Gifted Underachievers

In this thrilling update, Pat is stripped of pretensions that she can write a viable grant application on her own, and James gets an email from Yaddo. More importantly, the heretofore hidden value of grant writing (hidden to us chumps in the GU clubhouse, that is) is revealed. Questions for Listeners: (Hop on over to the segment web page to leave us your answers.) * Have you ever asked for help wi...

Without our delusional imaginations, we here at Gifted Underachievers would be bereft of John Irving’s pretend company. We wouldn’t need gas masks or hazmat suits. And our lives would be just that little bit less interesting. Questions for Listeners: (Hop on over to the segment web page to leave us your answers.) * Given the current tension between Canada and the US, where do you imagine the GU Cl...

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit giftedunderachievers.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit giftedunderachievers.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit giftedunderachievers.substack.com

We open with Pat apologizing to James for failing to prepare an agenda (it was her turn) for the Gifted Underachievers content meeting and, well, the conversation proves why we should have an agenda. Nonetheless, with Herculean effort the Gifted Underachievers manage a thoughtful, informative, and substantive discussion on why exercise is so important to our creative health and how Pat and James m...

Good times, bad times, you know we’ve had our share. This week it’s a good time, mostly, because there’s good news in the Gifted Underachiever Clubhouse. Did one of us get a grant? Did we learn something new? Was there, perhaps, a mindshift in the experiment? Listen and find out! Questions for Listeners: (Hop on over to the segment web page [link previous 3 words to segment url] to leave us your a...

We talked with Doug Harrison back in September 2024 about his work with Fen, a Canadian prog rock band whose recent album Dear Mouse was zooming up the international charts. This is Part 2 of that conversation, and it coincides with the release of a bunch of new work from Doug’s solo project, Slug Comparison . Listen to the kickass single March Through the Forest and join us as we talk with Doug a...

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit giftedunderachievers.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit giftedunderachievers.substack.com

Some creatives, like the phenomenal Ben Shattuck and Jenny Slate, are so talented, cool, and amazing that it’s enough to give your Gifted Underachievers a serious case of life envy. Luckily, we’re too underachieving to pose a threat. Questions for Listeners * Do you know who we’re talking about? * Do you lurv them as much as we do? * If not, who do you lurv? Hop on over to the segment web page to...

There’s lots of talk about networking and community, and those are great for all kinds of things, like sharing information, creating connections, and finding collaborators. But Pat’s current experience with a major life event outside of work has sparked a deeper question: When your personal life goes sideways, does someone have your back? For many creatives who work alone, our spouses, partners, s...

For a few weeks, Pat has been needling James about an unhung picture in his office, never suspecting he’d take her advice. Then the unthinkable occurs—he hangs the picture up three minutes before we start taping the week’s segments. Martha Stewart would be proud of James, so why is Pat worried? Did James find a stud, or will the picture come crashing down? Is an unhung picture the sign of a messy...

From the Gifted Underachievers Lab: High-Value, Smaller Experiments with Examples. As creatives we can find ways to test out our little brainstorms, finding ways to become better at our art, try new business ideas, and explore our most significant obstacles. The intent is not to add more work to our already overflowing plates, but to generate ideas that we can quickly test the validity of and if w...

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit giftedunderachievers.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit giftedunderachievers.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit giftedunderachievers.substack.com

All art forms cycle through phases and styles—fashion, dance, literature, visual arts, even acting. To wit: the ‘statuesque’ style of 18th-century actor John Kemble would have been laughed out of the theater today. And 21st-century literary agents don't want novels that open with long stretches of exposition (unless—maybe—the prose is stunning). But what if you want to write, act, or paint in a st...

This segment was born of a chat between Pat and James that began with Pat describing a documentary she watched on an Australian trauma cleaner, which then took a swervy path to a discussion of better understanding stress and how it impacts us emotionally and physically. In particular, Pat and James talk about allostatic load, allostatic overload, weathering, their impacts, and how we like to mitig...

In the wake of an event that occurred in the US on January 20th, James and Pat take stock of what’s gone right lately in their creative lives—call it a sitrep (situation report) or a shared gratitude meditation, it’s worth doing. Segment Questions (Hop on over to giftedunderachievers.substack.com to leave us your answers.) * What’s going right in your life? * Do you have a gratitude meditation or...

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit giftedunderachievers.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit giftedunderachievers.substack.com

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit giftedunderachievers.substack.com

A bright spark entered the Gifted Underachiever clubhouse and her name is Carrie McConkey. For many years, Carrie thought that her crazy career background made no sense. After working in the fields of interior design, fashion design, college recruiting, human resources, fundraising, image consulting, and many more, Carrie found her way to freelance writing—and everything finally fell into place. T...

In this segment, the Gifted Underachievers talk about taking the pause—not responding immediately with a yes or no to a project, an offer, or a trigger. If you’re not hard-wired to think carefully before you respond, what can you do? This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit giftedunderachievers.substack.com