WEBVTT - 8 Proven Ways to Get Out of a Creative Block & Find Your Flow 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:02.080 What has happened for most of us is that our 0:00:02.120 --> 0:00:08.240 minds are now trained to think in limited, restricted, compartmentalized ways, 0:00:08.400 --> 0:00:10.760 and we want to change that. What you want to 0:00:10.800 --> 0:00:13.840 do is become a critical thinker and ask yourself what 0:00:14.000 --> 0:00:16.040 is a problem that you're facing, and I want you 0:00:16.079 --> 0:00:19.000 to deeply think about what it would take to solve 0:00:19.040 --> 0:00:23.880 that problem. But in imagination, with no limits on time, energy, money, 0:00:24.079 --> 0:00:25.799 you may say, well, Jay, that's stupid because I won't 0:00:25.800 --> 0:00:28.400 be able to do that because I'm not limitless in time, energy, money. 0:00:28.520 --> 0:00:30.520 But what you're doing is you're training your mind to 0:00:30.600 --> 0:00:31.319 think that way. 0:00:37.840 --> 0:00:40.720 Hey, everyone, welcome back to On Purpose. I'm your host, 0:00:40.840 --> 0:00:44.279 Jay Sheddy, and I am so grateful that you've decided 0:00:44.280 --> 0:00:48.560 to tune in again. I'm so deeply moved by your commitment, 0:00:48.640 --> 0:00:53.640 your consistency, your dedication to growing and bettering yourself because 0:00:54.040 --> 0:00:57.840 we as humans are wired to keep progressing, to keep moving, 0:00:57.960 --> 0:01:01.400 to keep evolving, and when we used to do it intentionally, 0:01:01.920 --> 0:01:03.720 life can become phenomenal. 0:01:03.760 --> 0:01:06.240 I want to thank you all for being here, for 0:01:06.280 --> 0:01:07.880 trusting me. I appreciate you. 0:01:08.200 --> 0:01:10.640 I've loved seeing all your reviews of late keep those 0:01:10.680 --> 0:01:12.240 coming on Spotify and Apple. 0:01:12.680 --> 0:01:14.200 They helped the podcast so much. 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:16.360 Please subscribe on YouTube and now a lot of you 0:01:16.440 --> 0:01:19.160 been watching this show as well, and we've had segments 0:01:19.240 --> 0:01:22.600 that are only there. Thank you so much again for 0:01:22.840 --> 0:01:25.679 being a part of this growing community. I am so 0:01:25.760 --> 0:01:27.800 grateful for you, and I couldn't do this without you. 0:01:28.360 --> 0:01:31.520 And today I want to dive into something because I 0:01:31.600 --> 0:01:35.959 find that creativity is such an important part of life. 0:01:36.480 --> 0:01:39.120 Yet we were never taught in school how to be 0:01:39.280 --> 0:01:43.040 more creative. If you think about how school worked, it 0:01:43.160 --> 0:01:47.280 was learning to know the answer to something, and the 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:50.280 answer is either right or wrong. Now, this makes sense 0:01:50.320 --> 0:01:53.800 in subjects like math, but it doesn't necessarily make sense 0:01:53.840 --> 0:01:57.320 in subjects like English. Like if you were reflecting or 0:01:57.360 --> 0:02:01.320 you were introspecting about a paragram that you read, and 0:02:01.920 --> 0:02:04.640 you were doing a comprehension exercise where you had to 0:02:04.680 --> 0:02:06.560 write about how you felt about it or what you 0:02:06.640 --> 0:02:10.040 thought about it, there was still a finite number of answers, 0:02:10.080 --> 0:02:13.639 Whereas in life it's so important to have that freedom 0:02:13.720 --> 0:02:17.160 to be creative, to be curious, and so everything in 0:02:17.200 --> 0:02:20.840 school was pushing us towards having a right answer, having 0:02:20.880 --> 0:02:25.920 a final answer, having a conclusive answer, and creativity is 0:02:26.000 --> 0:02:31.560 anything but being conclusive or final. The point of creativity 0:02:31.639 --> 0:02:36.359 is that it's open, that it's abundant, that it's seeking, discovering, 0:02:36.520 --> 0:02:40.320 revealing itself. But we've been trained to think the opposite. 0:02:41.000 --> 0:02:43.919 We've been trained to believe that it's either yes or no, 0:02:44.680 --> 0:02:47.600 when in fact it could be well, why is it yes? 0:02:47.720 --> 0:02:51.080 Or why is it no? That's a far more interesting question. 0:02:51.720 --> 0:02:54.799 We've been told it's either there or it's there, it's 0:02:54.800 --> 0:02:57.040 either this or it's that, But it's like, well, why 0:02:57.200 --> 0:02:57.560 is it this? 0:02:57.720 --> 0:03:00.840 And why is it that? Is a far more in questions. 0:03:00.840 --> 0:03:06.880 So our creative proclivities have been limited from our education, 0:03:07.600 --> 0:03:11.520 and therefore we ask less questions. Therefore we feel stupid 0:03:11.560 --> 0:03:13.560 when we ask questions. How many times have you ever 0:03:13.600 --> 0:03:16.720 said stupid question? But I had to ask right or 0:03:16.760 --> 0:03:19.240 you're saying it in your head? And so often we 0:03:19.280 --> 0:03:23.400 feel scared or judged. And how many of us push 0:03:23.960 --> 0:03:27.520 to judge and assume? How many of us is judging 0:03:27.520 --> 0:03:31.880 and assuming our first reaction to something as opposed to 0:03:31.960 --> 0:03:36.600 curiosity and questioning, as opposed to being creatively thinking about 0:03:36.640 --> 0:03:38.640 an idea that's put in front of us. How many 0:03:38.680 --> 0:03:40.240 of you hear an idea from one of your friends 0:03:40.280 --> 0:03:43.120 about a business or a podcast or an app, and 0:03:43.200 --> 0:03:46.240 straight away your mind goes, no, that's not possible, instead 0:03:46.240 --> 0:03:49.080 of being creative and thinking how could that be possible? 0:03:49.560 --> 0:03:50.520 When and where. 0:03:50.320 --> 0:03:53.200 Could it be possible? What could we do to make 0:03:53.240 --> 0:03:56.760 that a reality? And what I find is that just 0:03:56.800 --> 0:04:00.840 as we shut down other people's creativity, we often shut 0:04:00.880 --> 0:04:03.080 down our own. How many times have you said in 0:04:03.120 --> 0:04:05.960 your own mind, oh, that's a stupid idea. Where does 0:04:06.000 --> 0:04:08.080 that voice come from? How many times were you told 0:04:08.160 --> 0:04:11.160 growing up that your idea was a stupid idea, or 0:04:11.200 --> 0:04:13.920 it was a bad idea, or that it would never work, 0:04:14.240 --> 0:04:16.559 or that it was guaranteed to fail. How many times 0:04:16.560 --> 0:04:19.880 did you hear that? I remember when I was starting 0:04:19.880 --> 0:04:22.839 this podcast, I remember people saying to me, Jay, people 0:04:22.880 --> 0:04:25.080 like listening to you for four minutes. People don't want 0:04:25.080 --> 0:04:27.760 to listen to you and a guest or a friend, 0:04:27.839 --> 0:04:29.720 or whoever it was, for an hour. People don't want 0:04:29.720 --> 0:04:32.800 to hear that. And the reason I'm sharing that with 0:04:32.839 --> 0:04:35.839 you is just to help us recognize that if you're 0:04:35.839 --> 0:04:40.080 limited in your creativity, if you've been restricted in your 0:04:40.080 --> 0:04:43.159 creativity internally or by others around you, you're not alone 0:04:43.760 --> 0:04:47.279 Sir Ken Robinson and his TED talk, which is called 0:04:47.320 --> 0:04:52.560 How Schools Kill Creativity, talks about how we need to 0:04:52.760 --> 0:04:58.440 reconstitute our conception of the richness of human capacity and 0:04:58.640 --> 0:05:02.160 says that creativity is now now as important in education 0:05:02.440 --> 0:05:05.440 as literacy. And he talks about this idea of how 0:05:05.440 --> 0:05:08.880 we shouldn't be making people feel they're wrong just because 0:05:08.880 --> 0:05:11.760 they're thinking differently. And if you think about all the 0:05:11.800 --> 0:05:14.520 things that we love, all the things that we admire, 0:05:14.560 --> 0:05:17.520 all the things that we think are incredible in the world, 0:05:17.520 --> 0:05:23.080 are usually fresh, they're new, they're enlivening, they're abundant. They've 0:05:23.120 --> 0:05:25.680 come from a place of someone being creative. Right, when 0:05:25.720 --> 0:05:28.080 you look at a building and it looks different to 0:05:28.120 --> 0:05:31.719 all the other buildings, we're like, Wow, that's special, that's amazing. Right, 0:05:32.000 --> 0:05:35.279 there was creativity there. When you see a book cover 0:05:35.360 --> 0:05:37.719 that's different, it's like, oh, there's creativity there. When you 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:41.040 are looking for furniture for your home or a color 0:05:41.360 --> 0:05:46.080 that's different, there's creativity there. Creativity is so much of 0:05:46.120 --> 0:05:50.520 what we notice as being special or beautiful or admirable, 0:05:51.160 --> 0:05:55.800 yet we often restrict our own creative capabilities. Now there's 0:05:55.839 --> 0:06:00.800 an incredible book by Keith Sawyer called Zigzag the Surprising 0:06:00.920 --> 0:06:03.839 Path to Greater Creativity, and if you really want to 0:06:03.839 --> 0:06:07.040 dive into this subject, I highly recommend it. Keith Sawyer 0:06:07.160 --> 0:06:10.360 is a research psychologist and an author, and I think 0:06:10.400 --> 0:06:13.480 some of his advice in this book is fantastic. So 0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:16.360 I want to start off with what is one way 0:06:16.400 --> 0:06:19.679 that you can start to get that creative spark going, 0:06:19.720 --> 0:06:22.279 that creative juice flowing. And I want to start really 0:06:22.320 --> 0:06:24.720 small because I think sometimes when we think of being creative, 0:06:24.720 --> 0:06:26.920 we think I've got to build something big or I've 0:06:26.920 --> 0:06:28.920 got to come up with something unique, and that can 0:06:28.920 --> 0:06:31.279 feel quite intimidating. I feel like me, it can definitely 0:06:31.279 --> 0:06:35.480 feel intimidating. And I love the idea of watching Ted Talks. 0:06:35.480 --> 0:06:37.680 I love the idea of listening to podcasts. I love 0:06:37.720 --> 0:06:41.000 the idea of learning as a form of creativity. But 0:06:41.000 --> 0:06:42.960 I want to try and give you something specific. One 0:06:43.000 --> 0:06:45.400 of my favorite things to do is to walk into 0:06:45.400 --> 0:06:48.200 a bookshop. I love being in a bookshop because I 0:06:48.240 --> 0:06:51.919 feel like the titles, the covers, the amount of research. 0:06:51.960 --> 0:06:53.800 If you just think about what you're doing when you're 0:06:53.800 --> 0:06:59.320 walking into a bookshop, you're actually walking into decades of research. 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:00.960 Learning and art. 0:07:01.200 --> 0:07:03.960 That's literally what it is. Like, let's really think about that. 0:07:04.360 --> 0:07:06.920 And I know bookshops are getting less and less popular, 0:07:06.920 --> 0:07:09.920 but hey, I love going to a good bookshop. And 0:07:10.080 --> 0:07:13.520 finding a good bookshop is really really awesome because, like 0:07:13.560 --> 0:07:17.160 I said, the covers, the titles, the work that's gone 0:07:17.200 --> 0:07:19.680 behind them. Even though people say, don't judge your book 0:07:19.720 --> 0:07:22.080 by its cover, one of the reasons I love bookshops 0:07:22.120 --> 0:07:25.240 is because you feel you're surrounded by some mu's thought 0:07:25.320 --> 0:07:28.520 and intelligence. Now, if you think about it, a bookshop 0:07:28.800 --> 0:07:32.920 is marketing you ideas. When you're on the streets, you're 0:07:32.920 --> 0:07:35.880 being marketed products. Think about that for a second, Right, 0:07:35.920 --> 0:07:38.800 when you're walking down the streets and you see a billboard, 0:07:39.240 --> 0:07:41.400 or you see a bus stand, or you see an 0:07:41.440 --> 0:07:44.400 advert on the train or of course on your phone, 0:07:45.000 --> 0:07:50.160 you're being marketed products. In a bookstore, you're being marketed ideas. Now, 0:07:50.200 --> 0:07:52.559 products improve your life in a certain way, for sure, 0:07:53.120 --> 0:07:58.120 but ideas define your life. Ideas teach you how to 0:07:58.200 --> 0:08:01.240 navigate life. Ideas teach you how to make decisions on 0:08:01.320 --> 0:08:04.680 even the products that you'll use. Right, it's the idea 0:08:05.240 --> 0:08:08.200 that's almost like a compass to your life. And so 0:08:08.520 --> 0:08:11.680 while products do improve our lives, and buying products is 0:08:11.720 --> 0:08:13.800 a part of our day to day life. We all 0:08:13.840 --> 0:08:16.960 need to eat, drink, and live and everything else. The 0:08:17.360 --> 0:08:21.120 ideas are what helps us make better decisions in our 0:08:21.200 --> 0:08:23.480 life and for the products and everything else. And so 0:08:24.080 --> 0:08:26.920 I love the idea of being marketed ideas. When I'm 0:08:26.960 --> 0:08:29.360 in a bookshop, and one of my favorite things to 0:08:29.360 --> 0:08:33.200 do inside a bookshop is to try to pick two 0:08:33.400 --> 0:08:36.960 random books, and what I'll do is I'll flick to 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:40.040 a chapter in one book that seems exciting. I'll go 0:08:40.080 --> 0:08:42.120 down the contents page. I'll be like, Okay, which chapter 0:08:42.559 --> 0:08:44.680 is something I'm struggling with, something I'm working on. Let 0:08:44.720 --> 0:08:46.600 me go to that chapter. Let me do the same 0:08:46.640 --> 0:08:48.800 in another book that maybe on a completely different topic. 0:08:48.840 --> 0:08:51.120 But what am I fascinated by? And I'll try and 0:08:51.280 --> 0:08:55.840 find what is similar about those two chapters or how 0:08:55.840 --> 0:08:59.079 are they connected? How do they agree or disagree? How 0:08:59.080 --> 0:09:02.760 can I reflect on them both together? Maybe there's context 0:09:02.760 --> 0:09:05.280 that crosses over, Maybe there isn't. Maybe I've just learned 0:09:05.280 --> 0:09:10.120 about two new ideas that are completely disconnected. But the 0:09:10.160 --> 0:09:13.199 point being that what you're doing is you're actually pushing 0:09:13.320 --> 0:09:18.120 your brain. You're pushing your mind to connect dots where 0:09:18.120 --> 0:09:21.760 otherwise there is no connection. And Steve Jobs famously said 0:09:21.880 --> 0:09:25.680 creativity is just connecting things. If you look at what 0:09:25.760 --> 0:09:30.280 Steve Jobs did with Apple, he combined calligraphy with technology. 0:09:30.679 --> 0:09:34.480 He wanted shape things like calligraphy. He wanted the type 0:09:34.480 --> 0:09:37.400 font to be beautiful. He wanted everything to feel like 0:09:37.600 --> 0:09:40.960 art and calligraphy, even though it was technology. He wanted 0:09:41.000 --> 0:09:44.240 it to feel that fluid and that beautiful. When you 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:47.000 think about the rise of Pokemon Go, if you remember 0:09:47.040 --> 0:09:49.079 Pokemon Go, I'm sure some of you played it. I'm 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:51.040 sure you forced your parents to play it with you. 0:09:51.120 --> 0:09:53.000 If you don't know what it was, it was an 0:09:53.040 --> 0:09:56.800 augmented reality game where you could go out under the 0:09:56.800 --> 0:10:00.280 streets and augmented reality would help you catch pokemon on 0:10:00.400 --> 0:10:02.680 the streets. What's really interesting about this game is that 0:10:02.720 --> 0:10:04.840 the founder talked about why he created it, and the 0:10:04.880 --> 0:10:07.480 reason he created it is that he said that when 0:10:07.520 --> 0:10:10.120 he was young, his father would take him out and 0:10:10.200 --> 0:10:14.320 observe wildlife, insects, animals, and they would talk about them 0:10:14.360 --> 0:10:15.960 and he would learn about them, and he said that 0:10:16.000 --> 0:10:18.840 he missed the fact that parents were no longer going 0:10:18.840 --> 0:10:20.880 out with their children. So he wanted to find a 0:10:20.920 --> 0:10:25.760 way that technology could make people more interested in going 0:10:25.800 --> 0:10:30.960 outdoors and being outside. So it's really interesting that when 0:10:30.960 --> 0:10:34.360 you're connecting two ideas that seem opposite, Like at that time, 0:10:34.360 --> 0:10:36.560 people said kids just want to stay indoors and play 0:10:36.640 --> 0:10:39.680 video games. That was what society was saying, and he said, well, no, 0:10:39.840 --> 0:10:41.840 maybe we can find a way of getting them outdoors 0:10:41.880 --> 0:10:45.240 through a video game. Right, maybe that is a possibility, 0:10:45.280 --> 0:10:48.199 And that's creativity. So when you go into a bookshop 0:10:48.400 --> 0:10:50.240 and you pick two random books and you see how 0:10:50.320 --> 0:10:52.920 they can relate, that's what you're doing. You're pushing your 0:10:52.960 --> 0:10:55.800 mind in a very small way. Next time you hear 0:10:55.840 --> 0:10:58.640 two opposing arguments, try and see if you can find 0:10:58.640 --> 0:11:01.320 the similarities by and see if you can find the 0:11:01.400 --> 0:11:06.680 connection as opposed to the opposition. Because it's not hard 0:11:07.160 --> 0:11:10.800 to tell the difference between something, right, it's not complicated 0:11:10.840 --> 0:11:12.320 to be like, that's different from that. 0:11:12.120 --> 0:11:12.959 That makes sense. 0:11:13.040 --> 0:11:16.400 But to find the correlation where other people see anomalies 0:11:16.840 --> 0:11:19.600 is a real art and a real skill. People may 0:11:19.640 --> 0:11:22.160 not have seen art and technology together. People may not 0:11:22.240 --> 0:11:27.400 have seen the digital world and nature through the same lens, 0:11:27.720 --> 0:11:30.040 but that's what creativity is about. So this is a 0:11:30.080 --> 0:11:33.480 really sharp, smart, small way that you can start to 0:11:33.480 --> 0:11:38.160 do that. Now number two is really really interesting for me, 0:11:38.400 --> 0:11:40.840 and Sawyer talks about it in the book quite heavily. 0:11:40.880 --> 0:11:43.880 And what I want to talk about or address here 0:11:43.920 --> 0:11:48.840 is this idea of asking better questions of yourself and 0:11:49.080 --> 0:11:52.679 of others. The reason why we struggle with creativity is 0:11:52.720 --> 0:11:55.800 because we ask the wrong questions. And I actually want 0:11:55.800 --> 0:11:58.040 to take that back. You're never asking the wrong question. 0:11:58.360 --> 0:12:00.880 We just need to ask more questions. We need to 0:12:00.920 --> 0:12:05.040 ask deeper questions, and we just need to ask more questions. Right, 0:12:05.280 --> 0:12:07.240 We often just limit it to what do you do? 0:12:07.480 --> 0:12:09.360 How do you like it? Do you enjoy what you do? 0:12:09.720 --> 0:12:13.600 Notice how all those questions are very very basic. We 0:12:13.640 --> 0:12:16.720 don't necessarily ask, well, what do you enjoy about it? 0:12:16.840 --> 0:12:19.040 Or on a scale of one to ten, how enjoyable 0:12:19.080 --> 0:12:22.440 it is? What could make it more enjoyable, what could 0:12:22.480 --> 0:12:25.760 make it more fun? What is it that makes it 0:12:25.800 --> 0:12:29.520 so complicated or difficult? Notice how all those questions are different. 0:12:29.720 --> 0:12:36.760 Now Sawyer talks about the beginning of Starbucks. Now, this 0:12:36.920 --> 0:12:40.840 is really really interesting because the first question that they 0:12:40.840 --> 0:12:44.240 were trying to answer was how can I recreate the 0:12:44.280 --> 0:12:48.080 Italian espresso bar in the United States. That was the 0:12:48.200 --> 0:12:52.480 original goal, That was the original target of Starbucks. Now, 0:12:52.520 --> 0:12:54.679 think about what question you have. Maybe your question is, 0:12:54.720 --> 0:12:58.040 how do I start a huge podcast, how do I 0:12:58.120 --> 0:13:01.160 build my YouTube following, how do I launch my own brand, 0:13:01.400 --> 0:13:05.040 how do I get a promotion, how do I move 0:13:05.080 --> 0:13:05.959 to this city, or. 0:13:05.880 --> 0:13:07.240 How do I live in this place? Right? 0:13:07.280 --> 0:13:10.040 Maybe that's your question, and maybe you've just been banging 0:13:10.080 --> 0:13:12.440 your head against the wall. Maybe you've just said, you 0:13:12.480 --> 0:13:15.280 know what, I can't figure this out. It's just not 0:13:15.400 --> 0:13:17.800 working for me because every time I ask that question, 0:13:17.880 --> 0:13:20.520 I get stuck. How many of you have ever felt 0:13:20.600 --> 0:13:23.280 that way that whenever you ask the question you've been asking, 0:13:23.280 --> 0:13:25.520 You've been asking the same question for a long time, 0:13:25.840 --> 0:13:28.040 and you keep getting stuck. I have a friend who 0:13:28.120 --> 0:13:31.760 really really wants to launch a YouTube channel, and he's 0:13:31.800 --> 0:13:35.240 always getting stuck because he's thinking, well, how do I 0:13:35.280 --> 0:13:37.520 do it? When do I start? When's the right time? 0:13:37.600 --> 0:13:41.160 That's the question he's asking, when is the right time? Now, 0:13:41.800 --> 0:13:43.640 if he was listening to this episode, what I would 0:13:43.640 --> 0:13:45.600 say to him is, well, instead of asking when is 0:13:45.640 --> 0:13:48.320 the right time, what's a better question. How do I 0:13:48.400 --> 0:13:51.480 make now the right time? What does the perfect time 0:13:51.559 --> 0:13:55.600 look like? Right? What am I waiting for? What is 0:13:56.400 --> 0:13:57.280 good timing? 0:13:57.480 --> 0:13:58.160 In my eyes? 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:00.880 Let me talk to people about whether the time is 0:14:00.920 --> 0:14:03.480 the right thing that matters when it comes to social 0:14:03.520 --> 0:14:07.040 media at all. Right, So what ended up happening with 0:14:07.080 --> 0:14:11.360 Howard Shortz is the question changed from how can I 0:14:11.400 --> 0:14:14.520 recreate the Italian espresso bar in the United States? To 0:14:14.559 --> 0:14:18.400 how can I create a comfortable relaxing environment to enjoy 0:14:18.679 --> 0:14:21.880 great coffee? Think about the difference in that question, how 0:14:21.880 --> 0:14:26.000 can I create a comfortable relaxing environment to enjoy great coffee? 0:14:26.320 --> 0:14:26.520 Now? 0:14:26.640 --> 0:14:31.840 Kevin's sistrom also did the same with Instagram, where initially 0:14:31.920 --> 0:14:35.120 he just wanted to create a better location sharing app, 0:14:35.400 --> 0:14:37.960 but the question turned into how can we create a 0:14:38.000 --> 0:14:42.400 simple photo sharing app? And that slight change made all 0:14:42.440 --> 0:14:44.480 the difference. So what problem are you trying to solve? 0:14:44.480 --> 0:14:46.600 What are you trying to create? What are you trying 0:14:46.600 --> 0:14:49.200 to build? What is it that has been blocking you 0:14:49.280 --> 0:14:51.520 because you're asking the wrong question? 0:14:52.560 --> 0:14:52.840 Now? 0:14:53.600 --> 0:14:57.240 Number three, A great way to get creative, to get 0:14:57.240 --> 0:15:00.840 your creative mind working, is to solve the real problem 0:15:00.840 --> 0:15:04.280 in your life, but in your imagination, so you don't 0:15:04.320 --> 0:15:06.560 need to go raise money. You don't need to go 0:15:06.600 --> 0:15:09.440 in build a website or an app, But how would 0:15:09.480 --> 0:15:11.880 you solve it? So what you want to do is 0:15:11.920 --> 0:15:14.520 become a critical thinker and ask yourself, what is a 0:15:14.560 --> 0:15:18.000 problem that I'm really truly struggling with. Maybe it is 0:15:18.040 --> 0:15:20.720 to come up with podcast episode ideas, right, Maybe that's 0:15:20.720 --> 0:15:23.880 something you're struggling with. Maybe something you're struggling with is 0:15:24.640 --> 0:15:29.440 I don't know how to communicate with my toxic family members. 0:15:29.480 --> 0:15:32.160 Maybe that's what you're struggling with. Maybe what you're struggling 0:15:32.160 --> 0:15:34.920 with is I want to be more focused at work, 0:15:34.960 --> 0:15:37.640 but I keep getting distracted. Right, what is a problem 0:15:37.640 --> 0:15:40.440 that you're facing? And I want you to deeply think 0:15:40.480 --> 0:15:43.280 about what it would take to solve that problem. But 0:15:43.360 --> 0:15:48.520 in imagination right, with no limits on time, energy, money. 0:15:49.080 --> 0:15:51.120 Now you may say, well, Jay, that's stupid because I 0:15:51.160 --> 0:15:52.960 won't be able to do that because I'm not limitless 0:15:52.960 --> 0:15:55.080 in time, energy, money. But what you're doing is you're 0:15:55.080 --> 0:15:57.680 training your mind to think that way. See what has 0:15:57.720 --> 0:16:00.280 happened for most of us is that are my are 0:16:00.320 --> 0:16:07.720 now trained to think in limited, restricted, compartmentalized ways, and 0:16:07.840 --> 0:16:10.760 we want to change that for our minds to think 0:16:10.800 --> 0:16:17.000 in limitless, unrestricted, infinite ways. Right. I had a mentor 0:16:17.120 --> 0:16:21.960 called Thomas Power, who's a good friend, and when I 0:16:22.000 --> 0:16:24.480 first met him, he presented this idea to me about 0:16:24.480 --> 0:16:30.080 how a lot of people are what he called CSC closed, selective, 0:16:30.200 --> 0:16:34.560 and controlling. They're closed, They're thinking is very very closed 0:16:34.560 --> 0:16:39.000 into what's possible. They're very selective. They selective about who 0:16:39.040 --> 0:16:41.000 they spend time with, them who they don't spend time with, 0:16:41.280 --> 0:16:45.080 and that often leads them to miss out on incredible possibilities. 0:16:45.320 --> 0:16:48.320 And finally they're controlling. Right, there's a sense of a 0:16:48.440 --> 0:16:50.560 know it all or they know what's going on. And 0:16:50.600 --> 0:16:52.200 then on the other side, he said, there are people 0:16:52.280 --> 0:16:56.600 that are open, random and supportive. They're open to new ideas, 0:16:56.680 --> 0:17:00.400 They're open to their ways of thinking being changed. Really 0:17:00.440 --> 0:17:03.280 important part of being creative that how open are you 0:17:03.360 --> 0:17:06.480 to saying I know my values, i know what's important 0:17:06.480 --> 0:17:09.159 to me, but I'm still open to new ideas. And 0:17:09.200 --> 0:17:11.720 I find this to be one of the most fascinating 0:17:11.720 --> 0:17:14.160 things in life is that you can have a philosophy, 0:17:14.280 --> 0:17:16.760 you can have a set of principles and guidelines that 0:17:16.800 --> 0:17:20.920 you agree with, yet you can be open to better ones. Random. 0:17:20.960 --> 0:17:23.480 He talked about this idea of being random, like, how 0:17:23.480 --> 0:17:26.080 many times have you just bumped into someone in a 0:17:26.160 --> 0:17:27.960 random way? How many times have you come across an 0:17:28.000 --> 0:17:31.000 idea because of something random? Some of my best ideas 0:17:31.359 --> 0:17:34.639 are random and then supportive. How many of us actually 0:17:34.680 --> 0:17:36.880 come up with great ideas because we're helping someone else. 0:17:37.400 --> 0:17:40.080 While we're supporting others. While we're helping others, we may 0:17:40.160 --> 0:17:43.720 create something phenomenal. So solve a real problem in your 0:17:43.800 --> 0:17:46.320 life to expand your thinking. Again, you're not going to 0:17:46.359 --> 0:17:48.719 solve it. You may not create the products. You may 0:17:48.800 --> 0:17:52.640 end up creating the product, but you're gearing and guiding 0:17:52.680 --> 0:17:57.840 and training your mind to think limitlessly about a problem 0:17:57.880 --> 0:18:02.800 that makes you feel limited. Now, question number four, think 0:18:02.840 --> 0:18:05.880 about the next place you're traveling. Where are you going 0:18:05.920 --> 0:18:09.840 to next? Maybe you've booked a vacation to Ballei. Maybe 0:18:09.880 --> 0:18:14.560 you've booked a vacation to Australia. Maybe you've booked a 0:18:14.640 --> 0:18:18.760 local weekend get away right like a staycation. Almost what's 0:18:18.800 --> 0:18:21.560 the next place you're traveling. Here's a couple of things 0:18:21.560 --> 0:18:24.000 I want you to think about. Learn some of the 0:18:24.119 --> 0:18:27.840 language of your local area to ask for basic things, 0:18:28.480 --> 0:18:30.639 just the local language, so you could get about in 0:18:30.680 --> 0:18:33.920 the local language, maybe to order your favorite food, maybe 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:37.000 to ask where the bus stop or the train station is, 0:18:37.080 --> 0:18:40.000 maybe to ask to get to the restroom. Learn some 0:18:40.040 --> 0:18:44.159 of the basic language that can help you operate. This 0:18:44.240 --> 0:18:47.560 gets your creative juices flowing. The second thing is learn 0:18:47.600 --> 0:18:50.480 about the history. Maybe there's something you can learn about 0:18:50.480 --> 0:18:55.240 a building, the area, something that is a bit random, right, 0:18:55.359 --> 0:18:57.360 something that you may not even care to learn about. 0:18:57.400 --> 0:18:59.840 I remember when I first moved to La I was 0:19:00.800 --> 0:19:03.600 being told about so much history, so many events that 0:19:03.640 --> 0:19:05.360 happened there. And when you think of La you think 0:19:05.400 --> 0:19:07.399 of Hollywood and you think of movies, but you forget 0:19:07.440 --> 0:19:10.920 the history of entertainment. There's so much history of Hollywood there. 0:19:10.920 --> 0:19:13.879 I remember when I watched this movie Babylon maybe you 0:19:13.920 --> 0:19:16.440 saw it with Margot, Robbie and Brad Pitt. They show 0:19:16.440 --> 0:19:18.560 what bel Air was like before it became bel Air. 0:19:18.640 --> 0:19:21.600 You see what Hollywood movie sets look like before they 0:19:21.600 --> 0:19:24.800 look like they do now, And that idea is incredible 0:19:24.840 --> 0:19:28.160 to look into the past, right. And the third thing 0:19:28.320 --> 0:19:31.399 is read a local paper or listen to a local 0:19:31.480 --> 0:19:34.520 radio station. What this does is it disrupts your pattern. 0:19:34.880 --> 0:19:35.040 Right. 0:19:35.080 --> 0:19:37.920 The way we live our life currently is you get 0:19:37.960 --> 0:19:39.679 into your car to go to work, you listen to 0:19:39.720 --> 0:19:44.120 the same radio station, you walk in the same direction, 0:19:44.240 --> 0:19:46.200 you take the same train, you take the same route 0:19:46.200 --> 0:19:48.639 to work, or you walk down your stairs, or you 0:19:48.960 --> 0:19:51.119 sit at the laptop at your bedroom. Right, we have 0:19:51.160 --> 0:19:55.000 a very routine life that doesn't get disrupted often. And 0:19:55.119 --> 0:19:58.520 allowing yourself to disrupt it by reading a local paper 0:19:58.600 --> 0:20:01.439 or listening to a local radio staf to discover some 0:20:01.520 --> 0:20:03.359 local music of a place you're about to visit, or 0:20:03.359 --> 0:20:04.879 a place that you're going to visit, or maybe the 0:20:04.920 --> 0:20:08.280 last place you went to, it disrupts that pattern. It 0:20:08.520 --> 0:20:14.200 starts allowing creativitis seeds to be planted. That's a really 0:20:14.200 --> 0:20:16.680 powerful one. As you can tell. I'm giving a really practical, 0:20:16.760 --> 0:20:19.600 simple things that you can all do. That doesn't mean 0:20:19.680 --> 0:20:21.720 learning a new skill or trying something crazy. 0:20:22.400 --> 0:20:22.680 Now. 0:20:23.200 --> 0:20:27.840 Number five playing with toys. George Bernard Shawce famously said, 0:20:28.320 --> 0:20:31.600 we don't stop playing because we get old. We get 0:20:31.640 --> 0:20:34.520 old because we stop playing. I found that when I 0:20:34.840 --> 0:20:38.040 try and play with legos, when I'm playing with my 0:20:38.080 --> 0:20:40.199 niece and nephew, or I'm playing with one of my 0:20:40.240 --> 0:20:43.040 friend's children and we're playing with their toys, We're building 0:20:43.040 --> 0:20:45.760 a tower, we're building a car, whatever it is. All 0:20:45.800 --> 0:20:51.840 of a sudden, the tangible physicality of that is so 0:20:51.960 --> 0:20:53.680 powerful if you think about it. Right now, we don't 0:20:53.720 --> 0:20:56.840 really build anything with our hands anymore. We don't do 0:20:56.960 --> 0:20:58.520 a lot of If you're not doing pottery, or if 0:20:58.520 --> 0:21:02.080 you're not doing painting, we're not actually engaging that part 0:21:02.119 --> 0:21:04.800 of our brain. When we were at school, you were handwriting, right, 0:21:05.280 --> 0:21:07.119 We're not really using that much anymore. So if you 0:21:07.119 --> 0:21:10.040 can do pottery and painting, great, But at the very minimal, 0:21:10.800 --> 0:21:13.680 helping your niece or nephew, and if you have children, 0:21:13.760 --> 0:21:17.320 helping them build something, create something can be a great 0:21:17.400 --> 0:21:20.240