Getting Work To Work

What are you searching for with your creativity? Perhaps you want to find a way to make a living. Or maybe you want to engage in the most profound pursuits of humanity. Today on Getting Work To Work, Mike Brennan and I dive into the deep end of the pool and examine creativity from the perspectives of meaning, happiness, and play. Mike is an illustrator, public speaker, and podcaster passionate about helping creatives build daily creative habits. In this conversation, we discuss what holds us back from doing our work, the business side of creativity, and how to work through the moments we are stuck.

A day doesn't go by where I'm not considering the future of work. How will ideation and creation work? Will it be writing prompts, letting a computer spit out a rough draft, and then editing the results? What about distribution and economics? How will people find our work, and what will they be willing to pay for it? These are all great questions to think about and consider in the fast-paced world of the 21st century. But an unexamined question entered my mind: What role does history play in our work moving forward? Will we allow it to shape our experience or shun it to our detriment?

When you think about your creative expression, do you dream of ideas or the end product? I've always marveled at film directors who claim to see the finished product in their minds or even songwriters who hear the song playing in their imagination. For many, that is what successful creativity looks like, tapping into something already there and bringing it into existence. For others, like me, I might get tiny glimpses of an idea, but I generally have to start smashing ideas together to find out what they'll be. I've had the opportunity to be on a couple of podcasts recently, talking about my creative origin stories. And as I reflected on those experiences, I realized that I approach creativity the way I do today because of how I taught myself to play the guitar.

When thinking about protecting yourself from other people's words, the first thing that might enter your mind is criticism or feedback. Criticism is being externally thrust upon you by critics—either professional or merely haters—and feedback is being requested from others and received by you. At least, that's how I differentiate between the two. It can be challenging to open yourself up to criticism and feedback, it is a necessary skill, but that's not what I mean by protection from the words of others. I mean those moments when people treat you as a commodity, a demographic, or a willing audience member to spread their ideas. In these moments, words can do the most damage when an element of control is in play, so I will share a few ways to protect yourself and your creative spirit.

This past Saturday, I attended a podcast conference in Portland, Oregon. It was a chance to step away from the computer and be around people, talking about podcasts. It was exciting and exhausting, with a ton of takeaways. Inevitably, every conversation led to the same question: "What's your podcast about?" A simple question with many answers, but I still struggled to answer succinctly. I wanted a one-sentence explainer, but there are so many stories explaining what Getting Work To Work is all about. I shared the origin story with one person and another, the show's evolution. At the same time, another conversation centered around a single word to describe the episodes where I don't have guests. After the conference, I kept thinking about these conversations and thought, "Why work?" So, that's what I'm going to talk about today.

Imagine it's 2019, and your mentor tells you that artificial intelligence will disrupt your business and you need to diversify. What do you do? Today's guest on Getting Work To Work answered that question by pivoting from being a content provider to building a marketplace for agencies to get the services they need. Matt Gerchow is a serial entrepreneur, having built multiple businesses, including SteadyContent and the most recent, AgencyHub. In this conversation, Matt shares his thoughts about the future of content and society in general. We begin with his curiosities about optimal routines and travel, his entrepreneurial journey, and finish with what brings him hope.

My mind is wrestling with how to stay creative and productive as I grow older. Naturally, I think about technology and ensuring I use the latest and greatest cameras and equipment. But as I look at my actual process versus what is idealistic and even fantastical, I realize I'm a few years behind. That's because there are more important values and ideals in my life and, ultimately, my business. Before you indict me as an anti-technological heretic, I will make my case for what could possibly be more important than the latest and great technology.

What force drives your creative spirit? Is it fear or love? Can you imagine how different your life and creativity would become if you loved yourself? Today on Getting Work To Work, I dive deep into these questions with mentor and artist Peleg Top. The conversation begins with focusing on rest and how Peleg is emptying his curiosity tank to prepare for what's next. From there, we talk about identity, the nurturing and evolving nature of our creative free spirit, the difference between fear- and love-driven energy, and the power of self-acknowledgment. If you're seeking something deeper and more fulfilling for your life and work, I hope you'll consider this conversation the first step on what Peleg describes on his site as "your journey of self-unfolding."

Have you ever had one of those conversations that reveal how stuck you are and show you what you need to move forward? The question was simple: "What are you going to do about AI?" My response was swift, "I don't know. I'm just not curious about it." This is where friends in life are helpful to call you on your stuff, "Aren't you the curiosity guy? Now's not the time to bury your head in the sand." Truth comes in many forms. Sometimes we hear it at the moment, but more often, we find the truth in replaying the memory. At least, that's how it works for me. The reality is that the answer to this question of AI is a lot more complicated and complex. In today's episode of Getting Work To Work, I'm diving into the many answers to this simple question.

How do you define success for your life and work? What does truth wealth mean to you? Rocco Carriero is today's guest on Getting Work To Work and he answers these questions based upon his experience as a wealth management advisor and author. Central to our conversation is his book, Three Cords Approach: To Life and Wealth Management for Business Owners, and the core strands: your business, important relationships, and your own well-being. Rocco shares his journey of learning to listen and help people, what he learned from his father who was a tailor, how to build trust, and why pre-scheduling is crucial for making sure the three cords work together. If you are a business owner and struggling with balance, then this episode is for you.