Latest / The Common Creative / Episode 212: Paul & Chris - The Creative Restart
Transcript
- speaker-0: Hello and welcome to a restart of the Common Creative Podcast. My name is Chris Merritt. speaker-1: And my name is Paul Fairweather and Chris and I are back to open up the discussion, lift the lid on creativity in life and business through the lens of ideas, stories and visual communication. And as we unpause or start again after a little a little break, we're really focusing on that one idea that that people have one idea around creativity. speaker-0: That's right. We've we've been using the break to reflect on what we've achieved and how we ta build the Comic Grave podcast into something even more successful. And yeah, so our idea is to have a little bit of more sharpness in the way we chat to our guests and each other and challenge them to come up with one thing. One thing they want to share with the world, one thing they've discovered about creativity. So that we get the very best insights for our audience. It it also makes me think of that dreadful boy band song You Got That One Thing So I'll try and get that out of my head before too long. speaker-1: well. How are you thinking about It's in my head now, Chris. So speaker-0: So speaker-1: Yeah, look, I I think when I in it was a couple of things I want to talk about, you know, about the pause. But I think this one thing, what I found in the interviews and what we found in the interviews is we always ask people at the end, what's one piece of advice? And it was, you know, we didn't tell them it was coming, but if they had listened to episodes they would know. And often they were the real gems, you know, that ca came out in Without notice and after they've actually given amazing advice and sometimes people repeated it. So I suppose what we're trying to do is I'm I I am no doubt that it will be a rabling, rambling conversation as it is, as you and I both pepper our poor guests from different directions about questions, taking them hither and hope or wherever that saying is. But yeah, so I think that's where it's come from. And and it's really just focused down and and in in a way we're just reverse engineering it because what we've done in the past, we've gone that, we've asked them for one thing, and then you and I have picked a title, that sums it up. And so what we're really trying to do is talk to the guest beforehand and go, have a think about one thing. speaker-0: Mm. Yeah. And I think that's a great discipline to give a focus for our discussions. But but let's change the subject. We've been on pause for I don't know, six, eight weeks, something like that. And I found the pause really refreshing. I've done some different things. I've got some kind of new thoughts to share. But how about you? How has your pause been? What have you learned? What have you done? Well speaker-1: Well, I've looked I've done lots of things and not that this takes an enormous amount of time, but it's just that headspace of one other thing. in the past, Chris, we've had a few not not deliberate pauses but probably hiatuses where we we had some seasons. We're for a while there we were now we're seasoned casts, but before we were seasoned at podcast podcasters, we had a few sort of seasons or themes and we seemed to have a bit of a break between those, but that was really it was a bit of a I thought a hiatus rather than a pause. I really love this idea about this creative pause where, just stopping and just totally putting it out of mind. So I was going to I think I had said I was going to do another podcast for the professional speakers Australists, but I didn't end up doing that and they're doing it themselves, which is which is a a good outcome because I really wanted to, you know, get away from this format for a period of time. what I've been doing is I have been focusing on my painting. I think I mentioned at the beginning of the pause I'd just been appointed as an executive non director non executive director of the Therefore group, which I'm now into three months. So I think it's been close to three months, Chris, since we stopped Wow. and and it's been great. It's been really good. I've really I've really had a a a a good crack at Daily painting and I my new tagline which on my new website that I'm doing for my painting is painting the everyday, comma, everyday. So speaker-0: And you've been disciplined, haven't you? It's been a couple of moments I've said let's let's have a chat, let's do something and and now there you've said, No, I can't. If it's in during the morning, that's set aside for painting. So I really kind of respect you for sticking to that and and getting that daily painting out there. Good on you. Yeah. speaker-1: Yeah, look it it it's been great. How about you, Chris? What what have you been doing? speaker-0: things. I've been doing a lot of woodwork. Creative project. I'm building, as it happens, it's a blanket box, but I'm experimenting with all sorts of new techniques. I don't know if you know what a dovetail joint is and using all sorts of of kind of craft techniques to produce something that I hope is more than just a kind of functional item, something that's beautiful as well. But but personally I've been challenging myself to work slowly. My entire career it's been a rush. We've we've been gonna do this, hit that deadline get get next thing happening and quick knock it out, knock it out. And I've absolutely been pushing myself not to rush because I want this final product to be to be something that's clearly got a a bit of craft, a bit of thought into it. And it would be very easy to well, I'd be the easiest of all to buy a little box from IKEA. That's the simplest thing. But if you wanted to make something quickly and easily, a few screws, a couple of nails, you you can do it. And so it raises the question, well, why not do that? And the answer is because I want it it to be personal, I want it to be a kind of statement. And so I've been pushing myself to go slowly. And it's been a challenge. There've been moments even yesterday I was working on it and I've failed. But that's my goal. And I've found it really powerful to stretch myself in a way that I'm not used to working. And it's progressing pretty well. It's it's not I'm not a fine fine fine carpenter or whatever the word is. But it is progressing and I know it's coming together and it'll probably take me quite a few more weeks 'cause I don't want to rush it. So that's one thing. The other thing I've been doing is saying no. It's interesting with pause, you have a lot of extra time on your hands. And you speak to people and so many people are l giving me lovely invitations to Yay, join in, we've got this thing going on and why don't you come along to that or try out that? And it would be so easy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And suddenly your diary's packed out and you're running around being busy and I've try to stop myself saying yes to everything and just allow myself that time and space to kind of maybe to wander, to pick a creative term, kind of mind wandering. And I've really enjoyed that. So taking things slowly, not jumping at every opportunity. Yeah, it's been a huge piece of refreshment. speaker-1: I I I love that and I think that we maybe we should do a we should have a conversation about this idea of pushing yourself to slow down. You know, like you know, like it's like you know, it it's it's sort of it's it's a double knee. It's speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: a it's a contradiction, you're pushing yourself to slow down. the other thing that I like I'm constantly doing, but I've found myself maybe sort of leading up to restarting is is a major declutter and tidy up of my studio. But the other thing I do, and just w talking about your your your box and you could buy from IKEA, I've been fixing things, I've been repairing things. And I've been very I'm very happy with myself. my my my sister my my my son has moved into my sister's apartment and the dishwasher broke. So I jumped online and ordered a part, but I went around there and and to repair one part, but there's another thing that was a problem and I Googled it. Now we had the same problem ten years ago with our dishwasher and I got the like I got the technician out. yeah mate, that's the Goodle do or whatever. They they it's it's the motherboard. It's it's the motherboard, I I I think it's the mother the mother efforts. The mother effers. The mother effers board. Anyway, after Google has told me, just get a hairdryer and dry out the motherboard 'cause it's got a bit damp and it's been a lot of rain up here and anyway, five minutes with hair dryer, fixed. So so I I did that. And then I I I've got this little printer. So I bought for labeled so it's little thermal thermal print. speaker-0: If you're listening, Paul's holding a white box the size of a kind of tissue box. speaker-1: Anyway, it stopped working. The b the power went off and and it it's got a plug in the back and for some reason it was just literally probably less than a millimeter that it wouldn't go in the hole like to to to connect properly. And I I I literally was going to throw it out and I've been I've been handwriting the labels, which is probably I should be doing anyway. But I did a I did a a a very not very pretty repair job. I just hacked out the plastic around it. speaker-0: Yes, I could see a a badly shaped hole in the back of your face. speaker-1: Now it works. So, I've I've deconstructed it to work and w we we have some pull out bins of plastic and half huffle, beautiful things and one had a hole in it and I was gonna, get on a half huffle and I got probably could fiberglass that. So I've I've so yeah, so I I've been repairing things and and I think it's a really it's a really interesting thing, you know, this whole thing of speaker-0: See what I've noticed that my creative project is very ma manual and it's woodwork and the the it that's therapy is the right word, but the i the the process of using your hands on a physical task, maybe it's the same with painting. You're you're it it's very meditative because you have to focus on hand eye coordination and some kind of natural material and sh I know paint has the same effect. You're dealing with that that substance of paint and the paper and water and so on and so on. And it occupies the whole body. And it's it's it's a great release because you can't think about anything else. I'd put music on in the background, and I'm just in my own world. Funny how time sort of just suddenly go runs away with itself. Actually that leads up just realized leads neatly into one of the guests coming up. I think it it's Kate Rabbit, who's written a excuse me, Eleanor O'Rourke, one of our guests we've got coming up on the Sims, who's written a book, Flow Without the Buckery. Flow. It's it's when that you get into a creative sense of a groove and you lose sense of time, you become very intuitive and it's a lovely space to be in to generate new ideas and it's it's very ephemeral, it's very difficult to switch it on or switch it off, but when you get in those moments it's so productive, it's joyful and as I said, time flashes by. speaker-1: Yeah, actually i I think it's interesting because we you're talking about that and I'm thinking about, you mentioned painting. And I'm assuming it would work with you. you're doing a dovetail now. You could do a butt joint or you could even do a mitre. cool. speaker-0: But but put a little hinge on, put a little bracket on just quick. Yeah. speaker-1: And but I found with the paying and I've been pushing myself not to slow down but to get stuff done. But I I've I've I've really, you know and I I don't know, you know, some artists, you know, are so skilled they can imagine what they're doing and just go and they do it and it turns out. But other people like myself and other mere mortal artists, you know, it takes a long time to get to a point where we're happy with it. Because it's a constantly discovering, a new technique or I do that or So and it's really it's really interesting, you know, so I think that's that's part of this, you know, y you're saying it's focusing, but it's not just focusing and like concentrating, it's actually challenging, you know, it's challenging yourself to do something the way that you've never done it before. Now every painting is different, but you know, when the technique develops and you know, and I think it's I think it's really I think it's very interesting. You said, put the music on the background. a couple of weeks ago I watched a documentary about the Eagles. yeah. And I I'd had forgotten the number of hits that they had. It's incredible. But in this documentary, and I I think I'd only heard their music, I'd never seen any videos or video clips of the Eagles. And, you know, the the one of the they all sing, but the lead vocalist is Don Hanley. The drummer. The drummer. And when you listen to some particular songs where he's singing, you can hear him, it's it's the sort of you can hear almost the physical effort of drumming. And that's that, you know, like a very unusual man to be able to do two things at once. Yeah. Normally, you know, for the but it I I found it really fascinating to visualize him drumming and then and I you know, I I'd heard that song hundreds of times before. But never understood where the inflection had come from was this sort of putting out the thing. In fact, I one of the guests that I have asked to come on is my best friend from middle school who who was a drummer, who is a drummer, but he is just speaker-0: Say we've never had a drummer on the show, maybe it's just a cube. speaker-1: I've I've asked him, he said he's thinking about it and we had a bit of a chat. So hopefully we can get Paul Knipe and talk to him about because he's also a singer, he's got a really good voice. Not not he's not a lead vocalist in a band that he's in, but he is a singer and so you know, there's not a lot of them, you know, Phil Collins, Don Hanley, Paul Knipe. speaker-0: Phil Collins only became the singer because I think it was Pete Gabriel who left the band and they were auditioning and couldn't find someone to replace Pete Gabriel. And he went, Well, why don't I do it as the drummer? Nobody thought the drummer would be able to be a lead singer as well. So it's it's interesting. The thing I think will be fascinating to hear if we can get a drummer onto the show. Drama drumming is very physical. You know, your your whole body is whacking these these skins to produce the sound. And it's very different from a keyboard or a guitar or just singing. It it's kind of y you need strength and you need your body speaker-1: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. It's that it's that physicality. and and singing is physical as well. But yes, it and I think I'll I'll find the song and I'll maybe I'll put in the show notes what song that is I'm talking about. So yeah, Chris, so we're we're gonna we're gonna kick off well, we kicked off today but we're gonna have our first guest next week. And then I think we're gonna run in through to probably the week before Christmas. Yes. And then we'll have a another break. speaker-0: That's right. A summer break. speaker-1: We're pushing ourselves to get started again on it. speaker-0: that's the worry we get too good at taking breaks, we'll kinda get so good at at so mind wandering, not pushing ourselves, we'll we'll get out of the loop. I don't think that's gonna happen, but I do think we've learned something about the power of switching off, getting away from it and not doing what business pushes us all to do, and our careers have trained us to do. The next thing, the more thing, the kind of knock ticking off the boxes and and all those kind of things. I I find it very interesting watching myself, just you know, I'm I'm doing something which has no practical well I could do a lot quicker, obviously, and a lot cheaper. And so why am I doing that? Mm who's it for? And I'm sure it's the the box is going to be gifted to my daughter. She knows it is, but I th I think she's a little bit bemused about why it bother. Well why I can I can buy a box and send it to her or speaker-1: She's sure he wants a dun Surely wants a duna box. speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: not a blanket box. Hold on. Actually, Chris, I was just thinking about guests that we've got coming up. We we had someone reached out to us the other day and and you know, we get a lot of requests, you know, as we become more popular. But this person is a dairy farmer from Ont Ontario. and and a and a whole business around it and very creative. Great video clip of their family in this dairy farm in Ontario. Obviously a big business, but really interesting. So I'm really looking forward to to that. So and I think that's probably, you know, the one thing is is one thing. And the other thing is, you know, the common creative that we probably find, you know, some more common creative folk. We've also had some people, you know, that aren't luminaries. But I think maybe next year as we go in to our, th third third century podcast that w we maybe have some more common folk, you know? Yes. People that you wouldn't immediately go, that person's very creative, but that we can unlock that creativity. speaker-0: It's funny 'cause I think we're st in in that sense, our next few guests, we're going the opposite direction. We've got some I would describe some fantastic, well known exemplars of creativity. So we'll have to kind of give ourselves a slap on the wrist and avoid that as we prove. speaker-1: No, no, I think it's just a balance. I think the the common it's it is that thing and that that that yeah. Anyway. So speaker-0: give some teasers. We've we've got one of my photography heroes lined up, a guy called Eugene Tan. Fans of this website Aquabumps will know his name. Aquabumps was one of the first communities built up online around photography and Eugene Tan's specialist photographer from Bondi. And he's turned the idea of Aquabumps into a yeah into a powerful community, a global brand. And so the two big questions for him To talk about his photography, how he takes such wonderful pictures, but also how he turned that idea into something which magnetizes people to him. His images and swimwear and apparel and so on and so on. It's a it's a it's a phenomenon. we've also got Maddy Hart, who's a young woman building a community online, almost like a radio show. She specializes in a particular kind of online game. But it's the fact that she's building a career on in a on her own terms. She's creating a pathway through AI and all the craziness that's going on out there. I mentioned Eleanora Rourke, author of Flow Without the Fuckery. She is from the UK, so we'll be she'll be joining us in the small hours. And then Eleanor O'Rourke also joined us another creative specialist. So we've got some big hitters in the short term. You're right though, let's look out for some common creatives. maybe they're drummers, chefs, who knows? speaker-1: Well, I think but again big hitter just in the conversation there to see if we can get Don Hanley on. That'd speaker-0: Yeah. speaker-1: be that'd be great. speaker-0: I'd be fascinated too if we can get your friend the dairy farmer to come on that. farmers are very creative because they have to solve all sorts of problems without the right to speaker-1: This this person's from Ontario. I don't know them. It was a it was a cold call. so ma maybe because we you know, we did that Canadian episode you know a couple of months ago. But yeah, this person is is from Ontario. So it looks very interesting. Okay. Well listen, yes. Well, thank you for tuning in to our unpause. speaker-0: Hit the follow button. And of course give us a rating. Give us it's just Paul and I. So maybe you can give us just a five star rating to help give infuse us with the next season that we've got. Two and a half. Exactly. Exactly. Thanks. speaker-1: Two and half each, Chris, just two. speaker-0: Thanks for joining. So hang on, quick challenge. What's the one thing? Since we're on a one thing theme, Paul, what's your one thing from view and the listeners to take away from this show? speaker-1: 'cause I I I'm gonna steal yours. I think this thing about pushing myself to slow down. I I that's that's my one thing that I'm gonna borrow. I I think it's I think it's wonderful. speaker-0: Well, thank you for speaker-1: And and yours, Chris? Carry hurry up, quick what's yours? Come on, what quick question? speaker-0: I think I I I I go exactly with that. I I find it really refreshing to slow down and to w when when you're trying to speed up to to stop, get a cup of tea, walk away from it, let it just mull for some time. I I'm I'm gonna go with with what you speaker-1: Okay, well that case I'm gonna add mine, which is that thing about fixing things. I think there's a enormous opportunity in creativity to to repair, reuse, refix and there's a speaker-0: Bigger idea there, Paul, but maybe all creativity is about fixing things. Yeah, yeah, well that's a thought. speaker-1: Fixing a fixing of Yes. Right Okay, well thanks for tuning in and we'll see you next week with our new guest. Mm-hmm.