October 27, 2024 • 28 mins
This podcast episode focuses on the importance of spreading kindness in our artistic pursuits, inspired by Michael Brennan's workbook, "Make Fun a Habit." Timothy Kimo Brien emphasizes that kindness should not only be directed outward to the audience and community but also inward, towards ourselves, as a way to acknowledge our skills and passions. The episode dives into a series of reflective questions designed to help creators assess their strengths, weaknesses, and resources, ultimately highlighting the need to understand our contributions to the world. Timothy shares personal insights from his creative journey, including his experiences with poetry and music, and offers actionable items for listeners to engage in acts of kindness through their art. The conversation encourages artists to be mindful of their intentions and to cultivate relationships with their community while remaining patient and open to feedback.
Making Fun A Habit Series
30 days to add fun to your creative practice. I will be going through Mike Brennan's Make Fun A Habit workbook and help you make fun a habit. I had the pleasure of interviewing Mike on my other podcast Find A Podcast About and talking about his podcast Creative Chats. This workbook leads you through steps to rekindle the fun in your life and get you into a space where you are your most creative. This is a 30-day book and I will tackle each day as if it were a week and provide insights on how to use his ideas in your creative practice. Each chapter is broken up with a short story, questions to ponder, action items, and tips.
Assignment
Questions
- What are your strengths and weaknesses as a creator? What are you good at creating? What do you need to work on?
- What are your resources? How much time do you have? What materials do you have access to?
- What are your goals for serving others through your creations? What do you hope to achieve?
- How will you measure your success? How will you know you are making a difference?
Action Items
- Write a poem or a song for someone who is going through a rough time
- Create a piece of art for a local charity
- Design a website for a non-profit
- Bake cookies for your neighbors
- Volunteer your time to teach a class
Tips
- Start with a clear intention
- Consider the needs of your audience
- Don't be afraid to ask for feedback
- Be patient
- Be mindful of your resources
Takeaways:
- Incorporating fun into your artistic practice can enhance creativity and joy in your work.
- Understanding your strengths and weaknesses as a creator is essential for personal growth.
- Creating art for others, such as writing poetry for those in need, spreads kindness.
- Consider the resources you have available, including time and materials, to maximize your creative efforts.
- Serving your audience with intention can lead to meaningful connections through your art.
- Measuring success in art can be about personal impact rather than just numbers or sales.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- TKB Podcast...
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:04):
Create art podcast commentaryspreading kindness hello, friend.
This is Timothy Kimo Brien,your head instigator for Create art
podcast, where I bring my over30 years of experience in the arts
and education world to helpyou tame your inner critic and creates
(00:26):
more than you consume. Sowe're continuing on with our make
fun a Habit series, and that'sbased on the book make fun a Habit
by Michael Brennan, who alsoruns a podcast which is called Creative
Chats. And I had him on myother podcast, find a podcast, about
(00:49):
to discuss what he was doingwith creative chats. And when I had
him on, I found out about hismake fun a habit workbook. And it
helps you do just what itsays, make fun a habit. And I think
it's very important that weinclude the fun in our artistic pursuits.
So this workbook is brokendown in a 30 day challenge. You could
(01:13):
say to like the title, itsuggests make fun a habit. And in
each chapter, you get thegeneral idea of what he's talking
about. And then after that,you get some questions, some action
items, and some tips for whatyou can do to make fun a habit in
(01:34):
your artistic practice. So Iam taking each of those chapters
and making them an episode.And for this one, we're talking about
spreading kindness. And that'snot only to the outside world, to
your audience, or to yourcommunity, but that's also a little
bit to spread some kindness toyourself and really take stock of
(01:58):
what you have to offer andyour skills and your passions. Now,
this book, you can get throughit fairly quickly. If you want to
take it one day at a time, youcan definitely do it. When I sat
down and read it, I knocked itout in about, oh, I don't know, two
to 3 hours. I powered throughit because I wanted to find out what
(02:19):
he was doing and what he wastalking about. But I would recommend,
you know, just read it one aday, or heck, you're already on the
podcast. Here. You can listento each episode that relates to the
day that he's talking about atyour own pace. So let's jump right
(02:40):
into the questions that he hasabout spreading kindness. First question
is, what are your strengthsand weaknesses as a creator, and
what are you good at creating,and what do you need to work on?
Now? For me, I think some ofmy strengths are I don't let what
(03:00):
I don't know how to do stop mefrom creating something. I like to
be experimental that way. Ialso like to find out how things
are done. And sometimes beforeI start a project, I'll ask others,
hey, how do you do this? Andso I always like to get, you know,
(03:21):
as much information as I canbefore I try something out, which
also could be seen as aweakness because I'm not jumping
feet first into a project. Ithink it's a bit of the uncomfortableness
that stops me on occasion andas a weakness that I have. If I don't
(03:42):
know enough about it, I don'texpect it to be perfect the first
time, but I want to knowenough to make a good attempt at
it. I don't like makingbeginner or noob mistakes, per se.
So the second part of thisthree part question is, you know,
what are you good at creating?Well, I would like to think that
(04:04):
I'm good at creating poetry,podcasts, you know, a lot of writing.
I think that's where mystrengths lie is. I can write a lot.
That's, you know, that's whatI'm really good at. Music, to an
extent, for the past, I don'tknow, maybe decade, more electronic
(04:25):
music I feel good at. Then thethird part of this question is, what
do you need to work on? WhileI need to work on the music, that's
something that has beenlacking for me. I need to work on
my drawing and my paintingskills, and I need to work on my
sales skills as well. Youknow, being able to be bold and go
(04:45):
out to galleries or places andsell my art. And I think this, this
first question really helps ustake stock in what we have to offer,
because if we have nothing tooffer our community, then what are
we doing? We're getting in theway. We're, you know, occupying space
(05:07):
without a reason. So,definitely, I would say one of the
first things that you need todo as an artist is to find out what
your strengths and weaknessesare, what you're good at, and what
you're not good at, what youneed work on. So question number
two is, what are yourresources? How much time do you have
and what materials do you haveaccess to? So, my resources for writing
(05:30):
are pretty simple. I mean,I've got laptops. I have got my desktop
computer here, the oldfashioned pen and paper. If I'm just
talking about writing, I havethat available to me. If I'm talking
about making music, I havemusic making programs. I have keyboards.
I have a bass guitar that'scollecting dust. So I have those
(05:54):
resources. More intangibleresources is I have previous guests
that I have on the show that Ican reach back out to if I have questions
about things. So these aresome of the resources that I have.
Now, tackling the second partof the second question, how much
time do you have? That's.That's where I fall a little bit
(06:16):
flat, because I'm a dad, I'm ahusband, and I work a full time job,
and then I try to do a ton ofother things, as well as starting
my own company. So time, forme, is precious. When I get it, I
want to maximize the time thatI have, and I don't want to wait
(06:36):
on inspiration like I used todo or try to force inspiration through
inebriation. So for me, timeis precious, so I don't have much
time, so I want to maximizeit. Okay, the last part of the second
question is, what materials doyou have access to? Well, right in
front of me here, as I recordthis, I have access to a microphone.
(06:58):
I have access to variousprograms for graphic design to get
inspiration for writinggraphic design, and all that kind
of good stuff. I've gotkeyboards. I've got pens and paper.
I've got canvases. I've gotpaint. So I have all the materials
(07:20):
that I need in order to createwhat I want to create. It's sitting
right here. Some of theresources, some of the materials
are collecting dust. So Ineed. I need to work on that. Hopefully,
you're not in that samesituation, but if you are, let's,
you know, do a little dusting,do a little spring cleaning. I know
as I record this, it's fallhere. October 24, 2024. It's fall,
(07:45):
but I. You can do springcleaning in fall, right? Okay. Question
number three is, what are yourgoals for serving others through
your creations, and what doyou hope to achieve? So I had a really
interesting thing happen to mea couple of Fridays ago at the poetry
reading that I go to here intown. It's run by my nephew, who
(08:07):
also runs the coffee shop.Kind of convenient that way. And
I had an interestingconversation with somebody who had
been listening to me at thatpoetry reading for a few years. He,
you know, simply asked me, youknow, why do you write poetry? He
wanted to. He liked thepoetry. He liked how I performed
it. But he wanted to know moreabout what goes behind my, you know,
(08:33):
what's. What's the reason Timdoes this? Basically, I told him
that a lot of my poetry isobservational poetry. Some of it
is, you know, I'm reallyreleasing some emotion, but a lot
of it's observational poetry,where I describe a scene, and I'm
holding it out to theaudience, and I go, is this normal?
(08:55):
Is this. Okay, do you guys seethe same thing? Am I missing something
in this picture? And he said,that's an interesting way of going
about doing that. And I toldhim, I said I don't necessarily trust
my perception because I'm abig Philip K. Dick fan who's a wonderful
Sci-Fi writer, but I don'tnecessarily trust my own perception.
(09:18):
So I want to see if othershave the same perception or perceive
the same things that I'mseeing. So I guess, you know, one
of my goals for performingpoetry is I am presenting my viewpoint
on something to see if itsparks any ideas, discussion, conversation
in my audience and, you know,any clarification or anything like
(09:41):
that. So that's how I amserving my audience. Now, for this
podcast, what's my goal forthis is to serve you, is to take
away some of the mysterybehind art, you know, not make it
so woo woo. Because I knowthat that is a thing that I've experienced
in my life where I met artiststhat are like, well, these civilians
(10:04):
don't understand. And I, andthe thing of it is, is that the artist
doesn't understand whatthey're doing. They don't understand
their audience. So that's whatI've experienced anyways. And I want
to break through all that foryou as either a beginning artist
or as a seasoned artist. Iwant you to, you know, think about
(10:29):
that audience and think aboutwho we're serving to because really,
that's what we're doing here.So the second part of the third question,
I know this is gettingconfusing. You need we, I should
have made up some cards herefor, for you, but what do you hope
to achieve? So for me, itdepends on what discipline we're
(10:50):
talking about as far as forthis podcast, what do I hope to achieve?
I hope to give clarity, giveyou a voice and give you some chutzpah,
for lack of a better term, togo out there and create something.
And if you do it for nobodyelse, do it for yourself. If you
(11:10):
do it for everybody else,that's fine, but make sure you're
doing it for yourself first.So I want to make, I want to embolden
you to be able to go ahead anddo that because I know the benefits
for me in my life forcreating, and I want to share that
with you. Now, if you hadasked me when I was 18, I would say,
you know, total worlddomination. That's what I hope to
(11:32):
achieve. I'm sitting at theripe old age of 51. I'm not interested
in world domination anymore.I'm really not. That's just too much
work. It's just, it'll take meaway from the art that I'm creating.
And plus my kids are going totake over the world anyways, so I
if I take over the world, it'sjust going to be a big major fight
(11:53):
in the house. And who needsthat? I definitely don't need that.
I'd have to play more jazzlouder. So for the last question,
question number four is, howwill you measure your success and
how will you know you aremaking a difference? So for me, success
again depends on thediscipline I'm talking about for
(12:14):
success in my poetry and in mywriting. Having people buy books
is fantastic. Having peopleapproach me after a poetry reading
or after reading a book that Iwrote, that's success. You know,
it obviously reached themenough that they impacted them enough
(12:36):
that they thought, hey,listen, I can go talk to this guy
and either ask him questionsabout what he's doing or say I relate,
or tell him to, you know,screw off, he's absolutely wrong,
or he's disgusting. So thatfor me is success. Now, in terms
of the podcast, the previousepisode where I talked about listener
(12:57):
reviews and messages that Ihad gotten sent into me, that success,
yes, I would love to see, youknow, a billion download numbers,
but I would rather have fivepeople write into the show and say,
hey, you know, that reallytouched me, or hey, that didn't touch
me at all. Or hey, make themusic longer, make it shorter, do
this, do that. I would thatfor me that success. When you take
(13:21):
the time out of your day andreach out to me and you can do that
by the way,timothyreatartpodcast.com but that's
how I measure success for thepodcast and for my writing. Now,
the second part of thatquestion is, how will you know you
are making a difference? Andthat's very simple to answer. I'm
(13:42):
going to know that I made adifference when people reach back
to me and go, hey, thatimpacted me, or if it changes me
as a person, if my art changesme as a person, helps me evolve to
a higher state, a higherbeing, a higher whatever it is, when
it brings joy to my life andmaybe it brings joy to somebody else's
(14:03):
life. You know, some of mypoetry is not safe for work, but
you know, it'll make yougiggle. And that for me, I know I'm
making a difference. You know,with all the forms of entertainment
that we have out there, youchose mine. So that makes me feel
fantastic and that makes thatshows me I am making a difference.
(14:26):
Okay, so let's move on toaction items. We have five action
items here to talk about. Thefirst one is write a poem or a song
for someone who is goingthrough a rough time. Whoa. Ask a
poet to write a poem. Oh, myGod. Okay. That's crazy. How dare
you do that? How dare you,Michael Brennan? I write poetry.
(14:49):
Yes. So for me, that's not ahuge lift, but to write it, write
a poem or song for somebodythat's going through a rough time.
This is funny. This comes upbecause one of my first poems was
about a buddy of mine in highschool that was going through a rough
time. So how does that relateback to spreading kindness? Well,
(15:13):
like I said, one of the firstpoems I wrote was for somebody going
through a hard time, and Iwanted to encourage him that things
were going to be a okay. Andnow let's see here. That was back
in 1988. So rough math there.You know, we're looking at 40 years
of writing poetry. Oh, my God,that's crazy. 35, you know, public
(15:39):
school math there. But that'skind of become my calling card, is,
you know, usually it's aboutme going through a rough time, but,
you know, when I write it forother people that are going through
a rough time, I feel it, theyfeel it, and they know that they're
not alone. Okay. Number two iscreate a piece of art for a local
(16:04):
charity. This is something Ihaven't really done. Maybe I need
to go ahead and do thatbecause that's something that I have
not explored. And, you know,it makes me scratch my head and go,
huh, that's a great idea. Soif you've done that, let me know,
you know, email me and let meknow about that. You know, if you
(16:25):
want me to share it on theshow, I'd be happy to do that for
you. I know some people,they're just like, yeah, yeah, I
don't need any. I don't needany publicity for that. It's just
something that I did. But I'dlike to know how that went for you.
Like I said, I haven't doneit, so if you have, email me, let
me know. Number three isdesign a website for a nonprofit.
(16:47):
Okay. Ye. Okay. I am designingthe website for TKB podcast studio.
Designing a website is tough.It is not for the faint of heart.
And, you know, I had to shavemy head because I was pulling out
the little tiny ears in myhead. Anyways, so I just went ahead
and shaved my head and said,ah, the heck with it, we'll get,
(17:09):
we'll pound out this website.But designing a website for a non
for profit, sure, why not? Youknow, again, not something that I
have done, but if that is inyour wheelhouse, why not, you know,
it'll make you feel good,it'll help them out. And hey, it'll
get your name out there. Andif that's what you're after, knock
(17:31):
it out of the ballpark. Whynot? That's free advertisement. Bake
cookies for your neighbors.Now, this depends on what part of
the country that you're in,because there are certain substances
that are legal that you canbake into cookies. I do not live
in one of those states. But,you know, you can bake regular cookies,
you know, chocolate chip,oatmeal, raisin. You can send me
cookies if you want to, but,yeah, why not bake cookies for your
(17:55):
neighbors? I know we've triedthat when we first moved here. We've
been in our house now for thisThanksgiving will be this November
will be ten years. So I think,you know, I think I'm gonna make
some cookies for my neighbors.Why not? I make good cookies. And
the fifth thing is volunteeryour time to teach a class. Funny
(18:16):
he mentions that because I amgoing to be starting up a podcast
meetup podcasters meetup grouphere in Fredericksburg, Virginia
in the very near future. And,you know, I have a certain amount
of expertise in makingpodcasts. I've been doing it since
2006, and I'm going to bevolunteering to do that. And one
(18:41):
of my affiliates, which ispodmatch, is going to be helping
me with that, helping mepromote it to folks in the area,
like within a 25 miles radiusthat are part of podmatch. And we'll
talk about pod match towardsthe end here. But yeah, that's something
that I'm planning on doinganyways, is to volunteer my time
(19:01):
and, you know, kind of make itmore of a meet up. Not necessarily
me talking the whole time,but, you know, providing a space
at my nephew's coffee shop.Oh, geez. Here in Fredericksburg,
Virginia. So if you're in thearea, go grab some coffee. But yeah,
that's something that I'vedone in the past and I look forward
to doing again. Okay, the lastsection is start with a clear intention.
(19:27):
So if you're going to dosomething kind artistically for somebody,
have the intention for that,make sure you know why you're doing
it and, you know, kind offocus your efforts because it'll
make it a lot easier whenyou're spreading this kindness to
(19:48):
others through art. So startwith that clear intention. Why am
I starting up a podcast meetupgroup? Because I want to build a
community of other podcastersand help them and get help from them
because maybe they have moreexperience than I do, but I want
to go ahead and do that. And,you know, I'm not going to charge
(20:08):
them. As a matter of fact, I'mprobably going to buy them their
first drink at the coffeeshop. So that way Ogs will be happy
to, you know, host this kindof event. They have the space, they
have rent that they have topay. They have staff that they have
to pay. So if I buy the firstrunner drinks for the people that
come to this, even if theydon't buy enough, even if they just
(20:28):
drink one drink, I'm helpingout my nephew, I'm helping out a
coffee shop, and I'm helpingout these people with the knowledge
that I have, and they'rehelping me out with the knowledge
that they have. They justdon't know it, so don't tell them.
The second tip is to considerthe needs of your audience. So if
you're like, doing what I'mgoing to be doing, you know, doing
(20:49):
a meetup for podcasters, Iwant to find out what they want to
talk about. I want to create aspace where they can sit and, you
know, be open to talk aboutanything that's going on with podcasting.
And if they need to talk aboutother stuff, you know, I want to
make the space available forthem as well so that they're nice
and comfortable. And also, youknow, when we do podcast conferences,
(21:14):
a lot of times it gets lonelydoing that because you don't know
anybody there, but having agroup of people that you can go,
hey, I'm going to go to thisconference. I scored some discounted
tickets. You know, I can getyou guys a discount to this to make
it a little bit easier for youto make the conference. You all want
to come along, we can carpool,we can get a couple of hotel rooms
(21:37):
together, and I can I chillout and hang out at this conference.
Consider the needs. Considerthe needs of your community. Do you
know a local charity thatneeds a new website? Because their
website looks horrible and youhave that skill set, why not go for
it? The side benefit of it isyou can get your name out there and
(21:59):
you can introduce to peoplethat you may not have been introduced
to before. The third point is,don't be afraid to ask for feedback.
I always ask you guys forfeedback every time Timothy at Create
artpodcast.com. let me knowwhat I'm doing right. Let me know
what I'm doing wrong. Ask itfrom your audience. You know, maybe
they like that painting thatyou did, or they kind of like it,
(22:22):
but they wish it wassomething, you know, had more blue
in it or had, you know, moresharks in it. I don't know. Well,
then, hey, if you're lookingfor something to do, there you go.
There you go. They're givingyou a kindness by asking for that
feedback, and you're showingthem a kindness because you care.
(22:44):
You're showing them that youcare about what they have to say
and what they feel. Be patientis the fourth point. Be patient with
this. This takes time. It'scultivating relationships. My wife
and I didn't get married untilwe knew each other for, you know,
like, ten years, so you got tobe patient. And we've been married
(23:08):
now for eleven years, so yougot to be patient with this. You're
cultivating relationships withyour audience, with your community.
Be patient. Some people are alittle bit touchy, a little bit squeamish,
so be careful and be kind.Then the last tip is, be mindful
of your resources. So you maynot be able to do all the websites
(23:30):
in your local community andredo them all for all the. And not
for profits or charities.Okay. You got to save some in the
tank for you. So make surethat, yeah, if you're doing stuff
for free or, you know, you'redoing stuff to be kind to other people
or kind to your communityaround you, make sure you're being
(23:51):
kind to yourself. Here's thething that I tell my kids, and I'm
going to tell you the samething. You got to love yourself first
before you can love anybodyelse. Because then, you know what,
love is the same thing aboutbeing kind. You gotta be kind to
yourself first. Make some artfor somebody you love yourself. That's
(24:12):
why I always say that at theend. Make sure you have enough in
the tank for this. All right.Well, at this time now, I'd like
to talk about a couple of myaffiliates that I work with. The
first one is podmatch, andthat's how I get great guests on
this show. I use pod match toget these guests. Do I get a little
(24:34):
kickback if you use myaffiliate link? Yeah, a little bit
of a kickback. Do I get alittle bit of a kickback from the
guests, you know, when I puton the show? Yeah, a little bit.
You know, we're not talking.I'm making millions and millions
of dollars on this. But it's agood, it's a good program out there
(24:54):
for you to either get on otherpodcasts or if you have a podcast
to find those guests, thatwould be good fits for you. Instead
of getting these emails fromyou don't know who the person is
and they're saying, hey, Iwant to be on your show. It's just
an easier way, in my opinion,to find those good guests that match
(25:16):
with what you're trying to door to find those hosts that match
with what you're trying to do.So give it a shot for yourself. My
other affiliate link I'd liketo talk about here real quick is
podcast Beacon. Now? Whatpodcast Beacon is it? It looks like
a little wristwatch. Itdoesn't tell the time. I'll talk
(25:36):
to my guy, Matthew passy aboutthat later on. But what it does is
whenever you're trying toshare your podcast, and this is specifically
for, you know, podcastershere, but you're trying to share
your podcast with folks,business cards, they get wet, they
get crumbly, or they get outof date QR codes. You know, sometimes
people not know how to do it,sometimes people don't. But with
(25:59):
podcast Beacon, they just puttheir phone right on top of it, right
on top of the beacon, and thenboom, their phone goes to the website
and you're all set up and goodto go. It's just the easiest way
to do that, in my opinion. AndMatthew Passy is an awesome guy,
so he makes great products.Now do I get a little bit of a kickback
(26:20):
from the affiliate links?Yeah, I get a little bit of kickback.
Not that much if you make thatpurchase, not that much. But I'm
not going to introduce you tostuff that I don't believe in that
I haven't used myself. So takea look. You know, take a look at
that. If you was, you know,if, if you have that need, take a
look at that for yourself andlet me know what your experience
(26:43):
is with it. Okay. It's thattime in the show where I let you
get on with your day. I needto get on with my day. So I definitely
first and foremost want tothank you for listening to this episode.
I want you to go out there andmake fun of habit for yourself. Okay?
If you'd like to reach out tome and give me some ideas about the
show, tell me about yourjourney, what you're working on.
(27:04):
I'd love to hear from you.Timothyreatpodcast.com if you want
me to talk about a topic onthe show that's giving you problems?
Let's start that conversationnow. I do want to let you know that
I run a couple of otherpodcasts. One of them is find a podcast
about, and that's where I helpyou find your next binge worthy podcast.
(27:26):
You can find it atFindapodcastabout XYz. Outsmart that
algorithm. And just to let youknow, I have started up my own podcast
consulting company. It'scalled TKB Podcast Studio. You can
find it@tkbpodcaststudio.comthe site is still a little bit under
(27:49):
construction, but it kind ofgives you a portfolio of the the
podcasts that I'm working on.So from passion projects like this
one to professional projectsto federal government podcasts that
I work on, take a listen. Takea look at what I'm doing. So tame
that inner critic, my friend.Create more than you consume. Spread
(28:10):
some kindness. Spread somekindness out there. It doesn't cost
you a thing. And go make someart for somebody you love, yourself.
I'll talk to you next time you close.
Create art podcast commentaryspreading kindness hello, friend.
This is Timothy Kimo Brien,your head instigator for Create art
podcast, where I bring my over30 years of experience in the arts
and education world to helpyou tame your inner critic and creates
(00:26):
more than you consume. Sowe're continuing on with our make
fun a Habit series, and that'sbased on the book make fun a Habit
by Michael Brennan, who alsoruns a podcast which is called Creative
Chats. And I had him on myother podcast, find a podcast, about
(00:49):
to discuss what he was doingwith creative chats. And when I had
him on, I found out about hismake fun a habit workbook. And it
helps you do just what itsays, make fun a habit. And I think
it's very important that weinclude the fun in our artistic pursuits.
So this workbook is brokendown in a 30 day challenge. You could
(01:13):
say to like the title, itsuggests make fun a habit. And in
each chapter, you get thegeneral idea of what he's talking
about. And then after that,you get some questions, some action
items, and some tips for whatyou can do to make fun a habit in
(01:34):
your artistic practice. So Iam taking each of those chapters
and making them an episode.And for this one, we're talking about
spreading kindness. And that'snot only to the outside world, to
your audience, or to yourcommunity, but that's also a little
bit to spread some kindness toyourself and really take stock of
(01:58):
what you have to offer andyour skills and your passions. Now,
this book, you can get throughit fairly quickly. If you want to
take it one day at a time, youcan definitely do it. When I sat
down and read it, I knocked itout in about, oh, I don't know, two
to 3 hours. I powered throughit because I wanted to find out what
(02:19):
he was doing and what he wastalking about. But I would recommend,
you know, just read it one aday, or heck, you're already on the
podcast. Here. You can listento each episode that relates to the
day that he's talking about atyour own pace. So let's jump right
(02:40):
into the questions that he hasabout spreading kindness. First question
is, what are your strengthsand weaknesses as a creator, and
what are you good at creating,and what do you need to work on?
Now? For me, I think some ofmy strengths are I don't let what
(03:00):
I don't know how to do stop mefrom creating something. I like to
be experimental that way. Ialso like to find out how things
are done. And sometimes beforeI start a project, I'll ask others,
hey, how do you do this? Andso I always like to get, you know,
(03:21):
as much information as I canbefore I try something out, which
also could be seen as aweakness because I'm not jumping
feet first into a project. Ithink it's a bit of the uncomfortableness
that stops me on occasion andas a weakness that I have. If I don't
(03:42):
know enough about it, I don'texpect it to be perfect the first
time, but I want to knowenough to make a good attempt at
it. I don't like makingbeginner or noob mistakes, per se.
So the second part of thisthree part question is, you know,
what are you good at creating?Well, I would like to think that
(04:04):
I'm good at creating poetry,podcasts, you know, a lot of writing.
I think that's where mystrengths lie is. I can write a lot.
That's, you know, that's whatI'm really good at. Music, to an
extent, for the past, I don'tknow, maybe decade, more electronic
(04:25):
music I feel good at. Then thethird part of this question is, what
do you need to work on? WhileI need to work on the music, that's
something that has beenlacking for me. I need to work on
my drawing and my paintingskills, and I need to work on my
sales skills as well. Youknow, being able to be bold and go
(04:45):
out to galleries or places andsell my art. And I think this, this
first question really helps ustake stock in what we have to offer,
because if we have nothing tooffer our community, then what are
we doing? We're getting in theway. We're, you know, occupying space
(05:07):
without a reason. So,definitely, I would say one of the
first things that you need todo as an artist is to find out what
your strengths and weaknessesare, what you're good at, and what
you're not good at, what youneed work on. So question number
two is, what are yourresources? How much time do you have
and what materials do you haveaccess to? So, my resources for writing
(05:30):
are pretty simple. I mean,I've got laptops. I have got my desktop
computer here, the oldfashioned pen and paper. If I'm just
talking about writing, I havethat available to me. If I'm talking
about making music, I havemusic making programs. I have keyboards.
I have a bass guitar that'scollecting dust. So I have those
(05:54):
resources. More intangibleresources is I have previous guests
that I have on the show that Ican reach back out to if I have questions
about things. So these aresome of the resources that I have.
Now, tackling the second partof the second question, how much
time do you have? That's.That's where I fall a little bit
(06:16):
flat, because I'm a dad, I'm ahusband, and I work a full time job,
and then I try to do a ton ofother things, as well as starting
my own company. So time, forme, is precious. When I get it, I
want to maximize the time thatI have, and I don't want to wait
(06:36):
on inspiration like I used todo or try to force inspiration through
inebriation. So for me, timeis precious, so I don't have much
time, so I want to maximizeit. Okay, the last part of the second
question is, what materials doyou have access to? Well, right in
front of me here, as I recordthis, I have access to a microphone.
(06:58):
I have access to variousprograms for graphic design to get
inspiration for writinggraphic design, and all that kind
of good stuff. I've gotkeyboards. I've got pens and paper.
I've got canvases. I've gotpaint. So I have all the materials
(07:20):
that I need in order to createwhat I want to create. It's sitting
right here. Some of theresources, some of the materials
are collecting dust. So Ineed. I need to work on that. Hopefully,
you're not in that samesituation, but if you are, let's,
you know, do a little dusting,do a little spring cleaning. I know
as I record this, it's fallhere. October 24, 2024. It's fall,
(07:45):
but I. You can do springcleaning in fall, right? Okay. Question
number three is, what are yourgoals for serving others through
your creations, and what doyou hope to achieve? So I had a really
interesting thing happen to mea couple of Fridays ago at the poetry
reading that I go to here intown. It's run by my nephew, who
(08:07):
also runs the coffee shop.Kind of convenient that way. And
I had an interestingconversation with somebody who had
been listening to me at thatpoetry reading for a few years. He,
you know, simply asked me, youknow, why do you write poetry? He
wanted to. He liked thepoetry. He liked how I performed
it. But he wanted to know moreabout what goes behind my, you know,
(08:33):
what's. What's the reason Timdoes this? Basically, I told him
that a lot of my poetry isobservational poetry. Some of it
is, you know, I'm reallyreleasing some emotion, but a lot
of it's observational poetry,where I describe a scene, and I'm
holding it out to theaudience, and I go, is this normal?
(08:55):
Is this. Okay, do you guys seethe same thing? Am I missing something
in this picture? And he said,that's an interesting way of going
about doing that. And I toldhim, I said I don't necessarily trust
my perception because I'm abig Philip K. Dick fan who's a wonderful
Sci-Fi writer, but I don'tnecessarily trust my own perception.
(09:18):
So I want to see if othershave the same perception or perceive
the same things that I'mseeing. So I guess, you know, one
of my goals for performingpoetry is I am presenting my viewpoint
on something to see if itsparks any ideas, discussion, conversation
in my audience and, you know,any clarification or anything like
(09:41):
that. So that's how I amserving my audience. Now, for this
podcast, what's my goal forthis is to serve you, is to take
away some of the mysterybehind art, you know, not make it
so woo woo. Because I knowthat that is a thing that I've experienced
in my life where I met artiststhat are like, well, these civilians
(10:04):
don't understand. And I, andthe thing of it is, is that the artist
doesn't understand whatthey're doing. They don't understand
their audience. So that's whatI've experienced anyways. And I want
to break through all that foryou as either a beginning artist
or as a seasoned artist. Iwant you to, you know, think about
(10:29):
that audience and think aboutwho we're serving to because really,
that's what we're doing here.So the second part of the third question,
I know this is gettingconfusing. You need we, I should
have made up some cards herefor, for you, but what do you hope
to achieve? So for me, itdepends on what discipline we're
(10:50):
talking about as far as forthis podcast, what do I hope to achieve?
I hope to give clarity, giveyou a voice and give you some chutzpah,
for lack of a better term, togo out there and create something.
And if you do it for nobodyelse, do it for yourself. If you
(11:10):
do it for everybody else,that's fine, but make sure you're
doing it for yourself first.So I want to make, I want to embolden
you to be able to go ahead anddo that because I know the benefits
for me in my life forcreating, and I want to share that
with you. Now, if you hadasked me when I was 18, I would say,
you know, total worlddomination. That's what I hope to
(11:32):
achieve. I'm sitting at theripe old age of 51. I'm not interested
in world domination anymore.I'm really not. That's just too much
work. It's just, it'll take meaway from the art that I'm creating.
And plus my kids are going totake over the world anyways, so I
if I take over the world, it'sjust going to be a big major fight
(11:53):
in the house. And who needsthat? I definitely don't need that.
I'd have to play more jazzlouder. So for the last question,
question number four is, howwill you measure your success and
how will you know you aremaking a difference? So for me, success
again depends on thediscipline I'm talking about for
(12:14):
success in my poetry and in mywriting. Having people buy books
is fantastic. Having peopleapproach me after a poetry reading
or after reading a book that Iwrote, that's success. You know,
it obviously reached themenough that they impacted them enough
(12:36):
that they thought, hey,listen, I can go talk to this guy
and either ask him questionsabout what he's doing or say I relate,
or tell him to, you know,screw off, he's absolutely wrong,
or he's disgusting. So thatfor me is success. Now, in terms
of the podcast, the previousepisode where I talked about listener
(12:57):
reviews and messages that Ihad gotten sent into me, that success,
yes, I would love to see, youknow, a billion download numbers,
but I would rather have fivepeople write into the show and say,
hey, you know, that reallytouched me, or hey, that didn't touch
me at all. Or hey, make themusic longer, make it shorter, do
this, do that. I would thatfor me that success. When you take
(13:21):
the time out of your day andreach out to me and you can do that
by the way,timothyreatartpodcast.com but that's
how I measure success for thepodcast and for my writing. Now,
the second part of thatquestion is, how will you know you
are making a difference? Andthat's very simple to answer. I'm
(13:42):
going to know that I made adifference when people reach back
to me and go, hey, thatimpacted me, or if it changes me
as a person, if my art changesme as a person, helps me evolve to
a higher state, a higherbeing, a higher whatever it is, when
it brings joy to my life andmaybe it brings joy to somebody else's
(14:03):
life. You know, some of mypoetry is not safe for work, but
you know, it'll make yougiggle. And that for me, I know I'm
making a difference. You know,with all the forms of entertainment
that we have out there, youchose mine. So that makes me feel
fantastic and that makes thatshows me I am making a difference.
(14:26):
Okay, so let's move on toaction items. We have five action
items here to talk about. Thefirst one is write a poem or a song
for someone who is goingthrough a rough time. Whoa. Ask a
poet to write a poem. Oh, myGod. Okay. That's crazy. How dare
you do that? How dare you,Michael Brennan? I write poetry.
(14:49):
Yes. So for me, that's not ahuge lift, but to write it, write
a poem or song for somebodythat's going through a rough time.
This is funny. This comes upbecause one of my first poems was
about a buddy of mine in highschool that was going through a rough
time. So how does that relateback to spreading kindness? Well,
(15:13):
like I said, one of the firstpoems I wrote was for somebody going
through a hard time, and Iwanted to encourage him that things
were going to be a okay. Andnow let's see here. That was back
in 1988. So rough math there.You know, we're looking at 40 years
of writing poetry. Oh, my God,that's crazy. 35, you know, public
(15:39):
school math there. But that'skind of become my calling card, is,
you know, usually it's aboutme going through a rough time, but,
you know, when I write it forother people that are going through
a rough time, I feel it, theyfeel it, and they know that they're
not alone. Okay. Number two iscreate a piece of art for a local
(16:04):
charity. This is something Ihaven't really done. Maybe I need
to go ahead and do thatbecause that's something that I have
not explored. And, you know,it makes me scratch my head and go,
huh, that's a great idea. Soif you've done that, let me know,
you know, email me and let meknow about that. You know, if you
(16:25):
want me to share it on theshow, I'd be happy to do that for
you. I know some people,they're just like, yeah, yeah, I
don't need any. I don't needany publicity for that. It's just
something that I did. But I'dlike to know how that went for you.
Like I said, I haven't doneit, so if you have, email me, let
me know. Number three isdesign a website for a nonprofit.
(16:47):
Okay. Ye. Okay. I am designingthe website for TKB podcast studio.
Designing a website is tough.It is not for the faint of heart.
And, you know, I had to shavemy head because I was pulling out
the little tiny ears in myhead. Anyways, so I just went ahead
and shaved my head and said,ah, the heck with it, we'll get,
(17:09):
we'll pound out this website.But designing a website for a non
for profit, sure, why not? Youknow, again, not something that I
have done, but if that is inyour wheelhouse, why not, you know,
it'll make you feel good,it'll help them out. And hey, it'll
get your name out there. Andif that's what you're after, knock
(17:31):
it out of the ballpark. Whynot? That's free advertisement. Bake
cookies for your neighbors.Now, this depends on what part of
the country that you're in,because there are certain substances
that are legal that you canbake into cookies. I do not live
in one of those states. But,you know, you can bake regular cookies,
you know, chocolate chip,oatmeal, raisin. You can send me
cookies if you want to, but,yeah, why not bake cookies for your
(17:55):
neighbors? I know we've triedthat when we first moved here. We've
been in our house now for thisThanksgiving will be this November
will be ten years. So I think,you know, I think I'm gonna make
some cookies for my neighbors.Why not? I make good cookies. And
the fifth thing is volunteeryour time to teach a class. Funny
(18:16):
he mentions that because I amgoing to be starting up a podcast
meetup podcasters meetup grouphere in Fredericksburg, Virginia
in the very near future. And,you know, I have a certain amount
of expertise in makingpodcasts. I've been doing it since
2006, and I'm going to bevolunteering to do that. And one
(18:41):
of my affiliates, which ispodmatch, is going to be helping
me with that, helping mepromote it to folks in the area,
like within a 25 miles radiusthat are part of podmatch. And we'll
talk about pod match towardsthe end here. But yeah, that's something
that I'm planning on doinganyways, is to volunteer my time
(19:01):
and, you know, kind of make itmore of a meet up. Not necessarily
me talking the whole time,but, you know, providing a space
at my nephew's coffee shop.Oh, geez. Here in Fredericksburg,
Virginia. So if you're in thearea, go grab some coffee. But yeah,
that's something that I'vedone in the past and I look forward
to doing again. Okay, the lastsection is start with a clear intention.
(19:27):
So if you're going to dosomething kind artistically for somebody,
have the intention for that,make sure you know why you're doing
it and, you know, kind offocus your efforts because it'll
make it a lot easier whenyou're spreading this kindness to
(19:48):
others through art. So startwith that clear intention. Why am
I starting up a podcast meetupgroup? Because I want to build a
community of other podcastersand help them and get help from them
because maybe they have moreexperience than I do, but I want
to go ahead and do that. And,you know, I'm not going to charge
(20:08):
them. As a matter of fact, I'mprobably going to buy them their
first drink at the coffeeshop. So that way Ogs will be happy
to, you know, host this kindof event. They have the space, they
have rent that they have topay. They have staff that they have
to pay. So if I buy the firstrunner drinks for the people that
come to this, even if theydon't buy enough, even if they just
(20:28):
drink one drink, I'm helpingout my nephew, I'm helping out a
coffee shop, and I'm helpingout these people with the knowledge
that I have, and they'rehelping me out with the knowledge
that they have. They justdon't know it, so don't tell them.
The second tip is to considerthe needs of your audience. So if
you're like, doing what I'mgoing to be doing, you know, doing
(20:49):
a meetup for podcasters, Iwant to find out what they want to
talk about. I want to create aspace where they can sit and, you
know, be open to talk aboutanything that's going on with podcasting.
And if they need to talk aboutother stuff, you know, I want to
make the space available forthem as well so that they're nice
and comfortable. And also, youknow, when we do podcast conferences,
(21:14):
a lot of times it gets lonelydoing that because you don't know
anybody there, but having agroup of people that you can go,
hey, I'm going to go to thisconference. I scored some discounted
tickets. You know, I can getyou guys a discount to this to make
it a little bit easier for youto make the conference. You all want
to come along, we can carpool,we can get a couple of hotel rooms
(21:37):
together, and I can I chillout and hang out at this conference.
Consider the needs. Considerthe needs of your community. Do you
know a local charity thatneeds a new website? Because their
website looks horrible and youhave that skill set, why not go for
it? The side benefit of it isyou can get your name out there and
(21:59):
you can introduce to peoplethat you may not have been introduced
to before. The third point is,don't be afraid to ask for feedback.
I always ask you guys forfeedback every time Timothy at Create
artpodcast.com. let me knowwhat I'm doing right. Let me know
what I'm doing wrong. Ask itfrom your audience. You know, maybe
they like that painting thatyou did, or they kind of like it,
(22:22):
but they wish it wassomething, you know, had more blue
in it or had, you know, moresharks in it. I don't know. Well,
then, hey, if you're lookingfor something to do, there you go.
There you go. They're givingyou a kindness by asking for that
feedback, and you're showingthem a kindness because you care.
(22:44):
You're showing them that youcare about what they have to say
and what they feel. Be patientis the fourth point. Be patient with
this. This takes time. It'scultivating relationships. My wife
and I didn't get married untilwe knew each other for, you know,
like, ten years, so you got tobe patient. And we've been married
(23:08):
now for eleven years, so yougot to be patient with this. You're
cultivating relationships withyour audience, with your community.
Be patient. Some people are alittle bit touchy, a little bit squeamish,
so be careful and be kind.Then the last tip is, be mindful
of your resources. So you maynot be able to do all the websites
(23:30):
in your local community andredo them all for all the. And not
for profits or charities.Okay. You got to save some in the
tank for you. So make surethat, yeah, if you're doing stuff
for free or, you know, you'redoing stuff to be kind to other people
or kind to your communityaround you, make sure you're being
(23:51):
kind to yourself. Here's thething that I tell my kids, and I'm
going to tell you the samething. You got to love yourself first
before you can love anybodyelse. Because then, you know what,
love is the same thing aboutbeing kind. You gotta be kind to
yourself first. Make some artfor somebody you love yourself. That's
(24:12):
why I always say that at theend. Make sure you have enough in
the tank for this. All right.Well, at this time now, I'd like
to talk about a couple of myaffiliates that I work with. The
first one is podmatch, andthat's how I get great guests on
this show. I use pod match toget these guests. Do I get a little
(24:34):
kickback if you use myaffiliate link? Yeah, a little bit
of a kickback. Do I get alittle bit of a kickback from the
guests, you know, when I puton the show? Yeah, a little bit.
You know, we're not talking.I'm making millions and millions
of dollars on this. But it's agood, it's a good program out there
(24:54):
for you to either get on otherpodcasts or if you have a podcast
to find those guests, thatwould be good fits for you. Instead
of getting these emails fromyou don't know who the person is
and they're saying, hey, Iwant to be on your show. It's just
an easier way, in my opinion,to find those good guests that match
(25:16):
with what you're trying to door to find those hosts that match
with what you're trying to do.So give it a shot for yourself. My
other affiliate link I'd liketo talk about here real quick is
podcast Beacon. Now? Whatpodcast Beacon is it? It looks like
a little wristwatch. Itdoesn't tell the time. I'll talk
(25:36):
to my guy, Matthew passy aboutthat later on. But what it does is
whenever you're trying toshare your podcast, and this is specifically
for, you know, podcastershere, but you're trying to share
your podcast with folks,business cards, they get wet, they
get crumbly, or they get outof date QR codes. You know, sometimes
people not know how to do it,sometimes people don't. But with
(25:59):
podcast Beacon, they just puttheir phone right on top of it, right
on top of the beacon, and thenboom, their phone goes to the website
and you're all set up and goodto go. It's just the easiest way
to do that, in my opinion. AndMatthew Passy is an awesome guy,
so he makes great products.Now do I get a little bit of a kickback
(26:20):
from the affiliate links?Yeah, I get a little bit of kickback.
Not that much if you make thatpurchase, not that much. But I'm
not going to introduce you tostuff that I don't believe in that
I haven't used myself. So takea look. You know, take a look at
that. If you was, you know,if, if you have that need, take a
look at that for yourself andlet me know what your experience
(26:43):
is with it. Okay. It's thattime in the show where I let you
get on with your day. I needto get on with my day. So I definitely
first and foremost want tothank you for listening to this episode.
I want you to go out there andmake fun of habit for yourself. Okay?
If you'd like to reach out tome and give me some ideas about the
show, tell me about yourjourney, what you're working on.
(27:04):
I'd love to hear from you.Timothyreatpodcast.com if you want
me to talk about a topic onthe show that's giving you problems?
Let's start that conversationnow. I do want to let you know that
I run a couple of otherpodcasts. One of them is find a podcast
about, and that's where I helpyou find your next binge worthy podcast.
(27:26):
You can find it atFindapodcastabout XYz. Outsmart that
algorithm. And just to let youknow, I have started up my own podcast
consulting company. It'scalled TKB Podcast Studio. You can
find it@tkbpodcaststudio.comthe site is still a little bit under
(27:49):
construction, but it kind ofgives you a portfolio of the the
podcasts that I'm working on.So from passion projects like this
one to professional projectsto federal government podcasts that
I work on, take a listen. Takea look at what I'm doing. So tame
that inner critic, my friend.Create more than you consume. Spread
(28:10):
some kindness. Spread somekindness out there. It doesn't cost
you a thing. And go make someart for somebody you love, yourself.
I'll talk to you next time you close.
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