Daily Creative with Todd Henry

There are two parts to the tag that most of us wear: creative + professional.

"Creative" means that you get to use your skills to solve problems and create new value every day. "Professional" means that you do it for money, which means that sometimes you have to do what's expedient even when it's not your preferred path.

On this episode, I share three pieces of career advice that every creative pro should consider implementing in order to make their professional life more resilient. Then, we have Mark LePage (founder of EntreArchitect) to help us better understand the business side of creativity and ensure that we are managing both effectively.

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Throughout history, people have had to adapt to changing circumstances and opportunities in order to thrive. However, the pace of change has been accelerating for the past century in an unprecedented way. And, as creative pros, we often feel the effects of the pace of change.

On today's interview, Dr. Gabriella Rosen Kellerman is here to discuss how we can prepare ourselves for what is to come. As she says in the episode, "Since hunting and gathering, we've had to adapt the same neural hardware that's designed for foraging. And in each of those adaptations, whether it's agriculture or industrialization, there are parts of the old machinery that work, and there are parts that are a mismatch." Today's episode helps us identify those mismatches and how we can prepare for what's next.

Dr. Kellerman's new book is called Tomorrowmind.

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Today we're talking about a topic that affects many high-achieving individuals: imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is a psychological phenomenon where individuals doubt their abilities and fear being exposed as frauds.

Now, to be clear there is a difference between imposter syndrome and self-awareness. Self-awareness is the recognition that your skill level may not be sufficient for the task at hand. For example, while I have some experience leading designers, I would never take on a project that requires me to design a campaign for a major brand. That's not imposter syndrome, it's wisdom. However, fear often comes disguised as wisdom also, and it can show up in the form of imposter syndrome. This is when you perpetually feel like a fraud, or you become paralyzed when you are called upon to perform a task. You may even turn down opportunities you are perfectly well suited for because you fear that you will be "found out". 

On this episode I offer three key strategies for overcoming imposter syndrome in life and work.

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James Cameron is a famous filmmaker known for his visionary approach and use of cutting-edge technology in cinema. Recently, we were both speakers at Festival de las Ideas in Puebla, Mexico, where he spoke about creativity and the creative process. On this episode, I share three big ideas that I drew from his speech that we can each apply to our work as creative professionals.

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Cozy Earth: Named one of Oprah's favorite things in 2018, Cozy Earth's best-selling bamboo sheet set is temperature-regulating and incredibly soft. I absolutely love it! And now, you can get 35% off when you visity CozyEarth.com and use code ACCIDENTAL.

Indeed: Indeed knows that when you’re doing everything for your company, you can’t afford to overspend on hiring. Visit Indeed.com/creative to start hiring now.

Started From The Bottom: Success can mean a lot of things -- money, fame, family...even just making it to tomorrow. For every kind of success, there are those born close to it, and those who strive to reach the top. On Started From the Bottom, Justin Richmond interviews people with humble origins who scaled the summit of success. How did they beat the odds? Hear their stories in their own words -- from media firebrand Charlamagne Tha God, to personal finance guru Suze Orman. Listen to Started From the Bottom, wherever you get your podcasts.

What separates high achievers from everyone else? And perhaps more importantly for those who lead a team, how can you create an environment in which high achievers can thrive?

On this episode Robert Glazer is here to share core principles from his new book Elevate Your Team. We discuss the four core capacities that high achieving people and teams exhibit, and some practices and disciplines that we can implement as leaders to help us position ourselves and our teams to thrive.

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What do you do when you encounter a challenging problem that seems to have no immediate solution? Rather than simply pushing forward on the work in a traditional way, you might try to leverage a "workaround", or a less-direct method of solving the problem. Paulo Savaget has studied the tactics of many innovative organizations and has determined that there are four key workarounds that they often employ:

1. The Piggyback
2. The Loophole
3. The Roundabout
4. The Next Best

On this episode, he shares a little about each of these tactics and how we can employ them each day as leaders and creative pros as we discuss the new book The Four Workarounds.

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The stories you believe shape your everyday behavior, including your collaboration and your ability to generate new ideas. Have you ever paused to consider the stories that are actually playing in your head?

In this episode, Michael Hyatt shares insights about how your mindset affects your leadership, your intuition, and even your ability to stay physically healthy.

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It's tempting to want everything to line up before you're willing to commit to a project or opportunity. However, most of the time the valuable opportunities are those for which you may not yet feel fully prepared.

In this episode, I share an experience from this week and why I chose to say "yes", then figure it out later. Great opportunities rarely arrive in safe, comfortable packages.

Then, I interview Jonah Markowitz, who was the production designer on the new Showtime series George and Tammy. We discuss his process, what it took to bring over a hundred sets to life, and his advice for leaders who have to navigate complexity while navigating a large, multi-talented team.

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You can develop your skills and experience, but without the proper mindset it can be difficult to accomplish your goals. On this episode, we discuss the core reasons why mindset is so important to creativity, leadership, and overall health.

Then, we interview actor and author Anjali Bhimani about her book I Am Fun Size, her career, and how to develop a resilient mindset as an artist.

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Most of us need good ideas consistently in order to do our work. Whatever your role, it's likely that it depends on your ability to solve problems consistently under pressure. But, where do those ideas come from?

On today's show, I share a few ideas about the nature of emergent ideas - or what I call slowmergence. I share three questions that you should ask with any project, and three practices that will help you recognize ideas when they arrive.

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