A Phil Svitek Podcast - A Series From Your 360 Creative Coach

Ever hear the phrase “ignorance is bliss”? Chances are you have. So then let me ask you this, if ignorance is bliss, why seek knowledge at all? Why waste your time listening to me (Phil Svitek) talk about theories and concepts? I know from my own experience that sometimes the more I learn the more confused I am. I wouldn’t be shocked if you’ve listened to my past 20 lessons and scratched your head...

I (Phil Svitek) see lots and lots of people try to emulate social media megastars like Kim Kardashian in order to have the same large fan base, or “reach” as it may be called. Emulate them how? Well, therein lies the problem. The ways in which I see people emulate these celebrities is surface level. They forget the craft and instead seek the result… aka they aim to become famous. I’ve said time an...

An artist’s journey is a constant balancing act where s/he must overcome daily hurdles. The term homeostasis, which we learned in science class but probably have forgotten, is actually the perfect metaphor for this ongoing process as a creator. I (Phil Svitek) will explore what I mean by this and more importantly how it can benefit you in your work. I’ll also reference Steven Pressfield’s The War...

Elaine Pofeldt is the author of The Million-Dollar, One Person Business, a Random House book looking at how everyday Americans are breaking $1 million in revenue in businesses with no employees besides the owners. She is a former senior editor at Fortune Small Business magazine and has written about entrepreneurship for publications such as Crain’s New York Business, Fortune, Money, Inc., CNBC and...

Ever had an experience that was so profound it altered you forever? Ever had a once in a lifetime experience that brought you so much joy? I’m sure you have. But those moments can be few and far between and many times our of our control. While I (Phil Svitek) truly wish upon you those extraordinarily beautiful moments in your life, I am more concerned with how you find meaning in the everyday. The...

Ever see someone so gifted but never end up amounting to much? That’s because any skill in life must be honed over time lest you lose it. See, I (Phil Svitek) used to think for the longest time that talent was just a skill-set. And yes, talent is a gift of some kind (no matter whether you believe in God, the universe or genetics). But like all gifts, our talents must be honored and not wasted. Tha...

Ever start a project with so much enthusiasm and then hours later abandon it because it’s not turning out the way you anticipated? Lots of us have had this experience. In this lesson, I (Phil Svitek) will take concepts from Howard Love’s book The Start-Up J Curve , which is geared towards educating entrepreneurs, and apply it to your entire life. See, Howard Love wrote the book in response to a ve...

Oprah and others have stated that “speaking your truth” can be a powerful tool. It can indeed. However, in order to wield this tool, like anything else, we must first understand the true spirit of a statement like “speak your truth”. Because if we don’t, we’ll end up misappropriating the phrase to such aspects that aren’t worthy of it, or worse - things that can be harmful. In today’s lesson, I (P...

I (Phil Svitek) was out of town this week so filling in for me is my producer Juliet Vibert and she’s teaching a very important lesson which is stick with the problem longer. It comes from an Albert Einstein quote. Find out what it truly means to stick with the problem longer, why it’s important and how you can go about it. Once you begin to stick with the problem longer you’ll find you can overco...

If you love reading, especially books that have been turned into movies, check out Phil's monthly show Adapted on BookCircleOnline.com. Each month him and co-host Marisa Serafini (@SerafiniTV) discuss a book at length, giving it historical and thematic context, and then comparing it to the movie or movies that it has spawned. Also, little known fact, Phil has been writing a book of his own - a fic...

There’s been a gradual decline in reading across America. This is very sad, because ultimately, it’s only hurting those who aren’t reading. There’s so many benefits to reading - in this week’s lesson I (Phil Svitek) share all those benefits. Here’s just a sample of one - Brazilian professor Paulo Freire says this about reading: “Reading is not exhausted merely by decoding the written word or writt...

In order for me (Phil Svitek) to run such a large scale entity as AfterBuzz TV, it’s important for me to have systems and routines in place both on a personal and company level. In this lesson, I’ll first define what I mean by routines and highlight how structure is the backbone of routines that then create a system, which is really a way of saying how you carry out the routines or processes. The...

I (Phil Svitek) will take you back to the basics. The basics of what, you might be thinking? It’s not the basics of any subject but rather the importance of allowing yourself to reset to a starting position. In every discipline there is a starting position. The thing or things you should learn first. In learning these, you can then advance to the next, more difficult part of that discipline. It’s...

Humans have lots of ideas, some good, some bad, but nonetheless we all have lots of them. One of my (Phil Svitek) biggest pet peeves, whether for myself or others, is when those good ideas don’t get executed. I’m almost certain you can relate to this feeling in your own life. How many times have you thought of something brilliant but it never got done? You think about it from time to time, say you...

Imagine two men biking, one at a rapid pace and the other at a leisurely pace. How long do you think it takes them to bike 25 miles? The answer might surprise you, as it surprised me (Phil Svitek), because the answer is there’s not much of a difference. The biker that sped would only pull ahead by a minute or two. That may sound like an abstract math problem but it’s actually not. It’s a story tha...

As a culture, I find we’re OBSESSED with quiz shows. Why? It’s a simple answer: we love to test our knowledge. We put value on intelligence. It becomes a literal competition to see who is the smartest. You can look beyond quiz shows and look at any standardized tests as further evidence of that. As much as I appreciate smart people, I’ve come to realize that the true test is not what you know, it’...

I’m sure you’ve heard more than once the expression practice makes perfect. The idea that you can attain perfection by means of practice has been ingrained in you so much so that it’s become counter-productive. Practice makes perfect is a false term. And here is why - if practice made people perfect, then there’s a lot of people out there that would be amazing at what they do. You and I both know...