative goes. Those same struggles are also what makes success so sweet. We might dread them in the moment, but when we look back, we are usually glad we found our way through them. That’s exactly what happened to Angela when she went from being a painter to being a writer too. “A lot of times I look back and things that felt like struggles or hardships, I look back and think, ‘Oh thank goodness that happened.’ I mean, I’ve had a lot of rejection and failure… starting out as a painter and going and working my way up as a writer. Any time I’m submitting a piece I’d get feedback that, a lot of times I just didn’t feel like I could do it. I didn’t realize I had it in me.” Those struggles push us to achieve more. They help us determine determine if we want to forge on. They help us ask ourselves the right questions. They help keep us honest. “So those struggles, they definitely push me. They definitely make me check in and say ‘Do I want this enough? Is this what I want?’ And the answer has always been yes. So I’ve always had to push through by again asking the questions. Keep that goal in mind. I do have a lot of visual images in my work space… Those kinds of things are those kind of reminders that really help push me forward when I’m going through an area where I just don’t think I can do it.” /episode/index/show/crackingcreativity/id/5966590

[Recap for Episode 79] Henry May on Leaving His Respected Job, Letting Ideas Develop, and Taking Action 11/07/2017

79: Henry May on Leaving His Respected Job, Letting Ideas Develop, and Taking Action 10/17/2017

79: Henry May on Leaving His Respected Job, Letting Ideas Develop, and Taking Action spent his childhood playing with LEGOs. He loved the outdoors and harmless mischief. He thought his life was pre-ordained. He thought our paths are set for us. This all changed the summer he joined Teach First. The two years he spent here, changed his thoughts on the education system and his role in the world. After his time at Teach First, and a short stint at Procter & Gamble, Henry took a trip to Colombia through Teach Colombia and fell in love with the country. But he also heard horrible stories about the public schools there. These were the driving forces that pulled him to leave everything he knew in London and to start CoSchool in Colombia. In this episode Henry talks about why well respected jobs aren't always right for us, why good ideas take time to develop, and why you need to stop waiting and put your ideas into action. Respected Jobs Aren't Always the Best For Us If you ask most people what they want out of life, one thing they will mention is a good career. They want a safe job at a well established company. They want stability and security. But that doesn't mean a job at a well respected company is right for everyone. That's exactly what Henry found out while working at Procter & Gamble. While most people would be overjoyed to have a job at a company like P&G, Henry found it frustrating. "It was such a different world from this real life, hard hitting world of being a teacher in a school in South London. To then be found in an office talking about selling razor blades, nappies, shampoo. I just couldn't connect with the deeper purpose. I really respect an organization like Procter & Gamble for the success that they've had, for the benefit that they bring to the world... however I found it very frustrating to see so many intelligent, capable, caring people there who were using all of that talent and all of that brilliance to sell 1% more shampoo than their rivals." Just because a company is a good business, that doesn't mean it's the right fit for everyone. Sometimes our hearts just aren't into it. "Ultimately that's the bottom line in an organization like that. They do a great job of developing people, and growing leaders, and making some fantastic business people, but I was a mismatch in terms of where my heart was." Sometimes Good Ideas Take Time to Develop In the modern age, we want things to happen instantaneously. We have been conditioned to expect instant gratification. But sometimes good ideas take time develop. Sometimes we need to think things over before they can become a reality. That's exactly what happened to Henry. His dual passions for Huracan FC and CoSchool were on completely different journeys, but after thinking about it for a few months, the ideas converged. "They were separate dots on... different journeys of my life that didn't make a connection immediately. There wasn't intentions. It took a process of reflection and iteration, and three or four months initially of thinking 'Am I going to focus on the Huracan foundation? Is that my thing? Is that what I am going to do? And eventually CoSchool was born out of this process of stopping." We're always in such a rush to get our ideas off the ground that we don't give them time to breath. That's why Henry advises aspiring entrepreneurs to spend some time thinking about their ideas. "I think that if there's something that I learned from that, there's something I share with other people, with friends who are thinking about doing something entrepreneurial, the value of stopping and stepping outside of the white water, not just for a day or for a week, I mean I did it for three months. I gave myself the time and space to think, to explore, to consider, to evaluate, to analyze. I think out of that space, was the birth of probably my greatest moment of creativity." Stop Waiting and Put Your Ideas Into Action We all have ideas we're passionate about but far too often, we let them sit inside our heads. Instead of giving ourselves the chance to succeed we self-sabotage and do nothing. Henry believes that if you have a good idea, you need to treat it with a sense of urgency. You need to talk to people about it. You need to test it, to write it down, and prototype it so you can learn as much as possible. "Every day that you wait to make that idea a reality is a day less of your life to make your idea happen. So if you have an idea and you care about it, treat it with a sense of urgency. Treat it with the same sense of urgency that you would treat a ticking time bomb in your hand. You don't know what might happen in your life or what things will go on and what circumstances might change, and you don't know how long that idea might be in your hands for. So give yourself the chance to, if you really care about it and you really feel it in your gut, and you feel like it's something you want to do, the how and route to success and execution, to creating a business plan and model and team, that's not important. That's not the most important first thing. And I think that's a common mistake. People go 'I haven't got a plan. I don't know how to make this a reality.' Well, I think every single entrepreneur that ever had an idea probably had a moment like that... What you do is get an idea and speak to people. Test it. Write it down. Draw it. Try and prototype it in the quickest and shortest way possible to learn as fast as possible." If you don't put your ideas into action, you'll never know if they're going to work. You can't learn anything about your idea if it just sits inside your head. The best thing you can do is lean into your fear and take action. "You can learn an incredible amount in about twenty minutes of your life, about ideas, by putting them into action. You can learn zero about ideas by just thinking about them. If you put them into action, act them out, listen to them, and role play them... all of a sudden stuff starts happening. So that would be my biggest advice and lean into fear. Take that step out of your comfort zone and go somewhere you haven't been before. Take the idea with you. Let the idea lead you. Don't be afraid of failure. I mean, learn. Learn, grow, test. See what happens." Read more shownotes from episode 79 with Henry May /episode/index/show/crackingcreativity/id/5844353

[Recap for Episode 78] Kristen Fagan on the Downside of Perfectionism, the Power of Play, and Following Your Intuition 09/27/2017

Cracking Creativity Podcast with Kevin Chung

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