David Kadavy is the author of multiple books, including Mind Management, Not Time Management: Productivity when Creativity Matters and The Heart to Start: Stop Procrastinating and Start Creating, and a book called Design for Hackers. David has spoken at South by Southwest, TEDx and his writings have been featured in The Observer, The Huffington Post, Ink Magazine, Quartz, McSweeney’s, Upworthy, Lifehacker, and many other places. In addition to his writing and publications, he is also the creator and host of the Love Your Work podcast.

In this episode on the School for Good Living Podcast, David joins me to discuss creativity, productivity, and living a meaningful life. We discuss creating something David calls a curiosity management system and how he uses “crumb time” to learn and to create more than you otherwise might. We explore how David escaped being born in the wrong place, a suburban area in Nebraska, surrounded by people who didn’t understand him and with whom he didn’t really connect, and how he managed to create a fulfilling life of creativity and contribution and create a life in Columbia where he lives now. We also discussed the struggle that many artists and creators have of figuring out what their unique message is, exactly what their voice is, who their audience is, and how David has approached these things. Join us to explore these ideas of writing as a process of teaching ourselves and learning what we need to know and the fact that writing is often not a linear process and how to use that fact to your advantage.

“That’s kind of the secret of anything, being okay at being bad at it.”

This week on the School for Good Living Podcast:

Looking past money, knowledge, and experiences to find meaning
Using “crumb time” as a curiosity management system
David’s “beige period” and how he found his way out of it
How to finally just get started
What happens if the human race goes extinct – and is it really a bad thing?

Resources Mentioned:

191. David Kadavy – Mind Management, Not Time Management: Productivity When Creativity Matters