Surviving Creativity

Creating something can be a difficult endeavor, letting go of it so others can experience it can be even more difficult. If it isn’t a journal entry, you have to prep yourself for your creation to be in the eyes/hands/ears/hearts of others. 

What’s even more disconcerting about this step in the process, is that once it is out there, it is no longer ours. We created it. We may profit from it. But our audience, the people who will for...

Tools and Assignments 

Read: “In Defense of Kanye’s Vanity” by Heben Nigatu You can find it here.

Please do: List your five greatest accomplishments. Not what society would deem great or accomplished, but five things you deem to be your greatest successes. After you have your five, contact two-three people to share them with. Whomever seems to be the most excited about your wins, engage them in a conversation around being a part of y...

“You are worth every promise made to yourself. You are worth every personal deadline met.”

-       Shawn Taylor

Tools/Assignments:

I want you to give yourself a week—a week from the time you’ve finished listening to this episode. I then want you to look at your calendar and carve out seven (7) hours of uninterrupted time: one hour per day for seven (7) days, but not the same time every day. Some productivity coaches argue that you sho...

(If the workshop poster doesn't appear in the show notes, please visit here.)

As promised, here are the tools and assignments for this week’s episode. 

Read  Daniel José Older’s essay, “Writing Begins with Forgiveness: Why One of the Most Common Pieces of Writing Advice is Wrong” here.  Please reflect on how you’ll incorporate this message into your life and practice.

Your work, from this episode:

I want to you work on noticing whe...

Resources:

An old (yet useful) primer on #chaosmagick.

Octavia E. Butler's "Positive Obsession" essay.

If the above do not work on your podcast host, go to www.shawntaylor.net.

Tools/Assignments:

Create your own anchoring/centering formula or mnemonic or acronym. Make it easy to remember. Simplicity is so underrated. Just because something is complicated doesn’t mean it is better or more useful. 

You could try a formula like ...

Disclaimer: If you're struggling with ADD, ADHD, Anxiety Disorders or anything else that would make starting a project overwhelming, please disregard what isn't helpful to you. You need to create on your time, at your speed, in your own way. 

Tools/Assignments:

-       I know I talked about not talking about your projects, but it can valuable to create a brain trust. Ask 3-4 people to be accountability partners. In your brain...

‘Curiosity killed the cat, satisfaction brought it back.’ That is the entire saying. Provides a whole lot more context. 

Curiosity seems to fall between two poles: Wanting to know how something works, how it ends, what’s it made of and curiosity just to have an experience without any preconceived notions, ideas, or expectations of an outcome. 

Tools/Assignments: If you’re listening to this during the pandemic, please do this exercise...

Why are you the right person for this particular form of expression? How does it align with your values? What does your unique POV add to the culture? 

Here is the play I mentioned: The Recognition of Shakuntala (aka Abhijnanasakuntalam) by Kalidasa. Read it here.

Here is the Tool/Assignment for this episode:

Okay, so how to tap into your specificity? This may seem completely counter to what we’ve just talked about, but bear with me. ...

In this episode we discuss what is the thing, the idea, that drives your creativity. It's important to discover the  primary generator of your creativity to create work that is presents you as your most authentic, most values-aligned, self.  At the end of the episode is an activity for you to do that will help answer this question.  Here it is, in text form:

Part One: Your Values. Take a sheet of paper, yes, paper, and list as m...