Follow Your Curiosity: You didn’t lose your creative spark. You were taught to leave it behind.

If you've been listening for a while, you know I believe there's hardly anything that's NOT creative, and I love to talk to people from so-called "non-creative" professions to find out how those perceptions are wrong. Accounting is not something most people associate with creativity—except in the familiar, negative sense—but I knew it had to be, so I contacted Lynda Schwartz. Lynda not only is an accountant but was a partner in a big-four firm’s fraud investigation and dispute services practice. She’s taken part in a wide variety of financial investigations, has served as an expert witness in associated court cases, and runs the forensic accounting curriculum at the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She’s also my cousin. 

Lynda set me straight right away on my very narrow idea of what accounting really entails, before moving on to what an accounting investigation looks like, how fraud usually happens, the role of an expert accounting witness in court, and what she’s learned from teaching at UMass. She also explains why she hates the idea of “creative accounting” with such a passion, and would prefer to think of accounting as a curiosity-based practice instead.

Share your thoughts with us on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter—and while you're there, you can hear more about my Creative Revolutionaries program, which starts on May 5th! You can sign up for that program here.

If you're struggling to come up with ideas, this episode is for you! You might be surprised at the power of just paying attention. That may sound too easy, but if you really do it (and it's SO simple), you'll find unexpectedly interesting things all around you.

I'd love to hear your feedback, questions, and experience with these ideas! Send me a note at fycuriosity.com, or contact me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!

Tosca Lee originally wanted to be a ballerina, but ended up switching to writing with some help from her dad while she was in college. Since then, she’s become a bestselling author of a wide variety of books, including The Line Between and its sequel, A Single Light. Tosca talked with me about her early writing experience, how the Kindle has changed things for authors, and the eerie feeling of writing a fictional pandemic shortly before an actual one hits. (And the one she made up is even scarier than Covid!)

Check out the show notes at fycuriosity.com, and join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!

I'm offering a spontaneous hangout on Sunday at noon ET/9amPT and you're invited! Listen for more, and sign up here!

Welcome back for Creative Pep Talk #3! This week, we're delving into the deep, dark world of perfectionism. This is an overview of the evils of perfectionism, because to truly explore it would take more than 8 minutes, but I hope it'll get you thinking about how you fall into this trap, and what you might want to do differently to keep yourself out of perfectionism's clutches so you can enjoy your creative adventures instead of letting them torment you—because where's the fun in that?

I'd love to hear your feedback, questions, and experience with these ideas! Send me a note at fycuriosity.com, or contact me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!

My guest today knows what it’s like to believe you’re not creative. Lisa Townsend spent her first 27 years believing she wasn’t before having a creative awakening that led her to try EVERYTHING. We talk about  what that looked like for her, and what she learned about fear, knowledge—what we have, what we don’t, and what we just think we have—and courage. These days, through her business, Change Your Badge, she uses what she’s learned creatively and professionally to help women get past their fear, shame, and overwhelm so they can run their businesses successfully. 

Check out the show notes at fycuriosity.com, and join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!

If you think permission slips are just for elementary school kids going on field trips, think again. Permission is absolutely vital to a healthy creative process. Listen for permission to give yourself permission!

I'd love to hear your feedback, questions, and experience with these ideas! Send me a note at fycuriosity.com, or contact me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!

My guest this week is opera singer Dale Travis, who has performed with companies all over the world in a career he never imagined as a child. Dale always loved to sing, but went to school for football. When an injury thwarted that plan, he auditioned for the choir, setting him on an unexpected path. We talk about his surprising leap to opera, how he lets the text and music teach him how to perform a character, the future of opera, and more. (And I promise you don’t have to be an opera fan to follow along!) Here’s my conversation with Dale Travis.

Check out the show notes at fycuriosity.com, and join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!

Welcome to the first in a series of creative pep talks—topics to help you get and stay unstuck in your creative process (aka your life). In this inaugural pep talk, I share my plan for these mini-episodes and tackle the age-old question of just who is creative—and why a lot of people believe they're not.

These episodes will come out every other week, alternating with my regular interview episodes (those aren't going anywhere!). I hope you enjoy them.

I'd love to hear your feedback, questions, and experience with these ideas! Send me a note at fycuriosity.com, or contact me on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.

The idea of "talking to God" may bring up images of saints or prophets—or a disconnect from reality. John Roedel fits in none of those categories. He's an improv comedian and poet who started writing conversations between himself and God as silly one-offs during a crisis of faith, only to find them becoming deeper and more insightful over time. One of his pieces from a few years ago went viral in the spring of 2020, to his great surprise, when the newly quarantined public found itself reflected in his words. John and I talk about being the family oddball, the perks and perils of "talking" with God (including readers' expectations), living your life according to "Yes, and..." and even enact that viral post for you.

Check out the show notes (including John's "Ten Seconds" video) at fycuriosity.com, and join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!