More often than not, you come across forks in the road where you have to decide to settle or push yourself to the next level. Maybe you think you have it all figured out and that good is good enough. Maybe you know you haven’t scratched the surface of your potential, and there’s no ceiling to what you can accomplish.

You see, we face these forks all the time: in the gym, in the day job, in relationships, and more specifically, in our creative pursuits. It boils down to—are you a brick or a sponge?

Since you’re listening to this podcast, you’re definitely a sponge. You want to soak up knowledge and find ways to seek out growth. Bricks, on the other hand, may think they’ve reached the peak of their potential. Some bricks even think they know what’s best.

This topic was sparked by a deep conversation between my brother, Brian Manley, and I after slaying our Crafting & Delivering a Killer Talk workshop at Creative South. After reflecting deeply over copious amounts of quality Whiskey on the rocks, I knew that Brian had to be on the show.

Brian is one of a kind, just like his whiskey. He was the first speaker I ever saw at a conference back in 2015. He definitely lit up the stage and set a fire under our asses. Brian was one of key reasons I wanted to become a public speaker.

Fast forward to 2018, and we co-teach workshops on speaking! More importantly, he works full-time as a professional branding warlock who crushes under the name Fun With Robots out of ATL.

Not only is he an incredible speaker and designer, he’s an amazing friend with a ton of great perspective that any creative could learn a new trick or two from.

Today, we inject an enthusiastic dose of energy into topics like:

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