Podrec #1: The Creative Pep Talk by Andy J. Pizza

Hi! I hope you had a great week and a nice, relaxing weekend!

I’m so excited to share a podcast I have been obsessed with this past week. It’s called The Creative Pep Talk by Andy J. Pizza. Besides the awesome-ness of Andy’s last name being Pizza, he delivers creative content that usually knocks my socks off. I am being serious. All of the episodes I listened to resonate to the core of my creative soul and it’s funny because his target audiences are introverts – like me. Well…I’m an ambivert, but most days, I am a creative introvert who needs a lot of *pep talk* to get out of my comfort zone and my own head.

Lately, I’ve been dealing with impostor syndrome. It’s a topic that I’ve been seeing a lot online as well as in the past, where I would read about a famous so-and-so who dealt with imposter syndrome. I always believed in having pride in my work, but due to the increasing amount of projects I’m handling – it’s been crazy to think that people actually believe in my capabilities. These doubts and uncertainties are normal, especially for someone who is still studying the profession they’re pursuing. It’s absolutely exciting and I am very enthusiastic to lend my hand in whatever I can lend my hand in, but these doubts do creep up on me and sometimes I question whether or not I am doing satisfactory work or if I’m meeting the right standards, should I be doing more?

Most of the time (I hope) these thoughts are just in my head. They don’t really reflect what’s factual – it’s mostly fear-based and anxiety-ridden. Something I try to be aware of nowadays. Writing this I’m thinking about the most recent episode from The Creative Pep Talk where Andy features the watercolor artist, Yao Cheng. When I listened to the episode, the topics they touched up on were out-there in a good way because it simulates ideas and additional conversation on creativity. What really jumped out for me was the part where Andy and Yao discussed the difference between strategic creativity and exploratory creativity. Hearing these terms, it dawned on me that there are times where I would implement one or the other, and sometimes when I would implement both in my work and personal life. It also reminds me of the conversation about people functioning using the left-brained (methodical) or right-brained (creative).

Thinking about strategic and exploratory creativity, it made me understand more about the creative process. I want to become more aware of my use of creativity when working on certain projects. I definitely implement exploratory creativity when I am doing fine arts, Yao touched up on this with watercolor, I absolutely agree that watercolor is so liberating because it forces the artist to release control. Despite making art for years, I can still sense the need to tame that controlling aspect of myself. As for strategic creativity, it shows when I am doing strategic communications – it’s being creatively organized, working through a plan that has a set timeline, goals, results, etc. Definitely, planning takes a lot of creativity especially when it’s a campaign from scratch. It’s literally a baby that needs tending, vision, and attention.

Sometimes our ideas and our inspiration comes to us like a whisper accompanied by a burning fire (passion) to breathe life into.

When do these two modes of creativity meet? This conversation between Andy and Yao really got me thinking. Is it something that can be turned on or off? I do feel like it’s natural, it’s organic and it’s almost like second-nature to the creative to be insightful and intuitive of when to use one mode or the other, or when to use both. The intuitiveness of creativity is something I love about Andy’s podcast, too. He mentions this a lot, creativity as intuition because it is. Sometimes our ideas and our inspiration comes to us like a whisper accompanied by a burning fire (passion) to breathe life into. Sometimes this fire dwindles, even dissipates, but when we’re fortunate, it becomes a spark that impacts others with our intended influence.

Within the past week, these are some of the topics that got my gears turning after listening to The Creative Pep Talk. I recommend it to anyone. You don’t have to be a creative to find the messages Andy shares as inspiring as well as comforting. The first episode I listened to was episode 229 – The 6 Step Process to Unlock Powerful Creative Business Momentum. I liked this episode and was very glad it was my intro to the podcast because it talks about the key to being successfully creative.

But, I’m not going to spoil any more of this podcast for you – I want you to actually listen to it for yourself and see what you reflect on and discover!

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Just a few short updates: I am absolutely loving my course this term. It’s about networking and building relationships, an area I wish I cultivated in more before taking the course. But I am happy to be learning and being aware of it now. I hope to post every Sunday on any topics that float my boat. If you’re not following me on Twitter (@thejessmariem), I created a thread today on #WhatJessLearned where I’ll add tweets to on any helpful tips and tricks from the course! You can come take a look – let’s learn a ‘lil something together.

I hope the next week is kind to all of us, it’s also a Spooky one – we have Halloween coming up this Saturday. How are you celebrating?

Stay safe and thank you for reading!
You can find me @thejessmariem on everything.