0:03

On the creative journey, it's

0:06

easy to get lost. Or

0:08

don't worry, you'll lose. Some

0:12

signs you just means it's

0:14

creative. So. Who

0:19

you're listening to? Creative Pep Talk:

0:21

A weekly podcast companion for your

0:24

creative journey. My name is A

0:26

J Pizza. I'm a New York

0:28

Times bestselling author in illustrator. This

0:30

show is where we explore what

0:32

it takes to build a thriving,

0:34

well balanced creative practice. Let's go.

0:40

As far. As I can tell we are

0:42

currently in a time where there is

0:44

a lot of change and it seems

0:47

like for a lot of creators their

0:49

back as against the wall because what

0:51

used to work. Just.

0:53

Isn't cutting it anymore? And

0:56

when you find yourself in that

0:58

space where you have to try

1:00

a new thing, a new path,

1:02

it can be incredibly overwhelming and

1:04

actually pretty scary. How

1:07

do you find it within

1:09

yourself to take action and

1:11

be brave creatively when you

1:13

are in a place within

1:15

your practice where everything feels

1:17

uncertain? It's. Hard to

1:19

try new things when your current

1:21

thing is no longer working, because

1:23

when things aren't working, it doubles

1:26

your pessimism. And. It can cause

1:28

you to feel this type of fatalistic

1:30

mindset that says, if the old things

1:32

aren't working, why risk a new thing?

1:35

What's different about this new thing other

1:37

than it's nail. It's.

1:39

Easy to try new things when things

1:42

are going great, but when things are

1:44

starting to lock up and you need

1:46

to try something new, sometimes that's the

1:48

hardest time to try it. And

1:52

I think the further you are in

1:54

your path as a creator, the more

1:56

difficult this can be because charting a

1:58

new direction in life. When

2:00

you're further on in life can

2:03

start to feel much more make

2:05

or break. So how do you

2:07

find a strategy that allows you

2:09

to find the bravery that is

2:12

necessary to navigate all the ups

2:14

and downs, dead ends and transitions

2:16

that you are absolutely guaranteed to

2:19

face when charting a creative pass.

2:22

I personally found some inspiration in

2:24

a recent conversation I had with

2:26

author and podcast or Todd Henry

2:28

Todd is a rarity on a

2:30

couple levels. One, he's one of

2:32

those rare souls that has managed

2:35

to write and publish. Box.

2:37

Not just Box, but Seven Box.

2:40

And even more than that, he's

2:42

one of the few people I've

2:44

talked to that has been in

2:47

podcasting longer than I have. He

2:49

has been podcasting for I think

2:51

eighteen years, like all the way

2:54

back to when podcasts started. Completely

2:56

incredible. Most. Of that

2:59

time was working on a

3:01

show called accidental Creative. However

3:03

just. At. The start of

3:06

this year they blew up that

3:08

format completely and started over with

3:10

a totally different format and a

3:12

new name, releasing a small daily

3:15

episode under the new and very

3:17

appropriate title Daily Creative. With.

3:20

All the chefs and apps and

3:22

technology and the economy. I thought

3:24

it was a perfect time to

3:26

have a chat with Todd because.

3:29

First. Of all you just made the

3:31

sewage brave leap himself. And.

3:33

Also his new book is

3:36

all about bravery. It's called

3:38

the Bravery Habit. A

3:41

guide to courageous leadership and

3:43

it comes out February tenth,

3:45

Twenty Twenty Four. This book

3:47

and reset reinvention that Todd

3:49

went through with the podcast

3:51

perfectly speaks into some of

3:53

those anxieties that we're keeping

3:55

me from moving forward and

3:57

my own practice. And I

3:59

think. They might do the same

4:01

for you. There's. Some really

4:04

good examples that Todd shares

4:06

that helped transform some of

4:08

those fears and to creative

4:10

inspiration. and by the end.

4:13

He's gonna give you an actionable way

4:15

to right size, some of those paralyzing

4:17

questions that you're currently facing and then

4:19

all come back all the way up.

4:22

And to turn that into an exercise

4:24

I'm calling bite size to right size

4:26

and you can immediately act on this

4:29

idea of right now top you find

4:31

enough bravery and your creative practice to

4:33

take some speedy actions today. So.

4:37

Just. To set the scene a little

4:39

bat, right as we started chatting, I

4:41

was saying that I didn't know if.

4:44

This. Topic of bravery sell especially

4:46

poignant to me because of

4:48

the way that the world

4:51

is right now. or if

4:53

it's a combination of that.

4:55

And the fact that I'm just getting

4:58

older and older I get in some

5:00

ways. The. More afraid I get

5:02

for a number of reasons. And

5:05

his response kind of helped

5:07

me. Understand what

5:10

might be happening. He

5:15

said well as I get older I

5:18

get more afraid as I think that

5:20

to some says that's a perfectly natural

5:22

thing As and so I think about

5:24

that in terms of a creative process

5:26

rate. when you're young you you don't

5:28

know what you don't know. I'm think

5:30

about like your your kid taking it's

5:33

first steps, raise your kids takes his

5:35

first steps is like oh everything's great

5:37

of the fallen their buy and sell

5:39

a there's this like look of like

5:41

what was that? That was pain that

5:43

was terrible. They didn't know that. Was

5:45

a possibility. I'm. When.

5:48

You're young, as an artist, you're You're kind of naive.

5:50

You know you come in and you don't know what

5:52

you don't know and it's like oh I'm going to

5:54

do all these things. Look, this is really easy and

5:56

in the first time you fall on your but you

5:58

realize oh. There's. some risks involved in doing

6:00

that. And so I think

6:03

we often conflate boldness with bravery. And

6:05

boldness is a kind of naivete, right?

6:07

Like, I'm just going to go out

6:10

and do stuff and make everybody react

6:12

to me. Well, that's not necessarily brave.

6:16

As you get older, you understand more the

6:18

cause and effect and the consequences and all

6:20

those things, what could possibly go wrong. And

6:23

at that point, you

6:26

need bravery in your life, because at that point,

6:28

you realize there's a cost to this. Something

6:30

could go terribly wrong. And

6:33

art that's made with that cost in

6:35

mind, in my opinion, is

6:37

far more valuable than art that is

6:39

made out of a place of naivete

6:42

and boldness. You know,

6:44

you see people all the time doing things and

6:46

people will say, Oh, that's such brave art. That's

6:48

so brave what they did. And I'm like, I

6:50

don't think that's really brave. I think it's just,

6:53

it's just bold. They were just trying to stick

6:55

a finger in somebody's eye, right? But like, where's

6:58

the nuance? Where's the empathy? Where's the

7:00

risk in the art? And, you know,

7:03

just doing something and saying, haha, react

7:05

to that, right? That's not necessarily bravery.

7:07

It's bold, maybe. And we see this

7:09

all over all over the all over

7:11

the world and all over the marketplace.

7:13

And so Steve Martin has

7:16

a great quote, and I'm going to butcher

7:18

it because I just came to mind just

7:20

now. But in his phenomenal, autobiography

7:24

called Born Standing Up. It's one of my

7:26

favorite books. It's on my reading list. It's

7:28

I and I've been thinking about it more

7:30

and more. Actually, I keep thinking about him

7:33

generally, the fascinating character and

7:35

his creative journey is very, very interesting

7:37

knowing all the different things. He's such

7:39

a polymath. Like think about what he's

7:41

done. Like the guy was like basically

7:43

took stand up comedy to a completely

7:46

different level. I mean, nobody

7:48

was filling stadiums until

7:50

Steve Martin came along, right? And

7:52

now he's not filling like stadiums,

7:54

like arenas with people to

7:56

hear stand up comedy. And then right

7:58

at the peak of his fame. He quits and

8:01

he starts like writing novels and movies and making

8:03

movies and then right at the peak of all

8:05

that he quits and he Forms a bluegrass

8:08

band and he wins a Grammy, right? And it's

8:10

just like oh my gosh. Are you

8:13

kidding me? but he said

8:16

What I lacked in talent I

8:18

made up for in naiveté that

8:20

special quality that basically You

8:23

have as a way to remind you

8:25

that you have no idea what you're about to get yourself into

8:27

and I think

8:30

there's something about that when you're young You don't

8:32

know what you don't know and so that naiveté

8:34

can actually be really valuable because it allows you

8:36

to do things that Increase

8:39

your capacity to help you find your voice,

8:41

you know, you try things you fail you

8:44

experiment you risk you fail And you sort

8:46

of develop your voice You have to be

8:48

a little bit naive to think that you're

8:50

gonna put something into the world that's gonna

8:52

impact other people, right? We're a

8:54

little bit naive right now recording this podcast conversation

8:56

thinking that anybody wants anything to do with what

8:58

we have to say, you know But

9:03

but you know all good art

9:05

requires that kind of beginner's mind

9:07

that naiveté the challenge

9:10

is as you get older you understand the

9:12

consequences and You know when

9:14

you go through these phases of developing your

9:16

voice as an artist You know you go

9:18

through the phase of like I emulate other

9:20

people and I'm still copying other people And

9:22

that's kind of how I find my skills

9:24

and my platform and then you find your

9:27

voice like you're you're sailing perpendicular You you

9:29

diverge you begin to develop your own unique

9:31

innovative style and then you become known for a thing

9:34

And that seems like a wonderful place because I'm

9:36

known for a thing But that's actually a really

9:38

dangerous place and that's I think what you're describing

9:40

because once you become known for a thing What's

9:43

your instinct Andy when you become known

9:45

for a thing? You well you want

9:47

to well you need to stick at

9:49

it, but really that's killing your it's

9:51

killing your creativity Yeah,

9:53

you try to protect that thing right you have to

9:55

sustain it you have to keep it going Well,

9:58

that's fine and a lot a lot of people

10:00

ride out their career that way. You know, their band's still

10:02

touring on the hits they made back in the 70s. I

10:05

mean, it's fine, nothing wrong with that. You make a

10:07

living doing that. But that's

10:09

what I call crisis phase. It's that place where

10:11

you get to where you realize, like, I know

10:13

there's something more I could be doing. I

10:17

know that there's another place I could go to creatively,

10:19

but in order to do that, I'm gonna have to

10:21

let go of some stuff and I'm gonna have to

10:23

take some risks. And ironically,

10:26

often the most difficult time to take a risk

10:28

is once you've already proven

10:31

that your stuff is valuable. Because

10:34

that's the moment where you feel like you have the most to lose.

10:36

I mean, Seth Godin, I remember one time, said to me in an

10:38

interview, he's like, people say to him all the time, well, that's easy

10:40

for you, you're Seth Godin. He's like, it's

10:43

precisely not easy for me because I'm

10:45

Seth Godin, right? Because I have something

10:48

to lose. And so I think we all have to keep that

10:50

in mind. And that's where bravery comes in. It's

10:54

so true, so relevant to

10:57

where I'm at right now, even like

10:59

thinking about, my dad brought it up

11:01

recently because I was kind of lamenting

11:03

and venting and all that stuff about

11:06

some situation I was in. And

11:09

he's like, yeah, the difference is when you were

11:11

starting out, you didn't have anything

11:13

to lose because you didn't know if you could gain anything.

11:15

You were trying and you just thought, well,

11:18

I'll try that, I'll try that, I'll try

11:20

that. Because you didn't know that anything might

11:22

work out. Whereas now you just feel like,

11:24

yeah, you've got so many things to lose

11:26

and you don't see that coming as a

11:28

creator. You just think, oh, won't it be

11:30

great to be known for something or to

11:32

succeed at something? And that's precisely

11:35

what makes Steve Martin such an interesting character

11:37

to me and why I've been, I'm gonna

11:39

put that book up higher in my reading

11:41

list because the thing that

11:44

blows me away is nine out of

11:46

10 people I talk to don't

11:48

even know that Steve Martin did

11:51

stand-up comedy. So that right

11:53

there. Yeah, like, it's true. And

11:56

I think people that are like, Readers

12:00

and and really like to kind of.

12:03

The. Now take apart people's journey and

12:05

stuff like that. I think he's just

12:07

south same as within that world for

12:09

all the different things that he's done.

12:12

And by. Most

12:14

people I talk to. Or.

12:16

Not even aware of Steve Martin outside

12:18

of like a. Yeah. Sure

12:20

they know he may be was and

12:23

same as on some late night tv

12:25

staff or whatever but. They. Think

12:27

of like cheaper by the doesn't but you

12:29

know like and which he knows is a

12:31

crazy thanks but to know that this guy

12:34

know this of them she was old at

12:36

at the peak of being a legendary stand

12:38

up who reinvented the form. Walked.

12:41

Away and did something else. And now I did

12:43

he do that. He did it over and over

12:45

again. And if and for those of us that

12:47

are most interested in a crate of practice that

12:49

has long gemini that want to. Spend.

12:51

Time on the past. Like. This

12:53

is a guy that's worth paid attention to

12:56

for sure. Absolutely so I'm I'm

12:58

going to say I'm. A. Know

13:00

I'm talking about my book the Brave Habit

13:02

Before you buy the Brave Habit all of

13:04

you listening go by born standing up and

13:06

real downturn and interesting little by the Breathe

13:08

habit. Okay so how did you can go

13:10

by Michael cassette player the As because he

13:12

walks through the very beginning of developing practice

13:14

like he he get a job a good

13:16

doing magic is a teenager at Knots Berry

13:18

Farm like that's how he had a started

13:20

out in a lot of his early stand

13:22

up evolved from like bits he would do

13:24

to try to get people's attention while he

13:27

was doing magic through his Cadillac. Almost this.

13:29

Out of necessity he developed

13:32

a voice a unique style

13:34

because he wasn't like. Trying.

13:36

To do stand up comedy. One. Un

13:39

Unreal. Fascinated by. The.

13:41

can have side doors that yeah yeah

13:43

yeah there's a way where you have

13:45

to sneak into your creative self like

13:47

there's that you have all these defenses

13:50

whether it's the baggage or whatever it

13:52

is there's a bunch of reasons why

13:54

when you say ominous a down be

13:56

creative there so many sayings in yourself

13:58

that's trying to stop that and I

14:01

totally have experiences like what on a much

14:04

smaller scale than Steve Martin but in that

14:06

way of him saying oh he was being

14:08

funny while he's trying to get people to

14:10

pay attention to his magic act and all

14:13

of a sudden that opened up this side

14:15

door of like well there's no stakes I

14:17

can do this thing like I'm just you know having

14:19

fun and there and following that those side

14:21

door to side door ways of like oh

14:23

I'm just doing banjo because I already did

14:25

movies I don't need to make money who

14:27

cares like I'm just like all like there's

14:29

a there's something there that's I'm

14:32

gonna be thinking about it as I was

14:34

working on the brave habit in the book I

14:36

challenged people to ask a lot of really like

14:38

dangerous questions like some brave questions because I

14:40

think that the questions we ask ultimately define

14:42

who we are who we become and if we're

14:44

not willing to ask brave questions then we

14:47

often end up in places we never intended to be

14:50

and so one

14:52

of the questions I asked in the book that I ended

14:54

up asking myself was if I were to start over would

14:57

I be doing things the way I'm doing them and

15:00

the uncomfortable answer

15:02

I came to was no I

15:05

wouldn't I would be doing things the way I'm doing

15:07

them I would be doing something very different which then

15:09

of course raises the question well then why are you

15:11

doing things the way you're doing them you know and

15:14

the answer to that is well I mean

15:17

I've been podcasting for 18 years it's always

15:19

been this format we've got a lot of

15:21

advertisers who place ads on our show and

15:23

they love our show and they have been

15:26

advertising for years and I've

15:28

got you know we've got 20 million downloads

15:30

of the podcast and people love the show

15:33

we've got this loyal dedicated audience and all

15:35

this stuff and

15:37

all of the answers had to do with

15:39

stuff I'd done but had nothing to do

15:42

with my vision for like how I could

15:44

serve the audience and so the that was

15:48

the insight the insight was I wouldn't be

15:50

doing what I'm doing right now it's fine

15:52

but I'm doing fine but I don't think

15:54

it's the

15:56

right thing to get to where I want to be

15:58

you know in terms of service people that want to

16:00

serve. So I just drove a

16:02

semi truck through 18 years of work

16:05

on the podcast and

16:07

you know not literally but like

16:09

figuratively we gutted the

16:12

show. I completely eliminated 18 years

16:14

of back episodes which amounts to

16:16

you know I can't

16:18

even count how many downloads a month

16:20

that we just literally just took off

16:23

the table because you know we're

16:25

not gonna do that anymore. I completely

16:28

reinvented the show in a more like

16:30

storytelling format. We stopped doing advertising on

16:32

the show at least for a while

16:35

we're not gonna do advertising because I

16:37

want it to be something completely different

16:39

which means forfeiting what

16:41

would amount to like a really

16:43

good salary for most people that

16:45

were forgoing in advertising every year.

16:47

So there's

16:50

like some real skin of the game. There's

16:52

some real cost to this. That's not insignificant

16:55

but if I hadn't

16:57

done that I would have felt

16:59

like the biggest hypocrite in the world putting out

17:01

a book called The Brave Habit and then

17:04

not acting on the very thing I'm challenging

17:06

other people to do which is to make

17:08

brave choices in their life to pursue a

17:10

vision that they believe is right and so

17:13

that's what I'm going through right now and

17:15

that big aha that you asked about was

17:18

if you were doing things if

17:20

you were to start over again would you be doing it the

17:22

way you're doing it right now and I think that's a good

17:24

question for any of us to ask like you know if you

17:26

have if you have a spouse or partner like if

17:29

if I were to start my marriage

17:31

over again would I be relating

17:33

to my partner the way I'm relating to them right now?

17:36

Yeah because you have history you got all this stuff

17:38

all this residue that builds up right same in your

17:41

in your work workplace if I were leading my team

17:43

if I were to start over fresh would I be

17:45

doing the things I'm doing right now? Right I

17:48

think it's a really great question to ask but it is a

17:50

great question but don't ask the question

17:52

unless you're willing to deal with the answer that you come

17:54

to that's the brave part of it. That's a tough one

17:57

And I It makes me think of one of my

17:59

favorite. Analogies is that I think about Ally

18:01

is Sam the Mall by Stage Rocket. The

18:04

idea that that thing that gets you off

18:06

the ground isn't gonna get you to way

18:08

you're trying to go and and in f

18:10

you hold onto it you hold on to

18:12

that engine as get you're not gonna be.

18:14

Ah, the brakes, atmosphere and I think. For.

18:17

Me and All creators. It's.

18:19

So hard to get one saying that

18:21

works right now. getting one thing that

18:23

works is is difficult and so when

18:26

you get something that works. You.

18:28

Like I'm never letting this go and

18:30

it's a thing that will just ultimately

18:32

poisoned year. creativity. Good. that's the opposite

18:35

of between creative stuff right? It is

18:37

your we just we as story on

18:39

the on the next to the podcast

18:41

has released yet but about the Chevy

18:44

Nomad to which was basically Chevy's attempt

18:46

to create a minivan like in the

18:48

late Nineteen seventies like this was gonna

18:50

be the thing with was going to

18:53

be like the Car of the Century.

18:55

You know it's agree that be loved

18:57

It. Was amazing in all

19:00

this stuff. but the problem

19:02

was Gm had developed. A.

19:06

Of. Of real hold on the station

19:08

wagon market so they really have dominated

19:10

the station wagon market. The Station Wagon

19:12

Blake the choices he though the boomers

19:14

parents ah and so when the time

19:16

came to release a nomad to they

19:18

were really worried that the nomads who

19:20

was going to cannibalize sales of the

19:23

see him wigan so they never released

19:25

it. and then a couple years later.

19:27

Chrysler. Comes out with the. The.

19:29

Car. Owes every

19:32

boomers dreams rates ah at

19:34

a good the Chrysler Chrysler

19:36

release their minivan. Edit: Absolute

19:39

proceeded to dominate the market

19:41

and completely. Revitalize the

19:43

company and Gm because they were

19:46

so concerned that this idea my

19:48

cannibalize their existing product missed out

19:50

on probably what would have been

19:52

the biggest opportunity and the company's

19:55

history. And so I think that.

19:57

he though the point of because of making that up the so

20:00

is like many of us are

20:03

white knuckling a station wagon when we could

20:05

have had a caravan, right? We could have

20:07

had a Dodge Caravan, but instead we're white

20:09

knuckling a station wagon. And the thing is

20:12

station wagons don't even exist anymore. They

20:14

don't even exist. Like it's not even a

20:16

market. I mean, all of them are like

20:18

crossovers or whatever. It doesn't even exist anymore. And

20:20

yet, at that point, it seemed like how

20:22

could we possibly let go of the station

20:24

wagon, you know? And so I think

20:27

many of us in our lives, in our creative lives, we

20:30

don't develop the ability to

20:32

psychologically break-iate. Break-iation means the

20:34

ability to let go of one thing while

20:37

grabbing onto another. If you don't, you get

20:39

stuck. And so many of

20:41

us are white knuckling two different things because

20:43

we're afraid to let go. But if you

20:45

want to move forward, you have to let

20:47

go of something. That's where every creative I

20:49

know is in a place of, uh, well,

20:51

you know, Instagram just dramatically changed.

20:54

Like it became, I like to

20:56

think of it as like public

20:59

access TV. It's now like America's

21:01

funniest videos and televangelists. And like,

21:04

if you're an illustrator, like there were

21:06

illustrators that became household names because of

21:09

Instagram. And then now the format's different.

21:11

And so you got to

21:13

let go of that bar. And it's difficult,

21:15

obviously. You know, I think a lot of

21:17

people, they set like five-year goals or, you

21:20

know, even one-year goals. It's like,

21:22

I don't, I have no

21:24

clue. Like half of Europe could be

21:26

invading one another a year from now. Like I have no

21:28

clue what's going to be going on a year from now,

21:30

but I have a pretty good sense

21:32

of what's going to be happening like probably three

21:34

months from now. Like generally speaking, like that timeline,

21:36

like I can, I can work in that timeline

21:39

and I definitely know what's happening today, you know,

21:41

cause this is what I have. And

21:43

so I tend, I don't set

21:45

yearly goals. I don't have yearly plans. I

21:48

tend to set, actually I do trimesters. I

21:50

do three trimesters a year. So I have

21:52

three months of hard work and a month

21:54

of planning, three months of hard work and a

21:56

month of planning kind of thing. The reason I do

21:58

that is because What I find

22:00

is that if if I start working

22:03

on something and I produce something and I

22:05

realize yeah This maybe this isn't

22:07

really the direction I should be going I can either

22:09

pivot or I can just say I'm gonna scrap it

22:11

and start over at the worst

22:13

I wasted maybe a couple of months of work

22:16

That's it at the worst and then I can

22:18

I learned something and I can move on but

22:21

people who set these like year-long goals and then you get

22:23

to the end of the year and you're like Well, that

22:26

didn't work out right? Well, that's a year

22:29

is a lot of time to spend doing

22:31

something that's not gonna work I'm really inspired

22:33

by all that you're doing man. So keep

22:35

it on. Thank you. Yeah Okay,

22:42

I'm back with your CTA your creative

22:44

call to adventure for today your call

22:46

to action it's called bite size to

22:48

write size and I'd

22:51

like to just take that last

22:53

bit that Todd left us with

22:55

and Turn it into

22:58

an exercise that might help you

23:00

Write size the creative challenge that

23:02

you are facing today. Here's what

23:04

I want to highlight I love

23:06

the idea that Todd had about

23:08

breaking down your year into smaller

23:12

Chunks, it reminds me of

23:14

another book called the 12

23:16

week year Which is

23:18

essentially encouraging us not to create

23:20

new year's resolutions and goals for an

23:22

entire calendar year But rather

23:25

to break it down into quarters

23:27

and make smaller bets and more

23:30

Experiments, I think the

23:32

reason why this inspired so much

23:34

renewed courage in me in

23:36

this moment Was that it

23:39

ultimately cut the fear way

23:41

down? By lowering

23:43

the stakes because now I wasn't trying

23:45

to find a new path in

23:47

this particular Section

23:49

my you know little section of my

23:51

creative career. Don't worry. I'm not blowing

23:54

everything up I wasn't trying

23:56

to find something that was gonna set the tone for

23:58

the year or the plan for the next five

24:00

years or even the next seasons of

24:02

my life, all I was doing was

24:04

taking a look at the problem that

24:06

I was facing today and coming

24:09

up with the best solution I

24:11

could imagine without needing to know

24:13

if I was banking everything on

24:16

it before I got started and

24:18

took action. I

24:20

could start to take action

24:22

and experiment instantly today because

24:25

I'm not betting the next chapters of my life

24:27

on this thing. I'm just betting the next 12

24:30

weeks. So I

24:32

think instead of trying to come up with

24:34

your next huge pivot or how to get

24:36

through the changes in the app that you

24:38

poured all this time into or

24:41

develop your new master plan of

24:43

how you're going to find this whole

24:45

new career, what would it

24:47

look like to say, how could I

24:50

be in a much better place in

24:52

these issues 12 weeks from now? What

24:56

action could I take immediately that

24:58

would improve my standing with the

25:00

obstacle that I find myself in

25:02

front of today without

25:05

too much more second guessing or

25:07

analysis, you can get

25:09

to work on this thing right

25:12

now. So that's your

25:14

creative call to adventure this week,

25:16

break down your year into smaller

25:19

chunks that you can chew and

25:21

swallow. Maybe that's a 12

25:23

week thing, maybe it's a month, maybe it's

25:25

a week, maybe it's a day.

25:29

Hey, like most creators have been in

25:31

those tough dark

25:33

spots where we

25:36

need to break it down and just

25:38

get through right now. And

25:41

so your next challenge is to

25:43

put these into bite sized goals.

25:45

And don't worry if they're right

25:47

or wrong because ultimately they're an

25:50

experiment and that experiment is going

25:52

to give you data that

25:54

will help you make a better plan when you

25:56

get to the other side of that small. exercise.

26:02

I hope this episode was extremely helpful to

26:04

you. I know that for a lot of

26:07

creators right now, we are in

26:09

the thick of it. There are

26:11

so many changes happening and it's just a

26:13

lot. And so I hope this is giving

26:15

you an action plan, a new thing to

26:17

try out today. And

26:20

if you're still feeling overwhelmed, which I'm

26:22

guessing to some degree, you probably are.

26:24

I just want to say, hey, me too. And

26:27

I'm just hoping this episode and these

26:29

ideas have armed you with a renewed

26:31

sense of inspiration, no matter

26:34

how big or small that might be. Massive

26:37

thanks to Todd Henry. Go check

26:39

out the new podcast, Daily Creative,

26:42

for some daily chunks of creative

26:44

inspiration that you can chew and

26:46

digest on a regular basis. And

26:49

if you need an extra dose of

26:51

bravery to tackle what you're facing right

26:53

now, go check out his book, The

26:55

Bravery Habit, A Guide for Courageous Leadership.

26:58

And as a creator, whether you realize it or

27:01

not, you are a leader. The

27:03

job of the creator is to enter

27:05

the wilderness in those dark places

27:07

where nobody else is and find a

27:09

new path forward. And if that's not

27:11

the definition of a leader, I don't

27:13

know what is. Creative

27:19

Pet Talk is your weekly podcast

27:21

companion for your creative journey. I'm

27:23

your host, Andy J. Pizza. I'm

27:25

a New York Times bestselling picture

27:27

bookmaker and illustrator for clients like

27:29

Xbox and Apple. I pep

27:31

talk teams at creative hubs like Warby Parker

27:33

and Sesame Street, and I make this podcast

27:35

because for me, it takes a whole lot

27:38

of creativity just to get out of

27:40

bed in the morning sometimes, let alone attempt

27:42

to create a thriving creative practice. This

27:45

show is just me sharing the things that seem

27:47

to be helping in case they help

27:49

anybody else. Shout out

27:51

to Yoni Wolf and the Band Y for

27:53

our theme music and soundtrack. Huge thanks to

27:56

Connor Jones of Pinning Beautiful for the sound

27:58

design and editing the show. Massive

28:00

thanks to Katie Chandler and Sophie

28:02

Miller for podcast assistance of all

28:04

kinds and thanks to you for

28:06

listening And until we speak again

28:08

stay passed up