This is NOT a PODCAST!

4:19am. Ten episodes. Less than one hour. All of it done. NOT Episode TEN is the finale of Season 1 — and it arrives with a realization that reframes everything that came before it. This wasn't really about making a podcast. It was about discovering how Derrick functions as a creator. And that discovery is already sparking ideas for his next book. From here: drop all 10 episodes at once, crea...

4:17am. Less than an hour of recording. Nine episodes in. NOT Episode NINE is where the energy shifts — because the finish line is visible and something clicks. Excitement isn't a nice-to-have in creative work. It's the whole engine. Without it, why bother? Derrick reflects on the times he's forced himself through boring, uninspiring creative work because he thought he had to — and...

A long pause. A phone that needed Face ID. And a second espresso shot that may or may not have had enough coffee in it. NOT Episode EIGHT picks up right where the technical hiccup of Episode SEVEN left off — and turns it into a philosophy. Leave it. Don't reshoot. Don't apologize. If you missed it, you missed it. Derrick shares a story from his days as Artistic Director of a pre-professi...

The espresso has arrived. Is it amazing? No. Is it doing the deed? Absolutely. NOT Episode SEVEN is the most unexpectedly philosophical episode yet — and it starts with coffee. Two espresso machines: one automated, one a hand pump. One you walk away from, one you pour yourself into. And somewhere in that comparison, something real emerges about creativity, energy, and what it means to actually sho...

The espresso is finally brewing. And while it is, something unexpected comes up. NOT Episode SIX starts with a beeping espresso machine behind a closed bathroom door — and becomes one of the most honest episodes in the series. Derrick traces a lifelong pattern of getting all the way to the edge of something and then stopping. Not because he couldn't. Because he convinced himself it wasn'...

Halfway there. Still no espresso. Absolutely no regrets. NOT Episode FIVE hits the midpoint of this creative experiment — and it turns out the secret to getting here was embarrassingly simple: remove the obstacles and just start. A $10 TikTok Shop microphone clipped to a phone. No fancy setup. No system. No overthinking. Derrick wrote his first book — start to finish, published and for sale — in 4...

Less than 10 minutes into recording and the inner critic already showed up. NOT Episode FOUR captures something most creators never say out loud — the moment perfectionism walks in mid-creation. The ring tapping the phone. The urge to edit. The voice that says is this good enough? Derrick names it in real time. And something interesting happens: the moment he names it, it starts to fade. In this n...

No espresso yet. Three episodes in. Still going. NOT Episode THREE is a dare — to the listener and to himself. If this isn't for you, turn it off. No hard feelings. And if it is? Welcome. This one gets into something real: what it actually feels like to exist unapologetically, without code-switching, without performing, without shrinking into whatever shape someone else needs you to be. Plus...

Recorded less than 60 seconds after NOT Episode ONE — because why wait? NOT Episode TWO is where the experiment starts to reveal itself. No espresso yet. No agenda. Just an honest conversation about what it means to stop performing and start being. As Derrick approaches his 50th birthday, one thing becomes undeniably clear: there's no more time to be anyone other than exactly who he is. Raw,...

What happens when you're too afraid to start a podcast… so you start something that isn't one? NOT Episode ONE is where it all begins — recorded at 3:30am in a Santa Fe hotel room, the night before a coaching intensive with mentor Rich Litvin, on a travel espresso machine and zero sleep. No agenda. No topics. No rules. Just one creator deciding that "not good enough" is no long...