Episode 4: Elephant Steps & Poetry = Green Guitar

Today’s conversation included seemingly unrelated tidbits about helium balloons, creativity, green guitars and cockroaches—and yet, it was all indeed one train of thought. Tricia began by letting Rob know that she had nothing to say today—“nothing to offer the world.”  He simply laughed.  Apparently he felt that maybe she’d think of “a few things.”

Together they discussed the writer’s inspiration, how it comes to you—and the requirement that you must “show up.”  Tricia highly recommended a book (referenced below) by Andrew Peterson, as it is about his creative process as it happens in community. He explains at the beginning that he is a practitioner of his own style of creative process, and he then writes about how it works for him.

Sometimes inspiration can feel like “holding onto helium balloons in a windstorm.”  Our best and most creative ideas seem to come at the most inopportune times, but we must be ready to make note of the inspiration when it shows up. Rob keeps a list of prompts, for when an idea shows up in his head but he can’t follow up on it right then.

Rob has never broken a bone, but knowing that his sister has broken a few, he reflected on a statement he had heard recently: “The only part that hurts about breaking a bone is when you break it. The healing doesn’t hurt; it hurts less and less every day.”  He wanted to know if Tricia feels that this statement is true, based on her own experience with broken bones and other hurts, both physical and emotional pain.  She made valuable observations regarding when it is true—and when it is definitely false.

Both prefer to be optimists, but sometimes optimism can mask false hope, which can cause one to lose hope altogether. Tricia and Rob discussed ways to keep real hope alive and not fall into the trap of false hope that might encourage you for a moment but will then let you down. 

Tricia taught Rob a new word in this episode: “academician.”  And Rob made up a word of his own: “academagician.”  That new one just might stick.  His second made-up word, “acadalmation,” probably won’t.

Wise Thinkers Mentioned in this podcast:

Bob Goff: emailing an idea to himself and asking “does that just sound good, or is it really true?” – and – “Be in the place where your feet are.”

Will Smith—his secret for winning at life’s challenges.

References:

The War of Art, Stephen Pressfield

Adorning the Dark: Thoughts on Community, Calling, and the Mystery of Making,  Andrew Peterson

What motivates you? Are you motivated by finish lines?  Or are you motivated by start lines that don’t have a clear finish line in mind at all?

Episode 3: Do You Have Your Coffee?

In this episode, Tricia and Rob explore several conversational topics: their shared love of flavored coffees, the importance of clear hellos and goodbyes when talking with friends, good reasons to be home (or on your way home) by 2am, Rob’s “Enneagram 7” love for having fun with people he enjoys, and their answers to this fascinating question: if you wanted to host the perfect dinner party and you could invite anyone you wanted—living or dead, famous or not, from anywhere in the world, who would you invite?  We obviously wandered through a wide variety of topics!

Tricia started off the discussion with one of her core values: that hellos and goodbyes matter: “The first two minutes you spend with a person really determines the rest of your time with them.”  Rob agreed, but places a higher value on his ‘hello’s” than his “goodbyes,” especially when he hasn’t yet determined how long he is going to stay.  Both concluded that, really, nothing good happens in either conversations or in making wise choices after 2am.  It’s just a good time to be home—or at least, on your way home.

Tricia posed the main question for today’s conversation: “If you are having a dinner party and you want to have great conversation, who would you invite to your perfect dinner party? They can be living or dead, famous or not famous, you know them personally or you don’t, anyone you’d specifically love to have there.  Who’s on your list? Who would you invite?

Sure enough, the list they created included all of the above: a varied collection of famous people they’ve never met but would like to and why, a few personal friends who would be awesome dinner party conversationalists, and a few you’d just expect to see there, like Oprah Winfrey, Aaron Sorkin, Nora Ephron (screenplay writer of movies like You’ve Got Mail and When Harry Met Sally) and of course, Julia Roberts—as well as a few personal friends. Today includes a brief look at the dinner party menu (based on the preferences of women versus men), and a serious conversation about how to respond when someone says something unkind or critical about you—wisdom based on very wise counsel that Oprah received from Poet Laureate Maya Angelou. 

Books Tricia and Rob recommend on this podcast

The Four Agreements, by Don Miguel Ruiz

Unoffendable, Brant Hansen.

Highlightable Quotes from this episode:

• “Wise decisions aren’t made well after 2am; there is a reason you are still up and awake at 2am and it’s just never good!” - Rob 
• “Here’s what it ultimately comes down to for me:  If I would not invite this person to my dinner party, why do I give them any air time in my head to be critical of my life?” – Tricia
• “For me and my belief system, I can choose to be offended and put a whole lot of energy behind being offended, or I can choose to change the channel.  I can choose to turn it off.  I can choose to ‘mute’ the person, to ‘snooze’ the person. I can choose to ‘unfollow.’  I can choose any number of options that allow me to say, “you know what? I am not going to put any energy behind being offended with that.”  Sometimes I can say, “Oh, that bothers me. I am going to take some action to fix it.’ - Rob

Rob’s tip for Keurig coffee loves: try the brand called Crazy Cups (He said it was with a K. It’s not.): all kinds of flavored coffees!  There’s chocolate coffee! Death by Chocolate coffee! Coconut Chocolate coffee—and even Peanut Butter Cup coffee!  Because, what’s better than great coffee at a dinner party, unless it’s a great cigar at Cigar Night?  

You can find Tricia on Facebook or Instagram at Tricia Lott Williford, and that’s also the name of her blog: Tricia Lott Williford.  You can find Rob on Twitter or Instagram at robalott (that’s one b and two t’s!), and he also has his own podcast called The Leading Creative Podcast.

Show Notes – Episode 2

This podcast began a result of Tricia and Rob staying at home due to the Corona virus.  This season of quarantine and quiet gave Rob the time to think creatively.  Tricia, on the other hand, needed a creative mental diversion from all that comes with being “locked” in a house with three men (two of whom often act like teenage boys), and two dogs! Both are thankful for the diversion of thinking out loud together, a pastime they’ve relied upon for nearly 38 years now (or at least, since they each learned to talk).

Summary

In this episode, Rob and Tricia discuss the value of ‘self-censorship: giving space and time to how we respond to others via emails, texts, or even conversation.”  They each learned that lesson through embarrassing experiences shared in this episode!  

Quotes to take with you

Rob: “Use that ‘Snooze for 30 days” option that Facebook offers to you when someone is letting their opinions get the best of them.  Give them 30 days to calm down about that thing they’re upset about right now. Create space for them to work it out!”

Tricia: “Dance like nobody is watching, but email and text like everyone is watching.”

What are they currently reading?
Tricia: Maybe You Should Talk to Someone, by Laurie Gottleib, “a therapist who is seeing a therapist.” This book has Tricia thinking on the concept that “we are responsible for our reactions to things. It’s not just what life dishes out to you, but how you respond to it that helps you find your sense of meaning.”

Rob:  Know What You’re For, by Jeff Henderson, “a pastor in Atlanta who started a movement with his church in which, instead of marketing for their church, they put all their effort into the hashtag, #ForGwinnett.  They wanted to get the message across that, ‘We are not just FOR our church, we are also FOR our community.’  More of a marketing book than a religious book.  Great marketing advice!”

What are they “for” these days?

Rob: “I am for good theatre, good storytelling. Great storytelling has the capacity to change someone’s life, and potentially, honestly, to save someone’s life.”

Tricia: “I am for Story, and for Kindness, and especially for kindness in a story.  That’s what I write about, what I will put on Facebook, what I will write on my blog, the  conversations I have and the books that I write, even the books that I write for other people.

Where else can you find them?

Tricia: “Facebook, Instagram, and my blog.  Google any version of ‘Tricia Lott Williford,’ and you will find me. And when you do, I want to know your story, what you are ‘for,’ and where is the kindness in it?”

Rob: “Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, just search for ‘robalott.’ And when you find me, tell me in a sentence or two: when all of this is over, what is the story you want to be able to tell?”

“Hey, this was fun!  Let’s talk soon!”

Show notes: Introductions 

Rob Lott (principal actor and singer at Walt Disney World; performer at Sea World; creative consultant and show director in Orlando, Florida) and Tricia Lott Williford (New York Times Bestselling author, speaker, and blogger in Denver, Colorado) are #BrotherSisterArtists.

In this inaugural episode of Let’s Talk Soon, listeners know more than they do, as the show was yet untitled. Let’s Talk Soon is their collaborative creative endeavor, as these two discuss what they’re writing about, reading about, thinking about, and speaking up about.

Listen in as they introduce each other, share their paths as creative professionals, and share their parents’ best advice for raising creatives who chased their passions.

#LetsTalkSoonPodcast