Creativity Miniseries: Perspiration

There's a creative flow that happens when we nurture all of the aspects of ourselves. And you've probably heard, if you've been listening to this podcast for a while, that there is this magical spark that happens with journaling. Now you may be even thinking, "Well, you know, I used to journal, but I didn't really know what I was doing," or, "Yeah, I hear people talk about journaling, but like, what's the point of just writing down your thoughts or writing down what happened in the day? I can tell you the benefit." The reason why that matters is because there is a constant track of noise that plays in your head over and over again. And putting those thoughts into a place gives you a more powerful position to do something new with it. Whether that's something new is to set it down on let it go, ignite and spark an important or meaningful conversation that needs to happen or a creative idea. So I want to invite you to pick up a copy of the treasured journal. It's a journal that I made with you in mind. It's a seven-part guided journal so that you don't ever have to look at a blank page and wonder, "Gosh, what should I be writing or am I doing this right or wrong?" It can also be a guide for you to use in many journals over and over and over again. The prompts, the stories, the quotes, they're going to be there with you forever. So don't worry, you don't have to do this alone. You have community here. Hello, hello. This is Daniel Ireland and you are listening to Don't Cut Your Own Bings, the third episode in our four-part mini-series about creation. And I am sitting next to my creative partner in crime for this mini-series Emily Sutherland. She's a writer. She's a screenwriter. She's a ghost writer. She writes all the things. And we are here today to talk about probably the least sexy aspect of creation and creativity perspiration. Boo. Boo. Boo. Hey, a sweat. Get your geoderant ready or your non-aluminum-free, all-natural balls. Get whatever you use ready for those pits because this is going to be a sweaty episode. And I say that as a self-acknowledged sweater. But this is an important part of the process and we're going to go through it a little more quickly, not because it doesn't deserve some time, but because this is the part that it's a little less fun, but it's necessary. Absolutely. We can condense this down so that you can get to work. We could tell you how to run or you could just run. It's so good. Yes. So basically, we could boil this down to roll up your sleeves and do it. Pretty much done. Most of us want to have published a podcast or have done the thing. But actually getting it through the grit of getting it done is you're right. It's not sexy, but it's necessary. It is. And I think that this is maybe my version of "Tough Love" and just know that my version of "Tough Love" is like the softest pillow bump on the side of the head. But I do sometimes need that where you've done everything you can possibly do except doing the thing. And then you must do. But I'll say a couple of things that have helped me and I'm actually going to talk about perspiration in a different way, exercise. I was able to get out of my own way and get something started, get my first draft started when I decided to go outside and move my body. Sometimes perspiration, quite literally, is that I'm sweating in the stinky, stale, unhealthy way when I'm sitting as a ball of anxiety. And I actually move my body and I take whatever I'm trying to process or trying to accomplish or do with me on my walk. And it doesn't just have to be a walk, I don't know, it could be going out with a friend, but when I take it and move with it, whether in communion with another person, conversation, but moving the idea, moving the energy of the idea, actually helps it not become stuck in stagnant and stale. So important. Yeah. So true. Because I'm a stress sweater. It happens whenever I get activated in a fight or flight or whenever I have an old story that says, you can't do this. You shouldn't do this. Who do you think you are? What the world doesn't need a children's book? It needs an important book. You know, right? This well, this well worn path that we've been trotting about my ego, but that is when the sweat that is really stinky that can break through any deodorant bomb, toms or no. But that stress sweat is unique to shame and not feeling good enough. And that form of sweat is not the same sweat as when I go on a walk or I move my body. So sometimes the only thing left to do is roll up your sleeves and do the damn work. And I would even say, if you need to press down a little bit longer, maybe the thing you need to do is actually move your body. Like hold the idea in front of you and then go move your body. Because if you can't do anything else, it's amazing what unlocks when you move your body. Maybe I'm speaking of that as a dancer, like having done dance. The things that come that gets shaken loose and kind of fall out of your mind when you just let yourself move are really, really, really invaluable. You know, watching a dancer for me does that a little bit. You know, it's just such a beautiful art in that motion or something about motion. I would also submit that most of us need a whiteboard in our showers, which would definitely run. But how many people have ever heard I was stuck. I couldn't, I reached a point where I was like, I don't know what to do next, what to right next, what step would, would be next. And then I got a shower and it all came to me and I couldn't get it fast enough because, you know, slippery soap and it's amazing how, you know, even like when you're not trying so hard, sometimes walking away is good, but you have to come back and that's the thing. I often tell people to make dates with yourself to make sure that you set for yourself many deadlines. And I'm just speaking to myself on a project that I have right now where I'm a little stuck because I, it's a different kind of project for me and I keep not doing it because I keep feeling like, I don't know if this is what I want to say, you know, and so I'm talking to myself right now, but when you feel stuck, just breathing for a minute and then like set a date, like I will finish that mile post in the project by Friday, you know. And celebrate it when you do because setting deadlines for yourself, telling someone, knowing that you would call it me on Friday and say, did you get that part done, you know, those are the things that we have to put in place to ourselves so that we don't just not sweat. Yes. And that's such a good point that setting some deadlines and making commitments can apply the right kind of pressure because I think that that's where, and I think everybody has to find their own, their own relationship with it. It's kind of like a seesaw up and down of what's the right kind of pressure or the right kind of constraint that makes me commit and that's where getting somebody involved, not keeping it to myself. And that's where I go back to that four step process. Like, if I'm aware that I really want to do this, then if I acknowledge it out loud to somebody else, I'm now holding myself accountable to that because somebody else is involved and I don't want to disappoint them and it just feels like it's also going back to this idea of the different types of sweat, my shaming sweat, shame thrives in secrecy. And so by not keeping it to myself, I am doing the right kind of sweating, not the wrong kind of sweating. Absolutely. Yeah. It's the nervous sweats. It's going to be doing it sweats. Exactly. The doing it sweats. The Nike sweats. Exactly. You want the Nike sweats, not the shaming sweats. Exactly. It's going to be such a destroyer that I'm going to jump in here. It's such a destroyer of creativity. So if you're feeling shame or not good enough while you're doing something, here's a little exercise that I would like to walk you through. Okay? And this came from my favorite author, Emma. She says, "Picture those voices in your head, the criticism, the little critics in your head saying that's not very interesting or who are you to create this. Picture them as little mice. Let them in exist in your mind like little mice, put them into a jar, screw the lid on the jar and watch them claw at the thing and turn the volume all the way up, and then turn up the volume all the way down and get to writing." And that is sort of an exercise that I do with every workshop that we do for storytelling because it's like, we all, whether we've been doing this for 30 years, not always in my hand right now, or we've never written anything ever, we all have the voice of a critic that wants us to not finish. And that is where I feel like even in the perspiration part, even when we're like, we've gotten over it enough to admit this idea and decide that it wants to live. Every day that you sit down to that project, you have the opportunity to either listen or not listen to the things that are trying to block your progress. If you've been enjoying this time with Emily Sutherland and myself, I want you to know that there are still ways that you can connect and collaborate with her and continue to learn from all of the wisdom she has in a more in-depth and personal way. We have another upcoming event, Storytelling for Business. It's April 4th, and this is great if you were a solo per newer part of a marketing team or a presenter, and you want to take your storytelling to the next level in the workplace. Here in the year, on May 9th, there is another really special event called "Nurturing Your Creative Self". This is for anybody who used to lose time when they were coloring as a kid or loves to just mix new ingredient combinations together in a bowl and see what you can bake. However creativity manifests for you, it doesn't have to be writing, but this event does give you the opportunity to re-acquaint yourself with your creativity and hopefully reignite a spark. If you need help, support, you need a community and you don't want to figure this out alone, you don't have to. Check out the link in the show notes and you can have all the detail in-depth information and can sign up there. Thanks so much for listening. I feel a little bit of perspiration like my little mice start squeaking away every time I set up my podcast. Interesting. Every time. So you're so good at it. Thank you. I just missed that with laughter. Thank you. I'm going to graciously receive that. We're well over 100. We're in the 160's in terms of the amount of episodes. I think it's just, I'm afraid I'm going to miss something, I'm afraid the audio's not going to be right. I'm going to miss click something. It's not going to get saved. It's smaller and smaller. I can say that it's a mouse. It's not a bobcat in every time I set up my equipment. But I do think there is this little part that's like, do you really think, do you really think you know how to do this? I mean, I setting up for our podcast recording this morning. I started getting a little bit of sweat because I felt kind of stale and out of practice. It's funny because once we start talking, that all goes away. Sure. I mean, once I say, it all goes away. But setting it up, it feels like, oh God, I haven't done this in a month. I'm not going to know what to do. And then I start to sweat. What you just said is important that once you begin, that all goes away. And I think it's important for people to know that you can get ready to get ready forever. But when you sit down to write and you just allow whatever wants to come out to come out, you edit later, just start writing or just start talking if it's a podcast or if it's an interviewer, a piece of art, you know, let yourself just be with it and enjoy the process. The process isn't always beautiful. I'm not saying. Well, it's just a dreamy thing, but you will find that once you begin, it's like a fun ramp. Sometimes it takes a minute to get onto that ramp, but all of a sudden you're like, oh, we're in the flow. Like something wants to be said. And once you say that thing, then the next thing might want to be said. And then when you stop hearing it, take a break, get that shower, walk around the block, just allow yourself to sit with what you've done and celebrate what you've done. Not doing it. There's no way to predict how it's going to feel or go until you just start and let it live. And somebody who loves to swim in the feeling space, if I waited until I was comfortable to do everything, nothing would get done. Same. But it's funny, though, because I'm trying to think about what is the relationship I have between comfort and then being committed. Because if we go back to inspiration, the inspiration is probably the most comfortable process for me. That feels like I'm in communion with something. Yes. And it's my favorite part. Yeah. I mean, it's just so delicious. That's very comfortable. There might have been a little bit of sweat involved in that though, possibly. But then just all of it, it's like a little bit of each element the way that we've broken this podcast down. It's like there's a little bit of all four elements in each piece. Yeah. I waited until I was comfortable to set up a podcast I wouldn't. But I'm, I think with, at least with this particular process versus writing a book, with this process, I know what this part feels like. And I know that this part is worth the momentary discomfort of challenging and confronting my own ideas about how I am with technology. It's just, I find that so interesting that like every time there's still this little zip of like, I'm like, am I going to do this? And I probably will have, because I already have like four ideas for other books I want to write, but I've never been someone who can date multiple people at the same time. That's not a skill set I have. It's like, I'm in a committed relationship. Nothing else. And so in a committed relationship with a walrus, right? Exactly. Exactly. I'm in a committed relationship with a walrus. And so I can't let myself think about creating another or what writing another would be while. And I'm assuming other people can do that. And maybe that's a skill you develop in time. I don't know. But once this is done, then I'd be able to think about something else. Sure. And I think that that's the, for me, confidence has come from doing the thing. There's like this almost like a wrong idea about front loading confidence. I need to feel confident before I can do the thing. But for me, confidence has only ever come from having done the thing. I'm more confident in my ability to set up the podcast because I've done it 165 other times. Right. But that confidence is just enough to help me know, like, okay, you know this is going to pass. Like if you can do the perspiration, that is the badge of honor that you win 100%. And what you just said too is like you've done this 165 times now. I think about Danielle before that first one and the sweat and but you did it. There was so much blood. You did it. Yeah, God bless you, Jen. Eads. I can't sing her praises enough. She's great. Yeah. The Brassie broadcast. I'm just going to give her a good little plug. Anybody listening who doesn't already know Jen. She's the woman who knows my, she is my podcast resource, not just anything I need to know. And I try not to abuse it because I mean, she is a professional. But I just, it's just so incredible that there are people in the world like her who know as much as they do and just want to help other people learn. Like you writing. It's just so beautiful. Absolutely. Jen, I had one lunch with her and I still hear her voice. I'm working on anything related to podcasts and recorded interviews and things like that. And she's, she's a great resource and I was like, you know, we'll talk about her in the creativity toolkit. Yes, we will. No, yeah. The first lunch I had with her when I talked, it's like, I think I want to start a podcast and she said, when you start a podcast, I'll never forget that. Never forget that. Well, this was great. This was short and sweet, quick and dirty. You might be sweating and that's okay. You're not alone because I am too. We all sweat. It's like that book. Everybody poops. Every creator sweats. Yes. Just keep creating. Just keep making and if you haven't started, this is your call. Thanks for completing this third episode in our four part creativity series and we look forward to connecting with you in our final episode of Creation. I hope you continue to have a wonderful day.