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Emma Chamberlain
I would characterize my job as a creative job because 90% of what I do on a day to day basis requires some level of creativity, whether it's conceptualizing podcast topics in writing an organized outline that will allow the recording of the episode to go a certain way so that it's not too scripted, but it also isn't such a mess that it's impossible to follow. You know, creating podcast episodes is weirdly creative. You know, making YouTube videos is definitely creative. Conceptualizing a YouTube video topic, figuring out how to set up interesting shots, figuring out what to film and what not to film in order to make a story that flows nicely from start to finish, sitting down to edit, figuring out, you know, how to put the whole thing together in a way that feels right. All of that is very creative. And with my coffee company, Chamberlain Coffee, you know, coming up with branding ideas, marketing ideas, campaign ideas, all of that is very creative. So I definitely lead a very creative life. I think probably more so than people would expect because I feel like when people think of creative careers, they think of people who make music, people who make movies, people who make TV shows, people who write books, people who write poetry, photographers, you know, whatever. I don't think people think of a podcast or YouTuber and think, now that's a person with a creative career. I might be wrong, but I feel like it's a bit controversial whether or not podcasting and YouTubing is a creative career career. But in my experience and in my opinion, it definitely is. And I started this career at age 16 when I didn't know shit about life. And I posted my first YouTube video because it was like a creative form of expression for me. And I wasn't thinking that deeply about it, you know, and next thing I knew, it was my career. At that time, as a teenager, I didn't have in understanding of what creativity is, how to be creative, how to maximize creativity. I didn't have a creative philosophy. I was completely thrown into it, confused, and I definitely wasn't very wise. And understandably so. I was 16. From ages 16 to 20, you learn a lot. And from ages 20 to 24, I'm 24 now, you learn even more. And so, oh my God, I've almost been doing this job for 10 years. What? Cause I'm. I'm 24 now, and I started when I was 16. That is wild. That is wild. But it's safe to say in those eight years, I've learned a lot about how to maximize creativity. It was something I had to learn in order to continue doing this career and to have a successful career. If you don't understand how to maximize creativity as somebody in a creative career, you'll burn out and you'll run out of ideas and you'll have a meltdown and you'll quit. And I've almost done that a bazillion times. 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And at least in my experience, I have to be really careful, otherwise I'll knock myself out of the creative state of mind. And I used to sort of exist in this state of like brief moments of really overwhelming creativity and then stretches of nothing. And I didn't understand why. And not only was it bad for my career at times, but it was also really upsetting for me as somebody who wants to be as creative as possible and loves doing creative things, but couldn't figure out, like, what's wrong, what's missing. Over the years, I have truly figured out the recipe, the lifestyle, the habits, the hacks to maximize my creativity so that I can be as creative as possible as often as possible. And it recently dawned on me how well it's been going. Like 2025 has been a really creative year for me and it's been so fulfilling. And so today I thought I'd share all the things I did and am continuing to do to get to this place to maximize my creativity. So without further ado, let's dive right in. Starting with defining what my ideal creative mentality is and having an understanding of what my ideal psychological state is for creativity. Because I've discovered that my ideal psychological state is ultimately peace and freedom. Okay? It's not chaos, it's not being under Pressure. It's not feeling overwhelmed, but weirdly feeling inspired and pushed by that, by that feeling of overwhelm. It's peace and freedom. Freedom from stress, pressure, deadlines, judgment, the noise of the Internet. The list goes on. In overall, just peace in my life, okay? No drama, no upset, just peace. I'm the most creative when I feel the most free and the most at peace. And I. I think this is a common, ideal creative state for people, but not for everyone. Like, this might not be the answer for you as a creative person. You might look inward and ask yourself, okay, what mental state is the most optimal for me to be creative? And you might discover it's the complete opposite to me, okay, I need peace and freedom. You might need deadlines. You might need pressure. You might need a bit of chaos. Some people work really well in that sort of environment. The intensity, the sort of whatever, like you. You might create really well when you're in a moment in your life, when you're being deeply challenged. Like, some people are most creative when they're growing. Like something challenging is happening and it's forcing them to grow. Everyone's really different. But for me, I need to feel tranquility. And I think understanding that, that's what works for me. It gives me, like, a mindset to strive for. It helps me decide what to do and what not to do, because I know how certain actions, activities, behaviors impact my psychological state. I know. Oh, you know what? Maybe I'm not gonna do this thing in my life because that's gonna put me in a chaotic, anxious, restricted sort of state. I'm not gonna do that because that's gonna fuck with me creatively, and I need to be creative right now, you know, if you don't know what your optimal creative psychological state is, how. How are you supposed to create that then? Like, you can't. Like, we're very much in control of a lot of our psychological state, not all of it. You know, certain things happen in life that are going to knock us off our horse, but there's kind of nothing we can do about it. But there are times when, you know, we're in control of our psychological state based on what types of situations we choose to put ourselves in, what types of projects we choose to work on, et cetera. And it's just really helpful to understand what state you need to be in. And I also think, too, if you don't understand your ideal psychological state, you won't take advantage of the moments when you naturally are there. If everything in my life is going really well and I'm feeling free and I'm feeling peaceful. I'm like, holy shit, let's get to work. Let's get to work. Because I know that that's when my brain functions the best. So yeah. This episode is brought to you by Squarespace. Have you ever been shopping online and the website just gave you the ick? Let me tell you, that wouldn't happen if they used Squarespace. Squarespace Design Intelligence empowers anyone to build beautiful, more personalized websites tailored to your unique needs. And with Squarespace Payments, it's super easy to manage payments with just a few clicks. Plus, with Squarespace's integrated and optimized SEO tools, there's all the help you need to get people to your site. Head to squarespace.com emma for a free trial and use code EMMA to save 10% on your first purchase. This is an ad by BetterHelp. Something that's been stressing me out lately is that I'm going to be traveling soon. I have a slight fear of flying and I have a lot to get done before I leave. Stress is a real problem. 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Our listeners get 10% off their first month@betterhelp.com anything that's betterhelp.com anything next I've determined and I routinely re examine my creative philosophy and purpose. I am constantly asking myself why am I creating things and how should I be creating things? I've determined that my creative philosophy is to make things that are honest while also fulfilling for me to make and ultimately have a net positive impact in others lives and in my life. That's vaguely the creative philosophy. Part of it is also like the way things feel When I make them, they need to sort of flow out of me in a way. It needs to feel natural, but that's sort of harder to define, right? And the thing about your creative philosophy is that it doesn't need to make sense to anyone but you. Only you can define it. I've determined that my creative purpose is to entertain people in a net positive way. You know, not like, feed them shit that's going to make them feel bad, but entertain them. But make them feel bad. You know, entertain people in a way that leaves them better off than they were before they consumed the content to bring comfort to. To people. That's really important to me, to make people feel less alone and to inspire people to do positive things in their life. My purpose is to leave people better than I found them, or I guess leave people better than they found me, because I guess people are kind of finding me on the Internet. And I think the reason why it's so valuable to have a solid philosophy and a solid purpose is that that's what's gonna help you motivate. It makes it feel important. And I think a lot of times, you know, we can look at creative acts and sort of feel like, like, why am I even doing this? You know, like, what's the point? And I think having a point, it solves that problem, right? And it makes all the hard work of, of a creative endeavor feel worth it. And not even feel hard. It just feels good. It feels hard, but in a good way. And it also gives me clear direction. It naturally gives me ideas. Because having a purpose, it helps you narrow down the options of what you can do. There's infinite things you can do that are creative. It helps me decide what creative endeavors to pursue and what endeavors are not probably right for me. Next. I've learned over the years that the Internet can destroy creativity. And it's tricky, right, Because I think the Internet can also be an incredible tool. An incredible tool for inspiration, for creating something, putting out your creations. Like, it's really important, I think, as a creative person, to figure out your personal balance. Right. I've noticed that the Internet seems to change the way that my brain functions when I use it too much. Like. Like if I'm online for too long, my mind goes from tranquil and chill and intentional with its thought to chaotic and anxious and pessimistic and negative and noisy and horrific. Um, and obviously, as I described earlier, like, my ideal psychological state is peaceful and free. And if I've been on the Internet for too long, I am feeling the Opposite of peaceful and free. Seeing news article pop ups, seeing what your ex boyfriend is doing, like, it's just too much. Puts your brain in a bad place. You know, even sometimes going on inspiring platforms for too long can start to fuck with your head. Spending too much time on the Internet wipes my brain of creative ideas. Like, I cannot think of a creative idea. Okay, I'll give you an example. If I just scrolled on Instagram for a little bit and then watched a few YouTube videos, perhaps while I was eating lunch or something, I caved and I got out my other phone that has Instagram downloaded and I scrolled on Instagram and then I watched a YouTube video for like two hours. After that I have. I cannot think creatively at all. It's maybe because consuming Internet content is very much mindless. You know, like, you get to sort of turn your own brain off, which at times can be wonderful. At the end of the day, when I'm done being creative, I'll let myself indulge in it a little bit because I have eight hours to sleep it off and then I can wake up the next day and start a new creative day. Right? But it's like the, I think the mindlessness of consuming Internet content puts you into this state of mindlessness. And creativity is, is the complete opposite state. It's like a machine in the brain where all the gears are turning in, in part of it, sort of subconscious and almost out of your control. But you're coming up with ideas, you're bouncing ideas around. It is sort of this delicate thing. And I've just noticed that it's really hard for me to get into that state after being on the Internet. I can completely open my fucking skull, take my brain out and put it on the table while I watch a YouTube video or while I scroll on Instagram. I'm not using my brain at all. So it's like hard to put the brain back in and plug back in all the wires after that. It takes some time to reboot almost. And that rebooting process can sometimes be detrimental if I have shit to do. And I also think being on the Internet too much makes me feel bad about my own ideas. You open up YouTube and see so many incredible YouTube videos on your homepage. You open up Instagram, you see so many incredible outfits, incredible paintings, incredible. You see so much incredible art that sometimes it can make you feel bad about your own. And that's not always the case with me. Sometimes I feel inspired. But if I'm in like a vulnerable state, of mind for whatever reason, Perhaps a little bit more of an insecure state of mind. Going on the Internet might make me feel bad about my own creative ideas, and so I'm really mindful about that as well. All right, moving on. Another thing I realized is that it's so important to be intuitive with yourself when it comes to creativity. I've noticed that a lot of my creativity is sort of out of my control. The creative side of my brain has a mind of its own that's, like, separate from the rest of my brain and my body. It's really unpredictable. And I think to truly maximize your creativity, you have to listen to that creative side of your brain and be intuitive with it. Like, for example, some days I have on my Google Calendar, like, all right, I'm going to spend the whole day writing podcast outlines. I like to plan things out. But again, having a creative job, it's a bit complicated because at times I'll wake up and I'm not feeling inspired by the idea of writing podcast outlines. That sounds like my worst nightmare. For some reason, I'm so uninspired by that. But you know what I am feeling inspired to do? Lay down all day and edit a YouTube video. I used to really fight that, right? Like, I. I used to hate that, you know, my mind had other plans. Like, I used to hate that my brain couldn't adhere to what I put on my Google Calendar. I couldn't stand that. I couldn't control what was inspiring me at a given moment or on a given day. Luckily for me, because my job is creative, and because there are many different creative facets to it, I do have the freedom to work on whatever I want, whenever I want. As long as I'm ultimately getting things done, that's all I could hope for. But I'm a control freak. And so I used to have a really hard time with not being able to control my creative brain. But I've had to learn the hard way that if I try to force myself to do things that I'm not inspired to do, it might work. Like, I might be able to get it done. But that leads me to burnout. That leads me to ultimately feeling uninspired. That leads me to doing work I'm not proud of. Whereas if I am intuitive and I listen to the creative side of my brain and I work on what my brain, for whatever reason, wants to work on, I don't get as exhausted. I create work that I'm proud of. But I also think, too, at times, the best thing that you can do is take a little break from it. And this is really hard, I think, for some people to comprehend like this, because it was really hard for me to comprehend this idea. Like, we can't. Like, you can't just stop working, you know, Especially if you have a creative job, it's like you can't just sit down for a little bit. But with creative endeavors, sometimes the best thing you can do is rest a little bit. Like, there are times when I just need to lay down and, like, take a nap. I'm too exhausted to be creative. I can't. My brain isn't in the right state. I just need to, like, rest. And I used to fight that so hard and be like, well, that's not productive. And like, well, guess what? I'd go on to do nothing, get nothing done, and have, like, a mental breakdown. Whereas now if I'm feeling exhausted and feeling like I just can't be creative right now, I need, like, a reset. I'll go take a nap. Fuck it. You know, I'll go, like, read a book for an hour or look at, like, a picture book or go for a walk or go to a workout class. Like, I'll go do something else and then come back to the creative task later. And sometimes that's what I need. I just need more time to incubate. I need a bit of time to rest. It's important to listen to what your mind and body needs because otherwise it's really hard to be creative. Creativity is something that unfortunately requires a bit of coddling of oneself. I think if you fight that, you'll end up getting less done. Another way that I'm intuitive is when it comes to working on a project, right? Like, sometimes I'll start a project, and as I'm working on it, I'm like, this. Something's off. Like, this doesn't feel right. And I used to be really stubborn about finishing everything that I start, right? But there are times when something just isn't working, and it actually makes more sense to stop and pivot and start working on something else. You know, there's been moments when I've forced myself to work on something that wasn't feeling right, and it just led me to wasting a lot of time on something that I knew deep down wasn't working. If I had stopped and pivoted and started working on something else, I not only would have been less exhausted and less burnt out, but also I'd be like, further ahead on something that actually is inspiring to me. Okay, next. It is so Important as a creative person to stay away from judgmental people. I've had the worst creative blocks, like mental blocks creatively, when I had people in my life who I felt were judging me. Now I don't think the people from my past who were sort of judgmental of me meant to be right, but I didn't feel like they were fully on my team. I didn't feel like they fully respected me. And the thing is, being creative requires coming up with a lot of ideas. Some of those ideas are incredible. Some of those ideas are incredible but unrealistic and impossible. Some of those ideas are weird and odd and, and, and some ideas are just straight up bad. But the thing is you need the freedom to have those weird bad ideas. You also need to have that freedom to sometimes try the weird and bad ideas. Because there are rare occasions, maybe not even rare occasions, there are occasions where those weird and bad ideas actually, upon execution, become incredible ideas. If you're around people who make you fear the weird and bad ideas, then you will ultimately start to fear coming up with ideas at all. And that's really dangerous for a creative person. I mean, maybe the word dangerous is a bit extreme, but it's detrimental to creative people. Even if you are in a really good place with your self esteem and your confidence and all this, the people you're around need to be fully on your team and fully nonjudgmental of you. It's one thing to have people in your life who will give you constructive criticism. That's different. I have people in my life now who will give me constructive criticism. If I ask on creative projects, they can give me constructive criticism without making me feel judged. And that's the key. They still respect me as a creative person. Being around people who have a creative point of view who are going to be honest with you and say, you know, I maybe would have done this a little different or oh, you know, it's not my favorite work of yours, but it's, it's definitely still good. And I like this and I like that and you know, whatever, like you can tell the difference though. And so I think judgmental people are not good for creative people. Moving on. And we sort of just touched on this on a personal level. I found that I'm the most creative when my self esteem is in a good place. And to be honest, I think everything in life benefits when your self esteem is in a good place, when you feel good about yourself, when you feel confident but not cocky, when, when you have a good handle on your ego Everything in life is better. And so it's sort of, it sort of goes without saying. But I have to mention it because it definitely makes a huge difference. Because again, in order to be creative, you have to allow yourself to come up with a trillion different ideas. And naturally some of those are not gonna be good. In order to give yourself that freedom, you have to be confident enough in your ability to come up with ideas that are gonna work in order to feel comfortable enough to come up with the bad ideas too. And if you're feeling really insecure, the last thing you wanna do is come up with a bad idea that's only gonna make you feel more insecure. You know, you're gonna be afraid of coming up with bad ideas because you're afraid of feeling worse about yourself. If your ego is too inflated, you want everything you do to be right, to be perfect. If. And you also can sometimes falsely believe that everything you do is right and perfect. And that's also not good for creativity. But I also think too, if your self esteem is too low, you know, you might also overlook good ideas that you have. You might have a great idea, but if you are seeing yourself in a bad light because your self esteem is low, then you'll see all of your ideas in a bad light too. And that's a shame. So part of maintaining creative homeostasis in the mind is taking care of your self esteem. And I've talked about this a trillion times. But the way that I maintain my self esteem is by number one, taking good care of myself and living a disciplined life where, you know, I exercise, I get my work done, I cook dinner for myself that's healthy and yummy. I treat everyone in my life with utmost kindness. I apologize when I fuck up. I try to spread love and light to the world around me to the best of my ability. And when I make a mistake, when I don't spread love and light, when I flip somebody off in traffic because they cut me off. Actually I haven't done that in a long time. I've honked, but I'm not usually throwing up the middle finger. But I will lay on the fucking horn. But I live in Los Angeles. We all drive like shit here and we all have to keep each other in check. But anyway, if I lash out, honk on the horn because somebody cut me off in traffic, or if someone's having an off day and I feel like they were rude to me, and then I go and like call my mom and talk shit about them for an hour when I drop the ball in when maybe I'm not as morally right as I as I want to be, I I acknowledge that I'm honest with myself and I make the decision to work on it. I think all of these sorts of things help keep my self esteem up and in turn directly and sort of indirectly help me be more creative. When I feel good about myself, I can properly analyze my ideas and the work that I've done in the most clear headed way. I briefly interrupt this episode to let you know that this episode is brought to you by State Farm Insurance may all seem the same on the surface, but having insurance isn't the same thing as having State Farm. It's like getting a limp piece of lettuce on a bun. When you ordered a vegan burger, you wouldn't settle for a soggy sandwich. So don't settle for just any insurance when it comes to getting the help you need. State Farm is the real deal. Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. Now back to the episode. Another thing that I've learned is that deadlines can be detrimental for me. And I mentioned this earlier. You know how my ideal psychological creative state is peace and freedom. Part of freedom is freedom from deadlines. But here's the thing. If you have a creative job, you definitely are going to have deadlines. I have deadlines. Podcast episodes. I have deadlines. You know, Chamberlain Coffee related stuff. There's always deadlines. YouTube videos. Not as much deadlines anymore, but there used to be. Deadlines are inevitable, especially if you have a creative job. But even if you're working on a personal creative project that's just for you, there's still deadlines. Like we don't want to work on a project forever, right? Deadlines are inevitable. However, it is absolutely possible to alleviate the stress from deadlines even if we can't fully eliminate deadlines altogether. And this is something that has changed my life creatively. Okay? I'm somebody who does not do well under pressure. I like to feel like I have infinite time to work on a creative project. That is when I perform the best. And I've actually talked about this before. I made an episode a few months ago called Crumbling Under Pressure. I think talking about how I don't work well under pressure and how it's changed my life to alleviate pressure even if I can't completely remove all the pressure altogether. Like there's always going to be deadlines. But what I've done is learn to alleviate that stress to the best of my ability. So like for example, with the podcast right the deadlines for those are, like, honestly, ideally, probably a week before the episode comes out with Chamberlain coffee stuff, you know, if there's a campaign that we're doing, like, creative ideas need to be created before a certain point. Or, you know, even with YouTube, like, I like to post a YouTube video, ideally less than a week after I filmed it. I like to try to turn it around quickly just because I'm the most inspired by that video a week after I film it. And I. I want to just get that edit done and get that shit up while I'm still feeling stoked about it. And so even though I don't technically have a deadline, like, contractually with YouTube, emotionally, I feel like I have a deadline. So in the case of the podcast, I've gotten to a place now where I'm like, a month ahead. There's been moments where I've been two and a half months ahead on episodes. And the thing that's been magical about that for me is that it's completely alleviated the pressure to record a podcast on any given day. It gives me the freedom to record whenever I feel really inspired. And sometimes I'll sit down and I'll be so inspired, I'll record an episode, and then a few hours later, I'll be like, fuck it, I want to keep talking. And I'll sit down and I'll record another one, you know, because I'm just in the mood. It's. It's. I'm inspired by it. You know, if there are weeks where I cannot come up with a podcast topic, I don't worry about that. I go work on something else because I. I'm two and a half months ahead at times. You know, it gives me complete freedom. In the case of YouTube, if I film a video, I'm gonna schedule time immediately after I film that video to dedicate like, three days to just rotting in bed and editing that video, because I know that that's what I'm gonna want to do. Because whenever I film something, I get really antsy to edit it. I want to edit it. And so I plan around that. I clear my schedule for those three days. I move everything around so that I can dedicate at least three days to that edit. You know, if I'm working on a watercolor, I'm not going to do that if I know that in two hours, I'm going to have to leave my house to go to an appointment. Because sometimes watercolors take me, like, three hours to complete. You know, the drawing might take me a While the painting process might take me a while, if I feel a looming deadline, like, oh, I have to be done by this time because I have to go to this appointment or go hang out with friends or go do this or go do that. I won't enjoy the process of that watercolor. I'll rush it. I'll, like, cut corners, you know, Like, I won't let my paint dry fully before I go in with the next layer of paint. And then it fucks up. Like, you can't do that with watercolor. It you have to let your watercolor dry, and then you have to go over with more layers. And I won't enjoy the experience and I won't enjoy the result as much. So I just don't sit down for a watercolor unless I know I have five hours to complete it, which is more than enough time. So you get what I'm saying here. Deadlines for me are bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad. So I get ahead or I start something with no defined deadline. And it really helps me. Next. It's so important for me as a creative person to be bored sometimes. I make it a priority nowadays to sit in boredom whenever I can. Not to run away from boredom, not to fill moments of what could be boredom with a YouTube video or a podcast. I've come up with my best idea. I come up with majority of my ideas in boring moments of my life. When I'm doing chores, when I'm doing all these sorts of boring things, when I'm sitting on the couch after a workout class, staring at the ceiling, staring at the wall, when I'm driving somewhere alone in silence. Usually these are the moments when I come up with the best ideas, but that's only been made possible. These. These boring moments have only become productive because I came to terms with the fact that boredom and relaxation and peacefulness and quiet is not a waste of time. It's not unproductive. It actually can be the most productive thing you can do. But before I came to that conclusion, I used to waste time, all of those boring moments, okay, like, for example, when I'd be driving, I'd be listening to something and, you know, pretty much removing my brain from my head and just mindlessly listening to things. I used to eat lunch and watch a YouTube video. I used to do chores and listen to a podcast. Every moment that could be sort of boring, I would fill with noise. Same thing goes for those days when I just felt exhausted. And I used to get really upset about having those days where I just Kind of need to lay down and lay in bed. And I used to waste those opportunities, those opportunities of feeling kind of exhausted physically, but maybe having a bit of energy mentally. Those moments can be amazing for brainstorming. But if you're consumed by guilt, like, oh, my God, I feel so guilty. I'm laying in bed all day. I'm, like, resting, and I'm not getting anything done. And I feel like I should be getting something, that you're wasting that time. And so for me, realizing how productive boredom can be has been really powerful. Where now any slightly boring moment, I use that time wisely. I actually don't dread boring stuff anymore. I don't even get bored in boring moments anymore because I know my mind is gonna wander. But I do wanna dig in deeper on the silence element. I did already mention, you know, how there are these instances throughout the day where it is sort of tempting to fill the noise. Like, oh, I'm driving somewhere. Might as well put on music, put on a podcast. Oh, I'm on a run. Fuck it, put some on. Complete silence is so important for the formation of ideas. I think I can't come up with ideas unless I'm in complete silence. It's almost like this thing that I can tap into now where I can get so consumed by sort of brainstorming in a way that it feels as loud as music or like a podcast. I can get to that point because I've existed in so much silence that now I know how to fill the silence with my own brain. Or sometimes just being really quiet and not thinking about much in that silence and letting your brain, like, sporadically say a little thing here or there, you know, sometimes that's all it is. Sometimes it's really loud, sometimes it's whispering. You know, it depends. What it really comes down to is that, as I mentioned earlier, creativity is so fragile at times. Your brain can produce ideas, but you almost can't even hear them because you're listening to something. Does that make sense? Like, there's something else entering your brain and it's pushing away your ideas. Ideas are so fragile. They're so fleeting, they're so delicate. I don't know. I mean, there are times when I utilize music to, like, make creative activities more fun, but usually it's in the execution process. Like when I'm actually creating something. Like, if I want to come up with an idea of, like, something to watercolor, that idea is not going to come to me unless I'm in silence. I can listen to music when I'm painting the watercolor because once I have the idea, it's a different side of the brain that you're using when you're actually executing. A lot of times, if I'm trying to come up with a podcast topic, I need to come up with that in silence. But once I'm writing the outline, there are times when it makes sense to put music on. I just think silence is a creative person's best friend. That's my opinion. The next thing I've learned is that I have to be patient with my brain. Like, there are gonna be times when I lay in bed for two hours in the afternoon and stare at the ceiling and come up with zero ideas. We cannot force our brains to come up with ideas. If I feel guilty about that, if I feel upset about that, if I feel stressed about that, that only makes me come up with less ideas. Do you know what I'm saying? So I've had to learn patience with my brain, and also I've had to learn to trust my brain that it will come up with an idea again. Just because it's not coming up with ideas right now doesn't mean it's never going to come up with an idea again. To accept that and to not be afraid of that is so much healthier and actually puts your brain in a place where, oh, it feels safe to come up with ideas whenever it wants to. And then a lot of this shit is like mind games with yourself. You almost have to trick yourself into being super chill about when you come up with ideas or blah, blah, blah, blah, so that your brain feels safe to come up with ideas. Because if it feels too much pressure, if it feels too scared, if it feels like there's a deadline, if it feels like this, if it feels like that, then you're not going to be able to do it. So you almost have to. Like, again, you have to coddle your brain and put it in optimal condition and let go a little bit, which is really hard for me as a control freak. It's almost like it's coming from something outside of yourself. A lot of the times, like, coming from the universe and through us, like, it's. It can feel almost very spiritual, doing creative things. A lot of it is sort of subconscious and almost coming from nowhere. I don't know. Like, there's a lot of magic in that, and I think to respect that is important. If you don't respect that magic and you're trying to fight that magic and you're trying to force that magic, it'll destroy it because of how delicate all of this is. Okay, next, I write every single idea down. The good, the bad, the ugly. Okay. A lot of times the best ideas come to me when I'm not in the position to be creating something. Like, again, when I'm driving, when I'm in the car. Oh, those are the same thing when I'm driving or when I'm in the car, or when I'm behind the steering wheel, or when I'm in the driver's seat, when I'm in the shower, when I'm doing the dishes. You get the idea. The best ideas come to me when I can't just sit down and, like, make something. I write every idea down, even if the idea is bad. I have a running. Like, I have documents of ideas. I have ideas for stuff that I'm never gonna do. Like, I'm like, oh, this would be a really cool TV show. Oh, this would be a really cool book. Oh, this would be a really cool. I have so many ideas written down. Okay. And then whenever it's time to work on stuff, when it's time to sit down and write a podcast outline and I'm trying to figure out, all right, what should I, what should I do? I'll go and look at my list of podcast ideas that I've been writing down over the course of God knows how long and see if anything, you know, resonates with me. Having that list, it ensures that no ideas get forgotten. But the other thing is, I can't tell you how many times I've been reading through a list of ideas and it's given me a new idea, an even better idea. You know, that's why you should write down even the bad ideas too, because sometimes the bad ideas might inspire a good idea later. And that's happened to me a trillion times. Write everything down. This episode is brought to you by Cozy. Getting your home to not just look right, but also feel right is so important. I think what I love most about my home is how there are so many little details around the house that bring me so much joy. One place that I hang out a lot is my couch. I take naps on there. I get a bunch of work done on there. 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- [41:57]
Emma Chamberlain
Use as directed Next. I think I've already sort of touched on this, but I'm going to touch on it again. Being creative requires a level of homeostasis, of balance, of being in a good place, being in the right place. And I've noticed for me, that in order to be the most creative, I need to feel good mentally and physically. Okay? That means exercising, eating well, nurturing my personal relationships, allowing time and space in my life to have good conversation with people. That means setting time in my life to have fun. When I feel good physically and mentally, then my body and my being doesn't become a distraction. When I'm taking care of myself mentally and physically, I can fully focus on the creative task at hand. I think when I'm not feeling good physically and mentally, it can prevent me from getting into true flow state creatively, which is something I'm always striving for. Like if your stomach hurts and you're feeling burnt out because you haven't let yourself have a fun weekend in a while, good luck getting into flow state. That's all you're going to be thinking about next. I've really challenged myself to use the entire world as inspo. Right? Like, the obvious sources of inspo are, like, Pinterest art books. As much as those are incredible sources of inspo that I personally use all the time. I discovered that that was sort of limiting my sources of inspiration, and now I look at everything as inspiration. A weird shadow in my kitchen in the afternoon might look like a wolf. Ooh, maybe I should do a watercolor of a wolf. Or I'm walking around. I'm at the farmer's market, and there's, like, a small baby. Okay. And the baby is in a cute little outfit. The baby's wearing, like, little black pants and, like, a little T shirt layered with another T shirt. And there. And it has, like, a little. And suddenly I'm like, oh, that's kind of a cute outfit. Everything can be inspo. If you limit your inspo to Pinterest and art books, you're kind of limiting yourself to stuff that's already been done before. Some of my favorite ideas that I've come up with have been inspired by, like, random things I've seen in the world or the random depths of my mind. You know, sometimes I'll challenge myself to create something without looking at any inspo. We can sometimes underestimate our own unique ideas. Next. I've learned that when it comes to a creative project, intent is very important. Why do I want to work on this project? Why do I want to create this thing? What is my motive? What is my reason? If my motive to do something creative is rooted in my purpose and my creative philosophy, and I'm ultimately doing it for me, then, hell, yeah, that's a project that I should work on. That sounds great. But if I examine my motive and I notice, wait a minute, I think I'm doing this to impress others or boost my ego, that is gonna be a draining and exhausting project for me that will probably not be enjoyed by the people who perceive it. I think our goal should almost be we should love creating things so much that we would do them even if nobody was watching. You know? I mean, listen, would it be a little bit weird if I recorded these podcast episodes and didn't post them? Yes. But I love the creative act of telling a good story, of having an interesting conversation. Like, there's art and creativity in that, to me, and that's something that I participate in outside of this podcast. Like, that's just a part of my life. Right. With YouTube videos. I would probably make YouTube videos anyway. Even if I wasn't posting them for my own memories. When it comes to my watercolors, I do post them on my Instagram a lot of the time, but I enjoy doing watercolor anyway. I would do watercolor even if no one was watching. I think it's a good sign that you're doing a creative endeavor for the right reason if you do it if nobody was watching. People can tell when something's authentic and genuine creatively, and then they'll think that's cool. So if you just do what you feel inclined to do and it's genuine, people will feel that and think that that's cool. But also, too, working on a project that doesn't have the right intent will exhaust you. Next. I feel like I am the most creative when I'm really comfortable physically and when I feel a bit pampered by myself. Like, I like to sit down to do a watercolor and have, like, a yummy snack and, like, a yummy drink. I like to put on my comfiest clothes and sit down and do a watercolor or, you know, put on my comfiest clothes and sit down and edit a YouTube video. I love that. You know, I love to lay on my heating pad while I'm doing it. I love to, like, I just want to be comfortable again. It goes back to the thing of, like, taking care of myself mentally and physically so that I'm not distracting myself from the creative act, if you will. Setting things up and making the environment ideal for being creative is really helpful for me. I've noticed it just like, if I'm in comfy, comfy clothes and I'm super cozy and I'm super comfy, it almost feels like I can. My brain can just go, do you know what I mean? And just do its thing. And again, I'm not thinking about, like, my bra is, like, jabbing into my rib cage, or, like, my God, my underwear are too tight, or like, oh, I'm wearing jeans. Ew. You know, it's like, whatever. I just feel good. And last but not least, caffeine. Caffeine and being creative. What a magical combo. Like, the ritual for me of, like, making a coffee, making a matcha and sitting down and making something. It's magic. It's magic. And I've actually, like, joked about this with my dad because my dad always says that coffee makes him creative. You know, like, the ritual of it, having it next to me while I'm creating something. Like, I have my matcha right now. I have my little matcha. You know what I mean? And I'm sipping on it as I. I don't know. There's just something. I think caffeine is a creative person's best friend. Some people might say, well, it's a stimulant, so it's giving you energy. Yeah, it is. Makes you, like, want to do things more. Well, yeah, it does. And it works. So, like, there's nothing like a little matcha in. In doing a watercolor. I mean, that's like an orgasmic, like, combo for me. Oh, my God. In a little, like, bowl of Annie's Cheddar Bunnies. Holy fuck. That is heaven for me. I imagine hopefully in a long time, knock on wood, going to heaven. And there's just like a bunch of different rooms that I get to play in. And one of the rooms is matcha, Annie's Cheddar Bunnies. And a watercolor setup. Like, that's heaven for me. In another room, there's probably a bunch of trampolines. And then in another room, there's like every guy I've ever thought is hot. In one room. In one room. In the next room. All my exes together in the same room. The next room. Cozy bed in soft PJs. The next room. Anyway, we don't need to discuss my version of heaven there. We'll discuss that later. But, yeah, I think that's it. Wait, that's all I have to say for today on that note. And that's how I maximize my creativity. Honestly, I'll probably learn a lot more over the next few years and maybe I'll do a follow up to this episode at some point, but this is all I know as of now. This is what's working for me as of now. And. And it's been a real journey. A lot of this stuff is very personal, you know, it makes sense to me. It's my process. So you might not relate to some of this, some of this might not resonate with you, but I do encourage you to go on your own journey with it because I think we're all creative in one way or another. And I think learning to tap into it to the fullest extent is really rewarding and fulfilling. So go get after it. That's all I have for today. I really appreciate you all hanging out and listening. And if you enjoyed it, have no fear. Okay, new episodes of Anything Goes. Every Thursday and Sunday. Tune in anywhere you stream podcasts, although you can watch video only on YouTube and Spotify, find Anything Goes on the Internet everywhere at Anything Goes. Find me on the Internet at Emma Chamberlain and find my coffee company in the world at Chamberlain Coffee. And I love you all. I appreciate you all. It's always a joy. Luckily for both of us, we get to do it again in a few days. So hopefully I see you then. All right, talk to you later, and bye.