Creativity Miniseries: Perspiration

Summary

Podcast Summary: Don't Cut Your Own Bangs – Creativity Miniseries: Perspiration

Episode: Creativity Miniseries: Perspiration
Release Date: March 3, 2025
Host: Danielle Ireland
Guest: Emily Sutherland

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Introduction

In the third episode of Danielle Ireland's four-part miniseries on creativity, titled "Perspiration," Danielle delves into the often-overlooked but essential aspects of the creative process that require hard work and persistence. Joined by her creative partner, Emily Sutherland, the episode explores how embracing the less glamorous parts of creation can lead to meaningful and sustained artistic endeavors.

The Importance of Perspiration in Creativity

Danielle Ireland opens the discussion by addressing the "least sexy aspect of creation and creativity: perspiration." She emphasizes that while inspiration and the initial spark are vital, it's the hard work—the perspiration—that transforms ideas into tangible outcomes.

“We could boil this down to roll up your sleeves and do it pretty much done.”
— Danielle Ireland [02:36]

The conversation highlights that many creators aspire to complete projects like publishing a podcast or writing a book, but the real challenge lies in navigating the grit required to see these projects through to completion.

Balancing Stress Sweat vs. Productive Sweat

Danielle and Emily differentiate between two types of perspiration: the negative "stress sweat" associated with anxiety and self-doubt, and the positive "doing it sweats" that result from active engagement in creative tasks.

“My shaming sweat. Shame thrives in secrecy... I am doing the right kind of sweating, not the wrong kind of sweating."
— Danielle Ireland [07:25]

Danielle shares her personal experience as a "stress sweater," where feelings of inadequacy manifest physically. In contrast, she advocates for "Nike sweats"—the productive sweat that signifies effort and progress.

Overcoming Shame and Self-Criticism

A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to addressing the detrimental impact of shame and self-criticism on creativity. Danielle introduces an exercise inspired by Anne Lamott to combat these negative voices:

“Picture those voices in your head... picture them as little mice. Put them into a jar, screw the lid on the jar, and watch them claw at the thing.”
— Danielle Ireland [08:45]

This visualization technique helps creators manage internal critics, allowing them to focus on their work without being hindered by self-doubt.

Practical Strategies for Staying Productive

The episode offers several actionable strategies to maintain productivity and overcome creative blocks:

1. Exercise as a Catalyst: Danielle explains how physical movement can help unblock creative stagnation.

   “I was able to get out of my own way and get something started... when I take whatever I'm trying to process or trying to accomplish with me on my walk.”
   — Danielle Ireland [03:15]

2. Setting Deadlines and Accountability: Establishing personal deadlines and involving others can create the necessary pressure to complete projects.

   “Setting some deadlines and making commitments can apply the right kind of pressure.”
   — Danielle Ireland [06:45]

3. Embracing the Process: Both Danielle and Emily stress the importance of beginning the creative process despite initial discomfort, emphasizing that confidence grows through action.

   “Confidence has come from doing the thing. There's like this almost like a wrong idea about front-loading confidence.”
   — Danielle Ireland [14:29]

Personal Insights and Experiences

Danielle shares candid anecdotes about her own creative journey, including the nervousness she feels before setting up her podcast. She discusses how initiating the process often alleviates anxiety and leads to a productive flow once in motion.

“Once I start talking, that all goes away... once you begin, that all goes away.”
— Danielle Ireland [11:38]

Additionally, Danielle highlights the importance of community and resources, giving a special mention to Jen Eades, her podcast resource, who has been instrumental in supporting her creative endeavors.

Conclusion

Wrapping up the episode, Danielle and Emily reaffirm that sweating through the challenges of creativity is a universal experience. They encourage listeners to embrace both the inspirational and perspiration phases, ensuring continuous creation despite obstacles.

“Just keep creating, just keep going, keep making. And if you haven't started, this is your call.”
— Danielle Ireland [16:00]

The episode serves as a motivational reminder that persistence and hard work are integral to the creative process, urging creators to push through discomfort and continue their artistic journeys.

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Connect and Collaborate

Beyond the episode, listeners are invited to engage with upcoming events such as "Storytelling for Business" on April 4th and "Nurturing Your Creative Self" on May 9th. These events aim to further support and inspire individuals in their creative pursuits.

For more details and to sign up, visit the link provided in the show notes.

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Thank you for tuning into Danielle Ireland's "Don't Cut Your Own Bangs." Stay creative and keep perspiring!

Transcript

[Emily Sutherland]

There is a creative flow that happens when we nurture all of the aspects of ourselves. And you've probably heard if you've been.

[Danielle Ireland]

Listening to this podcast for a while.

[Emily Sutherland]

That there is this magical spark that happens with journaling. Now you may be even thinking, well, you know, I used to journal, but I didn't really know what I was doing. Or yeah, I hear people talk about journaling, but like, what's the point of just writing down your thoughts or writing down what happened in the day?

[Danielle Ireland]

I can tell you the benefit.

[Emily Sutherland]

The reason why that matters is because there is a constant track of noise that plays in your head over and over again. And putting those thoughts into a place gives you a more powerful position to do something new with it. Whether that's something new is to set it down and let it go. Ignite and spark an important or meaningful conversation that needs to happen, or a creative idea. So I want to invite you to pick up a copy of the treasured journal. It's a journal that I made with you in mind. It's a seven part guided journal so that you don't ever have to look at a blank page and wonder, gosh, what should I be writing? Or am I doing this right or wrong? It can also be a guide for you to use in many journals over and over and over again. The prompts, the stories, the quotes, they're going to be there with you forever. So don't worry, you don't have to do this alone. You have Community here.

[Danielle Ireland]

Hello, hello, this is Danielle Ireland and you are listening to don't cut your own bangs, the third episode in our four part miniseries about creation. And I am sitting next to my creative partner in crime for this miniseries, Emily Sutherland. She's a writer, she's a screenwriter, she's a ghostwriter, she writes all the things. And we are here today to talk about probably the least sexy aspect of creation and creativity. Perspiration. Boo, boo, boo. Hiss, sweat. Get your deodorant ready or your non aluminum free all natural bombs. Get whatever you use ready for those pits because this is going to be a sweaty episode and I say that as a self acknowledged sweater, but this is, this is an important part of the process and we're going to go through it a little more quickly. Not because it doesn't deserve some time, but because this is the part that it's a little less fun, but it's necessary.

[Guest Speaker]

Absolutely. We can condense this down so that you can get to work. We could tell you how to run or you could just Run.

[Danielle Ireland]

That's so good. Yes. So basically we could boil this down to roll up your sleeves and do it pretty much done.

[Guest Speaker]

Most of us want to have published a podcast or have done the thing, but actual getting it through the grit of getting it done is. You're right, it's not sexy, but it's necessary.

[Danielle Ireland]

It is. And I think that there. This is maybe my version of tough love. And just know that my version of tough love is like the softest pillow bump on the side of the head. But I do sometimes need that where you've done everything you can possibly do except doing the thing right and then you must do. But I'll say a couple of things that have helped me and I'm actually going to talk about perspiration in a different way. Exercise. I was able to get out of my own way and get something started, get my first draft started when I decided to go outside and move my body. Sometimes perspiration quite literally is the thing. I'm sweating in the stinky, stale, unhealthy way when I'm sitting as a ball of anxiety when I actually move my body and I take whatever I'm trying to process or trying to accomplish or do with me on my walk. And it doesn't just have to be a walk. I don't know, it could be going out with a friend. But when I take it and move with it, whether in communion with another person conversation, but moving the idea, moving the energy of the idea actually helps it not become stuck and stagnant and stale.

[Guest Speaker]

So important.

[Danielle Ireland]

Yeah, so true. Because the. I'm a stress sweater. And so that's what happens whenever I get activated in fight or flight or whenever I have an old story that says, you can't do this, you shouldn't do this. Who do you think you are? The world doesn't need a children's book. It needs an important book. You know, right. This, this. Well, this well worn path that we've been trotting about my. My ego. But that is when the sweat that is really stinky that can break through any deodorant balm, toms or no. But that stress sweat is unique to shame and not feeling good enough. And that form of sweat is not the same sweat as when I go on a walk or I move my body. So sometimes the only thing left to do is roll up your sleeves and do the damn work. And I would even say if you need to procrastinate a little bit longer, maybe the thing you need to do is actually move Your body, like hold the idea in front of you and then go move your body. Because if you can't do anything else, it's amazing what unlocks when you move your body. Maybe I'm speaking of that as a dancer, like having done dance. The things that come that get shaken loose and kind of fall out of your mind when you just let yourself move are really, really, really invaluable.

[Guest Speaker]

Even watching a dancer for me does.

[Danielle Ireland]

That a little bit.

[Guest Speaker]

You know, it's just such a beautiful art. And that motion, there's something about motion. I would also submit that most of us need a whiteboard in our showers, which would definitely run. But like, how many people have ever heard. I was stuck. I couldn't. I reached a point where I was like, I don't know what to do next, what to write next, what step would, would be next. And then I got a shower and it all came to me and I couldn't get it fast enough because, you know, slippery soap. And it is amazing how you know, even like when you're not trying so hard, sometimes walking away is good, but you have to come back. And that's the thing. I often tell people too make dates with yourself to make sure that you set for yourself many deadlines. And I'm speaking to myself on a project that I have right now where I'm a little stuck because it's a different kind of project for me. And I keep not doing it because I keep feeling like I don't know if this is what I want to say. And so I'm talking to myself right now. But when you feel stuck just breathing for a minute and then like set a date, like I will finish that mile post in the project by Friday, you know, and celebrate it when you do. Because setting deadlines for yourself, telling someone, knowing that you would call me on Friday and say, did you get that part done? You know, those are the things that we have to put in place to ourselves so that we don't just not sweat.

[Danielle Ireland]

Yes, that's such a good point. That setting some deadlines and making commitments can apply the right kind of pressure. Because I think that that's where. And I think everybody has to find their own, their own relationship with it. It's kind of like a seesaw up and down of what's the right kind of pressure or the right kind of constraint that makes me commit. And that's where getting somebody involved, not keeping it to myself. And that's why I go back to that four step process. Like if I'm Aware that I really want to do this, then if I acknowledge it out loud to somebody else, I'm now holding myself accountable to that because somebody else is involved, and I don't want to disappoint them. And it just feels like it's also going back to this idea of the different types of sweat. My shaming sweat. Shame thrives in secrecy. And so by not keeping it to myself, I am doing the right kind of sweating, not the wrong kind of sweating.

[Guest Speaker]

Absolutely. Yeah. It's the nervous sweats. It's the doing it sweats.

[Danielle Ireland]

Exactly. The doing it sweats.

[Guest Speaker]

Nike sweats.

[Danielle Ireland]

Exactly. We want the Nike sweats, not the shaming sweats. Exactly.

[Guest Speaker]

Shame is such a destroyer. Jump in here. It's such a destroyer of creativity. So if you're feeling shame or not good enough while you're doing something, here's a little exercise that I would like to walk you through. Okay? And this came from my favorite author, Anne Lamott. She says, picture those voices in your head, the criticism, the little critics in your head saying, that's not very interesting. Or, who are you to create this? Picture them as little mice. Let them exist in your mind like little mice. Put them into a jar, screw the lid on the jar, and watch them claw at the thing, and turn the volume all the way up, let them go, and then turn the volume all the way down and get to writing. And that is an exercise that I do with every workshop that we do for storytelling, because it's like, we all. Whether we've been doing this for 30 years and I'm raising my hand right now, or we've never written anything ever, we all have the voice of a critic that wants us to not finish. And that is where I feel like, even in the perspiration part, even when we're like, we've gotten over it enough to admit this idea and decide that it wants to live, but every day that you sit down to that project, you have the opportunity to either listen or not listen to the things that are trying to block your progress.

[Emily Sutherland]

If you've been enjoying this time with Emily Sutherland and myself, I want you to know that there are still ways that you can connect and collaborate with her and continue to learn from all of the wisdom she has in a more in depth and personal way. We have another upcoming event, Storytelling for business. It's April 4th, and this is great. If you're a solopreneur, part of a marketing team, or a presenter, and you want to take your storytelling to the next level in the workplace, later in the year, on May 9, there is another really special event called nurturing your creative self. This is for anybody who used to lose time when they were coloring as a kid or loves to just mix new ingredient combinations together in a bowl and see what you can bake. However creativity manifests for you, it doesn't have to be writing, but this event does give you the opportunity to reacquaint yourself with your creativity and hopefully reignite a spark. So if you need help, support, you need a community and you don't want to figure this out alone. You don't have to check out the link in the show notes and you can have all the detail in depth information and can sign up there. Thanks so much for listening.

[Danielle Ireland]

I feel a little bit of perspiration. Like my little mice start squeaking away every time I set up my podcast.

[Guest Speaker]

Interesting.

[Danielle Ireland]

Every time.

[Guest Speaker]

And it's so. You're so good at it.

[Danielle Ireland]

Thank you. See how I dismissed that with laughter? Thank you. I'm going to graciously receive that. We're well over 100. We're in the 160s in terms of the amount of episodes. I think it's just. I'm afraid I'm going to miss something where the audio is not going to be right. I'm going to misclick something. It's not going to get saved. Like, I. It's smaller and smaller. I can say that it's a mouse, it's not a bobcat in every time I set up my equipment. But I do think there is this little part that's like, do you really think. Do you really think you know how to do this? And I mean, I. Setting up for our podcast recording this morning, I started getting a little bit of sweat because I felt kind of stale and out of practice. It's funny because once we start talking, that all goes away.

[Guest Speaker]

Sure.

[Danielle Ireland]

I mean, once I say work, it all goes away, but setting it up, it feels like, oh, God, I haven't done this in a month. I'm not going to know what to do. And it just. But then. And I start to sweat.

[Guest Speaker]

But what you just said is important, that once you begin, that all goes away. And I think it's important for people to know that you can get ready to get ready forever. But when you sit down to write and you just allow whatever wants to come out to come out, you edit later, just start writing or just start talking. If it's a podcast or if it's an interview or a piece of art, you know, let yourself just Be with it and enjoy the process. The process isn't always beautiful. I'm not saying, like, oh, it's just this dreamy thing. But you will find that once you begin, it's like an on ramp. Sometimes it takes a minute to get onto that ramp, but all of a sudden you're like, oh, we're in the flow. Like, something wants to be said. And once you say that thing, then the next thing might want to be said. And then when you stop hearing it, take a break, get that shower, walk around the block. Just allow yourself to sit with what you've done and celebrate what you've done. But doing it, there's no way to predict how it's going to feel or go until you just start and let it live.

[Danielle Ireland]

As somebody who loves to swim in the feeling space, if I waited until I was comfortable to do everything, nothing would get done.

[Guest Speaker]

Same.

[Danielle Ireland]

But it's funny, though, because I'm trying to think about what is the relationship I have between comfort and then being committed. Because if we go back to inspiration, the inspiration is probably the most comfortable process for me. That feels like I'm in communion with something.

[Guest Speaker]

Yes. It's my favorite part, too.

[Danielle Ireland]

Yeah. I mean, it's just so delicious. That's very comfortable. There might have been a little bit of sweat involved in that, though. Possibly. But then just all of it. It's like a little bit of each element. The way that we've broken this podcast down, it's like there's a little bit of all four elements in each piece.

[Guest Speaker]

Yeah.

[Danielle Ireland]

I waited until I was comfortable to set up a podcast. I wouldn't, but I'm. I think with. At least with this particular process versus writing a book with this process, I know what this part feels like, and I know that this part is worth the momentary discomfort of challenging and confronting my own ideas about how I am with technology. It's just. I find that so interesting that, like, every time, there's still this little zip of, like, am I gonna do this? And I probably will have, because I already have, like, four ideas for other books I want to write. But I've never been someone who can date multiple people at the same time. That's not a skill set I have. It's like I'm in a committed relationship, nothing else.

[Guest Speaker]

And you're in a committed relationship with a walrus, right?

[Danielle Ireland]

Exactly. Exactly. I'm in a committed relationship with a walrus. And so I can't let myself think about creating another or what writing another would be while. And I'm Assuming other people can do that. And maybe that's a skill you develop in time. I don't know. But once this is done, then I'd be able to think about something else.

[Guest Speaker]

Sure.

[Danielle Ireland]

But I think that that's the. For me, confidence has come from doing the thing. There's like this almost like a wrong idea about front loading confidence. I need to feel confident before I can do the thing. But for me, confidence has only ever come from having done the thing. I'm more confident in my ability to set up the podcast because I've done it 165 other times. But that confidence is just enough to help me know, like, okay, you know, this is going to pass. It's like if you can do the perspiration, that is the badge of honor that you win 100.

[Guest Speaker]

And when what you just said too, is like, you've done this 165 times now I think about Danielle before that first one and the sweat and. But you did it.

[Danielle Ireland]

There was so much.

[Guest Speaker]

Glad you did it.

[Danielle Ireland]

Yeah. God bless you, Jen Eades. I can't sing her praises enough.

[Guest Speaker]

She's great.

[Danielle Ireland]

Yeah. The brassy broadcast. I'm just going to give her a good little plug. Anybody listening who doesn't already know Jen? She is the woman who knows. She is my podcast resource. Oh, my goodness. Yes. Just anything I need to know. And I try not to abuse it because, I mean, she is a professional, but I just. It's just so incredible that there are people in the world like her who know as much as they do and just want to help other people learn. Like you with writing. It's just so beautiful.

[Guest Speaker]

Absolutely, Jen. I had one lunch with her and I still hear her voice when I'm working on anything related to podcasts and recorded interviews and things like that. She's. She's a great resource, honestly.

[Danielle Ireland]

Yeah, we'll talk about her in the creativity toolkit. Yes, we will. No. Yeah. The first lunch I had with her, when I talked, I was like, I think I want to start a podcast. And she said, when you start a podcast, I'll never forget that. Never forget that. Well, this was great. This was short and sweet, quick and dirty. You might be sweating. And that's okay. You're not alone, because I am too. We all sweat. It's like that book. Everybody poops, Every creator sweats.

[Guest Speaker]

Yes.

[Danielle Ireland]

Just keep creating, just keep going, keep making. And if you haven't started, this is your call. Thanks for completing this third episode in our four part creativity series. And we look forward to connecting with you in our final episode of Creation. I hope you continue to have a wonderful day.