Stop forcing creativity and pull the inspiration lever

kari: This is a conversation that ⁓ had three years ago ⁓ I started this whole fun methodology. I had this conversation two months ago with my best friend. I had this conversation yesterday on a mastermind call. And it all circulates around the question: ⁓ do I do ⁓ I am exhausted, depleted, and I have nothing left to give? To my business, to my team, to my own dreams that I am building. And it's a question that pops up all the time because we are all exhausted. Everybody has a lot going on all the time. It doesn't even matter what it is. you have kids, you're work working multiple jobs, you have neither of those things, you have like it doesn't matter what you've got going on, we are ⁓ all overwhelmed. Because we live in a culture that says we need to do more, do more, do more, have more, be more, work harder. It's all about more, more, more, you know? And that's tiring. It creates this never ending to do list, and it becomes really hard to prioritize. Prioritize the things that mean the most to us. And this is hustle culture, Hustle culture tells us that we need to push through. We need to just find a way to get it all done. That's not humanly possible, and it's certainly not a way to create sustainable growth and enjoy your life. So pushing through, that's not the direction that we want to go. The other option is to do your self care first. And this is a much better option, right? To go fill your cup so that you have something to pour. But sometimes we don't even have the energy to do that, nor do we have the time. We need to get shit done, we need to keep going, and we just feel like laying on the floor. What I have found to be extremely helpful is learning how to intentionally cultivate inspiration. You can ignite it, you can spark it yourself. and hustle culture also tells us that we cannot rely ⁓ on motivation or ⁓ And that's true a certain degree. We do need to have self-discipline. ⁓ However, What if we just learned how to tap into motivation or inspiration like pulling a lever? We really can do that. And it's like, well okay, well maybe instead of learning how to just push through and rely on self-discipline and brute force, which we only have so much of. And if you're depleted, you think you're gonna have the energy for that? No. That's why we procrastinate, that's why the things we really care about never make it to the top of the list. because ⁓ you're already overwhelmed and exhausted, the last thing you want to do is muster up the willpower to just push through. Instead, we can become our own source of inspiration, or we can at least learn how to open up that channel and become the receiver for that inspiration to flow through us. Because inspiration, I kind of see it as a form of adrenaline. I'm sure there are different neurochemicals involved in inspiration, but you you know how in the movies there are the scenes where there's like superhuman strength that mama bears get or people get whenever there's life and death situations, they get this insane surge of adrenaline and they can do things that normally they would not have the strength to do. That is kind of like the effect that inspiration has on us. So let's talk about how we can cultivate that because there's lots of ways to do it. And guess what? They get to be fun. So, number one, and this could probably be a whole different conversation, but you've got to create some space. And this will ebb and flow season to season, but you may need to go into a season of hibernation and creation. And these seasons, they are such a guilty pleasure of mine. They are so sweet because it's just this big fat permission slip that you give yourself to say no to so many more things to create space and prioritize whatever it is you are creating and birthing into this world. It's like in parallel to when you are pregnant for nine months. There's a lot of things that get cut out, right? A lot of people, a lot of different foods, a lot of things that just don't fit in this precious season of creation, whatever you're building, that's your brain baby. And it's completely necessary and appropriate for you to take seasons where you just hermit. You just pull back and you go into your own zone and do what you need to do. Even if that means saying no to hanging out with people you really care about, to maybe it's going on more trips, maybe it's working out less and this can get really tricky and really hard because all of those things are also things that you value and also things that you care about. So how do we how do we find that harmony? I mean for me the other day I just told my friend yesterday I said, Hey, I love you. I really want to see you but I am entering a season of hibernation, which means that I need to choose solitude over socializing. And I can't I can't like schedule anything right now. I'll get back to you when I can. Let's voice note in the meantime. And of course, my friend's super understanding. But that felt really hard. It feels really hard to let people down, But it feels worse ⁓ continue to put the thing that you know you are put here to do on the back burner. That's like taking your soul ⁓ shrinking it down. or putting like a a wet blanket over it, It does not feel good. It's not sustainable. ⁓ not what you're here for. So first thing is I just wanna ask you and invite you into this idea that maybe if you have a lot going on and you just haven't been able to make the time for months, weeks, maybe even years, maybe it's time to hibernate and just lock in and just be selfish for a little bit. Mm, can we just be selfish for a little bit? Can we give ourselves permission to do that? I'll give you permission right now. So once we have the space to explore more inspiration, my question for you is: who slash what inspires you? Find a source. Find a source that ignites something in you because when you are tired, when you are not feeling creative or motivated, something can act as ⁓ a matchstick for you to get that spark lit. For me, It is the Queen, Miss Americana, Taylor Swift. Watching her docuseries of the Eras Tour, that every single time, not only does it move me to tears, and I've already watched it countless times, I don't even know, it just kinda like plays on the background of my life. There's so many things about her and the leadership that she embodies and the culture that she's built and the team synergy that she has and the movement that she like everything that she's doing feels so parallel with the fun side and it truly is just such a guiding light for me to see. ⁓ my gosh, we can be strong, courageous, creative leaders and treat our teams with such Tenderness and kindness and lift everybody up and empower them to be themselves. I think there's this ⁓ that is so expired, let's be honest, ⁓ the world of business that it has to be hard and rigid and masculine and ⁓ ⁓ hard. The word that's coming through is hard, not just in a ⁓ sense of it being challenging, ⁓ like a hardened heart kind of. Like we can't be soft, feminine. flowing in order to build something really successful. She breaks that stigma. She is doing something highly creative. She's in the arts. ⁓ But let's be honest, that type of operation, the Eras Tour, if you're not familiar, that tour broke every single tour record that ever exists. I mean, it is it's a cultural phenomenon. And that is quite an operation. And she is at the head of it. And she's leading it with such joy and ⁓ ⁓ like sparkle in the energy, sparkle in the clothes, ⁓ It's a really beautiful movement to watch. And it lights something up in me every single time. So it doesn't matter how many times I've watched her documentaries, if I am just kind of feeling blah, or I I want that spark, that's where I go. So if you can find your who, find someone who is way up ahead of you doing something epic that acts as a mirror for what you want to do and create, and then dive into their resources. Maybe it's TikTok content, maybe it's a podcast, a book, ⁓ a docuseries. Whatever it is you want to do, ⁓ find someone that you can up to because that ⁓ experience and Witnessing what is possible is so inspiring. Another really fun way that you can awaken that inspiration and creativity is by doing something what I would call a just for fun hobby or creative activity. And this is actually one of the fun tools that I share in my book, Fun Because, because the concept behind this is that flow is flow. Creative flow knows no bounds. So if you can get into creative flow doing something like I don't know, hula hooping, crafting, writing, poems, stories, whatever it is that your creativity just thrives on, go there and get into flow, and then take that flow and gently direct it into something else that you want to work on. Your project, your content, whatever it is. Sometimes people get tripped up here and they're like, I can't just do that, I can't just switch in the middle of my creative flow. Try it. It is a skill that I bet you can master. So for example, ⁓ well actually no, let me back up a little bit more. A couple months ago, two, three months ago, I decided that I was going to ⁓ lock in on my social media content creation. So I started posting every day, I started putting Just a lot more effort into what I was sharing and getting more intentional thinking outside the box. And my inspiration, of course, as it does, naturally it ebbs and flows. And yesterday, I felt like I was completely dry. Like my cup had totally run dry. I had no ideas. I was sitting there thinking, looking through my content bank of ideas. Nothing was lighting me up. I was like, ⁓ okay. And I don't like to create just for the sake of trying to please others or trying to get something out there. I think that can sometimes become a form of self-sabotage. So I was like, let me just let me just sit with this. It's also a fine line because I don't want to wait on inspiration. We can't just sit around and wait to feel inspired. We have to be able to cultivate it. And a lot of people would say, just do it even when you're not inspired. Yeah. For a lot of things that works. Content creation for me is not one of those things. Admin tasks showing up for my community and my clients and my team, yeah, pretty much everything else. But when it comes to podcasting, social media content, ⁓ content that I am creating for our programs, for our masterminds, for the club, that needs to come from an inspired place. Because my my work when I am not inspired, not only does it take me 10 times longer. To get the same amount of content out, but it doesn't feel alive. And that translates, especially through the screen. I look back. ⁓ you know how you look back and just cringe yourself out over your old content? Yeah, I look back, sometimes that stuff that I created last week, say, I could definitely tell I wasn't inspired creating that. Cause that energy, it's dead. You can hear it in my voice. It that that energy translates through the screen. So It's a way of working smarter, not harder, to not push through, to be able to reconnect with that inspiration whenever you want so that what you're creating feels alive. So back to the story. I said, let me just sit with this because nothing is making me feel alive right now. I've got nothing. And then last night, ⁓ I stayed ⁓ up crafting. can't see front of me right now, but there is a whole mess of glue and gems and all kinds of stuff. I started bedazzling my shoe and let me just grab it real quick in case you're watching this. Okay, so here's the shoe I was bedazzling. Look at this. How beautiful. I would pay so much money for these shoes. I can't even tell you how proud I am and how excited I am about these bedazzled Bratz doll shoes. I called my best friend to show her this morning, and we were going through the names of the Bratsdolls to give these shoes a name, and one of the dolls' names was Yasmin. So we are calling these babies my snazzy yzzies. And I'm going to wear them all the time. So I stayed up until like 2.33 o'clock in the morning last night making these shoes. Which I had no business being up till 2 30, and I knew it in the moment. I hmm, this is like a dirty little secret right now because I should be sleeping. I should be resting so that tomorrow I can be really productive, right? And this is the trap that we fall into. I knew at the same time that I was going to break this cycle and ignite inspiration and flow because I was lost in the moment. And that is the sign of flow and also being in a state of play whenever you lose track of time. So after a while, I was like, man, I don't know if I've been doing this for two hours or 30 minutes. That's how you know. Stay there. Stay there as long as you can. Do what you have to do to get into that state because that is where you crack into different parts of your brain that don't typically get activated throughout the day. When we get into a state of play, ⁓ enhances, which means if you Picture your brain, imagine more areas lighting up. Like throughout your workday and doing kind of monotonous tasks, the same pathways in your brain are lighting up. And then when you get into a state of play and you are immersed in the moment and you're losing track of time and you're enjoying yourself, more, more parts of your brain and pathways that don't typically light up start lighting up. Flow is flow. those parts of your brain are activated, you go back to thinking about content, ⁓ got a whole new world. You've got all these different ideas and opportunities and visions available to you. And that is exactly what happened. And I actually didn't, I didn't do that with intention. Like I said, I knew while I was crafting that I was in that magical moment because I had lost track of time, but I didn't think like, ooh, I'm gonna take this and figure out how to turn it into content, I was just like, I'm here. This is the good stuff. This is what I'm made to do. I'm made to create and it doesn't matter if I'm writing a book or creating a program that's gonna make me a bunch of money or bedazzling my shoes. Creating is fulfillment. And it gets you into flow and flow is flow and you can apply that anywhere. So today Guess how many content ideas I added to my notes app at one time? I'm not gonna get all I'm not gonna exaggerate and give you a crazy number six. But you know what? Six compared to zero, that's a hell of an increase. And I have content for the rest of the week and next week. I have more than I can even create right now. And guess what? By the time I get maybe maybe halfway through that list, creating is going it's gonna keep the flow going and I'm gonna have so many more ideas. And just for the record, I refuse to put this shoe down. I have been like kind of carrying it around the house with me because I am so freaking proud. You guys are gonna see this in a lot of content coming soon. Stay tuned. So to recap, if you're feeling stuck, you're feeling depleted, assess what season you're in. Do you need to go in to hibernate and create season and set some serious boundaries and reprioritize what you're spending your time on? Number two, find who inspires you most and geek out on their resources. Have them in your back pocket as a way to ignite that flame of inspiration in you and open up that channel for it to just flow through you. And number three, flow is flow. Find a creative activity that gets you in a state of flow where you lose track of time. And then let that ripple and channel. into the projects that you're working on. When I was in Hawaii a couple months ago, ⁓ I remember saying the only thing, the only kind of that I'm going to do while I'm there, because as an entrepreneur, work never really stops, right? Like you could work all the way through vacation and it feel very natural. But I had said the only type of work I'm gonna do is creative work. And at the time we were building out the curriculum for our latest. program a launch with joy which is a 90 day accelerator for new business owners I said all I'm gonna do is work on that curriculum because I was really excited and lit up about offering this to the world. And about three days into vacation I asked myself, okay, let's sit I'm sitting by the beach, let's just see what comes through. And nothing was coming through, which was kind of rare because vacation is typically where like inspiration happens really naturally. So I was like, hmm, okay. Instead of trying to force myself to just start writing this curriculum anyway, I asked, Well, what am I feeling inspired about? And I reflected on what had come up over the past couple days during this beautiful trip. And I just started there. And I just started writing my insights, just started teasing that out and and playing with What inspiration was present, and naturally that just flowed right into the Launch of Joy curriculum. And it was like the whole overarching program got written in 30 minutes and my notes up. And here's the thing that we need to not overlook. Creating from a state of inspiration and flow saves us so much. And here's the thing that we need to not Creating from state of inspiration and flow saves us ⁓ so ⁓ much. my gosh, have you ever ⁓ tried reignite an idea that you had a couple days ago? And it just feels like you're grinding the fucking gears. my gosh, have you ever ⁓ tried reignite an idea that you had a couple days ago? And it just feels like you're grinding the fucking gears. This is another tool that's in fun because in the creativity section of the book called Stop, Drop, and Flow. And it is basically always giving yourself permission to stop whatever doing whenever inspiration hits you. And take action in that moment, knowing that that is a divine gift. That is God nudging you, that is God guiding you, saying, Here, this is what I have for you next. Explore this with no strings attached. And it always leads to magical places. But the difference is acting on it in the moment. And sometimes acting on it means creating whatever it is that is you're feeling called to create. Sometimes it's Following your curiosity, a little ping. If you're walking down the street and you feel really curious about a store or a person or something that you see, follow that. That's a form of inspiration. It's gonna lead you somewhere great. And then sometimes it just means taking notes, like thorough notes. And there's a big difference between like look up bounce houses as a note in your phone versus I talked to this girl who has a bounce house business. And she says that it's in super high demand and here's who I need to talk to. No. Like do a full whatever your stream of consciousness is, document it. Write that full stream of consciousness down. Even if you can't do the research, you can't create, you can't like take full action in that moment. Write down as much as you can because it's going to be so much easier to rekindle that spark of inspiration and creation when you come back to it, versus if you just write down a couple words. That makes Such a difference. I mean who here a notepad ⁓ by their ⁓ by bed? I to keep something because pfft, you know, your girl's brain is ⁓ on in the night. And sometimes you pull your notes and look back at what you wrote down in the middle of the night or when you're on the go and you're like, what the hell did I mean by that? And there is typos and it's just a complete mess. And in the moment it made sense, but in ⁓ after the fact it not make sense. And that's where you come back to grinding those gears, trying to get that flow ignited. So prime yourself, be proactive with that. Stop dropping flow and enjoy it. If that means you get to put down a boring task or you get to leave the party or whatever it is, lean into that because there is nothing more worthy of your time and your attention than those divine ideas and those. Pits of inspiration. Mmm. It just makes life so juicy. Like that is what we're here for. We are here to create. And it is a worthy endeavor to learn how to ignite that flow and to prioritize that flow. Plus, little bonus, it's gonna save you time. And that is what we call fun as a tool for growth and success. Hey Queen, thank you so much for tuning into the Fun Side podcast today. I hope you're loving this episode. And I just wanted to drop in real quick and say that if you are not currently subscribed to the Fun Side newsletter, girl, get in here because there's all kinds of juicy rich stuff in there from free guided meditations to guides to special promotions. you want to be looped in. And we have something really big and exciting coming in spring 2027 that may just open the doors for you to come join us in an in-person fun side experience with some incredible women. So if you want to be the first to know and enjoy all those fun resources that I mentioned, just click the link in the description. All right, let's get back into it. all right fun fam, I hope that this episode brought you some value today and if it did, share it with someone you love, someone you think it might also bring value to. I will see you back here next time on the Fun Side Podcast.