Episodit
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Here to celebrate his 20th appearance on Getting Work To Work and his latest film, Local Heroes, is the self-described king of the jungle, gough. As a writer, producer, director, and actor for BeernutsProductions.com, gough always finds a way to not only make me laugh, but also inspire me to create meaningful work. In our conversation, we begin with a lightning round of questions about Australia's wildlife. We also talk about his uncanny ability to recall details throughout his life, bad advice his guidance counselor gave him, important ways for actors to push the boundaries of their craft, and several behind the scenes stories of Local Heroes and the Beernuts Productions podcast.
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As long as I can remember, I've been intrigued with exploration. Growing up in the middle of nowhere, exploring the woods around the house was just the beginning. The starry nights captured my imagination, the road atlas showed how to get around the surrounding areas, and the globe revealed everything else. But exploration comes in multiple flavors because I should also mention the digital discoveries made in the 1990s through the personal computing, World Wide Web, and smart phone revolutions. As I get older, discovery looks a lot different. Sure, I want to see the world and experience as much as I can, but there are also discoveries to be made deep within myself. Not to mention the way work comes to life when you turn down the distractions and tune in to the resonate tones of mastery. In today's episode of Getting Work To Work, I want to dive into the topic of exploration in our craft, and how being in the right place at the right time, can change everything.
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Puuttuva jakso?
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What do you do when your creativity is broken? On top of that, what do you do when you rely upon your creativity to make a living? Earlier this year, my creativity not only cracked, but shattered into a million pieces. I paused all my side projects, calling it creative hibernation. I kept producing work for my recurring clients to the best of my ability, but also got a job to help pay bills. As I talked with people about what I was going through, the messages I received went something like this: "Me too, I'm glad I'm not the only one." In this episode of Getting Work To Work, I'm going to explore how my broken creativity manifests itself, and the tiny action steps I'm taking to put it all back together again.
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What are the big questions that drive your mission and life's work? Are you someone who focuses on finding solutions to the massive problems in the world or someone who wants to be the very best at your craft? In today's episode of Getting Work To Work, I explore not only the big, philosophical questions that drive social entrepreneurship, but also the everyday stories and steps we can take to make a difference. Rebecca van Bergen is the Founder and Executive Director of Nest, "a nonprofit that understands the importance of handcraft and the meaning it can hold for every life it touches." In our conversation, Rebecca shares her origin story of founding Nest and why she felt the need to support artisans and makers around the world. We touch on the role curiosity plays in social entrepreneurship, the fact that everyone is connected to craft, the relationship between automation and the need for uniqueness, imposter syndrome, and how Nest continually develops programs that are human-centered and focused on real change. Most importantly, she shares stories that illustrate just how impactful the work of Nest is around the world.
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It's been a month since the last episode of Getting Work To Work. Every time I sat down to write, nothing came, so I said, "Maybe next week?" Eventually, I gave myself some grace and trusted that when something needed to be said, it would show up. And it finally did, yesterday, on a forklift, in the early morning hours. After finishing my work, I scribbled down some notes, mainly tiny lessons I have learned about myself and others over the past few weeks. I'm going to share these with you, with the hopes that maybe these small lessons are actually bigger than they appear. But we'll let purposeful action and the cascading nature of time be the judge.
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Today's guest needs no introduction because he's been on the show 19 times now, but I'm going to do one anyway. A legally blind filmmaker from Australia, gough is on Getting Work To Work to talk about his latest film, The Harsh Reality of Re-enactment Acting. We discuss his inspiration for the film, how he used editing techniques to land some jokes, and insights into the actors and the Beernuts Productions family. We also talk about the most recent episode of his podcast where he answers questions from social media including several from yours truly, why the best creative work takes longer than you think it will, fixing problems instead of shelving projects, and what goes into creating a budget for a film.
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I believe that conversations find us when we need them most. Tony Luna is a creative consultant, educator, author, and producer who helps emerging and mid-career creatives to discover and reinvigorate the work that ignites the flame of their soul. In our conversation, we touch on Tony's lifelong study and pursuit of creativity. He shares numerous stories that touch on the beauty of failure, the importance of cross-discipline collaboration, why mistakes are necessary, and how we can keep our creativity alive throughout our entire creative journey. Regardless of where you find yourself in your career, it is my hope that Tony's wisdom will build a bridge between where you are today and where you want to go tomorrow.
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What do you do for fun? How does that connect to your own curiosity and search for inspiration? Recently, a coworker asked me what I do for fun and I didn't like any of my answers. I think I cracked a joke about working all the time, but also said I enjoyed watching movies, listening to music, and watching the Cleveland Guardians. Pretty lame, I know, but it's also a critical indicator of just how empty my tanks are when it comes to creativity and curiosity. So, in preparation for this episode, I decided to turn on some good music, cue up the latest mini doc from one of my favorite creators, and browse my bookshelves for some quick hits of inspiration. Thankfully, it worked. I'm going to share a few things I explored, but also a few tips if you find yourself in the same position as myself.
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The question in the email was simple: "Are you interested in a podcast discussion on using rejection as a tool for success?" What a way to capture someone's attention. Without a doubt, rejection is one of the biggest issues we face as creative entrepreneurs, and I was excited to talk with today's guest about it and find ways to get better at accepting rejection in all its forms. Alice Draper is the founder of Hustling Writers, a "publicity business...on a mission to make publicity easy and accessible for underrepresented entrepreneurs." In this conversation, we dive right into her current curiosity with the brain and neuroscience. From there, we get into all things rejection and how it serves us in every sphere of our lives. From setting rejection goals and building rejection resilience, a lot of the work is about depersonalizing the process and finding a community for support and encouragement.
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What are you striving for in your life right now? Fortune and fame? Recognition from your peers, larger budgets, and dream clients? A story that you can turn into a 7-figure business? Peace, quiet, and a purposeful existence? The list of things we can strive for is endless. And yet, our energy and existence is not. We try to turn the dreams of our youth into the reality of our adulthood, hoping that nothing will change. But the older we get, the truth is that everything is constantly changing. Old stories that fueled our youthful striving no longer fit who we are today. Striving itself starts to look and feel differently as we discover a new path, a new story about who we are, what we are capable of, how and who we love, and why our relationship with striving reveals more about who we are becoming than we think.
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If I were to type a prompt into AI to generate today's episode for me, it would probably be this: "Insert amazing monologue here." It's generically specific. Yes, I want a monologue, but make it amazing. I'll spend hours whittling down the responses, going back and forth with a computer. Until I find something passable, meets my deadline, and keeps me moving forward until real inspiration shows up. How often do we approach our creative journey with the same level of expectation and response. We pick a thing or a niche, attach a one or two word description of our expectations, and then go about our business. When things don't work out, we change-up the words, and hope the results will change more in our favor. In today's episode, I want to dive into what we want, because until we know what that is, what we do might not matter.
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One of the things I often hear while interviewing people is, "Oh, I'm sorry, I went off on a tangent." My common response is, "That's okay, tangents are interesting." Not only are tangents interesting, they are instructive and important. They teach us about how we learn, our curiosities, what motivates us to keep moving forward, and the very things that matter most to us. In this episode of Getting Work To Work, I'm going to explore a few tangents in my own life from the first car I ever bought, to my latest creative curiosities and experiments.
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When I first saw Luke Preece's work on Instagram for Metallica's 30th anniversary of …And Justice For All, my mind was blown. Since then, I've followed his work seeing him continually produce stunning art for bands, video games, and movie studios. His bio says it best: "Luke Preece is a UK-based award winning Illustrator and Art Director. His work combines the visceral power of Heavy Metal iconography and the intricacy of 70s/80s science fiction, presented with a clear, compositionally-led design aesthetic." In our conversation, we talk about his drive and need to create, how nostalgia fuels his work, and his creative journey from art college to working with iconic bands. We also talk about how imposter syndrome is a good thing, the reality that success takes time, how he works from rough thumbnail to finished product, and finding inspiration from his clients.
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Ever since I started my creative journey, I feared being empty. Empty of ideas, thoughts, stories, projects, connections, business, ambition. What would become of me if no one wanted to work with me? Who would I be if I ran out of creative ideas? I associated emptiness with negative feelings: imposter syndrome, comparison, lack of self-worth, and low self-esteem. I didn't want to invite those feelings into my life, so I built processes, systems, goals, fail-safe methods, and a good old-fashioned work ethic to fight the onslaught of emptiness. I wanted nothing to do with it. Every time I felt its pull, I pushed harder, until I couldn't fight it any longer.
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If you were to produce a film about your life, what would it say about the choices you made, the people you surrounded yourself with, and the impact you had on the world? Eriksen Dickens is today's guest on the show, sharing his passion for storytelling and filmmaking in the form of legacy documentaries. Our conversation begins with his endless curiosity about big existential questions and how his schooling in philosophy and psychology translates to filmmaking. He talks about turning a childhood passion into a business, what it's like collaborating with his brother, the seven storytelling pillars, keeping creative juices flowing on long-term projects, leadership, and balancing a long-term vision with the needs of today. Regardless of where you find yourself in the creative world, Eriksen brings a depth of introspection and drive that you can learn from and bring into your life and work.
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Some monologues I have a pretty solid idea from start to finish, but others need time and reflection to make sure I'm not just ranting and railing against some invisible force. Today's episode started with a few early morning rants that I captured in my notes app. As I went through the day, I realized I wanted to shape it into something else, but didn't know what. So, I just wrote. I fought the urge to apologize for expressing my feelings, ate dinner, then deleted the apology. I'm not sorry, so why pretend? Because I got comfortable using code words to let people know what I was feeling without really saying what was going on. But, it's time to let the code words go. I'll still change the names to protect the guilty, but that's just smart.
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What's the point of preserving old homes? Why do old homes matter? Two driving questions for today's interview with Lee McColgan, woodworker, restorer of old homes, and author of A House Restored: The Tragedies and Triumphs of Saving a New England Colonial. Lee shares his philosophy, how he thinks about old things, and many stories about his journey from finance to woodworking and home restoration. We talk about his fascination with how things are made by hand, the breadcrumbs of our work present throughout our lives, the creative drive and purpose of his work, the impermanence of all things, the eccentric personalities of people he's met over the years, why generalization is dangerous, and interesting things he's found hidden in the walls.
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The simplest quotes are often the deepest and inspire endless reflection. In my conversation last week with Gregg Brown—entrepreneur, keynote speaker, and author—he dropped a short sentence that stopped me in my tracks: "We have to be prepared to be unprepared." My mind filled up with questions. How does one prepare to be unprepared? Why can't we prepare for all possibilities before they happen? How does preparing for how we will respond to the unknown becoming known impact all areas of our lives and work? In this episode, I'm diving into this quote and my questions in greater detail and hopefully discover a healthier mindset when faced with change.
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How prepared are you for the future of your work? Maybe you are coasting on continual success, not worried about what's on the horizon. Perhaps you find yourself in a season of loss, feeling threatened by the rise of AI tools and frustrated with disruptive change. Regardless of where you are at in your professional journey, today's guest is on the show to teach us how to be change ready. Gregg Brown is an entrepreneur, speaker, and author of Spark Action: How to Lead Change That Matters. He helps "leaders and teams get ready for the future so they can tackle change head-on and get things done." In our conversation, he shares what getting future-ready in a rapidly changing world means. We also discuss the need for critical thinking and decision-making in the age of AI, how to bring our personality and brand of magic to our work, why it's crucial to shed our corporate skin, what change looks like in the middle of your career, and the importance of taking action and being explorers in everything we do.
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What rules do you follow because you believe they will lead to success? What tools do you use to ensure you can be as relevant as possible? What if these rules and tools have the opposite effect on your life, and you can't see it because you're too close? What if social media is actually turning you into a new person you don't want to be, doing what you don't want to do? What if all your daily actions to stand out and get noticed shape you into a societal clone? How many more questions can I fit into this opening synopsis? One more? I love it when a book enters my world and shakes it up. Anti Rule: Navigating The Lies About Fiction Writing by Christian Francis is the small but mighty book that inspired today's episode. So, put on your dunce cap and join me in detention. It's time to chat about what we're doing wrong.
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