A recap of episode 90 of the Cracking Creativity podcast. If you liked it, check out the full episode with Chalky White where he talks about asking yourself what if, being persistent, and why continuing to try leads to success, among many other things.
This is a replay of episode 30 with Natalie Kim. 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.
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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:
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.
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.
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.
A recap of episode 75 of the Cracking Creativity podcast. If you liked it, check out the full episode with Kerry Burki where she talks about letting your younger self guide you, learning to say no, and shifting your mindset, among many other things.
A recap of episode 64 of the Cracking Creativity podcast. If you liked it, check out the full episode with Dr. Matthew Horkey and Charine Tan where they talk more about why experiences are better than having things, why you should invest in yourself, and why communication is the most important skill you can learn.
A recap of episode 63 of the Cracking Creativity podcast. If you liked it, check out the full episode with Nicolas Cole where he talks more about why you should learn from everything you do, why you should help others, and why marketing is not your enemy.
The first recap episode of the show. Let me know what you think of the shortened format.
If you liked this recap, check out Ginger's full episode!
Chris Dessi was fired three times in two years, but that didn’t stop him from building a successful career. Instead of letting those setbacks get him down, he leveraged them into building his own business, writing multiple books, appearing on TV, and running his own summits. In this episode, learn about the power of a personal brand, being a taste maker, and defining success.
Here are three things you can learn from Chris:
Building a personal brand is one of the best things you can do to make a name for yourself. Once people recognize you for your thoughts and your work, it becomes easier to get your voice heard. But it’s not always easy.
If you want to build a personal brand, you have to stop taking what’s given to you. Instead, you need to look within yourself to discover what makes you unique, what differentiates you from everyone else. Chris believes we can do this by being introspective. “Building your personal brand is about becoming introspective and not a lot of people become introspective. A lot of people take what’s given to them.”
Building a personal brand is also about defining your goals. “That’s really where the personal branding starts. You need to have a definitive end goal in mind and understand that you have a voice, and then start to play with that.”
Finally, your personal brand is about exploring your curiosity. “If you do anything with fervor and interest and intellectual curiosity, people will start to come back to you and people will become part of your tribe. And if you’re interested in something that scares the hell out of you, at least learn about it.”
Once you’ve built your personal brand, and made yourself known to the world, you have the opportunity to become a tastemaker. Tastemakers are the people you look to for advice and guidance. They’re the ones we turn to when we are looking to make a decision. If you want your voice to be heard, you should aim to be a tastemaker.
Chris believes these people are the ones who make the biggest impact in the world. “It’s the tastemakers, the definitive people that are shaping society, that are shaping thought, shaping businesses, and shaping lives, we’re the ones that do, and go out there and listen to that curiosity and trust their own curiosity and trust that it will lead them to a place that will continue to help them to grow as a business person, as a creative, as a creator, as a human being.”
That’s why Chris thinks we need to stop worrying about our resumes. We need to start worrying about getting our voices heard instead. “Stop tweaking your resume, and create a blog… Don’t worry about the resume, worry about creating your own identity, and then you don’t have to worry about pandering to people to get a job, because other opportunities will come to you, because that system’s broken.”
One of my favorite parts of my conversation with Chris was hearing his definition of success. He’s not worried about bringing home the most money or having tons of fans on social media. Instead, he chooses to define success for himself.
The first thing he considers success is doing something that fulfills his curiosity. “If I am doing something that I am being true to myself, that allows me to feel excited, intellectually curious, and fulfilled, and generates revenue, that’s amazing.”
The other thing that defines his success is getting his girls onto the bus in the morning. “I think if I can stick to that, and put my daughters on the bus in the morning, follow things that allow me to continue to be intellectually curious, and things that will potentially generate revenue, I’ll be in a really good spot no matter where I end up, or what I’m doing.”
These two things may not equal success for other people, but they define what success means to Chris. In the end, that’s all that matters. We need to stop letting other people define what success means to us. We need to determine that for ourselves instead.
Puneet Sachdev worked for years in the hotel industry and with General Electric as a management consultant. He now uses that knowledge in his work as a consultant, creative philanthropist, and coach.
He is also the author of Deepa Wishes Daddy Happy Birthday, a book based on the time he’s spent with his daughter. He uses 100% of the proceeds from the book to support the education of underprivileged children. The book also began his work as a creative philanthropist.
In this episode, learn how Puneet turned his idea into reality, why you need to put yourself out there, and the importance of being present.
Here are three things you can learn from Puneet:
Many of us believe we aren’t destined for greatness, but we never take the first step. The first thing we must all do, if we want to find success, is accept the fact that we are all on a journey.
Puneet believes we all have a choice to make. We can choose to continue on the path we’ve been on, or we can choose the unbeaten path. “When you have that call to adventure. You have the choice of taking it or not.”
And once we’ve answered that call to adventure, things will begin to come together in unexpected ways. “I just feel like you step out of that path and put yourself out there, and … the clearer you get and the more you put yourself out there, serendipity is what shows you the way.”
But we can’t do it on our own. Luckily, life has a way of providing the help we need. “I feel that what happens is when you start off on your journey, when you start off saying ‘This is really important to me and I’m going to set sail on this path,’… I think somehow the teachers show up and that support network emerges at different points.”
One of the great things about creative projects is, they start off as just an idea in our heads. They are nothing more than a thought that sprouted and evolved into a something beautiful.
That’s exactly what happened to Puneet. He never considered himself a creative person. He believed only artists had the ability to be creative, but what he discovered was, everyone has the capacity to be creative. We just need the right people around us to make our ideas come to life.
So, while he is not a gifted writer or illustrator, he was still able to bring his idea to life. “I know I’m not a great, gifted, writer. I’m not taking any courses on creative writing. Nothing. It was just a desire and a passion behind it. I did that, and I used the people who have got those gifts.”
All it takes is combing that desire with action and the ability to bring the right people together. Just don’t expect it to be a quick process. “Desire, taking the action, using the people that will help me put it together. It’s a very long process, It’s much longer than I would have liked it to be.”
Puneet is a huge advocate of having a mindfulness practice. There are so many things around us that distract us from our goals. Sometimes we need to disconnect from everything and focus on ourselves. “The world that we live in is just in so much of a frenzy all the time and with technology it is very easy to get disconnected. It’s very easy to get just swayed away by whatever the most prevalent wind is… so I think practice (mindfulness) is what really helps in grounding you.”
One problem is, many people want to practice mindfulness, but they have the wrong ideas about what it is. They believe their minds have to be empty of thoughts, but that simply isn’t the case. “That’s really not the goal of it. The goal is for you to be present with yourself in this moment and time. So please get away from the notion that you should empty your mind of thoughts.”
Instead, we must aim for stillness. We must be in touch with ourselves. “[In] day to day life, the goal is stillness, being with yourself, [and] getting in touch with what your body is saying”
Dr. Matt Westheimer is a chiropractor and the founder of Elite Blueprint. In this episode Matt talks about his journey of selling everything he had to build a chiropractic practice in Singapore, the role mentors have played in his life, why you need support from the people around you, and the reason the process is more important than the result.
Here are three things you can learn from Matt:
One constant throughout Matt's life has been the influence of mentors on his life. Early on, Matt made the mistake of only focusing on one aspect of what he considered success.
When Matt read an article about Michael Phelps, he brought it to one of his mentors and said Phelps was the type of person that inspired him. The mentor showed Matt that Phelps had success in one area of life, but was he excelling in other areas of life like relationships, friendships, and personal growth. From that moment on, Matt decided he didn't just want success in one area of life, he wanted it in all areas of life.
On another occasion, Matt had been struggling for months trying to decide whether he should make the move to Singapore. The mentor asked one simple question that changed Matt's perspective. "In fifteen years, what are you going to regret more? Are you going to regret not staying here and opening up practice... or are you going to regret not taking the time to travel around the world?" This was the catalyst that gave Matt the confidence to move overseas.
These moments were pivotal in Matt's growth. Without the help of mentors, Matt's life might be completely different. If you find yourself struggling, seek out guidance from a mentor. Their wisdom can have a profound affect on your life.
In one of the most vulnerable moments of his life, Matt found confidence, strength, and the courage to move on and achieve more. How did he do it? With the help of the people around him.
When his long term relationship ended, Matt felt stuck. He was a pivotal moment in his life where he could either grow or continue to live life in the middle.
It was during that moment that Matt turned to his friends. Even though his relationship didn't work out, he was able to build life long friendships because of it.
"I would say one of the biggest things that you can do is surround yourself with people that are going to inspire you, that are going to challenge you, that are going to support you. People that are going to build you up. People that aren't just playing it safe, that are going to call you out."
When you have a strong group of people on your side, you can overcome just about anything. Don't try to do everything on your own because the support these people provide is invaluable.
One of the big changes Matt made in his life was going from a results based mindset to a process based mindset. He used to write down all the things that he wanted out of life from workout goals to monetary goals.
Eventually, he realized when you have result based goals, and you don't achieve them, you feel down about yourself. When you have a process based goal, you get to enjoy the journey instead of focusing on the destination. Instead of worrying about whether you can achieve your goals, you get to enjoy the process along the way.
Here's what Matt has to say about his every day process, "I focus all of my energy on where if I do these things every single day, it's going to be impossible for me not to have the result that I would love to have... a lot of people get too focused on the result and less focused on the process, which I think is much more important."
The next time you find yourself down about not achieving your goals, re-frame your mindset to focus on the process instead.
Dan Galperin is the man behind the Man Power Project, the Fight Club for the Soul. Through one on one coaching and group calls, he helps men discover what it means to live well. In this episode Dan talks about his travels around the world, why you need to love yourself, and how you can become more confident.
Here are three important lessons you can learn from Dan:
One of the most common limiting beliefs he found in people is not believing in themselves. When he was younger, Dan used to get so angry that he would punch himself in the face. He realized this was a self-destructive practice and changed the way he viewed the world.
He now regularly says “I love you” to himself. This is a reminder that he is good enough. He wants to take this lesson and share it with others. In order to become confident, you must first love yourself.
After talking to many people, Dan has come to the realization that we are all the same. We all have the same doubts and fears.
Even the most famous celebrities and self-help gurus have these doubts and insecurities. It doesn’t matter how much success you have, we all feel these things because we are human.
This fact is quite liberating. When you are going through times of doubt, just remember, everyone has those same doubts. We are not alone in this journey.
One thing that holds many people back is the fact that we are always comparing ourselves to others. We look at other people’s lives and are jealous of what they have.
We never compare ourselves to people who we think are lower than us. We are always comparing ourselves to people who we think are above us.
Instead of comparing yourself to others, we must be comfortable with who we are. There’s no point in comparing your journey to anyone else’s. We must fight this internal battle and realize we are the only thing holding us back.
When we compare ourselves to others we are holding ourselves back. Dan believes everyone has a greatness inside them, and I can’t help but agree.
Janice Dalager is the co-host of the Middle of Nowhere Show. Along with her co-host Tim, she hosts a weekly call where their sole expectation is "good things ahead." She also helps coaches host webinars through her site Online Event Hostess. In this episode, Janice shows you how to live in present, let go of expectations, and explore creativity in everyday life.
Christina Salerno is the founder of Living Quirky, a site where people can discover and celebrate what makes us extraordinary. In this episode, Christina talks about finding her purpose in life, how we can connect with others, and things we can do to be more creative.