The Step Up Create Podcast

This week Katie talks with her brother Toby about his creative life so far. Toby takes us on his journey through sea kayaking the shipping forecast, using his persuasion skills to go to a seal sanctuary in the dark, climbing trees in Rutland, his professional creative experience in architecture and teaching and more.

We delve into how to live a creative life, what a creative process looks like and how creativity can feed your soul.

You can find more information about Toby’s sea kayaking on his website https://www.m-b-g-l.org and you can follow him on Instagram at @moderatebecominggoodlater

Find our website at www.stepupcreate.com Follow us on Instagram @step_up_create Follow us on Facebook @stepupcreate

Follow my art at www.katieannicecarr.com an on Instagram at @katieannice

Original music written and performed by Jonathan D. Mellor licensed to Step Up Create S.L.

This month Vishal and Katie delve into Vishal’s experience of raising his voice through his long-form newsletter and blog. We look at the healing power of narratives, the idea of identity and we both have a go at sharing our stories around the prompt “Night”.

This time we’ve added a feedback element after our stories so you’ll hear about the importance of careful, succinct characterization at the beginning of the story; developing connection with the audience by focusing on those who might find it easier to empathize and the need for a clear inflection point or pivot in the story.  

Vishal talks about tortoises, lion clubs and being a willful 5-year-old, while Katie broaches parenthood, sleep deprivation and penguins.

If you’d like to sign up to Vishal’s newsletter “Explicit* Epiphanies” you can do so here https://vishalkthacker.substack.com

Find our website at www.stepupcreate.com Follow us on Instagram @step_up_create Follow us on Facebook @stepupcreate

Follow my art at www.katieannicecarr.com an on Instagram at @katieannice

Original music written and performed by Jonathan D. Mellor licensed to Step Up Create S.L.

In this month’s solo episode, we look at what it means to live a creative life. You don’t need to pick up a paint brush or start a new hobby to live a creative life, so what does it mean to live life as a creative process? We think of it as something to do with adopting a creative rather and reactive response, being a hopeful realist, having a Growth Mindset, taking responsibility and expanding your consciousness.

Katie Annice Carr delves into the mindset needed to take life with a pinch of creativity, connecting ideas from The Leadership Circle, Carol Dweck, Gestalt Therapy and more. This is far from a definitive guide and it's designed to make you think about what a creative approach to life might look like for you.

Books mentioned:

“Scaling Leadership” Robert Anderson and William Adams (2019 Wiley)

“Designing Your life” by Bill Burnett and Dave Evans (2018 Ramdom House)

“Mindset: the new psychology of success” Carol Dweck (2006 Random House)

Find our website at www.stepupcreate.com Follow us on Instagram @step_up_create Follow us on Facebook @stepupcreate

Follow my art at www.katieannicecarr.com an on Instagram at @katieannice

Original music written and performed by Jonathan D. Mellor licensed to Step Up Create S.L.

In this month’s Creative Life episode, Katie Annice Carr speaks with recent author, coach and career activist, Carole Viaene about how to create your ideal job, whether you want to hone the one you have or find a new one. We talk sustainability, health and limiting beliefs.

Carole’s book is currently only published in Spanish by Arpa under the title “Mi trabajo ideal y como encontrarlo” if you would like to be the first to find out when it will be available in English you can join her mailing list on her website: www.caroleviaene.com     

Find our website at www.stepupcreate.com Follow us on Instagram @step_up_create Follow us on Facebook @stepupcreate

Follow my art at www.katieannicecarr.com an on Instagram at @katieannice

Original music written and performed by Jonathan D. Mellor licensed to Step Up Create S.L.

This month our Creative Book Club reads “Messy: How to be creative and resilient in a tidy-minded world” by Tim Hartford. In this episode Katie picks out the many ideas in the book that made her think and shares both the ideas and their impact on her. It is more of a word association game than a book review.

Following the structure of the we look at different types of messiness and whether they really need to be tidied up. This includes looking at frustration and distraction, collaboration and diversity, whether you should have a tidy desk, improvisation, winning, incentives, automation, resilience and life. And since we can’t do the whole thing justice in under an hour, we recommend you get a copy and enjoy the carefully curated stories and ideas in it.

If you’d like to join our free creative book club where we discuss books like this one, go over to our website and sign up to the book club.

Find our website at www.stepupcreate.com Follow us on Instagram @step_up_create Follow us on Facebook @stepupcreate

Follow my art at www.katieannicecarr.com an on Instagram at @katieannice

Original music written and performed by Jonathan D. Mellor licensed to Step Up Create S.L.

This week we’re talking about humour in business and storytelling while also trying out our own stories inspired by the word “Jest”. What role does humour play in professional relationships? Why is it worth including some in your professional interactions and how might you go about doing that?

Vishal and Katie talk improv, stand-up comedy, and just generally having a go at taking live a little less seriously.

Mentions: Long Story Short is the name of the storytelling book written by stand up comedian, Margot Leitman

Steven Pinker “The Language Instinct: How the Mind Creates Language”

Jennifer Aaker “Humour, Seriously “Why humour is a secret weapon in business and life”

If you’d like to sign up to our Free 5 Day Find Your Stories Challenge at www.stepupcreate.com/find-your-stories  

Find our website at www.stepupcreate.com Follow us on Instagram @step_up_create Follow us on Facebook @stepupcreate

Follow my art at www.katieannicecarr.com an on Instagram at @katieannice

Original music written and performed by Jonathan D. Mellor licensed to Step Up Create S.L.

While dealing with a big creative frustration of our own, we thought we’d talk about frustration and the creative process. It’s inevitable that we become frustrated at some point in a creative process. So, why do we need it? How can we deal with it? And how does it help us to develop new and better ideas?

In this episode, Katie Annice Carr discusses her personal experience with frustration in creative processes and how she has learnt to deal with it, as well as sharing some insights from others. Frustration is part of the creative process, sometimes all it takes is to acknowledge that.

Mentioned: “Imagine: How Creativity Works” by Jonah Lehrer HMH books 2012.

“Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear” Elizabeth Gilbert 2015.

“Grit: The power of passion and perseverance” Angela Duckworth Penguin 2016.

Quote from Zandashé L’Orelia Brown, on Twitter.

If you’d like to sign up to our Free 5 Day Find Your Stories Challenge at www.stepupcreate.com/find-your-stories (hopefully)

Find our website at www.stepupcreate.com Follow us on Instagram @step_up_create Follow us on Facebook @stepupcreate

Check out our youtube channel here 

Follow my art at www.katieannicecarr.com an on Instagram at @katieannice

Original music written and performed by Jonathan D. Mellor licensed to Step Up Create S.L.

This week we chat with Naila Qalqili, Art Therapist and Coach, Joy and Kindness Expert, Director of the Laughter Therapy School of Barcelona.

We talk about the pleasure of losing yourself in creativity, giving yourself permission to be wrong and the importance of making room for joy.

We explore what laughter therapy is and how it can help people to connect with their inner child and get to know themselves better. We also look at how to incorporate play in our lives, even at the hardest times and how saying yes to joy can even help in the most extreme situations.   

If you’d like to sign up to our Free 5 Day Find Your Stories Challenge at www.stepupcreate.com/find-your-stories

Find our website at www.stepupcreate.com Follow us on Instagram @step_up_create Follow us on Facebook @stepupcreate Naila’s website is www.escueladerisoterapia.com Facebook @escuelarisoterapiabarcelona

Follow my art at www.katieannicecarr.com an on Instagram at @katieannice

Original music written and performed by Jonathan D. Mellor licensed to Step Up Create S.L.

This month our Creative Book club reads “Creativity: a short and cheerful guide” by John Cleese published last year. This episode is more of a word association game than a book review where we start with some of the ideas in the book, explore them and see what they make us think about. We cover the idea of training your creativity and balancing conscious striving to be more creative with letting your subconscious do its work.

Mentioned: The Pomodoro Technique, “The Practice” by Seth Godin

Find our website at www.stepupcreate.com Follow us on Instagram @step_up_create Follow us on Facebook @stepupcreate Vishal’s website is www.beyourownstory.com

Follow my art at www.katieannicecarr.com an on Instagram at @katieannice

Original music written and performed by Jonathan D. Mellor licensed to Step Up Create S.L.

In the first of our monthly episodes on finding and raising your voice, storytelling trainers, Katie Annice Carr and Vishal Thacker, share their own fears and reflections around storytelling, making sense out of our life stories and starting your own business.

Find out how storytelling helped us to direct our own lives, while also being open to new adventures and some of the things we’ve learnt from our students.  

For Katie’s story

33,00 if you want to skip to Vishal’s story

Books mentioned: “The Shift” by Lynda Gratton, “Your Life Plan” by Erica Sonsa and “The Hero With A Thousand Faces” by Joseph Campbell.

Find our website at www.stepupcreate.com Follow us on Instagram @step_up_create Follow us on Facebook @stepupcreate Vishal’s website is www.beyourownstory.com

Follow my art at www.katieannicecarr.com an on Instagram at @katieannice

Original music written and performed by Jonathan D. Mellor licensed to Step Up Create S.L.