Follow Your Curiosity: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Creativity.

I'd love for you to join me for a free Creative Check-In session this coming Sunday, May 1 at 12pm ET. I explain in this super short episode what a Creative Check-In is and how it works. It's a great way to keep yourself in the creative process while having fun with others. I hope you'll come hang out with me (and bring a friend or three!). You can register here . If you have any questions, or can...

Kids find joy all the time, but as adults, we tend to think it's not important, or at least not a top priority. I realized this past week how backwards that is. Here's why you should get back in touch with what brings you joy and add more of it to your life. Want more tips? Check out this playlist with all my previous Creative Pep Talks! Get stuff DONE at my free Creative Check-In/Parallel Univers...

Author Rick Bleiweiss has always followed his creative curiosity, and it’s led him to some unexpected destinations. He was studying filmmaking when he landed the internship that would lead to a career in the music industry. At the same time, he was still making music—and he’s also always been a writer. Rick shares his incredible creative adventures with me, from his work on Spinal Tap to some grea...

I'd love for you to join me for a free Gratitude and Wonder session this coming Friday at 7pm ET. I explain in this very short episode what G&W is, how I came to start it, and how it works. It's a great way to end the week, and I hope you'll come hang out and experience it with me (and bring a friend or three!). You can register here . If you have any questions, or can't make it but would love to...

If you've never thought of quitting as a valid creative/problem-solving technique, this week's topic may sound controversial. I hope you'll give me a chance to change your mind, because quitting might be exactly what your project needs. Journal questions: What was I taught about quitting that makes it hard for me to walk away? How could I feel 5% more comfortable with quitting? I'd love to hear yo...

Creativity enthusiast and educator JoAnn Nocera knows what it’s like to stop listening to your creative spark—and she’s done the work to get hers back. Now she helps students, teachers, and parents keep that spark alive. She joined me to talk about that journey, what she sees happening in classrooms, and most importantly, how to keep kids from losing that spark in the first place. As an added bonu...

If you think lowering your expectations means lowering your standards, and that you'll never do any worthy creative work again if you give it a try, you'll want to listen to this episode. It can revolutionize your creative process—my journaling experience is one great example you'll hear about—and actually make room for you to accomplish so much more than you might by holding your own feet to the...

Author, actor, and podcaster Vance Neudorf is a man of many talents. In addition to those three pursuits, he’s also a set designer and builder, and the executive director at the Badlands Amphitheatre, Canada’s largest outdoor theatre stage. Our conversation covers everything from his free-range childhood, his transformation into a voracious reader thanks to The Hobbit, how he stumbled—almost liter...

Journaling can be a fantastic tool both for personal exploration and for your creative process. If you're groaning at the idea of journaling, you're in good company: I used to feel that way about it, too. I'll tell you what changed my mind, some tips from my own journaling practice, and give you a prompt to get you started. Feeling stuck in your creative process? Or wondering how to start having a...

If you’ve been listening for any length of time, you’ll know that I very firmly believe that anyone who’s breathing is creative. I recently came across a definition of creativity that really rankled me, because it seemed to be saying the exact opposite was true. I contacted my friend and fellow creativity coach Dawn Kotzer, who’s been on the show before, and asked her if she’d be interested in tac...

If you're going to be courageous enough to follow your creative call, it helps to be on your own side. Here's why. Want more help with your creative process? Check out my Creative Tune-Up , which is full of my favorite coaching tools to help you get unstuck TODAY.  I'd love to hear your feedback, questions, and experience with these ideas! Send me a note at fycuriosity.com , or contact me on Faceb...

Alison ver Halen always wanted to write, and act, but was told as a child that neither of those were possible careers. Nonetheless, she never gave up—she majored in English and psychology and minored in theater, which gave her the perfect background for content marketing, a field she stumbled into, starting as a part-time blogger. And she still writes fiction. In our conversation this week, she ex...

At the beginning of a project, you probably want to tell the entire universe about it. Here's why you might want to go against that instinct, at least for a while. Feeling stuck in your creative process? Or wondering how to start having a creative process at all? Check out my super-affordable Creative Tune-Up , which is full of my favorite coaching tools to help you get moving TODAY.  I'd love to...

Prolific author John Peel has written novels in universes from Doctor Who to Star Trek to James Bond. John started off writing fan fiction, and as you’ll hear, is an advocate for fan fiction as a training ground for fiction writing. He tells me how he made the leap to writing authorized fiction—novels set in existing tv and movie universes—and how he approaches writing assignments and his relation...

As a culture, we're addicted to cleverness and speed, but they may not be the best things for your life or your creative process. Feeling stuck in your creative process? Or wondering how to start having a creative process at all? Check out my super-affordable Creative Tune-Up , which is full of my favorite coaching tools to help you get moving TODAY.  I'd love to hear your feedback, questions, and...

My guest today is Father Michael Rossmann, Jesuit priest and creator of a video series offering perspectives and advice on life, many of which focus on creativity and aspects of the creative process. It’s easy to discount or just not even notice the spiritual side of creativity, but it’s there all the same. We talk about how he came to his interest in and advocacy for creative work, the pitfalls o...

We all want to be happy—and we usually want others to be, too. That second bit can get us in trouble, and we tend to ignore the first. So what do we do about it? Here's my suggestion. Want more help with your creative process? Check out my Creative Tune-Up , which is full of my favorite coaching tools to help you get unstuck TODAY.  I'd love to hear your feedback, questions, and experience with th...

When I think of someone who is unstoppably creative, I think of Leonie Dawson, who is my guest today. As you’ll hear, Leonie is an artist, writer, and inveterate experimenter who build a 7-figure business by trying as many things as possible to see what she loved the most, and runs on the philosophy that whoever’s having the most fun wins. We talk about everything from how she encourages creativit...

Appreciation is one of the more powerful tools in the creativity toolbox, and it helps in the rest of life, too! Hear why you should give it a try, and join me in an annual appreciation exercise that's guaranteed to lift your spirits and those of everyone you care about. Want more help with your creative process? Check out my Creative Tune-Up , which is full of my favorite coaching tools to help y...

A bonus holiday pep talk, short and sweet: It's okay to rest! In fact, I highly encourage it. And I'm telling you why in under three minutes. Want more help with your creative process? Check out my Creative Tune-Up , which is full of my favorite coaching tools to help you get unstuck TODAY.  I'd love to hear your feedback, questions, and experience with these ideas! Send me a note at fycuriosity.c...

How often do you say, "I don't know?" And what happens when you do? None of us knows everything, but we all know more than we think we do, so let's look at what happens when we say these three words. Want more help with your creative process? Check out my Creative Tune-Up , which is full of my favorite coaching tools to help you get unstuck TODAY.  I'd love to hear your feedback, questions, and ex...

Tara Thieleke’s art roots go back to her childhood, where two of her art teachers planted the seeds not only of the importance of art, but also of what kind of person she wanted to be. She’s been actively making and sharing art ever since, even though her path to school teaching took a few detours. Tara tells us about those two teachers, what she’s learned from her students, how she applies improv...

Last week, I encouraged you to ask for the things you want, because it makes such a huge difference in the quality of your life and the experiences that are open to you. This week, I'm talking about the courage it takes to do that, because it sure can be daunting. Embarking on any creative pursuit takes immense courage, and pretending otherwise does no one any good. The Colbert clip with Stephen S...

A bonus holiday pep talk about a simple tool that can make your life SO much better. ASK. Yup, that's it. It's simple, but not always easy, but the benefits are totally worth it. I'm sharing how it's helped me and why you should step out of your comfort zone to ask more often, too. Want more help with your creative process? Check out my Creative Tune-Up , which is full of my favorite coaching tool...

Have you ever been in a state of flow? I'll bet you've been under pressure. What's the difference between these two states? They can be easily confused, so I'm here this week to share some thoughts on the critical differences between flow and pressure (and a few overlaps!). I'd love to hear your feedback, questions, and experience with these ideas! Send me a note at fycuriosity.com , or contact me...