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On the creative journey, it's easy to get lost. But don't worry, you'll lift off. Sometimes you just need a creative pep talk. So this episode is about creative block. You might not feel like you're blocked creatively because you're actively making stuff. Maybe you've made a bunch of stuff in the past week or month or year year, but have you been creative? Have you really gotten into that state? There are lots of times in my creative journey where I get afraid that my best creative work is on the past, that I haven't been able to tap into my creative potential, or that creative brain state that really gets my best work cooking. And yet every other year or so I am able to surprise myself with something that feels better than anything I've ever made. Working on a book with my wife Sophie right now, that feels like it might be the best thing we've ever made. And that feeling is just so, so good. And so if you are struggling to get into your highest creative state recently, you're feeling a bit blocked in that area. This episode is going to give you five different things, five different tools that are going to help you create the conditions to access that flow, that creativity, that stuff that is just the juiciest, meatiest creativity that we love and want to fill our creative work up with. And if you stick until the end, I'm going to review all five and you're going to try to feel out which one you need to employ today to make the difference. So let's get into it. Reminder for forgetful creative folks, now is the time to get holiday shopping before it's too late and it's not fun anym. Uncommon Goods makes holiday shopping stress free and joyful with thousands of one of a kind gifts that you can't find anywhere else. Uncommon Goods has products that are high quality and unique and often handmade or made in the us. Many are crafted by independent artists or small businesses, which means a lot are small batch and can sell out pretty fast. We got a bunch of great presents on there recently. A super unique pint glass for my father in law, this cool color changing umbrella for my youngest kid. A taste of Italy snack bot for my fam to remind us of our summer vacation. Uncommon Goods has stuff for everybody. Moms and dads and kids and teens, book lovers, history buffs, die hard football fans to foodies, mixologists, avid gardeners. You'll find thousands of gifts that you can't find anywhere else. So shop early, have fun and cross some names off your list today to get 15% off your next gift. Go to uncommongoods.com that's uncommongoods.com pep talk for 15% off. Don't miss out on this limited time offer uncommon goods. We're all out of the ordinary. This episode is sponsored by Squarespace. I love Squarespace. I'm a longtime user. One of the things I love about Squarespace is I will use. It's so easy to use that I will use it to create pitches. If I'm pitching a book or I'm pitching something to a client, I will use a Squarespace page in my website and I'll build the whole thing there. Then you don't have these clunky, like, document PDFs clogging up people's inboxes, and it looks super slick. If you want to see one of those that I use all the time, I did one for my series right side out. Andyjpizza.com RSO and you can see how I create a little pitch summary of that project. Go to squarespace.com pep talk get building for free and trying it out and testing it. And then when you're ready to launch, use promo code pep talk all one word for 10% off your first purchase. Thanks, Squarespace. Creative block is so frustrating because it's not fully in your control. You can't force your brain to enter the creative state. And you probably experience this where you're in the place where creativity is supposed to happen. You're in the spot, you're doing the things that's supposed to make creativity appear. Maybe even you are typing the words on the page you're painting. You're drawing onto the paper or the canvas. But you have a sense that even though you're technically doing creative work, you haven't entered the creative state. And that's what I think is the misconception around creative block. You know, you have some people that get really, really blocked, other creative people that are like, creative block isn't even a thing. And I think the reason why we feel like maybe it's not a thing is because you can, of course, force yourself to put the paint on the canvas. You can force yourself to put the words onto the page. But words on a page and images on a canvas are not necessarily being creative. And I think it's a lot like sleep. If we could scan your brain laying in bed in the spot where it's supposed to happen, you're closing your eyes, you could even look like if someone watched you, they'd be like, yeah, that person is probably sleeping. But we could see what the brain scan when you actually enter the state of sleep. And I think the same is true for creativity. You can't force yourself to go to sleep. You can't control whether you enter the sleep state. But there is a huge difference between not being able to control something and having no influence on it. And you know that you have a lot of influence on whether you're able to sleep at night or not, that there are conditions that can be met. You can create the right environment, you can do the right things throughout the day, and then leading up to the moment where you're about to enter the state that you're desiring. And then it can have a huge influence, a huge impact on whether you can enter that state that you're after in this way. I think that creative block is a thing. It's a lot like insomnia. It is this state that we're trying to get our brains in that we are not in control of and can't quite force, but can influence. And when it comes to sleep, these ways that you influence and create the conditions for making this elusive state happen are called sleep hygiene. So we're going to call this five ways to smash creative blocks and unlock your flow again. And it's all about creative hygiene. How do we put ourselves in the place where creativity is likely to show up? So let's talk about five different ways to maximize your creative hygiene so that that creativity happens. All right, number one is the artist date. You might have heard of this, but I have a little fresh. Take a little fresh spin on this one. The artist date comes from the book the Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. And. And it's essentially having a date with yourself, having a date with your creativity, going and doing an activity that, you know, usually fills up your creative cup. It usually makes you feel like creating. And so the little spin that I want to put on this is within this idea of sleep hygiene or creative hygiene. When you read about, like, if you have insomnia, you're struggling to go to sleep at night. One of the things they say the experts tell you do, you know, do all these things create the conditions for you to be likely to go to sleep? But if you're late in bed, you're in that spot where creativity, I mean, sleep is supposed to happen, and it's not happening after a good 30 minutes. Don't just lay there because you're going to get yourself more and more worked up. You're going to get upset. It's going to activate all these other things in your brain that are going to make it even harder to get to sleep. If you have given it a good college try, a good 30 minutes, and it's not happening, get out of bed, go do something. But do things that will likely lead you to go to sleep. That will. Don't do things that are gonna be activating brain states that you know are gonna do the opposite of what you're looking for. Do things that usually tire you out, that usually make you feel sleepy. Go do those things. Don't just sit there and wait. And the way I want to inject this and apply this to your creative practice is we all have a amount of time to create. Now. At different times in my creative journey, I've had more and less, but there's always a limit. You don't just have infinite amount of time. It's one of the reasons why you get that anxiety when you have a creative block, because you're wasting the precious time that you have. And the same goes for sleep. You know, if you don't go to sleep and you have to wake up early and you know you have a limited amount of time, you're counting the hours and you're realizing like, well, if I go to sleep now, I'm gonna get this much time. If I go to sleep now, I'm gonna get this much time. It gets smaller and smaller. And that an creativity is putting you into a part of your brain that is further and further away from the desired state that you're after. And the same is true for creativity. If you sit in your studio and you're like, all right, 15 minutes in, still not feeling that creativity hitting, or 30 minutes in, still not feeling like I'm still hating everything that I'm doing, I feel like it's a good practice to say if you've got, let's say you got a two hour window, I think it's a good practice to go through the motions. You know, one of the things you're going to hear in anytime sleep comes up is it's a funny thing because you have to pretend to do it for it to happen. And that's because you can't force it. But the same is true for creativity. Like that creativity, that flow is much more likely to happen if you have a paintbrush in your hand, if you're typing, if you're at the easel, at the computer, going through the motions. And so I'm a big believer in showing up, giving it a go. But if after 30 minutes, after 45 minutes, it is not working and you are bashing your head against the wall. I would say it's a good idea to consider giving yourself permission to do an artist date. Now, that doesn't have to be pack up your things and go to the museum. That can literally be a search on Pinterest. It can go back through all the saved stuff that you have on Instagram. That could be. Look at those things. Beautiful things, books. So get some books that every time you pick them up, every time you read them, it's not even about direct inspiration. It's about just remembering why you love doing what you're doing. One of my go tos that I've talked about too much on this show is Mike Birbiglia's podcast. And the reason why I love it. I love his comedy, I love the guests, the standup guest that he has on the show. But the thing I love about it is it is really all about the love of creativity. And when I am feeling blocked, I love listening to that show because it reminds me the value, the kind of, the very hard to grasp value of art and making art. And the reason I say it's hard to grasp, it's hard to hold on in a world that is so obsessed with ROI and money. It is so hard to remember that transcendent, like, value of creative work until you're in it, you're soaking it, you're hearing other people nerd out about it and they're like, man, man, you know that thing, like when you really have a break or you show up and it's not working for a while and then it clicks. Like that feeling. Listening to that always puts me in that zone. And so what are your go tos instead of just beating your head against the easel? How can you, if after you've shown up, you're pretending to do the thing, you're waiting to do the thing, you've been disciplined in that if it's 30 minutes in, 40 minutes in, and the flow is just not happening, I think you have to give yourself some permission to do a waste half of your creative time just trying to remember why this feels so good. And that is going to require you to tap into. When are those times when I'm feeling that way. And I think give yourself to. And sometimes give yourself a bigger permission slip to go on an actual field trip because it's that important, because it's telling you you're not full. Now, one of the things I wanted to mention is this idea that creatives state Is similar to the sleep state came from this book, Master and His emissary by Ian McGilchrist. I'm about 50% of the way through. It's like a 22 hour audiobook or something. But in that, he talks about how there are certain brain states that you are not in command of, you're not in control. He says sleep. I think he mentions creativity even specifically, but I can't be sure. But the more I thought about it, the more I thought about this idea of. Of sleep hygiene and how it compares to creative hygiene and how it can put you in that place. Another reason I bring that up is because I've made over 500 episodes of this show. And sometimes people are like, how do you have new ideas for more shows? And some of it is that we cover the same ground over and over because it's hard to internalize. It's good to kind of look at it from a different angle. It's good to have a refresh. All that's true. But then also, one of the main reasons I keep having ideas is because I keep putting stuff in here. That book by Ian McGilchrist, these books that I read and consume and things that fire me up, that inspire me to make this show. And so if you're hitting that block, it might be because the flow has stopped on the input, not just the output. And that's so, so essential. I love this Amirakami quote that says, if you read the same books as everybody else, you're gonna have the same ideas. And that's not because you're taking the ideas from those books. It's because those books are sparking your own dialogue, your own comments. It's one of the things I love about this show is being able to interview some of my favorite authors. Because when I read a book that's really firing me up, I want to have a conversation I'm having. Those things are connecting to other things I've read or other experiences I've had. And all of a sudden, it's making stuff happen in me. And so if you're not having those chemical reactions happen, it might be because you're not letting anything in. And you need some inspiration. You need the permission to go have an artist date. All right, Number two is solidify your foundation. What this is about is kind of getting at the Maslow's hierarchy of needs thing. You're probably familiar with that. You learned about it in high school in psychology class. But it's essentially this idea that we have basic needs that we have to Build up until we get to those more transcendent needs. The self transcendence where creativity lies, self actualization and self transcendence. I think that's kind of where it fits in that hierarchy. I don't think it really works as systematically as might be suggested by Maslow, but who am I to question such a brilliant thinker? However, here's what I'm saying and this is something that's been central to the show since day one. This show has never been about quit your job, reckless abandon, pursue your creativity at all cost to you and to people that you love. It's never been like that. And the reason why isn't just because like I do believe in taking calculated risks. I do believe in following your current hyper fixation and curiosity and getting passionate and excited about what you're doing. I am a big believer in all those things. However, in my own personal experience, I have also found that if I don't have my basic needs met, I have an incredibly difficult time entering that creative state. Because the creative state is not survival mode. It's not how am I going to put the food on the table? And that when I am in those spaces I can't really access that creative side of me because that creative side is a playful space. And so there's kind of two areas where if I, if they're threatened, I am almost, it's not impossible, but it's really, really difficult to access my creativity. One is kind of the basic needs survival. If I don't know how the bills are going to get paid, if I don't know how we're going to, you know, afford groceries, all of those things, if I don't feel like those things are meant, I have this animalistic survival mode that comes up and it gets in the way of truly creative ideas because it's just housed in a different part of the brain. And so I'm a big believer in taking care of yourself by the means necessary, even if that means non creative work. I actually think if you are struggling in a major way financially, then I would say do whatever you gotta do, whether it's a part time job or a full time job to meet those needs. Because it's gonna be so much easier to be creative in the time that you have. You could have all the time in the world. But if your brain is obsessing over how you're gonna meet your needs, you're not going to be creative. And so I highly recommend making sure that you do what you gotta do to meet those needs. And Put the pressure your creative work from meeting all of your survival needs. The second thing that I think if you have it threatened, means you're going to have a hard time accessing your creativity is your identity. Now, this is a funny one, because so much of us really identify as creative people. We really wrap our identity up in our output as a creative person. It might be the first way that you think about your identity, the primary way. And I actually think that's not all bad. You know, there's a value in saying you're an artist and saying you're a writer and you gotta be the thing before you do the thing. I think there's some truth to that. However, if all of your identity is wrapped up on one particular creative pursuit, that's a type of pressure again, that's gonna put you in that survival mode and not able to access your creative side because your creative side is a playful side. Your creative side is something that you are able to do with the risk of no reward. And so for me, what this looks like, it doesn't look like just having an identity as a dad or an identity as a husband or person in a community or whatever. It goes beyond that of it's really helped me to have an identity as both an illustrator and a podcaster, or an illustrator and an author, and having these different arms to what I do so that the pressure is never all on one. And if this one's not going so well, I can channel some of my energy over here. And even though I was an illustrator before I was a podcaster, some of my best illustration ideas didn't come out until I had spread out my sense of self through a few different creative outlets. And then once I took the pressure off illustration, some of that creativity was really able to flow. And so it reminds me of something that Phil Stutts talks about in the documentary that Jonah Hill did on him. He's his therapist and he talks about when you're really, really struggling and nothing's going right, you can't get yourself to do anything. Focus on cultivating your life force. That's what he calls it. And it's really about eating well, sleeping well, taking care of the things that you need to take care of. And I think if you do all those things, if you cultivate your general life force and well being, that creative state will be so much more second nature. Longtime listeners know running is a huge part of my creative journey. It regulates my mood, keeps me creatively tuned in, and helps me focus. So as an artist and a runner. I am super into Vander Jacket. That's because it's the only running apparel company that I've ever heard of that was founded by an artist and the business and the clothing scream creativity. Vanderjacket apparel is made of leftover fabric from bigger apparel companies. That limitation of using exclusively dead stock fabric actually forces the Vander team to innovate and create unique running styles. It all is really unique and super cool. All apparel is made in Denver by the founder and a small team of brilliant clothing construction workers. They are the only running company I have ever heard of that makes one of a kind garments and does so in small batches of running clothes. It's getting colder recently and I have loved running in my vanderjacket jacket. Deep pockets for my AirPods sleeves with thumb holes that keep my hands really warm. So good. If you're looking for something special this holiday season, whether your family's gifts need to be local, handmade, one of a kind, or repurposed Vanderjacket checks every box. Head to vanderjacket.com and use code CREATIVE in all caps. CREATIVE for 20% off your first order. That's V A N D E R jacket.com promo code CREATIVE for 20% off your 1st order. Hey y', all, we have our 2026 calendars in the shop. Each month of the calendar features different episode art from this show, kind of the best of the year, and gives you a different pep talk each and every month. So my hope is that there's even maybe some spooky synchronicity that happens with the art. The day you remember to flip the calendar, whether that's day one or day 27 that you get the pep talk you need in that artwork that day. You know, one can hope these calendars are offset. They are offset printing. Beautiful smell like good printed matter, which is just my favorite thing. And we added a bunch of T shirts and stickers into the shop and there are even some new invisible things games that are really cool and I think make good gifts for the holidays Coming up for a limited time, just a few weeks, listeners of the show are going to get 10% off if they use promo code Peppy P E P P Y Peppy when they check out. As a thank you for supporting my creative practice and helping me justify making this show every week. Thanks. All right, we're going to work through the last three a little bit faster because I'm kind of ranting. I'm getting excited just going a bit too long on all these, but Here, number three is get under the microscope. Let me explain what I mean by that. The idea here is that you need to get in observational mode about who you are when creativity is likely to happen conventionally or traditionally or historically for you. When does creativity show up? And the idea behind this point came from Jim Collins, who is this famous business writer. He has this practice he calls Jim the Bug. And I've talked about it a couple times throughout the run of this show, but I've been thinking about it a lot more recently. And what he does is he gives every day a score between negative two and two and plus two, right? So every day can be a negative two, a negative one, a zero, a one or a two, depending on just generally how much he enjoyed it, how much it felt right. And so every day gets a score. And then there's a little description that says these are the contributing factors of kind of the stuff that I was doing that day. Now that's a little bit nerdy, Jim. I mean, I love it, I wish I could do it, but I just don't think I am that disciplined. But I don't think you have to be. I think it can look like, hey, if you want to do that, go for it. I think it could be really valuable experience, but I don't think you have to go that far. What I recommend you do is say, when am I most creative? What is the place that I'm in physically? Am I at a coffee shop? Am I in the bathtub? That's one of the reasons why I write in the bathtub every day, is because of that self reflection of realizing so many of my best ideas came from being in the bath. And the fact of the matter is, you actually see this reflected in the literature around creative research. They have this thing they call the three Bs, and they're the places where creativity tends to, tends to show up. They tend to be these liminal spaces. And the three Bs as they define them are baths, bathtubs or showers, the bus or bedtime in the bed. And that there are these places where you're really not doing anything. You're kind of waiting, you're kind of reflecting, you're in between. And that's where creativity usually shows up. So it might be the three Bs for you, or it might not. But is incredibly important to remember that these are the conditions, this is the hygiene where it's likely to happen. And you might be surprised if you just take a moment to step back and think about it. How Few of those scenarios you are regularly and routinely putting into your everyday and into your creative practice. Because it's easy to fall into what's the most convenient time and space. Space to create for myself and my family and everyone around me or my job. And not realize that if you just made an extra effort to put yourself in those spaces where creativity tends to happen for you, you are so much more likely to enter that state. So treat yourself like the bug. Put yourself under the microscope. Give yourself a moment to just think back to when were the times where my best ideas came to me. What was I doing? What was I eating? What was I thinking about? Who was I talking to? All of these matter for me. One of the things that. One example that's kind of unusual is some of my best work happened randomly on a day in vacation where I took a day to work or I took a day to create. And it was after this moment of not doing anything and feeling zero pressure because I'd already decided I'm not going to be productive. I'm not going to contribute to shareholder values in this week or two. And in that space, you know, the time that I posted my invisible things was on vacation. There were editorial. There was an editorial illustration that was really key to building my style. That happened on vacation. I don't recommend working your whole vacation. That's not what a vacation is. But that's an example of where those moments happen. And so that could look like, you know, instead of taking the next few weeks and using that creative block that you have to make work, it could look like, how could I tour my own city? How could I use those hours to goof off and do whatever I want and maybe keep a sketchbook at the same time and put something into that if and when the moment strikes? But it's all about self reflection and kind of getting that outsider's perspective to see when. When do these things happen? What are the conditions? All right, number four is employ precision. Creative precision. So here's what I mean by that. I don't know how much you've watched this show, but you might have noticed that I'm often wearing this same shirt. If you're just listening to the show and you can't see it, it's a shirt that says the arts. It's one that I designed. I have have six or seven copies of this shirt, and I wear them most days. And part of the reason is the same reason that you've heard other people talk about creating this cartoon wardrobe. It's the idea that we have a limited amount of decision making potential in every day. Every decision you make is leading towards a fatigue of your ability to make decisions. And a lot of creativity is making decisions, decisions. And so there are so many ways that I've tried to eliminate that decision fatigue and be precise with where I channel the creativity to make sure it's the places where it needs to go, where it really counts. And so this looks like, yes, things I wear, but it also looks like the work itself. And sometimes this manifests in style. So I think one of the reasons why established creative people sometimes talk down about style and how it's not really about style, like, don't get caught up on style. That's not really the point. And I think some. When I was starting out, I was so obsessed with finding my style that I hated when they said that because I was like, yeah, it's one of the reasons I love your work is your aesthetic and your voice and the consistency in this world that you've created. This vernacular, if you will. I love to say that word. It's got so many good consonants in it. But now that I've been making art for 15 plus years, I've started to realize, even though I still have a real appreciation for style, and I love certain aspects of the style that I've been able to develop, I think I get what they mean in my mind when I look at a Wes Anderson who's kind of the extreme example of style, I have to guess that part of that is, is less about creativity and more about creative precision. Because instead of worrying about how are we going to block this shot, how are we gonna frame it, what's the wardrobe, what's the all, you know, all these different decisions. So many of those decisions are made with the style and aesthetic that he has established. Now there's an argument that says sometimes you need to blow that up and rethink it all. And I think there's good argument for that. But what I think happens is as you develop an aesthetic in a way have an approach, a sensibility to your work, you are deciding so many different things before you even get started. And you can channel the truest, most potent creativity towards a very specific thing. And that might be the theme of the movie, that might be the dialogue, it might be, it doesn't really matter. What matters is that you know what matters to you. That you know where the creativity really, really counts and that you reserve some of that for those things. So for me, as a picture book artist or as a picture book author, the most important aspect of the writing is what is this about primarily, like, what is the arc that we're looking for with this character? And then secondly, I'm thinking about how to do. We structure the three acts to be sort of an equation that really comes together in the third act. And once we have those two things, like, I want to save so much for that and then all the rest of it, I, I want to just play and kind of have fun and apply style and make jokes and everything else. But that's where I'm really concentrating the lion's share of my creative juices, if you will. And the same goes for a podcast. There are elements of a podcast where I am pouring the most potent piece, the most potent reserve of my creativity, and the rest is kind of a domino effect after that. And so that's the fourth one. Employ precision, which requires you to figure out what matters, because that's, that's where you need to put your best work. And that's going to allow you not to put so much pressure and waste so much of your energy deciding everything else. And sometimes your creative block, the reason why it's happening is because you've spent all your creativity in so many different places that don't really count. All right, number five, pretend, AKA be a pro. So I saw a meme recently that was a kind of a woo woo thing about, and it was saying that to go to sleep, you have to pretend you're asleep and that everything kind of works like this, that you have to pretend to do the thing before you can do the thing. Now I think that was getting at kind of a woo woo thing, but I feel like it's really true about creativity. You're much more likely to get into that creative zone if you have a brush in your hand, if you are putting the paint on the easel, if you are, you, you want to put on the canvas, right? I mean, not on the easel. It's a, you know, paint wherever you want, get creative. But I just wanted to be a little bit. Employ some precision there from point four. But what I'm getting at here is, you know, you're unlikely to fall asleep if you're standing in your kitchen. You're much more likely to fall asleep if you are late in bed, the lights are out, you haven't been looking at your phone, you're doing all of the things, all the conditions that are going to put you at your best chance for falling asleep. And the same goes for creativity and why I said, AKA be a pro. Is because I think that one of the things that holds so many creative people back is the thing they want to be too good, they want to be great. They want to only create from that creative state that you know it when you feel it, just like you do sleeping versus resting, you know the difference. And I think so many creative people only want to create from that space. And I think it's a mistake, because I think the most that you're going to get that lightning in the bottle if you are creating not from that space more often, if you are just more often in that creative bed. And what this looks like is this thing that Christoph Niemann talks about, who is a really legendary illustrator. He says that being a pro isn't about being able to create great work on purpose every time. That great work is coming from that creative state, that flow state, that transcendent state, that other place where you're channeling something, something's happening that's semi random, that is not in your control in the same way that sleep is not in control, in your control. But what is in your control is the craft. And what Christoph Niemann would say is, you are able, if you're a pro. That's about being able to make good work work every single time. And that's about knowing the rules and then breaking them when it's appropriate. That's about having the hours and putting in the reps. And for me, what that looks like is accepting that I am able to make a good illustration every single time I come to the table, but I'm not able to do a great one every time. And what that looks like in practice is we have episode art for every single episode of this show. And they're not all great. Okay, I think most of them are pretty good. But then every year we create a calendar, which is on sale now@creativepeptalk.etsy.com I believe our 20, 26 calendars are up. And we collect out of the 30, 35 pieces of work that I create every year. We collect the 12 best pieces. And I always think some of those are pretty great. They're the ones that I kind of think of as a hall of fame in my own portfolio of personal work. And I think the reason why I'm able to do five, 10 great ones is because I made 30, and that if I made 15, I'd only have a couple greats. And so I think it's the same, like pretending to sleep is the best bet you have on entering that sleep state and pretending to be creative. Pretending to be in the flow state is the most likely scenario that you will be able to unlock it. And I think I have such an appreciation for the actors that have this long career of some bad movies, a lot of good movies, and a few greats. And I think if you just keep getting up to bat, you just keep putting in the reps, you are likely to stumble upon that state from time to time. So we're not going to have a robust CTA section because this is really a list of actions that you could take. And so your creative call to adventure this week is just to revisit this list. Let's just do it right now in real time and just see, just right now. Just give it a second. Just feel it out. Which one of these is lighting you on fire? Use some of your creative time to do some of that this week. So I'm going to go through them. You just close your eyes if you're not driving. Open your damn eyes if you are driving. And just feel it. Feel it out. Let's see. All right, artist date. Is that what you need? Do you need to fill up your creative cup with some fresh inspiration? Number two, solidify your foundation. That one might be a little bit of tough love. Are you not taking care of yourself? Are you not paying the bills? There is no shame in having a full time job. In fact, I just heard that the indie rocker, INDIE Musician Mac DeMarco, I think he became a plumber and I've never respected him more. I'm like, this guy really values his creativity because he's taking care of himself. He's not putting all the pressure on it. I highly recommend having a few different ways that you make an income. And maybe all of them are creative if that's ideal for you, but maybe some of them are not. And it's so essential that you take care of yourself. Number three, get under the microscope. Andy the bug. Jim the bug. Think about when does this happen? What are the days? What are the places? When do I make my best work? Are you doing those things or are you just taking the most, the path of least resistance when it comes to creating? Because it's hard to get yourself to go to the coffee shop or it's hard to make sure that you're in the bath every day. Wash yourself, take care of yourself and get under the microscope. All right, but put some pants on first. Number four, employ precision. Employ precision. That's about reserving your best creative juices for things that really matter. That's through style. That's through wearing the same crap every day. Don't waste it on things that don't matter to you. Maybe your fashion is super important to your creativity. Then spend it there. But the point is, you got to know what matters. And number five, we just went over that one. Pretend, AKA be a pro. Keep making stuff even if you're not in the flow state. Just do it. Just be there. Be in the studio. Put the pin to the page and the draw all over that easel, baby. Little inside joke from a little callback. All right. Hope that helps you. This was fun to go through for me. I like this idea of creative hygiene. I'm probably gonna keep thinking about it. Maybe we'll do more episodes on it in the future. Who knows? Thanks, Ian McGilchrist for your book master and his emissary. That is just so. It's taken me so long to go through it, but every time I I tap into that Bhad bhabie, I get so inspired. So thank you for the work. Thanks to Sophie Miller for being a producer and an editor on the show. Thanks to Connor Jones of Pending Beautiful for audio edits, video edits, animation, sound design. Thanks to Yoni Wolf and the band Y for our theme music and soundtrack. And thanks to all of you for showing up and listening. Hope that it helped and stay papped, y'. All. Hi, it's Julie Klausner, and I'd like to talk to you about a podcast called How Was yous Week with Julie Klausner? It's hosted by me, Julie Klausner, New York City comedy legend much. And it's on the Forever Dog Network. Now you might remember how is your week from its humble inception back in 2011. Now I'm back and I've got monologues and pop culture takes and interviews with experts, comedians, writers, documentary filmmakers and authors about all kinds of fascinating stuff. So tune in to how was your week? Every Tuesday and Thursday for new episodes available on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Okay, the podcast is over, so I don't know why you're still listening, but I am glad that you enjoyed it enough to stick to the end. I have one more thing for you. If you're in a place where you're feeling a lack of clarity and you want to figure out your industry, market and niche and find the perfect strategic side project to do next, go sign up to our newsletter@andyjpizza.substack.com and you will get a confirmation email. Well, that will give you the download of our Creative Career Path handbooklet and the whole process is in there. And you might also get a few bonuses in there depending on when you sign up. But again, thanks for listening. Glad you enjoyed the episode and stay pepped up, y'. All.