speaker-0: Hello everybody, welcome back to the World Builders Podcast. I'm Jenny.
speaker-1: And I'm Lindsay, so happy to have you back again. This is a podcast where Jenny and I were best friends, we're intuitives, we're business strategists, and we love talking about the future of the worlds that we and all of you are building.
speaker-0: Yeah, in this podcast, we're really talking about all things career, work, money, intuition, and living a bigger and more expansive life. So we are so excited to have you with us. We are a couple weeks into this third season. And today we wanted to address an audience question. So the first thing I'll say to you is if you follow Lindsay or on social media, you're always welcome to send us questions or ideas about what you would like to see us talking about. ⁓ both of us actually do really well kind of teaching based on what we need we know you need. So ⁓ please share those things. And today, this is funny because this is a question I got three times over in various places. So ⁓ I was like, I think we need to talk about it. Today, the question that we're working with is how do I prioritize my creative work while also needing to spend time on my quote unquote practical work. Work? What does it look like to prioritize the creativity? ⁓ and Linz, I feel like this is the dance of your whole life. So it's a great question for you to be answering.
speaker-1: Yeah, we love this one. I think this is kind of the central mission probably for a lot of us. And it's a dance that I've definitely done. Feeling like my creative side had to be on the side while I was in corporate. And then even as a business owner now, sometimes feeling like, ooh, I want my own sacred creativity and not just ⁓ client work and things like that. So we'll get into all of that, but it's really, really essential and it's not something that's ancillary in any way. It is not, ⁓ a lower priority. It it is actually the main priority. So hopefully by the end of this episode, you'll feel reconnected to why your creative spark, why your creative sacred creative time is so important for your own growth. But then also candidly just for your business and your numbers and your growth, ⁓ they're really complementary and not contradictory. And that's been something that's taken me a while to learn how to navigate the dance. And I'm always in a season of it, to be honest.
speaker-0: Yeah, I feel like this question is part philosophical and part practical, which is why I'm kind of it I'm excited to get into it. And I also don't think it's an accident that so many people are asking this right now. They're essentially saying, like, am I allowed to be creative? Is it safe to be creative? Like, what will happen if I let myself be fully creatively expressed? Will I be able to make money? Will I be able to live? Like, that's the context that I think this is often asked within. So ⁓ you know, I love a root word. So I remember the first time somebody asked me this, I actually looked up the word practical because I was like, is creativity not practical? Cause that's how it's always positioned, is like the creative work and the practical work. So I looked it up and practical just literally means to put into practice something that can be acted upon. And so I just will say first that like in that regard, creativity is perhaps One of the most practical things we can be doing. It is literally the practice of taking something that is an idea and putting it into form and action. ⁓ so I think the question is a little fraught because these two things are not actually opposing. What do you think about that, Lens?
speaker-1: Yeah, I mean, I didn't really know that that root word connection, but that makes so much sense. And just to hear me say as well, I do think we put on a pedestal being in our quote unquote creative flow state like the whole day. ⁓ I used to romanticize that, having a demanding corporate job and being like, if I could just be in the cabin in the woods, writing my novels, writing my poems, like I'd make so much more progress. I'd realize my dream. having a very business focused job made me way better as a writer in terms of craft, in terms of structure, in terms of being an interesting person with interesting stories. Now, when I work for myself and I do have more hours in the day, I do worse. Like today's a Friday. I have, you know, fewer meetings. This morning I could have written all morning. I write for like an hour or two, and I'm like, that's it. Like I'm actually not better just to keep going. ⁓ so I do think that taking it off of that binary where it's like I have to be all this or all that, ⁓ and allowing our other projects and our work to give us a beautiful structure that the flow and the feminine of the flow crave structure. It's amazing what you can do in an hour if you have an hour of sacred time a few times a week. Like that's deep creative practice. I guess that's just a place I would jump off from.
speaker-0: Yeah, it's interesting. I've been really dancing with world builders and the purpose of world builders for my own creative process. And what my guides, my wise self god, whatever you want to say, ⁓ keeps telling me is that it's actually really important to have a foundation. ⁓ and almost to for some people, that foundation is sitting right next to all the other things they're building. For some people, it's not. And I think to your point, like for me, I've always done better writing. Books writing poetry when I have less capacity. ⁓ you know, the the times in my life I wrote a whole fiction book when my son was one year old, and that is like bananas while I was working during his naptimes. And yet I think it's because I had this finite container. And so to your point, I think there's something really to that. So I want to say first also that there's something about, and I want to hear your take on this. I think of creative work as the value of creative work as being really nonlinear. And so our brains really like the like quote unquote practical job because it's like press button, get money. And if we're only centering money, the creative work gets a little confusing because creative work is very non-linear. Like you're a good example of this. Like five years later, the book is being published and all of a sudden now it's optioned for a show. It's like the money is coming way later. And so I think that's also the binary we get on of like this way of making money and value is safe, and then this way is not safe. How do you think about that piece?
speaker-1: Yeah, I mean it's so nonlinear. One just in terms of the time lag of the actual creative work itself. So if we're talking about painting or writing or screenplays, ⁓ singing, there's usually like a massive time lag, to be totally honest. Not because and I actually think that's the universe just being like, Okay, is your soul doing this for its true expression and its evolution and for internal gratification rather than if you're if you People immediately made money from creative work, everyone would get into it for the ego and for the quick short-term thing. So, in a way, it's a filtration process that actually grows us so much and then rewards us down the line. But I also think it can creative work makes us better at having capacity and making money. And there are actually studies now that I'll probably write about this in my sub stack, but that show like if you do 15 minutes of Something for yourself before work, you more than earn that back by being extra productive. I can't be hate even the word productive, but like you're just more lit up in the day. So when I was w writing for an hour before work before going to my finance job, I people would be like, Where do you get the energy? Like, that's crazy. You wake up so early. I was so much more on fire and excited and a joy to be around, or at least tolerable to be around in an environment I didn't really love and just better at my corporate job because I had carved out that time. So therefore my promotions came faster. I was able to pivot from investing to marketing because I was exercising my storytelling muscle. I was able to tell a story of why I should go from New York to London and get them to make an exception to transfer me. all ways that I would say like partially money, but also just more life experience and richness. Our creativity is connected to our life force energy. And that in itself is nonlinear.
speaker-0: That's exactly what I was gonna say. Is the way I think about it is that creativity isn't like one section of your life. It is an approach to life itself, like being the creator of your life. And yes, sometimes that comes through in like bodies of work, like books. But I get kind of annoyed when people will say, like, ⁓ my creative stuff is over here and my business is over here. And I'm like, babe, your business is the most creative thing you're doing right now. Like it's this like container that you made up to be able to do your soul's work. And so I think, you know, when people ask me this question, I'm always like, well, I think doing your creative work, living in a creative way, is the most practical thing you can be doing for exactly the reason you just said it sort of up levels everything else. and once you see it that way, it's hard to unsee that, I guess, is what I would say, right? It's like it tunes the vibrational frequency like way up to be engaged with your own ability to make things. in all the different ways that that happens. So when people ask you this how do I do it question, what's your response to that? Cause I think you're actually extremely good at moving creative projects or, you know, again, everything is creative, but like specifically like bodies of work through. And I think that's what they're asking is they're like, I have a full time job, but I want to move this body of work through. How do I do that? What's your answer to that? You're so good at it.
speaker-1: I mean, this is where I love with one on one or small group to actually just get in people's calendars and be like, okay, like, you know, maybe I think it gets complicated when you become a parent or you have caretaking responsibilities and stuff, right? So up until this point, I was doing it in my twenties, now my thirties. I don't have kids yet. I have a level of just privilege with my time. So I do want to acknowledge that. And I think you'd be probably more helpful for people to hear from with the the motherhood of it all. But I know my energy works best first thing in the morning. I don't love getting up super early, but that was what worked really well ⁓ when I was working in finance. Candidly, I struggle with it a little bit more now because I don't have like a time of day necessarily when my work day starts. I try not to have calls before 10 a.m. for my own business. ⁓ but I do say if you can know when your energy works, so if it's morning or if it's evening, and even having an hour-long block. Three days a week, 90 minutes, two days a week. ⁓ Lindsay Stidman, ⁓ in the collective or in a lot of Jenny's programming, she has a great philosophy around. I think it's 90 minutes, two days a week that she wrote her a screenplay that ended up getting some great awards. And there it really, I think just has to be something that you are prioritizing as much as the client work or your own business. And I do think that sometimes we can become martyrs and procrastinate on our own soul's calling by being like, well, I'm in service through my business. Like I'm helping my clients or I have to do this. That can become a procrastination tool. So just making it sacred time that you just take that seriously. ⁓ what would you say around that?
speaker-0: I think the first thing I see a lot is that it is people are bumping up against conditioning, right? So if you have parents who told you, like, ⁓ investing in this kind of activity is not a good idea. It's not safe, then that's partially why people procrastinate as well. That they don't know that they're doing that. They have this like subconscious thing going on of like, well, I can't be that kind of person who does that kind of thing. ⁓ I I do feel like I'm a good example of this because I have small children and this is tremendously challenging when you have a very full life. And also there's some, as you said, some perks to having capacity blockers. And I I say that a lot to my clients. Like, you know, I know it's annoying. And also 45 minutes twice a week is fine. You know, like I I think we make this into this. It's exactly what you said, I think, earlier of like, I thought it was gonna be so magical when I was doing these things, right? Like when I wrote the sustainable solopreneur, I was like, I'm gonna have a week at a cabin and go on a writer's retreat. When did I write that book in my sweatpants on the couch while my children were on their iPads and my husband was vacuuming? Like, literally, that's how I wrote that book. And so I think I wrote down a few things. One is the imperfection of it all. Like, I think I actually had to take the experience off a pedestal in order to be able to actually create something. ⁓ I remember Amber, our old coach, used to say this to me. She's like, Jenny, you create things every day in your business. This is the same. Like writing a book is the same. thing as like building an offer, as like making a website page. You just show up and you do it and you sit with it. So that's number one, I think, is letting it be really imperfect. A lot of my clients will sort of get off track and then have to bring themselves back on track again. I'm curious, I'm sure this happens because this is like a normal creative thing of sort of like you like commit, you're like all in, and then you kind of lose the thread and you have to come back. How do you help people with that process?
speaker-1: Yeah. And I think a big one I that my writers feel is they feel guilty that they're not doing it more times a week. So it almost builds up for them and it says guilt. And then when they finally actually just sit down, they feel so much better. But that's why I say at least have one, ideally have two blocks on your calendar that you know, okay, even if I'm not, even if I don't have those scraps of extra time, I know that I'm taking myself to the coffee shop for two hours. this day once a week. And like then it doesn't, it's almost this residue that can build up as like plaque, like creative plaque. ⁓ so I think that's that's a big one that I I feel.
speaker-0: Yeah, I also just so people can hear this, if you have kids or you know, you're dealing with caregiving, like I had to get my whole family on board when I was working on my book and be like, I'm going to take three Saturdays and like my husband has to take the kids out of the house, you know, or I'm gonna go to a co-working space and that is I wrote in big blocks because I didn't have tons of small increments and that worked well for me. I wrote my book in a month. And I know that sounds insane, but like because of the way my life works, that was actually easier. Than picking at it ⁓ because I was, if I picked at it, I would have been task switching too much. So I think you kind of have to get the team on board. I would also say accountability, like it really helped me to sit down with you, map out the process, and then you knew I was doing it and you would like check in with me. I think that, and you even helped me build a timeline, right? so that helps. Containers help, like you're saying, like time containers. I think a lot of us also are like, I will just. Have creative time. And then I find people struggle because it's like, what are they doing? Like it's really hard to just show up to a two-hour block and be like, well, what's supposed to be happening in this block? So planning sessions, lists of things you could be working on, like actual containered projects work really well. I have a couple of clients right now who are tracking their more creative expression work on toggle to help their brain understand that like this is an active project that is on my project management block just like my client projects. Also interesting.
speaker-1: Yeah, and I think just trusting your own energy with that, great, because for some people, then it's like, ⁓ no, then it just feels like work. But having a healthy level of masculine, again, I just feel like we've really demonized the masculine. Like the masculine is my superpower. It's why I've been able to write over a dozen books, five, only five of which are published, by the way. ⁓ I give myself goals. I give myself page count goals or word goals. I map out, okay. This month, this month, then I'm going to send it to my agent this month, even before I had an agent. I just gave myself goals and I let the first draft be really, really shitty, like really bad. But I tapped into the emotional core and I was exploring. ⁓ also when you're out for a walk or in the 10 minutes before going to bed, rather than doing a meditation or something, like just connect with your create a project and be in that world because so much of Writing or creating is just how we think and how we experience. right. It's like we just have to tap into that consciousness. And that doesn't just happen sitting down and trying to crank away at our computer and hit a word count. It happens. I love talking to my characters on in conversations in the woods, ⁓ you know, before bed, while I'm swimming, like just things like that where it's integrated into your life. So again, it's not just this separate thing.
speaker-0: Yeah, I think that feels key. I just keep thinking as I'm listening to you, like we all want to be like, well, now I'm a creative being or now I'm a practical being. And it just feels like those things are all woven together for me. And I think the more you do this work, the more that starts to be true, right? Like you're on your evening walk and maybe you think about your business for a second or your career for a second, and you're also talking to your character. And that's okay for them. I think it's really good for them to live side by side. ⁓ the other thing I would leave people with is There's like different forms of creativity that I think we're talking about. There's creative ideation, which is like that really imaginative, like dreamy state. There's the creative expression, which is like that turns into something you are putting into form. And then there's like the actual packaging and output of that thing. And I don't know about you, but I also find it helpful to kind of ask myself like which of those am I at? Like where am I at with this project? Like for my current book. I'm still very much in ideation. And if I think I should be in expression and like writing a lot right now, I get mad at myself. ⁓ so I do think that's a helpful it yeah, it's not all the same thing in terms of what you're asking yourself to do.
speaker-1: Yeah, it's such a good framework. And I try not to have more than one creative project in each of those buckets. So yes, sometimes I will be drafting a book when another book is in its marketing stage or something. ⁓ but I'm not having too many projects swirling around in similar stages and then it can just add to clutter. and I think just taking a step back and maybe just our final big message about why it's so important. It's not just for your goals of putting your art into the world or becoming a published author or speaker or whatever it is. Like it is your life force energy. It is your mental, emotional, spiritual health. Like genuinely I joke, but if I didn't have my creative outlets, I would be, ⁓ gosh, I would be so unwell. And there have been times in my life when I haven't kept it up so much and I'm not my best self at all in relationships and health, can't sleep. Like it is my anxiety medicine. Like that's why I create. And so get tapping back into like you are creating this time for you so that you can show up better in every single part of life. So you can bring more abundance to your family. So you can be a better partner, a better sister, a better mom, like whatever it is, just better for yourself and that you know that you're honoring our souls came here to create. Like I will die on that hill. Especially anyone in world build w world builders or anyone listening to this. ⁓ so what do you have to say just about I guess that bigger mission for for all of us in this collective?
speaker-0: Yeah, in my book, Sustainable Solar Printer, one of the sections is about creativity as kind of like a core ingredient for a sustainable business. And root words again. Here I go. ⁓ I love root words. ⁓ creativity comes from the root word creare, which means to whole, to be part of the whole. Right. And like, doesn't that just give you chills? Like that's feel like that's all I need to say is like, and you're always saying this to me, and I'm always saying it to you, like. Are you working on something? Are you building something? Are you creating something? I think for our souls, especially probably for all souls, like it's like, you know, that feeling where you just feel at home in yourself because you're doing the thing you're born to do. That's what allows us, I think, to step out of that anxiety and into beingness and presence. And the creative act is one of those things I think that gets us there. So ⁓ it's such a, yeah, it makes you whole. It makes the world whole. And it makes you feel part of the whole. So you have to do
speaker-1: This makes me so emotional. ⁓ and I think just also to say like not everyone's going to get it. Like Jenny was saying, if you have to kind of articulate maybe to your partner or to your family why this matters, but really, really have the confidence in yourself that it does matter and advocate for that and create the structures and allow people to witness the way that it transforms you. it's just it's essential.
speaker-0: Yeah. And if you're craving it and you're asking this question and you opened up and listened to this podcast because you're asking this question, it means it's essential for you to be doing right now for your health. So, ⁓ again, open experimentation, but like true containers, true showing up for yourself. That also builds self-trust. It also builds the muscle of making space for this in your life. And I think really paying attention to that binary, which is a false binary of like something is either creative or not creative. ⁓ that's an old operating system rule and at least in this room, we believe that you are ⁓ built for way more than that. So that's my TLDR. Any final things you want to say about this one, Lens? I could talk about this all
speaker-1: I mean, yeah. I just like hiding my creativity was making me sick. And I felt like I had to downplay it for so long and hide that big part of myself. And it has been so healing to even show up taking on finance consulting projects, running my own business, still being in a world of investors and them genuinely respecting, reading my novels, cheerleading me. Like that makes me want to cry right now because I just didn't think that those worlds could integrate. So I will say like there is a point when you can't suppress it and you can't make it the side character in your life. ⁓ and trusting that that's actually not going to hold you back from financial opportunities, but it will make you more interesting. It will make you more alive, it will make you better at the quote unquote unrelated things. So I just, this is the reminder to myself, but don't feel like you ever have to hide that.
speaker-0: Yeah, it's like the most essential thing that humans do. I really believe that. Okay, with that, we're sending you on your way. Thank you for listening. We always love to hear your comments. So leave us a review, send us a message. If you have questions, ⁓ we would also love to hear those. We will probably do little audience question episodes once or twice a month. So we would love to hear them. And yeah, we'll see you soon, Lynz.
speaker-1: Massime. There you go
speaker-0: Thank you so, so much for joining us for today's episode. If you love what you're hearing, the best thing you can do is leave us a review and share this podcast episode with someone else in your circle. Seriously, please, please do that.
speaker-1: A huge shout out to Jenny's husband Sean Gritters who produces this podcast.
speaker-0: And a big, big thank you to the World Builders team for supporting the growth of this podcast and creating an environment that sparks creative aliveness for hundreds of people every day.
speaker-1: Check out the show notes for links to find more information about working with Jenny and me or joining the World Builders Collective.
speaker-0: And on that note, here's to our rise. We'll see you back here soon for the next adventure.
speaker-1: And I'm Lindsay, so happy to have you back again. This is a podcast where Jenny and I were best friends, we're intuitives, we're business strategists, and we love talking about the future of the worlds that we and all of you are building.
speaker-0: Yeah, in this podcast, we're really talking about all things career, work, money, intuition, and living a bigger and more expansive life. So we are so excited to have you with us. We are a couple weeks into this third season. And today we wanted to address an audience question. So the first thing I'll say to you is if you follow Lindsay or on social media, you're always welcome to send us questions or ideas about what you would like to see us talking about. ⁓ both of us actually do really well kind of teaching based on what we need we know you need. So ⁓ please share those things. And today, this is funny because this is a question I got three times over in various places. So ⁓ I was like, I think we need to talk about it. Today, the question that we're working with is how do I prioritize my creative work while also needing to spend time on my quote unquote practical work. Work? What does it look like to prioritize the creativity? ⁓ and Linz, I feel like this is the dance of your whole life. So it's a great question for you to be answering.
speaker-1: Yeah, we love this one. I think this is kind of the central mission probably for a lot of us. And it's a dance that I've definitely done. Feeling like my creative side had to be on the side while I was in corporate. And then even as a business owner now, sometimes feeling like, ooh, I want my own sacred creativity and not just ⁓ client work and things like that. So we'll get into all of that, but it's really, really essential and it's not something that's ancillary in any way. It is not, ⁓ a lower priority. It it is actually the main priority. So hopefully by the end of this episode, you'll feel reconnected to why your creative spark, why your creative sacred creative time is so important for your own growth. But then also candidly just for your business and your numbers and your growth, ⁓ they're really complementary and not contradictory. And that's been something that's taken me a while to learn how to navigate the dance. And I'm always in a season of it, to be honest.
speaker-0: Yeah, I feel like this question is part philosophical and part practical, which is why I'm kind of it I'm excited to get into it. And I also don't think it's an accident that so many people are asking this right now. They're essentially saying, like, am I allowed to be creative? Is it safe to be creative? Like, what will happen if I let myself be fully creatively expressed? Will I be able to make money? Will I be able to live? Like, that's the context that I think this is often asked within. So ⁓ you know, I love a root word. So I remember the first time somebody asked me this, I actually looked up the word practical because I was like, is creativity not practical? Cause that's how it's always positioned, is like the creative work and the practical work. So I looked it up and practical just literally means to put into practice something that can be acted upon. And so I just will say first that like in that regard, creativity is perhaps One of the most practical things we can be doing. It is literally the practice of taking something that is an idea and putting it into form and action. ⁓ so I think the question is a little fraught because these two things are not actually opposing. What do you think about that, Lens?
speaker-1: Yeah, I mean, I didn't really know that that root word connection, but that makes so much sense. And just to hear me say as well, I do think we put on a pedestal being in our quote unquote creative flow state like the whole day. ⁓ I used to romanticize that, having a demanding corporate job and being like, if I could just be in the cabin in the woods, writing my novels, writing my poems, like I'd make so much more progress. I'd realize my dream. having a very business focused job made me way better as a writer in terms of craft, in terms of structure, in terms of being an interesting person with interesting stories. Now, when I work for myself and I do have more hours in the day, I do worse. Like today's a Friday. I have, you know, fewer meetings. This morning I could have written all morning. I write for like an hour or two, and I'm like, that's it. Like I'm actually not better just to keep going. ⁓ so I do think that taking it off of that binary where it's like I have to be all this or all that, ⁓ and allowing our other projects and our work to give us a beautiful structure that the flow and the feminine of the flow crave structure. It's amazing what you can do in an hour if you have an hour of sacred time a few times a week. Like that's deep creative practice. I guess that's just a place I would jump off from.
speaker-0: Yeah, it's interesting. I've been really dancing with world builders and the purpose of world builders for my own creative process. And what my guides, my wise self god, whatever you want to say, ⁓ keeps telling me is that it's actually really important to have a foundation. ⁓ and almost to for some people, that foundation is sitting right next to all the other things they're building. For some people, it's not. And I think to your point, like for me, I've always done better writing. Books writing poetry when I have less capacity. ⁓ you know, the the times in my life I wrote a whole fiction book when my son was one year old, and that is like bananas while I was working during his naptimes. And yet I think it's because I had this finite container. And so to your point, I think there's something really to that. So I want to say first also that there's something about, and I want to hear your take on this. I think of creative work as the value of creative work as being really nonlinear. And so our brains really like the like quote unquote practical job because it's like press button, get money. And if we're only centering money, the creative work gets a little confusing because creative work is very non-linear. Like you're a good example of this. Like five years later, the book is being published and all of a sudden now it's optioned for a show. It's like the money is coming way later. And so I think that's also the binary we get on of like this way of making money and value is safe, and then this way is not safe. How do you think about that piece?
speaker-1: Yeah, I mean it's so nonlinear. One just in terms of the time lag of the actual creative work itself. So if we're talking about painting or writing or screenplays, ⁓ singing, there's usually like a massive time lag, to be totally honest. Not because and I actually think that's the universe just being like, Okay, is your soul doing this for its true expression and its evolution and for internal gratification rather than if you're if you People immediately made money from creative work, everyone would get into it for the ego and for the quick short-term thing. So, in a way, it's a filtration process that actually grows us so much and then rewards us down the line. But I also think it can creative work makes us better at having capacity and making money. And there are actually studies now that I'll probably write about this in my sub stack, but that show like if you do 15 minutes of Something for yourself before work, you more than earn that back by being extra productive. I can't be hate even the word productive, but like you're just more lit up in the day. So when I was w writing for an hour before work before going to my finance job, I people would be like, Where do you get the energy? Like, that's crazy. You wake up so early. I was so much more on fire and excited and a joy to be around, or at least tolerable to be around in an environment I didn't really love and just better at my corporate job because I had carved out that time. So therefore my promotions came faster. I was able to pivot from investing to marketing because I was exercising my storytelling muscle. I was able to tell a story of why I should go from New York to London and get them to make an exception to transfer me. all ways that I would say like partially money, but also just more life experience and richness. Our creativity is connected to our life force energy. And that in itself is nonlinear.
speaker-0: That's exactly what I was gonna say. Is the way I think about it is that creativity isn't like one section of your life. It is an approach to life itself, like being the creator of your life. And yes, sometimes that comes through in like bodies of work, like books. But I get kind of annoyed when people will say, like, ⁓ my creative stuff is over here and my business is over here. And I'm like, babe, your business is the most creative thing you're doing right now. Like it's this like container that you made up to be able to do your soul's work. And so I think, you know, when people ask me this question, I'm always like, well, I think doing your creative work, living in a creative way, is the most practical thing you can be doing for exactly the reason you just said it sort of up levels everything else. and once you see it that way, it's hard to unsee that, I guess, is what I would say, right? It's like it tunes the vibrational frequency like way up to be engaged with your own ability to make things. in all the different ways that that happens. So when people ask you this how do I do it question, what's your response to that? Cause I think you're actually extremely good at moving creative projects or, you know, again, everything is creative, but like specifically like bodies of work through. And I think that's what they're asking is they're like, I have a full time job, but I want to move this body of work through. How do I do that? What's your answer to that? You're so good at it.
speaker-1: I mean, this is where I love with one on one or small group to actually just get in people's calendars and be like, okay, like, you know, maybe I think it gets complicated when you become a parent or you have caretaking responsibilities and stuff, right? So up until this point, I was doing it in my twenties, now my thirties. I don't have kids yet. I have a level of just privilege with my time. So I do want to acknowledge that. And I think you'd be probably more helpful for people to hear from with the the motherhood of it all. But I know my energy works best first thing in the morning. I don't love getting up super early, but that was what worked really well ⁓ when I was working in finance. Candidly, I struggle with it a little bit more now because I don't have like a time of day necessarily when my work day starts. I try not to have calls before 10 a.m. for my own business. ⁓ but I do say if you can know when your energy works, so if it's morning or if it's evening, and even having an hour-long block. Three days a week, 90 minutes, two days a week. ⁓ Lindsay Stidman, ⁓ in the collective or in a lot of Jenny's programming, she has a great philosophy around. I think it's 90 minutes, two days a week that she wrote her a screenplay that ended up getting some great awards. And there it really, I think just has to be something that you are prioritizing as much as the client work or your own business. And I do think that sometimes we can become martyrs and procrastinate on our own soul's calling by being like, well, I'm in service through my business. Like I'm helping my clients or I have to do this. That can become a procrastination tool. So just making it sacred time that you just take that seriously. ⁓ what would you say around that?
speaker-0: I think the first thing I see a lot is that it is people are bumping up against conditioning, right? So if you have parents who told you, like, ⁓ investing in this kind of activity is not a good idea. It's not safe, then that's partially why people procrastinate as well. That they don't know that they're doing that. They have this like subconscious thing going on of like, well, I can't be that kind of person who does that kind of thing. ⁓ I I do feel like I'm a good example of this because I have small children and this is tremendously challenging when you have a very full life. And also there's some, as you said, some perks to having capacity blockers. And I I say that a lot to my clients. Like, you know, I know it's annoying. And also 45 minutes twice a week is fine. You know, like I I think we make this into this. It's exactly what you said, I think, earlier of like, I thought it was gonna be so magical when I was doing these things, right? Like when I wrote the sustainable solopreneur, I was like, I'm gonna have a week at a cabin and go on a writer's retreat. When did I write that book in my sweatpants on the couch while my children were on their iPads and my husband was vacuuming? Like, literally, that's how I wrote that book. And so I think I wrote down a few things. One is the imperfection of it all. Like, I think I actually had to take the experience off a pedestal in order to be able to actually create something. ⁓ I remember Amber, our old coach, used to say this to me. She's like, Jenny, you create things every day in your business. This is the same. Like writing a book is the same. thing as like building an offer, as like making a website page. You just show up and you do it and you sit with it. So that's number one, I think, is letting it be really imperfect. A lot of my clients will sort of get off track and then have to bring themselves back on track again. I'm curious, I'm sure this happens because this is like a normal creative thing of sort of like you like commit, you're like all in, and then you kind of lose the thread and you have to come back. How do you help people with that process?
speaker-1: Yeah. And I think a big one I that my writers feel is they feel guilty that they're not doing it more times a week. So it almost builds up for them and it says guilt. And then when they finally actually just sit down, they feel so much better. But that's why I say at least have one, ideally have two blocks on your calendar that you know, okay, even if I'm not, even if I don't have those scraps of extra time, I know that I'm taking myself to the coffee shop for two hours. this day once a week. And like then it doesn't, it's almost this residue that can build up as like plaque, like creative plaque. ⁓ so I think that's that's a big one that I I feel.
speaker-0: Yeah, I also just so people can hear this, if you have kids or you know, you're dealing with caregiving, like I had to get my whole family on board when I was working on my book and be like, I'm going to take three Saturdays and like my husband has to take the kids out of the house, you know, or I'm gonna go to a co-working space and that is I wrote in big blocks because I didn't have tons of small increments and that worked well for me. I wrote my book in a month. And I know that sounds insane, but like because of the way my life works, that was actually easier. Than picking at it ⁓ because I was, if I picked at it, I would have been task switching too much. So I think you kind of have to get the team on board. I would also say accountability, like it really helped me to sit down with you, map out the process, and then you knew I was doing it and you would like check in with me. I think that, and you even helped me build a timeline, right? so that helps. Containers help, like you're saying, like time containers. I think a lot of us also are like, I will just. Have creative time. And then I find people struggle because it's like, what are they doing? Like it's really hard to just show up to a two-hour block and be like, well, what's supposed to be happening in this block? So planning sessions, lists of things you could be working on, like actual containered projects work really well. I have a couple of clients right now who are tracking their more creative expression work on toggle to help their brain understand that like this is an active project that is on my project management block just like my client projects. Also interesting.
speaker-1: Yeah, and I think just trusting your own energy with that, great, because for some people, then it's like, ⁓ no, then it just feels like work. But having a healthy level of masculine, again, I just feel like we've really demonized the masculine. Like the masculine is my superpower. It's why I've been able to write over a dozen books, five, only five of which are published, by the way. ⁓ I give myself goals. I give myself page count goals or word goals. I map out, okay. This month, this month, then I'm going to send it to my agent this month, even before I had an agent. I just gave myself goals and I let the first draft be really, really shitty, like really bad. But I tapped into the emotional core and I was exploring. ⁓ also when you're out for a walk or in the 10 minutes before going to bed, rather than doing a meditation or something, like just connect with your create a project and be in that world because so much of Writing or creating is just how we think and how we experience. right. It's like we just have to tap into that consciousness. And that doesn't just happen sitting down and trying to crank away at our computer and hit a word count. It happens. I love talking to my characters on in conversations in the woods, ⁓ you know, before bed, while I'm swimming, like just things like that where it's integrated into your life. So again, it's not just this separate thing.
speaker-0: Yeah, I think that feels key. I just keep thinking as I'm listening to you, like we all want to be like, well, now I'm a creative being or now I'm a practical being. And it just feels like those things are all woven together for me. And I think the more you do this work, the more that starts to be true, right? Like you're on your evening walk and maybe you think about your business for a second or your career for a second, and you're also talking to your character. And that's okay for them. I think it's really good for them to live side by side. ⁓ the other thing I would leave people with is There's like different forms of creativity that I think we're talking about. There's creative ideation, which is like that really imaginative, like dreamy state. There's the creative expression, which is like that turns into something you are putting into form. And then there's like the actual packaging and output of that thing. And I don't know about you, but I also find it helpful to kind of ask myself like which of those am I at? Like where am I at with this project? Like for my current book. I'm still very much in ideation. And if I think I should be in expression and like writing a lot right now, I get mad at myself. ⁓ so I do think that's a helpful it yeah, it's not all the same thing in terms of what you're asking yourself to do.
speaker-1: Yeah, it's such a good framework. And I try not to have more than one creative project in each of those buckets. So yes, sometimes I will be drafting a book when another book is in its marketing stage or something. ⁓ but I'm not having too many projects swirling around in similar stages and then it can just add to clutter. and I think just taking a step back and maybe just our final big message about why it's so important. It's not just for your goals of putting your art into the world or becoming a published author or speaker or whatever it is. Like it is your life force energy. It is your mental, emotional, spiritual health. Like genuinely I joke, but if I didn't have my creative outlets, I would be, ⁓ gosh, I would be so unwell. And there have been times in my life when I haven't kept it up so much and I'm not my best self at all in relationships and health, can't sleep. Like it is my anxiety medicine. Like that's why I create. And so get tapping back into like you are creating this time for you so that you can show up better in every single part of life. So you can bring more abundance to your family. So you can be a better partner, a better sister, a better mom, like whatever it is, just better for yourself and that you know that you're honoring our souls came here to create. Like I will die on that hill. Especially anyone in world build w world builders or anyone listening to this. ⁓ so what do you have to say just about I guess that bigger mission for for all of us in this collective?
speaker-0: Yeah, in my book, Sustainable Solar Printer, one of the sections is about creativity as kind of like a core ingredient for a sustainable business. And root words again. Here I go. ⁓ I love root words. ⁓ creativity comes from the root word creare, which means to whole, to be part of the whole. Right. And like, doesn't that just give you chills? Like that's feel like that's all I need to say is like, and you're always saying this to me, and I'm always saying it to you, like. Are you working on something? Are you building something? Are you creating something? I think for our souls, especially probably for all souls, like it's like, you know, that feeling where you just feel at home in yourself because you're doing the thing you're born to do. That's what allows us, I think, to step out of that anxiety and into beingness and presence. And the creative act is one of those things I think that gets us there. So ⁓ it's such a, yeah, it makes you whole. It makes the world whole. And it makes you feel part of the whole. So you have to do
speaker-1: This makes me so emotional. ⁓ and I think just also to say like not everyone's going to get it. Like Jenny was saying, if you have to kind of articulate maybe to your partner or to your family why this matters, but really, really have the confidence in yourself that it does matter and advocate for that and create the structures and allow people to witness the way that it transforms you. it's just it's essential.
speaker-0: Yeah. And if you're craving it and you're asking this question and you opened up and listened to this podcast because you're asking this question, it means it's essential for you to be doing right now for your health. So, ⁓ again, open experimentation, but like true containers, true showing up for yourself. That also builds self-trust. It also builds the muscle of making space for this in your life. And I think really paying attention to that binary, which is a false binary of like something is either creative or not creative. ⁓ that's an old operating system rule and at least in this room, we believe that you are ⁓ built for way more than that. So that's my TLDR. Any final things you want to say about this one, Lens? I could talk about this all
speaker-1: I mean, yeah. I just like hiding my creativity was making me sick. And I felt like I had to downplay it for so long and hide that big part of myself. And it has been so healing to even show up taking on finance consulting projects, running my own business, still being in a world of investors and them genuinely respecting, reading my novels, cheerleading me. Like that makes me want to cry right now because I just didn't think that those worlds could integrate. So I will say like there is a point when you can't suppress it and you can't make it the side character in your life. ⁓ and trusting that that's actually not going to hold you back from financial opportunities, but it will make you more interesting. It will make you more alive, it will make you better at the quote unquote unrelated things. So I just, this is the reminder to myself, but don't feel like you ever have to hide that.
speaker-0: Yeah, it's like the most essential thing that humans do. I really believe that. Okay, with that, we're sending you on your way. Thank you for listening. We always love to hear your comments. So leave us a review, send us a message. If you have questions, ⁓ we would also love to hear those. We will probably do little audience question episodes once or twice a month. So we would love to hear them. And yeah, we'll see you soon, Lynz.
speaker-1: Massime. There you go
speaker-0: Thank you so, so much for joining us for today's episode. If you love what you're hearing, the best thing you can do is leave us a review and share this podcast episode with someone else in your circle. Seriously, please, please do that.
speaker-1: A huge shout out to Jenny's husband Sean Gritters who produces this podcast.
speaker-0: And a big, big thank you to the World Builders team for supporting the growth of this podcast and creating an environment that sparks creative aliveness for hundreds of people every day.
speaker-1: Check out the show notes for links to find more information about working with Jenny and me or joining the World Builders Collective.
speaker-0: And on that note, here's to our rise. We'll see you back here soon for the next adventure.
