The Accidental Creative

There's a hidden dynamic that inhibits your ability to connect dots and do brilliant work. Unfortunately, it's also misunderstood. Fear can erode your ability to think creatively and to take necessary risks, but not all fear is something to be shunned. Sometimes fear can help us stay alert and make decisions. It can be a signal that you have a healthy respect for your environment and its potential dangers. On this episode, I talk about the two kinds of fear and how to begin to dismantle them and produce your best work. ==== Today’s episode is sponsored by Freshbooks. To claim your free month trial – with no credit card needed – visit Freshbooks.com/accidental. The intro music for the AC podcast is by Joshua Seurkamp. End remix is by DJ Z-Trip.

If your organization is like most others, expectations are rising and resources are probably dwindling. We're trying to cram more activity into our days, but often feel like we're only falling further behind. On this episode, Geoff Woods is here with practical advice for making sure the most important things get done each day and that you don't go through your days in reactive mode. Geoff is the host of The One Thing Podcast, which is based on the best-selling book The One Thing. == Today’s episode is brought to you by Weebly. Go to Weebly.com/ac to get 15% off your first purchase. The intro music for the AC podcast is by Joshua Seurkamp. End remix is by DJ Z-Trip.

Have you ever had a sense that things just aren't adding up? Your brain is sending a signal that there's a gap between what you're doing and why you think you're doing it. That's a dynamic I call dissonance, and it can quickly rob you of your ability to engage fully and freely in your creative work. On this episode, we dive into a few of its sources and how they affect you. === Today’s episode is sponsored by Freshbooks. To claim your free month trial – with no credit card needed – visit Freshbooks.com/accidental. Music for the AC podcast is by Joshua Seurkamp. End remix is by DJ Z-Trip.

Annie Dillard once wrote "How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing." However, many of us struggle to find a good balance with our time. We always feel like we're running behind, and that we lay our head down each night a bit behind where we awoke that morning. On this episode, time expert Laura Vanderkam is here to help us understand how people with a healthy perspective on time allocate their hours effectively. Her new book is called Off The Clock. == Thanks to WeTransfer.com for sponsoring this episode. WeTransfer is the simplest way to share big files from A to B, for free. No sign-in required. Just upload, send, and get back to making whatever it is you make. Check out WeTransfer.com to send files. The intro music for the AC podcast is by Joshua Seurkamp. End remix is by DJ Z-Trip.

Have you ever been in a big client pitch, a challenging company meeting, or a conversation with a peer and been at a loss for the right words? What do you say in those difficult situations to improve your odds of success? This episode features Phil M. Jones, the author of Exactly What To Say. He will help us understand the words that will help you achieve your goals, influence others, and connect more deeply with your peers and clients. == Today’s episode is brought to you by Skillshare. To get 2 months of access for just 99 cents, visit Skillshare.com/creative. The intro music for the AC podcast is by Joshua Seurkamp. End remix is by DJ Z-Trip.

Every so often, a word becomes so common in the marketplace that it begins to lose its meaning. I believe that empathy is one of those words. On this episode, SubRosa CEO Michael Ventura shares insights into how to leverage empathy to thrill and delight your clients and customers and creative change in the world. Michael's new book is called Applied Empathy. === Today’s episode is sponsored by Freshbooks. To claim your free month trial – with no credit card needed – visit Freshbooks.com/accidental. Music for the AC podcast is by Joshua Seurkamp. End remix is by DJ Z-Trip.

How much time do you spend worrying every day? For many of us, the answer is "too much". When you worry, you disengage parts of your mind and perspective that are necessary for creative brilliance. On this episode, Amber Rae shares how to identify those voices of worry in your head, and how to instead choose to focus on possibility. Her new book is called Choose Wonder Over Worry. == Today’s episode is brought to you by Skillshare. To get 2 months of access for just 99 cents, visit Skillshare.com/creative. The intro music for the AC podcast is by Joshua Seurkamp. End remix is by DJ Z-Trip.  

You need great ideas consistently in order to do your job. But, where do those ideas come from? You can't just sit there and stare at the problem. Instead, it sometimes help to have a few tools to pull out of your toolbox when you need to be brilliant. On today's show, I share a simple mothod called a "Stimulus Dive" to help you spark new and non-intuitive ideas when you need them most. == Today’s episode is sponsored by Storyblocks. To learn more, visit Storyblocks.com/ac. The intro music for the AC podcast is by Joshua Seurkamp. End remix is by DJ Z-Trip.

There are several myths that exist about highly creative people, and they can seriously affect how teams are led, how client interactions happen, and how we collaborate with one another. If you believe any of these five myths, it can create chronic issues on your team. And, if you are perpetuating any of them, it can seriously curb your effectiveness as a creative pro. On this show, I share the five myths from Chapter One of Herding Tigers, and a few thoughts about how to stop them from affecting your career and your team. If you'd like to read the entire chapter, you can download the first two chapters below or at HerdingTigers.net. ==== Today’s episode is sponsored by Freshbooks. To claim your free month trial – with no credit card needed – visit Freshbooks.com/accidental. The intro music for the AC podcast is by Joshua Seurkamp. End remix is by DJ Z-Trip.

Ideas are often plentiful, but great, concise, well-presented ideas are rare. Sometimes you need another person to help you shape your work into something that can achieve maximum impact. David Moldawer is just such a person. He's an editor, and a writer, and he helps authors simplify and communicate their very complex work in a way that it can be received. On this episode, we talk about how to find your voice as an artist, a common fallacy that prevents us from success, and how to best position yourself for creative success. == Thanks to WeTransfer.com for sponsoring this episode. WeTransfer is the simplest way to share big files from A to B, for free. No sign-in required. Just upload, send, and get back to making whatever it is you make. Check out WeTransfer.com to send files. The intro music for the AC podcast is by Joshua Seurkamp. End remix is by DJ Z-Trip.

There's so much discussion about how to get started, how to overcome creative block, and how to find your motivation, but you know what's rarely discussed? That's right - how to finish when things get hard. Today's guest Jon Acuff has written the book on the topic, and he's here today to discuss his creative process, and some core principles for finishing challenging long-arc goals in your life and work. == Today’s episode is brought to you by Skillshare. To get 2 months of access for just 99 cents, visit Skillshare.com/creative. The intro music for the AC podcast is by Joshua Seurkamp. End remix is by DJ Z-Trip.

Networking. Just the word can sometimes bring chills to introverts like me. We tend to think of networking as "slapping palms" and "swapping business cards" and the whole thing often feel a little... swarmy. However, today's guest David Burkus is here to tell us how to think differently about networking, and how we can leverage both our strong and weak ties to help us accomplish our professional goals and improve our lives. His new book is called Friend Of A Friend. == Today’s episode is sponsored by Storyblocks. To learn more, visit Storyblocks.com/ac. The intro music for the AC podcast is by Joshua Seurkamp. End remix is by DJ Z-Trip.

Have you ever presented a project and been told something like "yeah, that's just not working for me"? Not very helpful, right? How you give feedback is really important to a team's culture. On this episode, we share three key principles for giving feedback to others about creative work. == Today’s episode is brought to you by Weebly. Go to Weebly.com/ac to get 15% off your first purchase. The intro music for the AC podcast is by Joshua Seurkamp. End remix is by DJ Z-Trip.

Since the early days of the Accidental Creative podcast we’ve closed off with the phrase “cover bands don’t change the world – you need to find your unique voice if you want to thrive.” A cover band is a band that plays other people’s music, and they often fill music venues and make money, but at the end of the night people go home singing the music. Cover bands are often quickly forgotten, but the music lives on. You must discover your unique voice if you want to create lasting, compelling value. We must actively search for our creative voice, and clear a path for it to emerge. It is uncovered, not manufactured. We may not even like what we discover at first, but by embracing it we will position ourselves to occupy the unique space for which we’re wired. Here are a ten questions that will help you uncover clues to your unique contribution. === Today’s episode is sponsored by Freshbooks. To claim your free month trial – with no credit card needed – visit Freshbooks.com/accidental. Music for the AC podcast is by Joshua Seurkamp. End remix is by DJ Z-Trip.

You're probably really skilled at what you do. However, this can be both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, you can take shortcuts that help you create more value faster for your clients or organization. On the other, the more skilled you are the easier it can be to slip into ruts and "safe thinking." On today's episode, Jonah Sachs, author of Unsafe Thinking, will help shake us out of our creative ruts and help us think more boldly. == Today’s episode is sponsored by Storyblocks. To learn more, visit Storyblocks.com/ac. The intro music for the AC podcast is by Joshua Seurkamp. End remix is by DJ Z-Trip.