2026 creative impulsivity challenge: making art out of curiosity, not fear

Hi, welcome back to Wild Geese. I'm your

host Anna.

Happy New Year's sort of. I want this episode to be a moment to take the pressure off. I feel like I always feel

pressure off. I feel like I always feel so much pressure around this time of year, and I feel like I've been feeling pressure throughout a good amount of

2025. And I think pressure can so often

2025. And I think pressure can so often be a thing that like chases our creativity away. So, I want to talk

creativity away. So, I want to talk about creative impulsivity. And in the name of creative impulsivity, I'm going to be very off the cuff with this

episode. When I started Wild Geese, I

episode. When I started Wild Geese, I was not thinking of this as like a video essay format whatsoever. I was just thinking of them as solo podcast

episodes. And then when people started

episodes. And then when people started referring to them as video essays, I started approaching them as essays. And

when you think about sitting down to write a 30 minute essay, that just feels automatically to me 10 times harder than just sitting down to record a podcast

episode. And don't get me wrong, there

episode. And don't get me wrong, there are things that are so gratifying about turning out a video essay once every 2 weeks for a year. That's so cool that I

can look back on that and say that that was kind of my like misogi of the year.

If you don't know what a masogi is, I have just been hearing about this on Tik Tok the last couple of days because of the new year. I guess a masogi is

traditionally a Japanese Shinto purification ritual. The term is now

purification ritual. The term is now often used to frame a significant challenge that you're posing to yourself at the beginning of the year. So this is like basically instead of making a list

of goals for the new year, it's like having one overarching really hard challenge. Like it's supposed to be

challenge. Like it's supposed to be actually quite difficult to achieve. The

whole idea is that it can define your year. So you can look back and say like

year. So you can look back and say like 2026 was the year that I ran a marathon.

It's the year that I read 100 books.

It's, you know, whatever it is, whatever that challenge is to yourself. And I

guess I'm just saying this to say I think without me making Emmaogi like challenge to myself last year, I think

showing up to this once every 2 weeks was my like defining challenge of 2025.

And it's incredibly gratifying to look back on that and say that I did that. To

know that I established a sense of self-rust and a knowing that I can be consistent in something if I really want to. That was such a gift to myself in

to. That was such a gift to myself in 2025. But I can also feel myself getting

2025. But I can also feel myself getting algorithm brain a little bit, which I feel like is in direct conflict with my

values as an artist. And when I say artist, I am really just talking about a person who makes what they want to make.

And don't worry, I'm not leading this into saying that I like don't want to make wild geese anymore. I do. I still

am having fun doing this, but I feel a pressure to do things a certain way because I've seen that they work and I'm really scared of messing with something

that works. I feel like it's really easy

that works. I feel like it's really easy to say like, "Oh, just play around with it. Just try things when you are fully a

it. Just try things when you are fully a beginner and there aren't really a lot of stakes involved." But it feels like there are stakes now that didn't exist a

year ago. These are stakes that I feel

year ago. These are stakes that I feel like we so often reach for, right? Like

we want visibility. We want an audience when we're making something. Not always,

but a lot of the times we do. We want to be paid for the work that we do. I don't

think art loses its artistry immediately upon being commodified, but I think it does introduce some nuanced, complex dynamics to navigate. There's a pressure

that undeniably comes out to play when you start to I don't know. I don't like to say this because everybody has different definitions for this, but like quote unquote succeed, right? Like so

often when we start putting our work out there into the world, we are hoping for some level of visibility, some level of recognition, some level of monetary return. And that's not always true.

return. And that's not always true.

There are things that I have done throughout my life that I have not sought any of that out. that there have been mediums that I have been like, hey, I would want this to be my living, you

know, like I wanted to be a working artist. I went to school and got a drama

artist. I went to school and got a drama degree. I've always wanted to be a

degree. I've always wanted to be a working artist. And I understand that

working artist. And I understand that that's not everyone's ambition. There

are so many artists that are not interested in commodifying what they're making at all, which honestly, huge respect to you. I think I just have found it difficult to create a different

dream for myself. And if you're like me and you have reached for those things, I don't think that that's a moral failing to not want to be a starving artist. I

don't think it like automatically makes you a sellout to want to be paid for what you do or to want people to see what you're making. But I guess my point today is that when we reach for those

things and we get them, success often actually feels like pressure. And that's

something I heard on Diabolical Lies. I

was listening to that podcast the other day and Katie who had the podcast Money with Katie that was bought by Morning Brew. She was talking about buying the

Brew. She was talking about buying the podcast back for herself to own the IP and the process of making that decision and how when Morning Brew bought the show, it was incredibly exciting and

like gratifying, but also on the flip side, what she said was success feels like pressure. And when she said that, I

like pressure. And when she said that, I was like, "Holy [ __ ] yeah, that that is true." So, I've been thinking a lot

true." So, I've been thinking a lot about like how do you actually alleviate that pressure intentionally? Before we

get into the rest of this video, I want to take a second to thank today's sponsor, Nourish. Something that really

sponsor, Nourish. Something that really amplifies this pressure that I'm talking about is navigating chronic illness and fatigue, which is something I've personally been navigating and talked about here and there on this podcast. I

decided to talk to a registered dietitian about these issues. And I

chose Nourish because it is the easiest way to find and speak with a registered dietitian and get it covered by insurance. I had an appointment with one

insurance. I had an appointment with one of their vetted dietitians and I was nervous beforehand just because I never know in a clinical setting if I'm going to be able to really communicate what's

happening in my body effectively, but she put my mind right at ease. And by

the end of the appointment, I walked away with a comprehensive plan. I'm

talking about additional resources, recipes, a food journal, and follow-up appointments. I also honestly just felt

appointments. I also honestly just felt so validated and heard. These Zoom

appointments are longer than I'm used to with regular doctor's appointments, and they have enough time to really get to know you and your goals. Nourished

dieticians specialize in a variety of health conditions and concerns such as weight management, eating disorders, gut health, women's health, diabetes, sports nutrition, and more. They also help you

learn sustainable lifelong skills. So,

this is not about fat diets and restrictions. They'll help you learn to

restrictions. They'll help you learn to grocery shop, meal prep, budget, that sort of thing. They told my dietitian about a certain Tik Tok fad where everyone's like eating a ton of beans

and then saying that it's solving all of their health problems. And after the dietitian told me to stop listening to nutritional advice that I see on TikTok, she helped me actually break it down

with what's true about that, what's not true about that. We even looked at a can of beans and like broke down the nutritional facts. I just feel like I

nutritional facts. I just feel like I walked away feeling so much calmer and already felt like I had so many more tools to eat in a way that feels good for my body. Nourish accepts hundreds of

insurance plans in all 50 states and 94% of Nourish patients pay 0 out of pocket.

Signing up only takes 5 minutes on their website via your phone or your laptop.

Click or scan the video in the description box to book your first appointment. Thank you so much to

appointment. Thank you so much to Nourish for sponsoring this video. Now,

let's talk about creative impulsivity.

You know, I have an acting degree that I have not really ever touched. I mean, in some ways, you could say that I'm using it with this podcast, but I'm not using

it in the traditional sense. And I think a lot of that is because the pressure to turn acting into a career made acting into a whole different beast. It made it

into something I didn't really want to do anymore. And I won't say that I no

do anymore. And I won't say that I no longer loved it because I still do love acting. But there was such a pressure to

acting. But there was such a pressure to make acting the thing that paid my bills that when I graduated into COVID lockdown and everyone was forced to just

like hunker down inside for months, I actually found it to be such a huge relief. And that felt like a huge wakeup

relief. And that felt like a huge wakeup call to me to be like, "Oh, do I even want to do this?" And then it took me years to admit that I even felt that way. I kind of just kept pushing it off.

way. I kind of just kept pushing it off.

It kept being like, "Oh, once this happens, I'll do this, which will propel me into my career." But the pressure made it so that I didn't want it in the same way anymore. And I don't want that

to happen here because I'm really enjoying what I'm doing. But it also does feel like I'll make these episodes and then get unhealthily attached to the

outcome. So, I've been thinking about

outcome. So, I've been thinking about this idea of creative impulsivity as a possible antidote to the pressure

I look very bald right now. Okay. But

when I say creative impulsivity, what I mean by that is taking the execution of your ideas seriously, no matter how impractical they seem. And the reason for this put very simply is just going

back to that idea that action is the antidote to anxiety. I saw a Tik Tok by Maline Vogue, I believe is her name, and she was talking about how she just became a much happier person, when she

decided that she was allowed to make whatever she wanted to make. She just

said, "The more I create in any form, the happier I am, and that's not a small thing." And she was talking about how

thing." And she was talking about how she's in this era of like, "If I have an idea, I do it." Whether that's like making 8-bit icons from the fantasy novel she's reading or making a video

about her favorite game that she played as a kid. she felt like painting something. So, she painted a chair in

something. So, she painted a chair in her house. And as I was listening to her

her house. And as I was listening to her speak about this, I was like, it's interesting that this is hitting me in the way that it is because it's not that

much different than what I say all the time on here. But even though I talk about making what you want to make all the time, there are certain messages that I have absorbed over the years of

going to acting school and then becoming a podcast producer and then starting my own podcast. There are certain messages

own podcast. There are certain messages around what it takes to make a great artist and the branding strategy and all of these things that I think I'll talk

about in a second. But like I have absorbed those messages to such a degree that actually the only things that I

generally make time for are the ideas that I logically believe to be productive. And I saw this video and I

productive. And I saw this video and I was like, damn, how many ideas am I missing? Like how many ideas am I having

missing? Like how many ideas am I having and then not holding on to them because I don't believe they're worth my time?

And then later that day, I was reading this book by Annie Dillard, The Writing Life. And in it, she says this. One of

Life. And in it, she says this. One of

the few things I know about writing is this. Spend it all. Shoot it. Play it.

this. Spend it all. Shoot it. Play it.

Lose it all. Right away, every time. Do

not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book or for another book.

Give it. Give it all. Give it now. The

impulse to save something good for a better place later is the signal to spend it now. Something more will arise for later, something better. These

things fill from behind, from beneath like wellwater. Similarly, the impulse

like wellwater. Similarly, the impulse to keep to yourself what you have learned is not only shameful, it is destructive. Anything you do not give

destructive. Anything you do not give freely and abundantly becomes lost to you. You open your safe and find ashes.

you. You open your safe and find ashes.

And I think obviously she's talking specifically about writing here, but I think it applies to the like capitalist mindset that seeps into art making. And

we apply scarcity to our ideas. We start

hoarding them from ourselves because we start seeing them as property. I made an Instagram reel about this like a month ago when I first started thinking about this. And I used a couple of examples of

this. And I used a couple of examples of ideas that I had been too riskaverse to act on because I thought that they would take away from what I'm doing here. So,

like when I've had ideas to do community events, I've only acted on one of those because honestly of the amount of effort that that might take from me. When I

thought about vlogging, I overthought that for such a long time before just trying it because I was afraid that my audience didn't want to see that from me instead of just like having the idea and

being like, "Huh, okay, I'll play with it." When I had the idea to go back to

it." When I had the idea to go back to improv classes, I thought that would be a waste of money because it wouldn't be making me money. And I finished that reel just by saying, you know, sometimes I project regret into a future that I

can't see yet. I'm like constantly trying to see all of the variables with an idea before I act on it. Trying to

assess what the end result might be, how it works into a bigger strategy, whatever. And I think that like

whatever. And I think that like analytical strategic thinking is useful to a point, but if I'm going to commit myself to creative impulsivity, I think it

requires me to kind of rethink a lot of the messages that have been sent my way around what makes a good artist in the first place. To go back to the acting

first place. To go back to the acting example, I remember being told that you need to be willing to sacrifice everything for this pursuit. Basically,

it was like, "You need to be willing to miss funerals, you need to be willing to miss weddings, yada yada." I often remember hearing, "If you can see yourself doing anything else, then you

should not pursue acting. If you love something else, do that instead." Which

does on one hand make sense when you're looking at it from the perspective of like not everyone can handle the lifestyle of an actor. And this is a good way to weed them out is to tell them, "Hey, if you love something else,

do that instead. this is not going to be worth all the heartache. They're saying

the life of an actor is hard. Do you

really want this? But this idea of one true obsession, one devotion is honestly the opposite of what I've seen the actual recipe for success to be as an

actor. All of the working actors that I

actor. All of the working actors that I know are better actors because they care about more than acting. They're writers,

directors, stage managers, horseback riders, guitar players, the list goes on. Being creatively impulsive and

on. Being creatively impulsive and allowing yourself to explore new mediums and new avenues is what might help you weather the storm of industries that are

largely out of your hands. For this

example, it gives actors the agency to say, you know what, I might not have a paying role right now, but I've still got ideas that I am acting on every single day. This is a bit of a tangent,

single day. This is a bit of a tangent, but I also remember when I was pursuing acting, hearing left and right from people, you know, you need to make your own work. You need to make your own

own work. You need to make your own work. But I felt like I couldn't do that

work. But I felt like I couldn't do that because I felt like I wasn't in the driver's seat. I was so married to the

driver's seat. I was so married to the identity of an actor that I was literally waiting for someone to hand me a script even though I love writing. And

then on the content creation side of things, there's that algorithm brain that I was talking about before, the strategy side of things that's telling you to find your niche, pick a lane, and stay in it. Make sure that your audience

understands what they can expect from you. This leads people to throw out

you. This leads people to throw out ideas or maybe not even notice the ideas as they're coming to them because they're so locked into some branding strategy. And those are just two

strategy. And those are just two examples of the way that I feel like this like scarcity capitalism brain seeps into the art that we're making.

I'm sure there are so many ways that this comes through for people. That's

how I've seen it happen in my own life.

And there's a Tik Tok I saw by a woman named Zoe. I'll have it linked in the

named Zoe. I'll have it linked in the episode description, but she was reading Anthony Bourdain's book and she said it struck her that yes, he referred to himself sometimes. He would say like,

himself sometimes. He would say like, "I'm a chef. I'm a writer. I'm an

adventurer." Whatever. But he wasn't really looking to define himself. And

she said that this showed her it is not your responsibility to define yourself.

The world will do that for you. It's

just your responsibility to live in a way that is honest and meaningful to you. and she said, "We tend to find

you. and she said, "We tend to find safety in the imprisonment of self-conceptualization.

We determine a definition for ourselves that we need to fulfill and that then gives us a checklist to accomplish and that will prescribe us with a definition rather than trusting that a definition is making its way to us by living

authentically." And then she actually

authentically." And then she actually used wanting to be an actor as an example. She said that at points in her

example. She said that at points in her life, she has wanted to identify as an actor. She has wanted other people to

actor. She has wanted other people to see her and know that she's an actor.

She says, "I create this checklist of things that I need to fulfill in order to be identified as such. For me to approach the world authentically would be to risk them never seeing me that way, which is scary, but that also opens

up the possibility of being something other than just an actor or just a writer or just a whatever." And I was really glad that she used this example because I remember in the years postgrad

when I was kind of just halfacidly pursuing acting. I was more afraid of

pursuing acting. I was more afraid of never being seen as an actor, never being able to go home and tell my parents like, "Hey, I landed a paying

role." I was more afraid of that than

role." I was more afraid of that than the prospect of never acting again. And

ultimately, I needed to like let loose the steel grip that I had on the identity of an actor in order to allow room for my creativity to take a

different shape. And again, that doesn't

different shape. And again, that doesn't mean that I'll never act again. Maybe

one day my creativity will take the shape of writing a script and bringing it to life. You know, who knows? But

when we look to be defined by what we do, it cuts off so many possibilities.

And I feel like with Wild Geese, I don't feel so married to the identity of a podcaster or a YouTuber, but I do hear that little worm in the back of my brain

that's telling me that if I'm not the best at this, I'm failing at it. If I'm

not constantly outperforming myself, I'm failing in some way. And I actually think that looking at what we're making with that mindset is super patriarchal.

[gasps] It reminds me of that song The Hand by Annabelle Dinda. I don't know if you've

Annabelle Dinda. I don't know if you've heard it. It's been all over Tik Tok

heard it. It's been all over Tik Tok lately, but if you haven't heard it, I'll just like read a little bit of it to you. She says, "Every time a guy

to you. She says, "Every time a guy writes a song, he's a cowboy, a sailor, playing with the world in his palm like the first pioneer. Every time he opens his mouth, it's a loud movie trailer clipping every image and sound he thinks

proves he was here." And then the next part of it says, "Every time a guy writes a song, he's a sailor, a cowboy, holding out the world in his palm like he made it himself. Every time I open my mouth, I think, wow, what a loud noise,

still on the soap box, just hoping I seem underwhelmed." I highly recommend

seem underwhelmed." I highly recommend going and listening to this song if you haven't heard it before. But that line, every time I open my mouth, I think, "Wow, what a loud noise." I remember when I first heard this song, I like

jolted up in my seat when I heard that line. But I read an essay that was kind

line. But I read an essay that was kind of breaking down the meaning of the song by Pesky Birdie on Substack and it says, "The hand which recurs throughout the song is not only a tool of craft but

also of control. The man does not merely experience the world. He holds it. The

pioneer metaphor underlines that control by invoking colonization and ownership.

From the first stanza, Annabelle frames the act of male creation as both self-exression and domination. So, I've

just been thinking about this because I think when we talk about becoming the best at what we do, being defined by it, constantly outperforming ourselves, this

like constant growth, we're forming a relationship with art that sits on a foundation of domination. It feels

almost against my nature to reject this premise and allow myself to backslide, allow for reproduction, you know, like

going back to an old idea and iterating on it instead of like constantly quote unquote discovering something new. This

is also reminding me, and sorry, I feel like because there really isn't a script for this episode, I'm like going everywhere with this, but for some reason, this is reminding me of a part

of the service berry by Robin Wimmeer, where she's talking about how the words economy and ecology both come from the same root, eco, which means home. that

economics as it's defined by the American Economic Association is the study of scarcity, the study of how people use resources and respond to incentives. And Robin talks about

incentives. And Robin talks about forming a gift economy which challenges the very idea of scarcity. And I think becoming so committed to the execution of our ideas, no matter how impractical

they seem, can be a way of rooting ourselves into what we would like to see, which is more of what I would like to see. I'll speak

for myself, which is more of a gift economy that's not so rooted in scarcity and domination and like constantly requiring us to compete with each other

and one up ourselves. And we do that by going back to what Annie Dillard was saying in this book, which is spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it all right away, every time. Do not hoard

what seems good for a later place in the book. Hoarding is something that we do

book. Hoarding is something that we do when we're operating out of scarcity and fear. I've done it. I continue to do it

fear. I've done it. I continue to do it and I want to consciously pull myself out of it. I do have a big fear of overextending myself, miscalculating my

capacity and letting someone down. So I

want to talk about some of the ways that I have been playing with this idea of creative impulsivity practically so that we can do impractical things. So um stop

planning so much.

That's it.

I'm just kidding, but kind of not. When

I think of acting on more of my ideas though, when there's already a pressure to perform in some medium, it does feel counterintuitive, right? To be like, oh,

counterintuitive, right? To be like, oh, let's put more on my plate. But the

message that I'm trying to get across here is not like, oh, double down and just do it, just do more, hustle, hustle. That's not what I'm trying to

hustle. That's not what I'm trying to say. I think I look at it more as like a

say. I think I look at it more as like a clearing of the path so that these ideas that are coming to you can come to

fruition before you overthink the hell out of it. I think there's a tendency what happens for me at least is that these ideas come and they look so large.

They look exciting but they also look like oh my god this is going to take a lot of time, a lot of energy, a lot of maybe money from me. like how am I going to do this? And then you sit down and

you like start planning out this whole notion board. And the planning process

notion board. And the planning process can almost feel like it gives you that rush of actually doing that thing. And

so often what will happen is that we'll start planning and then all of these roadblocks start to come up because we're looking weeks and weeks into the future. We're looking 10 steps ahead and

future. We're looking 10 steps ahead and we're thinking, "Oh, I don't think that this actually makes sense for XYZ reason, whatever." And then we stash

reason, whatever." And then we stash that idea away for a different time and then we don't come back to it because at that different time the idea is no longer exciting to us anymore. But in

all actuality there will never be like a perfect circumstance to bring your ideas to life. And I think that usually

to life. And I think that usually there's a reason why ideas come to us when they do. And I say this as a person who has been sitting on so many big

ideas for months. I've been thinking I want to start a digital gardening club.

I think I mentioned that in an episode back in August. I've been wanting to do bonus content behind a payw wall, which we'll talk about in a second, but I've talked myself out of that about 4

million times. I've been wanting to

million times. I've been wanting to incorporate my drawings and my oil pastels somewhere in like my Substack newsletter. I know what it is to have

newsletter. I know what it is to have these big ideas and talk yourself out of them while you're in the planning process. And I read this essay on

process. And I read this essay on Substack earlier this year called Literally Just Do Things from the Crystal Clear Newsletter. And she's just basically talking about all of the things she's been able to do because as soon as she gets an idea, she acts on it

to some degree. When I say creative impulsivity is about acting on your ideas and taking their execution seriously, that does not mean executing them in a day, but it does mean doing

something that takes it out of your head and brings it into the world as soon as you possibly can after getting the idea.

And this essay says, "When I observed my own experience and analyzed why things worked out, I can tell you that it wasn't because of any business skills or much of my knowledge, it was 90% because every time I had an idea for a career

project, a new initiative in my business, a role I wanted to learn to do, I would take advantage of the momentum of inspiration immediately and act on it. That's the main trait I attribute good outcomes to. It comes

from being impatient." And then she calls it underthinking, which I liked because I'm also listening to Amy Polar's audio book right now. And she

was talking about how at UCB, which is an improv theater like comedy group that she was part of, they had a motto that was don't think. Which does feel funny to say because I feel like so much of

this podcast is me being like, "Hey, isn't it so fun to think?"

But when it comes to overthinking and planning your ideas to death, I really like this idea of underthinking. Hi, it

is the day before this episode is supposed to go live and I just found a Tik Tok that perfectly sums up my thoughts better than I ever could and I love when people do that. So, I'm just going to play this Tik Tok real fast for

you. To live a big life, you have to get

you. To live a big life, you have to get used to living in the moment because in the moment is how that big life is made.

I'm going to show you a diagram. Most

people when they're trying to live a big life and that just means you have dreams and you're trying to follow them. Maybe

you have more than one dream, right?

Some people want to write books and they want to paint and they have business goals, ideas and and and and and that's called a big life. It doesn't

happen all at once. The moment it's lived one moment at a time. Most people,

now you probably already know that, but the here's the big part. The reason why you get stuck in burnout and it kind of gets all haywire or you have lots of anxiety and worry is because you're

trying to control how those moments are ordered. That's not that's not in your

ordered. That's not that's not in your control. Let me try. Listen, your ideas

control. Let me try. Listen, your ideas don't come from you. They come from little geniuses. A genius is a

little geniuses. A genius is a collection of these ideas. When you act on all of the ideas, they will materialize, right? So, you act on all

materialize, right? So, you act on all these ideas and you get a book. Yay. Um,

if you act on all these ideas, your business goal is achieved. Yay. Oh,

look. Here's a surprise genius. This is

when you do a bunch of things that don't seem to match up and yet somehow boom, something comes out of it that you had no idea was even a thing and you're delightfully surprised. These ones um

delightfully surprised. These ones um come often. It's just most people are

come often. It's just most people are always here's here's where you get stuck. You're trying to control the

stuck. You're trying to control the order of which you live in the moment.

You get a business goal. How many of you you get a business goal and you want to organize all of these little ideas all at once? put them in a line and then you

at once? put them in a line and then you go in two weeks I will have achieved this. That's not how that works. You're

this. That's not how that works. You're

not a genius. You're just surrounded by them and the more you act on them the more you appear to be the genius. That's

why there's some people in the book space who only see me in one way and there are some people in business spaces that only see me in one way. They have

no idea that I'm an author. When you try to organize, I'm going to write a book.

Ting, let me organize these out. Well,

of course I'm going to do the rough draft, and then I'm going to study about writing, and then I'm going to edit, and then I'm going to get an Of course, you could probably, if you knew what all these things were by listening to other

people, you could organize them for yourself, you can lay them all out, and then you'll be dead inside because you killed the genius.

The genius is the journey, not you. You're the vehicle that lives

not you. You're the vehicle that lives it. Your feet on the ground in life and

it. Your feet on the ground in life and your head in the clouds. This is when you become aware. You are grounded and present but also open. Okay? And then

inspired action comes towards you. How

many times do you get inspired to do something and you go, "Oh no, cuz I have to do the dishes. Oh no, because I have to call somebody. Oh no, because I'm too tired. Oh no, because I'm useless and

tired. Oh no, because I'm useless and worthless and this will never work out for me." Like that. Or you get excited

for me." Like that. Or you get excited to do one and then all of a sudden the business thing comes up. You're like,

"Oh no, I don't want to lose the momentum. Let me scratch this out and

momentum. Let me scratch this out and hop. Let me scratch this out and hop.

hop. Let me scratch this out and hop.

And now you've broken the circuit. And

you can't figure out why something's not working out cuz you're trying to do this one now. Now, now even though feet on

one now. Now, now even though feet on the ground says this genius is talking to you, but you keep talking to it like he's this guy. That's [ __ ] rude. Just

so you understand, this is like just imagine this is one day. 1 2 3 4 5 6 seven tasks. Seven tasks that might take

seven tasks. Seven tasks that might take you anywhere between 30 minutes, 2 hours, whoever knows in a day. And you

also have to do living stuff. This is

this is one of yours, right? To keep

yourself a habit and a ritual doing this is dishes, a habit and a ritual that helps you maintain equilibrium. Head in

the clouds, feet on the ground so that you can catch these ideas, these inspired action, and actually channel it and do it. Now, I understand that this

probably still sounds like that age-old like just do it advice. And if you are neurode divergent, this momentum that we're talking about might be something that you struggle to access because of

executive dysfunction. And I saw a Tik

executive dysfunction. And I saw a Tik Tok. I'm not going to pretend like I

Tok. I'm not going to pretend like I read some in-depth essay about this.

Please use any of this advice at your own discretion. Do your own research.

own discretion. Do your own research.

I'm not an expert. But I saw a Tik Tok that I thought might be helpful. It's

this woman, I think her name is JB.

Again, I'll have it linked in the episode description, but she's talking about how, you know, that law in physics that's like an object in motion stays in motion. But basically, when you're

motion. But basically, when you're dealing with executive dysfunction, you've got something that's like standing there stopping the motion. This

like piece of friction that you've got to move out of the way first before you can start moving. And she said that there are four types of friction. And

instead of just saying like, "Oh, just do it. Just move." Before you can start

do it. Just move." Before you can start moving and actually access momentum, you might have to pinpoint where the friction is coming from that's stopping the movement and remove the friction.

So, kind of like what I was saying before of like clearing the path. This

is more about finding ways that we can clear the path for our ideas versus feeling like we need to just like knuckle down and try harder and do more.

So, the four types of friction that she talks about are distance friction. So,

that's like something is literally too far away from you. The example she used was in her house growing up, her mom would keep the medicine in the kitchen.

And her logic behind that was, well, it's good because it forces you to get up out of bed and go get it. But that

didn't work for her. She needed to bring the medicine closer to her, put it on her bedside table in order to take it.

So that's distance friction. Another one

is sequencing friction. So this is when there's a task that other people are looking at as one task, but you're actually seeing it and seeing five different tasks. So something like

different tasks. So something like getting dressed in the morning. Other

people are like, "Oh, get dressed.

That's one step." And you're like, "No, I have to get out of bed. I have to check the weather. I have to find clothes that match the weather. I have

to find matching shoes." On and on. The

third one is sensory friction. So this

is like having a hard time getting out of bed because the floor is so cold. And

then the fourth one is cognitive friction. So this is when you're having

friction. So this is when you're having to hold a plan for longer than is comfortable. So the example that she

comfortable. So the example that she uses is like having a doctor's appointment later in the day and then your whole day is ruined because you're like sitting there in anticipation of this plan. So what she's saying is

this plan. So what she's saying is pinpoint and remove the friction before you can even get the momentum going. So

like with the sensory friction example, it might look like making sure that you have a pair of socks next to you so that you can slide those on before you step out of bed. And there actually is an idea that I've been sitting on for a very long time that I have been stopped

from taking any action towards because of cognitive friction. And that is the idea of doing bonus paywalled content on Substack. I have been wanting to do this

Substack. I have been wanting to do this and like making plans around it for so long. But I kept getting stuck and kind

long. But I kept getting stuck and kind of frozen in the plan because I kept thinking to myself like I don't know what my capacity is. I don't know that I can charge people for this because I

don't know how long I'll be able to sustain it. I don't know if this will

sustain it. I don't know if this will make my content worse if I try to make more of it and I don't feel comfortable charging people before I know that I can make it good. And then I was having a

conversation with someone and they were like, "Okay, so you should make some bonus content and just leave it for free for a while to see where your capacity

is." And I was like, "I have never

is." And I was like, "I have never thought of such a thing." And I think what that did is it removed the friction for me and now I feel excited about the idea again. I'm feeling the momentum

idea again. I'm feeling the momentum towards it again. So then once you've removed the friction, think of one task, the least complicated next step that you

can take towards bringing this idea to life and just go from one least complicated next step to the next to the next to the next. Also something that I found to be very helpful with catching

the ideas because sometimes ideas can like slither past at the most inopportune weird moments or they can feel so ridiculously out of the bounds of your current capacity that you

immediately write them off. Something

that I have found to be really helpful is voice notes. I will as soon as an idea comes into my head, no matter how ridiculous it seems, I will make myself

record a voice note about it. Because if

we're talking practically, the literal moment that an idea pops into your head is not often the moment that you actually are going to be able to take the least complicated next step to bring

it to fruition. It'll be like right before you go to sleep or while you're in the shower or while you're commuting to meet friends for dinner. And often

when they come, I'm like, "Oh, that's such a cool interesting idea. I'll think

more about that later." And then I forget about it. So those are just some of the ways that I am looking to take the pressure off. one by extracting my identity from what I do. Looking at what

I'm making with this understanding that imagination is not a limited resource and underthinking instead of overthinking, not planning quite so damn

much. Again, if you're interested in

much. Again, if you're interested in seeing more content from me, go over and follow me on Substack. I'm going to be experimenting with doing some bonus content over there. So, I'll talk to you

in 2 weeks. Bye.