Gifted Underachievers

Our environments interact with us every minute of every day. Working in a cluttered, dusty, and disorganized space WILL reduce both your clarity and your creative output.

What’s one to do? How do you reorganize your space to optimize your hours at work? What visual and sensory elements will harness and support your energy?

The Gifted Underachievers discuss this with a view to Pat’s overhaul of her “cloffice” (closet-office—a common solution for work-at-home creatives in urban centers with high housing costs).

Listen in as we discuss “life architecture,” images, colours, and resources from creativity architect Donald Rattner and from our very own Gifted Achiever guest, writer and creative consultant Carrie McConkey.

Questions for Listeners:

* Describe your creative space in basic truths.

* How do you feel when you’re in it?

* Any plans to spruce it up and make it more functional?

* If yes, what will you do?

Buy us a Coffee and Win a Book

Here in the GU Clubhouse, we’ve gleaned and gathered incredible wisdom from our creative guests, whom we fondly call the Gifted Achievers. We’re putting this wisdom into a series of handy guides so listeners can study how to make a good living doing what you love. Click the coffee cup below and you’re on the list! The first 20 coffee angels will get a free guide!

For Further Exploration:

Gifted Achiever Carrie McConkey (website):

Creativity architect Donald Rattner:

My Creative Space (website, book, other resources)

Thanks for listening to Gifted Underachievers! This post is public so feel free to share it.

If you’re not already a subscriber, we’d love to have you in the GU Clubhouse. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit giftedunderachievers.substack.com

You knew ticks could give you Lyme disease...but did you know they could actually damage some of your more dangly bits of organs?

Have you heard of the phenomenon called “ghost tick injury?” James has experienced it first-hand, and it’s not pretty.

PSA #2: As is often the case with your Gifted Underachievers, the useful information is in the “Further Exploration” section of the show notes.

Questions for Listeners:

* Ever caught a tick attached to your skin?

* What did you do?

Buy us a Coffee and Win a Book

Here in the GU Clubhouse, we’ve gleaned and gathered incredible wisdom from our creative guests, whom we fondly call the Gifted Achievers. We’re putting this wisdom into a series of handy guides so listeners can study how to make a good living doing what you love. Click the coffee cup below and you’re on the list! The first 20 coffee angels will get a free guide!

For Further Exploration:

How to avoid ticks in long grass etc.

https://youtube.com/shorts/DqJyxzolF5M?si=QOvLdvAHkR94KcF3

The US Centers for Disease Control & Prevention on Tickborne diseases: https://www.cdc.gov/ticks/about/index.html

Thanks for listening to Gifted Underachievers! This post is public so feel free to share it.

If you’re not already a subscriber, we’d love to have you in the GU Clubhouse. No spam, unsubscribe any time.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit giftedunderachievers.substack.com

All creatives have immersive careers. We live in our own minds for long periods of time. We need to go to our office/home/studio wherever and just be on our own, away from people to think. That is creative work even though a brush isn’t on a canvas, words aren’t being produced, the stage is empty.

Explaining this need to people wondering why we are leaving a party…or not showing up…always (often?) feels like we are complaining.

Should we only hang out with other creative people?

No.

Being out in the world with other people fills the creative well. We need it.

How do we find balance? How do we tell people what we need in a way that does not feel like complaining?

Question for Listeners:

* Are you a Spivak?

* Do you thrive on socializing?

* Or do you wish the world would stay behind the yellow tape you’ve put up?

Buy us a Coffee and Win a Guide to World Domination!

Here in the GU Clubhouse, we’ve gleaned and gathered incredible wisdom from our creative guests, whom we fondly call the Gifted Achievers. We’re putting this wisdom into a series of handy guides so listeners can study how to make a good living doing what you love. Click the coffee cup below and you’re on the list! The first 20 coffee angels will get a free guide!

For Further Exploration:

If you aren’t already a subscriber, we’d love to have you in the GU Clubhouse! No spam, unsubscribe any time.

Thanks for listening to Gifted Underachievers! This post is public so feel free to share it.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit giftedunderachievers.substack.com

Many creative folks work remotely and have video meetings with people from all over the world. Your Gifted Underachievers are two such people—James has many meetings with clients, publishers, and agents, and Pat has students and clients in far-flung places such as Singapore, New Zealand, Central Europe, and the U.K.

We’ve both noticed that people located in Eastern Time (North America) can sometimes struggle to respect time zone differences. In this public service announcement, we suggest that awareness and courtesy around scheduling meetings could be a good career move. This free tool is a great way to check time zones before you schedule: worldtimebuddy.com.

Question for Listeners:

What’s the most difficult time zone scheduling you’ve done?

Buy us a Coffee and Win a Guide to World Domination!

Here in the GU Clubhouse, we’ve gleaned and gathered incredible wisdom from our creative guests, whom we fondly call the Gifted Achievers. We’re putting this wisdom into a series of handy guides so listeners can study how to make a good living doing what you love. Click the coffee cup below and you’re on the list! The first 20 coffee angels will get a free guide!

For Further Exploration:

Pat’s go-to time zone calculator for meetings with multiple participants in different locations is World Time Buddy – time zone converter and world clock: worldtimebuddy.com.

If you aren’t already a subscriber, we’d love to have you in the GU Clubhouse! No spam, unsubscribe any time.

Thanks for listening to Gifted Underachievers! This post is public so feel free to share it.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit giftedunderachievers.substack.com

Nietzsche said “Love your fate because your trials are necessary.” This isn’t nihilism—quite the contrary. There can be great meaning in welcoming your challenges rather than seeing them as “bad luck” or “unfair.”

In this brief segment, the Gifted Underachievers talk about how loving their fates has increased their own sense of agency and control.

Question for Listeners:

Do you love your fate?

Buy us a Coffee and Win a Guide to World Domination!

Here in the GU Clubhouse, we’ve gleaned and gathered incredible wisdom from our creative guests, whom we fondly call the Gifted Achievers. We’re putting this wisdom into a series of handy guides so listeners can study how to make a good living doing what you love. Click the coffee cup below and you’re on the list! The first 20 coffee angels will get a free guide!

For Further Exploration:

The Daily Stoic on Amor Fati: https://dailystoic.com/amor-fati-love-of-fate/

The School of Life discusses Nietzsche’s views on Amor Fati:

If you aren’t already a subscriber, we’d love to have you in the GU Clubhouse! No spam, unsubscribe any time.

Thanks for listening to Gifted Underachievers! This post is public so feel free to share it.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit giftedunderachievers.substack.com

When James pitches for a ghostwriting gig, he needs to quickly present himself as a capable professional to clients for projects often worth $80k or more. Pat faces much the same situation when she meets with prospective clients: they have to believe that she offers professional services that will get them closer to their writing and publishing goals.

While they represent two different roles in the publishing world, each shares the same challenge: relate to a potential client in a way that authentically represents them as the experienced professionals they are. This is not easy.

But for both, it comes down to one simple rule: be generous.

Be generous in your time, knowledge, experience, and with the truth.

It isn’t a hard pitch, it’s a soft pitch.

Questions for Listeners:

* What three pitching strategies do you use?

* What is the basis of how you communicate with potential clients?

Buy us a Coffee and Win a Book

Here in the GU Clubhouse, we’ve gleaned and gathered incredible wisdom from our creative guests, whom we fondly call the Gifted Achievers. We’re putting this wisdom into a series of handy guides so listeners can study how to make a good living doing what you love. Click the coffee cup below and you’re on the list! The first 20 coffee angels will get a free guide!

For Further Exploration:

Thanks for listening to Gifted Underachievers! This post is public so feel free to share it.

If you’re not already a subscriber, we’d love to have you in the GU Clubhouse. No cost, no spam, unsubscribe anytime.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit giftedunderachievers.substack.com

The Academy is relentless in their push to sue the Gifted Underachievers for $1B. They have won removal of the case to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. But worse than that: They want the GU Clubhouse.

The team are up against the wall; they’re being rolled by a well-funded and motivated adversary.

In an act of desperation, they launch the GU Extraction Team.

Questions for Listeners:

How silly is too silly?

Buy us a Coffee and Win a Book

Here in the GU Clubhouse, we’ve gleaned and gathered incredible wisdom from our creative guests, whom we fondly call the Gifted Achievers. We’re putting this wisdom into a series of handy guides so listeners can study how to make a good living doing what you love. Click the coffee cup below and you’re on the list! The first 20 coffee angels will get a free guide!

For Further Exploration:

Thanks for listening to Gifted Underachievers! This post is public so feel free to share it.

If you haven’t already subscribed, we’d love to have you in the GU Clubhouse. No cost, no spam, unsubscribe any time.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit giftedunderachievers.substack.com

After a period of offering two main services, James has focused on ghostwriting without distraction, with the goal of becoming one of the top 20 ghostwriters in the country.

Pat has more than one sphere of operation, and she freely tosses around terms like “beachhead” and “flagship” to describe how she successfully manages these separate spheres.

Note—In case you’re wondering, the characteristics of a good business beachhead include:

* A small, well-defined target customer base with a shared, urgent problem

* Buyers who communicate with one another

* A strong, distinct value proposition that fits your strengths

(source: https://executive.mit.edu/launching-a-successful-start-up-3-the-beachhead-market-MC7FUMDZ6IU5AIPP4WGIPN2PZJI4.html)

If you are running a creative-adjacent business in any artistic domain, this episode is for you.

Questions for Listeners:

* Do you have a ‘beachhead’ service?

* What is it, and how did you focus in on it?

Buy us a Coffee and Win a Book

Here in the GU Clubhouse, we’ve gleaned and gathered incredible wisdom from our creative guests, whom we fondly call the Gifted Achievers. We’re putting this wisdom into a series of handy guides so listeners can study how to make a good living doing what you love. Click the coffee cup below and you’re on the list! The first 20 coffee angels will get a free guide!

For Further Exploration:

MIT on The Beachhead Market:

https://executive.mit.edu/launching-a-successful-start-up-3-the-beachhead-market-MC7FUMDZ6IU5AIPP4WGIPN2PZJI4.html

Excellent book by Charlie Gilkey:

The Small Business Life Cycle: The No-Fluff Guide to Navigating the Five Stages of Small Business Growth

Thanks for listening to Gifted Underachievers! This post is public so feel free to share it.

If you’re not already a subscriber, we’d love to have you in the GU Clubhouse. No cost, no spam, unsubscribe any time.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit giftedunderachievers.substack.com

The Gifted Underachievers talk about how to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of a creative worker’s art. Are there guard rails that will help you deliver a needed truth in a way that feels supportive while getting taken seriously by the artist?

What are the tenets of constructive critiquing? We share our experiences in workshop environments and MFA programs and share real-world examples of how to critique productively and how to receive and respond to critiques that land.

Questions for Listeners:

1. Have you ever had a critique that killed your soul, even if temporarily?

2. What’s the best critique you ever got?

3. Do you have principles for giving or receiving critiques?

For Further Exploration:

Buy us a Coffee and Win a Guide to World Domination!

Here in the GU Clubhouse, we’ve gleaned and gathered incredible wisdom from our creative guests, whom we fondly call the Gifted Achievers. We’re putting this wisdom into a series of handy guides so listeners can study how to make a good living doing what you love. Click the coffee cup below and you’re on the list! The first 20 coffee angels will get a free guide!

If you aren’t already a subscriber, we’d love to have you in the GU Clubhouse! No spam, unsubscribe any time.

Thanks for listening to Gifted Underachievers! This post is public so feel free to share it.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit giftedunderachievers.substack.com

If you were to write a tagline for your internal narrative as a creative, what would it be? Pat and James talk about how they view their internal creative narrative. Unsurprisingly, Pat is the underdog fighting forward. James is the outsider doing his best to find a way inside.

While these may be true self-assessments, what do they mean? How can we use our internal narratives to help our creative minds? Or are these narrative taglines more about staying motivated by always having something to push against.

Question for Listeners:

* What’s your narrative as a creative?

For Further Exploration:

Buy us a Coffee and Win a Guide to World Domination!

Here in the GU Clubhouse, we’ve gleaned and gathered incredible wisdom from our creative guests, whom we fondly call the Gifted Achievers. We’re putting this wisdom into a series of handy guides so listeners can study how to make a good living doing what you love. Click the coffee cup below and you’re on the list! The first 20 coffee angels will get a free guide!

If you aren’t already a subscriber, we’d love to have you in the GU Clubhouse! No spam, unsubscribe any time.

Thanks for listening to Gifted Underachievers! This post is public so feel free to share it.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit giftedunderachievers.substack.com