Design Thinking starts with empathy.

If we were making a widget or any solution to meet an external user's need, we'd want that empathy to begin with the people for whom our solution was designed. But what about art? Is it a solution? And if so, who is that solution designed for? The artist? The audience?

I do think that art is a solution. For me, first, art is a solution to a question that will not let me go. Through the process of making the artwork—whether it's a story, a live production, an illustration—I have the opportunity to wrestle with my question. And by the end of the process, ideally, I can come to a place of peace, even if I don't find a complete answer.

In today's episode, we'll discuss where empathy can fit into our creative process, and why including empathy as part of our work can boost our creative confidence. Follow the show link to download this week's reflection guide.

The more original, the more interesting, the more important your creative work is, the harder you have to work to craft the bridge between what's in your mind and the person on the other side of the conversation. Too often we ask ourselves to do that work in the echo chamber of our own heads, thinking we're protecting our ideas. What if, instead, we're building bridges to nowhere, because we haven't taken the time, or maybe we're even afraid, to study the landscape on the other side?

Design Thinking offers artists a way to study that landscape, and in this season of Creative Lift, we're going to explore what that approach might look like, keeping in mind both sides of that bridge—your own innovative vision AND the eventual audience for your work. Today's episode kicks off our exploration with an overview of what Design Thinking is and how writers might make use of its tools and mindsets.

Follow the show link to download this week's reflection guide.

While it may be more obvious to play while brainstorming new ideas, play is also valuable throughout the other phases of the creative process. Play is the trap door into the creative process that plunges us into the hard things before we know they are hard, so that our natural courage shows up when we needed it, and so we could prove to ourselves what we are capable of doing. Ideating isn't the only hard thing. Every part of the creative process poses challenges.

In today's episode, we'll explore strategies for mining the mess that might pile up during a brainstorm with a puzzle-solving mindset to find the gold. Next, we'll use critical thinking tools to figure out where and how those chosen pieces might best fit into your overall project.

Follow the show link to download this week's reflection guide.

How seriously do you take decisions? Do you hover on the edge of decisions like you're paused on a diving board, anticipating the cold impact of the water? Or do you plunge on in, but pop out again nearly immediately, letting yourself change your mind over and over again?

What does decision making look like for you? And how does decision-making play into your creative practice?

In this episode, we'll consider a variety of decision making styles and play with the idea of making educated guesses in those situations where we don't yet have an answer.

Follow the show link to download this week's reflection guide.

I know failure can sometimes be an unpopular subject.

Before you decide to skip this episode, know this: failure is a key part of playing games.

And play is our most valuable learning strategy. Play is how humans, throughout time, have learned to do things they don't yet know how to do.

The way we level up is to experiment, fail, learn, and then find a new answer. No matter what kind of game you're learning to play, the more open you are to failure, the faster you will be able to test theories and learn.

In this episode, we'll look at failure through a prism of perspectives. We'll acknowledge that it is both hard and helpful, and brainstorm how we might make the most of failure experiences as a tool to push onward in our creative work.

Follow the show link to download this week's reflection guide.

Whether you enjoy visualization, or it's a stretch for you, our exploration in this episode will help you see more clearly how to put this skill to use in your creative thinking.

Whatever kind of writer or storytelling artist you are, being able to "see" the world of your story in your mind will multiply your effectiveness in many ways.

Today, we'll focusing on how this skill will help you play games more effectively, whether they are intended to help you reflect, ideate, revise, learn, or collaborate. Ready to play your way to the page with me?

Follow the show link to download this week's reflection guide.

Do you prefer to personalize your approach or stick exactly to prescribed guidelines? Either way, by starting with a simple recipe, you give your creativity a play space in which to innovate.

In Season Two of Creative Lift, we're putting the discoveries from Season One's Hero's Journey to practical use. In today's episode, we'll explore how to use the simple recipes in improv and other similar games to jumpstart creative thinking.

Follow the show link to download this week's reflection guide.

As an improv teacher, one of my very first goals in a workshop is to unlock the power of "Yes, and..." in our classroom. "Yes, and..." is what allows players to actually have fun while improvising. Working with writers, I've discovered that developing this mindset is equally important. No matter what kind of storytelling artist we are, we need to say "Yes and..." to our own hunches, and also to external clues like prompts, new information that shows up with unexpected serendipity, or even to feedback from caring collaborators.

In Season Two of Creative Lift, we're putting the discoveries from Season One's Hero's Journey to practical use. In today's episode, we'll explore the "Yes, and..." mindset, and its variations, that each play their own roles as part of the creative process.

Follow the show link to download this week's reflection guide.

Do you remember playing make-believe as a kid? Maybe you had an ongoing world you would step into, where the story was always waiting to sweep you away. Whether you played long-form make-believe or just popped into imaginary worlds now and then, I wonder: What was your doorway in?

In Season Two of Creative Lift, we're putting the discoveries from Season One's Hero's Journey to practical use. Knowing that play is important and actually playing as part of your creative practice are two completely different things. And while a general openness to play will be valuable in all aspects of your life, play can become a reliable creative tool when you have a couple elements in place. So, what are those elements? And what impossibilities might play make possible?

Follow the show link to download this week's reflection guide.

In order to share our stories, we must shape them into stories. We find the unifying thread, choose the meaningful details, and let the extra questions and loose ends fade into the background. Just as when we write stories, when we live them the theme is more likely to be a question instead of an answer. The question is your call to adventure, and the story we live through is the nuanced answer.

In Season One of Creative Lift, we've experienced a Hero's Journey. We answered the call to adventure and have been exploring how play works in our creative process, and how it might not be working quite the way we hope. Today we'll bring the story we've been playing through in Season One to a close and explore the question: What makes a satisfying end to a story?

Follow the show link to download this week's reflection guide.