The Time is Right for living a creative life. We discuss how to live life with a focus on creativity and why that’s a good thing for everyone.
Do you get distracted by your creativity tools? Do you put off your creative work because you haven’t found the perfect tools? Do you argue online about your favorite tools? In this episode, we talk about these concerns and how to work through the temptation and get to work.
Neither of us read this book, but it appears useful. Unclutter Your Mind: 500 ways to Focus on What’s Important by Donna Smallin.
This episode is a little more personal for us. We dig into how we each have managed our creativity while dealing with unexpected and emotionally difficult times. Each creative deals with this in their own way. There is no single best approach other than to use or perform creative work in the manner that serves you best. Creativity can be a therapeutic benefit, but it can also cause anxiety and stress. Knowing yourself and “going with the flow” of what feels best, being open to change, accepting setbacks, etc. is probably the only guidance we can give. But if you’ve ever struggled with being creative while facing life’s biggest challenges, give this a listen. You’re not alone.
In this episode, John and Kevin discuss whether creatives should focus on making weaknesses stronger or double down on our strengths. How do we even evaluate what a strength or weakness is? Should we label something as a weakness? We each want to improve in our craft, but what’s the best way to frame how we do that?
Kevin suggests reading Cory Doctorow’s article about how social media platforms change over time. Why they always (so far) serve the owners and never (so far) their users or the content creators in the long run. Read it here.
John recommends a strengths and weaknesses listicle from Elite Daily. The presentation undermines the message, which isn’t actually wrong, but sounds like it is.
In this episode, John and Kevin dig into how the pursuit of perfection in our creative work can hold us back. They discuss how and when perfectionism can manifest during the creative process and ways they have overcome the pitfalls.
Psychology Today primer on the psychological definitions of perfectionism: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/perfectionism
Mindful Art Studio: How Perfectionism is Killing Your Creativity:
https://mindfulartstudio.com/how-perfectionism-is-killing-your-creativity/
Psychology Today: Getting Creative by Striving for Excellence Vs. Perfection:
