Creative Motion and Innovation (S4) S49 E6

Inner creativity is not reserved for “artistic people”—it is a muscle anyone can train, especially when it is paired with motion and mindset. You, yes you listening right now, have ideas that can change your day, your work, and your life, and tonight’s episode is designed to wake those ideas up and keep them moving. This is John C. Morley—Serial Entrepreneur, Engineer, Marketing Specialist, Video Producer, Podcast Host, Coach, Graduate Student, and passionate lifelong learner—welcoming you to another powerful episode of the Inspirations for Your Life Show, the daily motivational show that helps you think differently, act intentionally, and build unshakeable momentum. In this “Motion Mindset: 7 Days to Build Unshakeable Momentum” series, today’s focus is Creative Motion and Innovation (S4) S49 E6, where you and are going to turn creativity from something you wait for into something you deliberately ignite.​

I have spent years engineering systems, crafting marketing campaigns, producing videos, and coaching people just like you, and one truth keeps showing up: creative motion is a choice, not a personality trait. Tonight, you are going to walk away with thirty practical, simple, and very doable ways to spark innovation—whether you think of yourself as “creative” or not. So let’s dive into these motion-based creativity prompts that will help you unlock new ideas, break stale patterns, and build a mindset where innovation becomes your new normal.​

1️⃣ Write down five ideas without judging them. Start by grabbing a notebook or your favorite note app and writing down five ideas as quickly as you can—no filtering, no criticizing, no editing. When you suspend judgment, you give your brain permission to move, and that motion is exactly where innovation starts. Let your ideas be messy, unrealistic, or even silly; the goal here is not quality yet, it is volume and freedom. Over time, this habit teaches your mind that it is safe to create without fear of immediate evaluation.

2️⃣ Ask “What if…?” about a current challenge. Take one challenge in your life or business and start asking, “What if…?” over and over again. “What if I approached this from the opposite direction? What if I removed one constraint? What if I gave myself half the time or double the time?” That small phrase moves you from a fixed mindset to a possibility mindset. Instead of staring at a wall, you start discovering doors, windows, and new paths around it.

3️⃣ Learn one new thing unrelated to your job. Commit to learning just one thing that has nothing to do with your current role—maybe photography, cooking technique, basic coding, or a new language phrase. When you expose yourself to unfamiliar domains, your brain builds new connections that later cross-pollinate into original solutions in your main work. This kind of curiosity is a secret weapon of high performers because it keeps your thinking flexible, adaptive, and fresh.

4️⃣ Change your environment for fresh thinking. If you have been staring at the same walls and the same screen all day, your ideas will start to feel just as stale. Change your environment: move to a different room, sit outside, stand up instead of sitting, or even rearrange items on your desk. A small physical shift sends your brain a signal that something new is happening, and that often unlocks new perspectives you could not see in the old setting.

5️⃣ Doodle or sketch while you think. Instead of forcing yourself to sit perfectly still while brainstorming, let your hands move. Doodle shapes, mindless lines, or sketch rough versions of your ideas. Drawing activates different parts of your brain than pure verbal thinking, often revealing connections and patterns that words alone would miss. You do not need to be an artist; you just need to let your pen move so your thoughts can move with it.

6️⃣ Revisit an old idea and upgrade it. Go back to an idea you once had but never fully pursued—maybe a project, a product, a content concept, or a system you wanted to build. Look at it with today’s experience, tools, and insights, and ask, “How could I make this version 2.0?” Often the “old you” had a spark the “current you” is finally ready to execute with more wisdom and better resources. Innovation is not always inventing from scratch; sometimes it is about refining what you already dreamed up.

7️⃣ Combine two unrelated concepts into one. Pick two things that do not normally go together—like cooking and leadership, gaming and productivity, or music and time management—and ask, “What would it look like if these were fused?” This technique, called combinational creativity, is behind many breakthrough products and content ideas. When you force unrelated worlds to meet, you uncover fresh angles, metaphors, and solutions that stand out because they are truly different.

8️⃣ Brainstorm solutions for 5 minutes without stopping. Set a timer for five minutes and brainstorm as many

Episode Transcript

(00:57):
Well, hey guys, it is John C.
Morley here, serial entrepreneur.
A little bit of technical challenges today.
We're actually outside the beautiful Montclair State University,
the old, basically, Red Hawk Diner, which sits
right back, which is actually closed.

(01:17):
So again, when things are cold, well, technology
doesn't always work right when it's cold.
And so that was giving us a little
bit of challenges in the beginning here.
So welcome, everyone.
I do want to take the opportunity to
welcome you here to Inspirations for Your Life.
If it's your first time, welcome.
If you're coming back, of course, definitely welcome
back to you.

(01:38):
Really great to have you with me here.
In case you guys are wondering and you're
watching me live, in Montclair, it's about 37
degrees.
That's why I'm putting my gloves on here
in just a second because it is, can
I tell you, a little bit chilly?
Yeah.
So if this is your first time here,
I just want to say thank you and

(01:58):
I want to say welcome to you because
this is a great time to be with
everyone and to be sharing all this information
and all the settings that I set up
here, of course, because of the cold.
They have decided to, let's say, go away.
So I had to reset some of these

(02:20):
up again.
And hopefully you guys are enjoying this amazing
master topic that we have here on Inspirations
for Your Life.
So again, it is very, very good to
be with everyone here on the show.
And again, don't forget to check out BelieveMeAchieved

(02:41):
.com for more of my amazing, inspiring creations.
Alright guys, let's get this show kicked off.
So inner creativity for your audience is not
reserved for artistic types.
It becomes a daily repeatable skill when you
pair it with motion and mindset.

(03:03):
I'm not sure if you guys know that,
but that's a very, very important thing.
I've got to put a line here.
It's 37 degrees out here and doing a
show out here, let's say it's a little
bit hard.
Alright, but we're going to make it.
You want to make sure that you're doing
the right things, right?
And so sometimes things can be a little

(03:24):
bit challenging.
I mean, I get that, right?
So this is an amazing week.
Again, welcome Inspirations for Your Life.
And this episode is, well, it's inner creativity.
And it isn't reserved for artistic people.
It's a muscle anyone can train when you
pair it with motion and, of course, a

(03:47):
mindset.
Now, you listening right now or watching already
have ideas that can change your day, your
work, and your life.
And in this particular episode, it's designed to
wake those ideas up and keep them moving.
And yeah, keep them moving because it is

(04:09):
cold out here.
That's why you see me here with gloves
on.
It is cold.
But yes, doing this live is a little
fun today.
So this is John C.
Morley.
By the way, I'm a serial entrepreneur.
I'm an engineer and marketing specialist, video producer,
podcast host, coach, graduate student, and of course,

(04:30):
a passionate lifelong learner.
And it is my privilege and pleasure and
honor to welcome you here today or this
evening to Inspirations for Your Life on this
cold, very cold Thursday, December 4th, 2025.
Winter's upon us, guys.
So I welcome you to another powerful, amazing
episode of the ever-popular Inspirations for Your

(04:53):
Life show, the daily motivational show that helps
you think differently, act intentionally, and build unshakable
momentum.
And you know, guys, in this motion mindset,
seven days to building unshakable momentum series, that's
what the master topic is.

(05:13):
Today's focus is all about creative motion, innovation,
series four, show 49, episode six.
I don't know about you, but trying to
stay warm out here because it is very,
very cold.
All right.
So where you are going to turn creativity
from something you wait for into something you

(05:35):
deliberately ignite.
And I think a lot of people, we
talked about this before, you know, some people
say that, you know, you have to wait
till your ships come in.
Well, you can swim out to your ships
if they haven't come in yet.
If you're going to, you know, wait till
the iron gets hot before you strike.
Well, you can strike the iron to get

(05:56):
it hot, right?
Over the year, it is chilly.
Engineering systems, crafting marketing campaigns, videos, and coaching
people just like you, one truth keeps showing
up and is real.
Creative motion is a choice.
It's not a personality trait.
People who treat creativity like a skill they

(06:18):
can exercise with prompts, challenges, and small experiments
consistently come up with fresher original solutions than
those waiting for inspiration to strike.
Like I said, you know, if we want
to wait for the iron to get hot,
we could, but why not just strike and

(06:38):
make it hot?
So tonight, as I'm trying to stay warm
here, you're going to walk away with 30
practical, simple, and very doable ways to spark
innovation.
If I don't freeze to death out here,
even if you have never considered yourself creative.
So let's dive into the first one.
Motion-based creativity prompts are designed to unlock

(07:01):
the new ideas, break still patterns, and build
a mindset where innovation becomes your new normal.
Now, think of each one as a small,
well, like a mini-job for you, for
your creative muscle, because your creativity is a
muscle, just like any other muscle on your
body.

(07:21):
Now, all three or 30 creative motion prompts,
you can write down five ideas without judging
them.
You can grab a notebook or your favorite
notes app and write five ideas as quickly
as possible.
No filtering, guys.
No criticizing, no editing.

(07:44):
I want you to do this.
Now, maybe you're driving, maybe you're doing something
else and you can't, and that's okay.
So you could do it later, but I
don't want you to filter.
I want you to write the first thing
on your mind.
Now, trust me, if it was warm enough,
I would join you with the exercise.
But right now, I'm just trying to keep
myself from not getting frostbitten.
Now, when you suspend judgment, you give your

(08:05):
brain permission to move.
And that motion is where innovation starts.
It's kind of the bridge.
Ask yourself, what if questions about a current
challenge?
Pick one real challenge in your life or
business and keep asking, what if?
What if I did this instead of that?

(08:25):
What would it look like when this happens,
right?
What if you reversed your usual approach, removed
a constraint, halved the time, or doubled the
time?
That'd be pretty powerful, wouldn't it?
So learn one new thing unrelated to your
job or to your task.

(08:47):
Hit commit to learning a single skill or
concept.
My feet are even freezing.
Outside your field, that is.
A cooking technique, basic coding for technology, or
a new language phrase.
Change your environment for fresh thinking.

(09:08):
Move to a different room.
Go outside.
Freeze a little bit.
Stand instead of sitting or rearrange your workspace.
Now, I have to tell you, in all
the years I'm doing this, we're on the
air four years.
We'll be starting our fifth year on January
1st, 2026.
I've never had a time, and I've filmed
outside before.
I've done the shows outside.

(09:29):
I've never had a time when my feet
are like, they're not numb, but they're really,
really cold.
Doodle or sketch while you think.
Yeah, that's cool.
And let your hands move.
Doodle shapes, sketch rough versions of ideas, or
draw quick diagrams.

(09:51):
How about revisiting an old idea and upgrading
it?
Go back to an idea you once had,
but never fully pursued, and look at it
with, well, today's tools and experience.
How about asking, how can I make this
version of 2.0?
Combine two unrelated concepts into one.

(10:14):
Pick two things that do not normally go
together.
Cooking and leadership.
Gaming and productivity.
Music and time.
Well, they do.
Management and asking, what would it look like
if these fused?
Now, most people that are not into music
wouldn't understand that time is part of music
when we talk about the measure of time.

(10:35):
So, yeah, that is still there, but in
the basic sense, it's not.
Brainstorm solutions for five minutes, not outside in
the cold.
Without stopping.
Can you do that?
Set a timer for five minutes and list
as many solutions as you can for a
single problem or challenge without pausing to judge

(10:58):
or revise.
I think that's pretty cool.
Try a different route or routine today.
Change something about your physical routine.
Take a different route.
Walk a new path or flip the order
of your daily tasks.
Now, you might say, John, why should I
do this?
Well, just you taking a different route home

(11:20):
or taking a different route somewhere.
You might meet someone.
You might discover something.
You might gain an insight.
You might see a sign.
But something may pop into your head that
was not going to be there before if
you went the old way.
All right.
So that's important to realize.
Listen to a genre of music you don't

(11:40):
usually play.
Play music outside your usual playlist.
Right.
Jazz, classical, ambient, world, lo-fi.
Right.
So experiment.
Right.
Do that.
See what it's like.
If you don't like it, you don't have
to keep doing it.
Right.
I love the scarf.
I'm going to tell you.
And the ear things are keeping me warm.
They're not just they're not just here for

(12:01):
the sound, but they're also keeping my ears
warm today.
No pun intended.
Ask someone else how they'd solve your problem.
That's an interesting one.
Right.
Ask somebody else.
Somebody maybe you trust.
Take one challenge and ask a friend or
colleague or mentor, how would you solve this?

(12:23):
Reframe I can't into how could I catch
yourself whenever you think I can't do that
and switch it to how could I do
that?
So we know a wise person of our
time.
And, you know, this Henry Ford, he said,

(12:44):
if you believe you can, you are right.
But he also said, if you believe you
can't, you're also right.
So that means that our mind actually creates
our reality.
Not too many people out here today because
it is cold.
All right.
So start a bad ideas first list and

(13:05):
give yourself five minutes and tell your brain,
I'm only allowed to write bad ideas.
Now, you might say, why?
Well, if we get the bad ideas out,
we can actually turn them into good ideas.
Pretty good idea.
Right.
Turn a complaint into a product idea.
Maybe somebody complains about the way something is.

(13:26):
Well, gee, that's a great idea.
That's what I used to in software.
We would say, you know, that's a great
idea for a future F.E.R., a
future enhancement request.
The next time someone else complains, stop and
ask this question.
How could this become a solution, a product

(13:48):
or a system that could make the world
a better place?
I bet we don't think about these things
often, right?
We don't think about it.
So right now, sitting out here and freezing
my butt off and my feet off, I'm
saying, gee, this is a perfect time to
have electric socks.
But again, I usually don't film outside like

(14:09):
this.
I think we're going to be filming more
indoor type environments now that it is this
cold.
Learn one shortcut in a tool you use
daily.
Choose a tool you use all the time,
like your phone editing software, email, C.R
.M., a contact relationship.
Right.
So these are all things that I think
are important to to understand.

(14:33):
And when we understand them, I think it
can make our lives well, can make our
lives a lot better.
It can make our lives a lot easier.
I think that's a I think that's a
I think that's a very important thing to
realize and learn one new shortcut or feature.
Practice it.
All right.
And you know what?
Why not share that technique or idea with

(14:54):
someone else, a co-worker, a friend, a
family member, and see how that could possibly
benefit or help their life.
Try working with a different medium.
If you usually write, speak your ideas into
a voice note, if you usually talk, try
sketching or mind mapping, read or watch something

(15:14):
outside your usual interests.
Pick a book, article, documentary or video that
has nothing to do with your normal topics
that you pay attention to.
Give yourself a 10 minute creativity break.
Instead of scrolling the doom scrolling mindlessly, step
away for 10 intentional minutes.

(15:35):
When we focus our mind, even if it's
a minute, there's so much that can happen.
Breathe.
Not in this cold today.
It's cold.
Hold for three seconds.
So inhale for three, hold for three and
exhale for three.
All right.
Not that much warmer, but so breathe, stretch,

(15:57):
sit quietly or jot straight thoughts.
I'm trying to sit up in this chair
really, really comfortably just trying to get my
energy right because it's a lot to be
out here.
So jot those story thoughts down with no
pressure to finish anything.
Do it as something creative, something play.
I said this before.
If you choose to creatively play in what

(16:19):
you do to make money, you'll never work
a day in your life.
Challenge a rule you've never questioned.
Maybe find one rule you live by, something
you do simply because that's how it's done.
And ask what if this wasn't true?
What if I did the opposite today?
Make a mind map around one goal.

(16:42):
Write a goal in the center of a
page and branch out with ideas, actions, obstacles
and resources.
So I think these are important things.
How about prototyping a tiny version of a
big idea?
Instead of waiting until your idea is perfect,
build the smallest version you can.
A sketch, a mock up, a sample, a

(17:05):
three minute demo.
Yeah, just something to get that idea.
Let's say to get some legs.
Share a half-baked idea with a trusted
person.
Take an idea that is not ready and
share it with someone you trust, calling it
a rough draft and see what type of

(17:25):
feedback they give you.
I think you'll be pretty impressed.
Ask what would this look like if it
were easy?
When something feels heavy or complicated, pause and
ask this question.
You're going to be very surprised at the
answers you're actually going to get.
Turn one routine task into a game.

(17:46):
Pick a boring task, email, cleaning, data entry,
and why not gamify it?
Yeah, use a timer.
Tricks, rewards yourself or compete with your past
self.
There's one activity I love to do and
it's the system where these different lights come

(18:07):
on and they buzz and it's basically to
help you build your peripheral vision.
So as the buzzes come on, the lights
come on, you have to press, you're looking
straight at it and your peripheral vision is
telling you like where the next light you're
hearing it, but the light is catching your
attention.
That's pretty cool.
Capture random ideas in one dedicated spot.
Create one home for every idea, a notebook,

(18:31):
an app, a single digital doc, and keep
referring back to that.
And it is getting chilly.
And as we look over here, I just
want to see if our temperature has, let's
say, gotten any warmer.
I don't think it has, guys.
It's actually, well, it's still 36 degrees here.
So that is a little cold.

(18:51):
This is definitely not ice cream weather, guys.
Definitely not ice cream.
Spend a few minutes.
People watching at a cafe, a park, or
a lobby, quietly observe people, their behaviors, their
body language, and interactions.
These are things most people don't take the
time to do.
But if we did, we'd actually be more

(19:14):
successful in our life.
Collaborate with someone who thinks differently.
Seek out someone whose strengths are different from
yours.
Detail, focused if you're big picture, intuitive if
you're analytical, structured if you're spontaneous.

(19:36):
And we could think about all those different
ways, right?
Reuse or remix something you already made.
Look at something you have previously created and
ask, how can I remix this?
Turn a report into a checklist, a talk
into a series of posts, a video into
a bunch of short clips.

(19:58):
How about this?
How about celebrating one creative risk you took
today before bed?
Name one creative risk you took.
Sharing an idea, trying a new approach, asking
a different question, and acknowledging it.
What risk did I take today?
Well, I'm outside trying not to get frostbitten

(20:19):
here while I'm shooting this show for you
guys outside in the beautiful Montclair City University.
It is beautiful, but it is cold out
here.
I got to tell you that.
Go to sleep with a question in mind
tonight.
Instead of falling asleep with worry, fall asleep
with a question like, what's one creative way

(20:39):
to move this forward?
Keep a notebook nearby.
You're going to get some very, very interesting
ideas.
So as we think more about creativity, okay?
And I want to share this thought with
you because I started a media marketing company,
my second company that I started, because when

(21:02):
I was in college, we hired one of
the largest marketing media and advertising companies that
charged us a lot of money.
And they really didn't know what they were
doing.
And I figured I didn't know what I
was doing either.
But what I was learning is that all
these people were good at was prevaricating.
They were good at lying to convince me
that they knew what my business needed.

(21:24):
They didn't know what my business needed.
I didn't know what my business needed, but
I knew more about what my business needed
than what they even thought they knew.
And the thing is, they charged a lot
of money for doing stuff, and they weren't
even that good.
And then when they made a mistake, they
still charged me for it.
I said, that's messed up, right?

(21:47):
So think about how you could be creative,
right?
How can you create creativity?
And how can you keep moving?
When we keep moving, we don't get stagnation,
right?
I mean, being outside here in this cold
is, in fact, I think I'm going to
do something here, which I usually don't do
on camera.
I'm actually going to stand up.
I usually don't, yeah, because it is cold,

(22:09):
guys.
It is really cold.
So I'm actually going to stand up here.
And, you know, so you can stretch your
arms, you could do all kinds of things,
you keep moving, you can, like, you can
lift your feet.
I'm literally, I've never stood up on a
podcast before.
I think that's something I want to do
next year, is I want to start having,
you know, more full body shots.
But I gotta tell you, standing up helps

(22:30):
get the blood circulating around.
You know, what else can you do to
be creative?
Are you into photography, like myself, or video?
Are you somebody who likes to write?
I love to write.
Are you somebody maybe that likes to draw?
Or do you like to do things like
that?
I mean, what is it that you like

(22:50):
to do?
Maybe you like to sing, right?
There are so many things out there.
Maybe you're good at building things, right?
And so all these things that we do
are all ways we can express ourselves.
Maybe it's sports for you.
Like I said, it could be music, writing

(23:10):
a song, singing a song.
There's so many different disciplines, right?
Maybe you're into gardening, into planting, right?
And maybe it's that kind of stuff.
Maybe you're somebody who likes to, maybe you're
somebody who likes to work with animals, right?

(23:31):
Likes to be with your dog or your
cat or your bird or what have you.
Maybe you're somebody that likes to, you like
to cook or you like to bake like
myself, right?
So all these things, okay, there's so many
things out there.
There's volunteering.
And so all these things are ways that

(23:52):
we can each express ourselves.
And they can get us to find that
hidden creativity that we didn't know we had.
That creativity that you could, let's say stumble
upon, could be the one that helps you
to get your next multi-million dollar idea.
You laugh, okay?
But when we start to play in our

(24:13):
world, we start to realize that, you know,
we are nothing but a piece on a
chessboard.
And how we choose to move, right, is
how we can basically get ahead in this
game.
So life is a very, one person I
knew, Tom Hopkins said, you know, life is

(24:34):
a game and we have to suit up
every day to play to win, right?
Sometimes people are going to be against you.
Sometimes people are not going to support you.
How can you creatively combat those things that
are happening to you?
Maybe somebody says to you, like this happened

(24:56):
to me when I was going back to
school.
Oh, John, you shouldn't go back to school.
Are they jealous?
It doesn't matter what they are.
It just matters what you believe because your
belief, ladies and gentlemen, creates your reality.
So I'm standing right outside here, the beautiful
Red Hawk Diner, which was open for many

(25:16):
years.
And they opened the 1908 Club actually downstairs
in the Student Center.
And so, wow, it is getting breezy.
I can feel the breeze, guys.
I definitely can feel.
So I want you to think about how
you could be creative.
Maybe there's some other kind of skill that
you can come up with.
I mean, there's so many, right?

(25:38):
Maybe you're into yoga.
Maybe you're into sewing, if you're a lady
or something.
Maybe you're into, or gentlemen too, I guess
anybody could do that.
Maybe you're a concrete, a masonry.
Maybe you're someone who likes to do sculptures.
Maybe you're someone who likes to do that
with ice sculptures.
Maybe you're someone that just doesn't want to

(25:58):
freeze to death out here in their feet.
So, you know, maybe you're somebody who likes
to do decorating, like you like to decorate,
like they put beautiful lights out here.
Maybe you like to do that.
Maybe you're somebody that maybe your skill is

(26:21):
trying to take something and make it beautiful.
I know people that have taken garbage and
they've made garbage, literally beautiful, right?
They've made things out of it.
I knew somebody, it was actually one of
our cleaning ladies at our house in South
Jersey.
Her son would take apart laptops and he

(26:44):
would build like these skulls around them, like
a metal type, let's say recycled metal and
stuff like that.
So, you know, everybody has a creative side.
And when somebody says to me, you know,
John, um, you know, you need to be

(27:05):
like that person.
I said, no, that person's already taken.
I rather be myself because he will always
be unique.
Ladies and gentlemen, I'm John Seymour, a serial
entrepreneur broadcasting live from Montclair State University, right
outside Red Hawk Diner here, trying not to

(27:27):
freeze.
Literally my shoes you can see here are
just trying to do different things just to
keep myself from not freezing.
I hope you guys have a fantastic evening.
And I hope you realize that creativity is
something everybody has.
They just don't choose to exercise and use
it.

(27:47):
I hope you guys have a fantastic rest
of your day or evening.
Do check out BelieveMeAchieved.com for more of
my amazing, inspiring creations.
And I'll catch you guys real soon.
I got to get inside and warm up.
Take care, everyone.