The Creative Condition podcast

In the latest instalment of The Creativity Diary: Why I miss retail jobs Immersing the brain and creativity The new hairdresser's window Please consider subscribing, reviewing, or rating the podcast, and tell a friend to help me elevate creativity through the work! Supported by https://illustrationx.com - the show's founding sponsor Foilco provides all your foiling nerdery and gorgeousness to the...

How the hell do you manage and inspire 200 employees in one branding agency? I don't know, but Thomas Kurppa, co-founder of Swedish branding agency Kurppa Hosk, does, and he takes us on a ride through electronic music, DJing, posters, album covers, and into the design industry.   Please consider subscribing, reviewing, or rating the podcast, and tell a friend to help me elevate creativity through...

We live in a data-obsessed society. Trapped by the tools and addicted to certainty, too few of us are creating with bravery, daring to fail or f**k up.  I reflect on 11 years of podcasting following the 300th episode and share stories of finding out, getting it wrong, growing, and playing through curiosity. Please consider subscribing, reviewing, or rating the podcast, and tell a friend to help me...

Something silly and extra for the 300th episode of The Creative Condition podcast : )   Please consider subscribing, reviewing, or rating the podcast, and tell a friend to help me elevate creativity through the work! https://austinkleon.com/ Supported by https://illustrationx.com - the show's founding sponsor Foilco provides all your foiling nerdery and gorgeousness to the highest global and susta...

Austin Kleon is a phenomenally successful author. His books, Steal Like an Artist, Show Your Work, Keep Going, and now, Don't Call It Art, have sold in obscene numbers for a great reason: he brings immense value to the lives of people who wish to create something true to them. For the 300th episode of The Creative Condition podcast, we're getting into everything that matters in this current, overw...

Even the calmest of minds is being tested in these times. Drawing upon my inner work during a period of anxiety, stress and at times, despair I've compiled a list to serve as a possible sanity toolkit!  Please consider subscribing, reviewing, or rating the podcast, and tell a friend to help me elevate creativity through the work! Supported by https://illustrationx.com - the show's founding sponsor...

Tina Rapp works with creatives, founders, and visionaries who appear successful on the outside yet feel disconnected from themselves in their creative and professional lives. Her work sits at the intersection of art, psychology, and spirituality, helping people untangle the performance patterns, expectations, and identities that once drove their success but no longer reflect who they truly are, so...

We default to tools, to software, to digital prisons before we've considered how best to play, to serve the idea. A reflection on analogue's role in the information age.   Please consider subscribing, reviewing, or rating the podcast, and tell a friend to help me elevate creativity through the work! Supported by https://illustrationx.com - the show's founding sponsor Join the Paradiso Institute an...

Here's a little tool I've begun helping my creativity coaching clients with. 'Your Universe' can bring a vital lift in lethargic, low, or pensive moments. Here's how it works. Please consider subscribing, reviewing, or rating the podcast, and tell a friend to help me elevate creativity through the work! Supported by https://illustrationx.com - the show's founding sponsor Join the Paradiso Institut...

It's all, always unfolding. As we change and grow, so must our creativity. Otherwise, that way lies discontent, frustration, and diminishing returns. Supported by https://illustrationx.com - the show's founding sponsor Join the Paradiso Institute and a new wave of creative leaders at https://paradisoinstitute.org/ Music for the show is by Dirty Freud https://www.instagram.com/dirtyfreud/ To coach...

Tethering Presence  is a stunning project, encapsulating the truisms of Micah Purnell and the photography of Harris, exploring the role of distraction and smartphones in our lives across two books – a London and a New York edition. They join me to discuss the role of smartphones in our creativity and our lives, and the origins of the project.   The book is out now: https://micahpurnell.com/books-p...

I reminder to self, and to all artists that we are artists, and this is our way of life. Supported by https://illustrationx.com - the show's founding sponsor Join the Paradiso Institute and a new wave of creative leaders at https://paradisoinstitute.org/ Music for the show is by Dirty Freud https://www.instagram.com/dirtyfreud/ To coach with Ben, https://thecreativecondition.com/coach To support t...

The latest instalment of The Creative Condition's Creativity Diary. Covered in this edition: Fear over AI ignorance and analog loyalty Being unafraid of disorder and acknowledging the messy ways of creativity An old friend returns in a second-hand bookshop Supported by https://illustrationx.com - the show's founding sponsor Join the Paradiso Institute and a new wave of creative leaders at https://...

Owen Smith was delighted to see I'd discovered and had begun using Stoicism teachings to improve my mental health and creativity. He told me so, and we hopped on a call to talk about getting active in your own rescue and the exhilarating feeling of being the author of the career you want to live. We cover: Responding, not reacting Recognising what you can impact Being the author of your next chapt...

Humans have finite mental energy. Creativity thrives when our battery is well-managed. But we live in a world drowning in information and data. Some thoughts on the mental battery. Hear the full episode of Do Radio on the mental battery now at https://thedoradio.com Supported by https://illustrationx.com - the show's founding sponsor Join the Paradiso Institute and a new wave of creative leaders a...

The creative industry is deep in a damaging obsession with the external. We're terrified of the tools, spending our energy arguing in black and white about artificial intelligence, starting the design process trapped in programmes before we've considered what will serve the idea. But really, we should be starting with the internal, and that's all grounded in self-awareness. Only then can we truly...

We all need to DO something. I'm doing a new radio show. Here's what, why, and where you can listen. https://thedoradio.com Supported by https://illustrationx.com - the show's founding sponsor https://open.spotify.com/artist/2c5NcXidirDDqL3sc3vW8S?si=bL3qx6zWQn6Mn03anHRPfQ https://www.instagram.com/dirtyfreud/ To coach with Ben, https://thecreativecondition.com/coach To support the Ukrainian creat...

Dirty Freud takes time out of composing an opera to talk about the many directions his music career has taken him. We discuss the need to evolve, how variation or specialising fits different people in different ways, and the role of personality in proceeding in a way that's right for you. Supported by https://illustrationx.com - the show's founding sponsor https://open.spotify.com/artist/2c5NcXidi...

A few years ago, I wrote a silly, speculative science fiction story about a teenager getting stuck in Snake 2. Now we live in a world where it's dated because someone in Silicon Valley has put a fruit fly's brain on a chip and it's doing fly things in the insect matrix. Let's sit with that and consider what it means for our mental health and creativity. Supported by https://illustrationx.com - the...

As the world gets noisier and our heads fill up quicker by the day, there's a growing appetite for quieter, intimate, real-life connections.  All Flows and Pooleyville co-founders Richard Wiggins and Simon Wright have cultivated a wonderful creative industry scene in Milton Keynes, and they join me to discuss the power of local collaboration and the personality of a place ahead of All Flows 2026,...

Do you get excited? As we grow into adult life, the glee of childhood changes. But do you stay attuned with what excitement is for you now, or get trapped in routines and habits?    This is one of creativity's biggest blind spots.   Covered in this show: Excitement's role in creativity The sense of wonder and magic The dangers of habituation, routines, and being a passenger in our story   As ever...

I work hard to avoid using AI on environmental grounds. This has brought about some deeper thinking about analog methods and how I can thrive in my creative practice as a luddite.  The latest ramble over a brew. Covered in this show: AI resource use Working around AI  Deeper connections by having to find alternative solutions to the done thing As ever supported by the show's founding sponsor https...

Flawed, clumsy, and crass are a few of the words that came to mind as I dug out as much as I could find of my first illustration portfolio in 2008. But I also saw the fire, the humour, and the strong personality I'd packed into it. We live in the information age, where everyone has the tools, so we have to tell our unique story in a visual brand. Technical competency is no longer enough. Join me a...

Who else wakes up with a sense of existential dread? Maybe it's just my midlife crisis, but it's also nothing new. How can we channel thoughts bigger than us, that wrestle with the nature of existence into something interesting and cathartic? Covered in this show: Mortality and creativity Existential dread and anxiety Storytelling, purpose and meaning As ever supported by the show's founding spons...

The Fax Club Experiment was an idea by the Founder of The Do Lectures, David Hieatt. Once a week for 52 weeks, anonymous members would receive a question via fax. A question that insists on deep introspection, time with inner parts of ourselves that tend to be forgotten in the fever pitch of modern life in the information age. Four of the 32 who saw the project through, Adam, Claire, Judy, and Gra...