creative intentions & systems - how I work

Hello everybody and welcome back. I'm

Mickey. I'm an actor and a writer and a filmmaker and on YouTube I make videos about creative process or whatever I feel like making a YouTube video about that day. Today I want to talk about

that day. Today I want to talk about creative intention setting and systems, personal goals and aims in the creative act and then the processes we implement basically to make that happen. I feel

like when I make these videos that are somewhat focused on the creative process, it's as much of a tool for me to sort of reset my brain and kind of cleanse out all of this stuff because

there's just so much going on all the time. And I feel like you have to remind

time. And I feel like you have to remind yourself of all of it to actually be able to make something. I also think this conversation is quite relevant outside of the creative process as well.

Thoughtful intention setting and execution is a big theme for everyone at any time, but I think it's tested more thoroughly in a creative process. Quick

thing, if you watch my videos a lot and you like them, I've started a chat on Substack which has more update videos I'm working on and just general life stuff. Posting in the chat, it feels

stuff. Posting in the chat, it feels like how posting on Instagram felt for the first time. So, I'm I'm enjoying it so far. It feels like a a sacred little

so far. It feels like a a sacred little social media space currently. So, in

this video, I kind of want to go through three things. I'm going to talk about

three things. I'm going to talk about philosophy behind intention setting in general and then I'm going to talk about philosophy behind systems and process and then I will give a brief overview of

like my personal process and what I do.

But on the subject of systems and my personal system, Sublime has kindly sponsored today's video and Sublime is a huge part of my personal system. I'll go

into a lot of the specifics on it later, but generally this great combination of a knowledge management tool and also a discovery tool. It basically allows me

discovery tool. It basically allows me to capture everything that I see, read, hear, absorb from any space and then I get to organize it in a place that

really allows me to then use it to make things. If I wanted to pull this from

things. If I wanted to pull this from Substack, I can easily add it to my library and then you can organize them by collections. I have tons of them. I

by collections. I have tons of them. I

have a collection for every single video essay I've made. Some of my videos I've drawn diagrams live. I make all of those in Sublime's Canvas feature, which is this massive infinite whiteboard. I

worked with their team very closely.

They are a small female founded company.

If you're looking for a tool to collect your thoughts and ideas together and then help you kind of bridge that into the actual creating of something, Sublime is absolutely fantastic. You can

try it out for free or you can sign up for premium. I have a code Mickey that

for premium. I have a code Mickey that is 20% off. So if it resonates with you, I highly recommend. So when I say intentions, I think for me what I'm really getting at is a lot of people

would call this like goal setting. I've

switched mentally to the word intention setting because a lot of my thinking behind this has become more processoriented rather than outcome oriented. To me, intention is a much

oriented. To me, intention is a much better way of of looking at this. There

are a lot of things that are out of my control. setting those things as goals

control. setting those things as goals and takes away a lot of agency. So, I've

personally shifted to using the word intentions, which feels a little like therapy speak, but I don't know, it works for me. Your intentions are really important because not only do they underline your values, but they really

are essential to the longevity of your process and your system. A lot of times what happens is people will watch someone will have a moment of success and it's very inspiring to this person because it's like oh look like they were

just making this in their bedroom and then all of a sudden they got this huge deal or A24 bought it and that is a beautiful hopeful story. There's nothing

wrong with it. But I think that they then go okay wait I can do this and then they start doing you know the creative tasks that they want to do but the intention is still outcome based. It's

still success based. It's not about the doing of the thing every day. This is

why Alyssa Lou really resonated with a lot of people recently. This quote from her, I love struggling actually. It

makes me feel alive. A lot of people like to identify with struggle because they think that it will have it will make the success or outcome worth it.

Like if I'm struggling now and then I get what I want, then all the struggling was worth it. But I think the way she's phrasing it here is a lot less an actual identity with it. It's more an

acceptance of it as a a reality and a tool of the process. She sort of emanates this magnetic energy because she's so in process. What was so surprising was watching someone get such

a quote unquote American dream moment of a gold medal while kind of saying things that are very anti-American dream. Very

not like I'm going to struggle struggle struggle and then it will happen for me.

her. I mean, she definitely, you can tell, just has like a clear set of intentions around what she wants to do.

I'm not I'm kind of trying to loosely define this term because I think that the more I define it, the more limited it makes your expression of it. I'm

going to show some references of some things I find to be helpful. this Haley

Nommen piece, The American Spectacle of Marty Supreme. I still sometimes think

Marty Supreme. I still sometimes think about Timothy's 2025 SAG speech, his casual comparisons of actors and athletes as if making art were no different than playing a sport with objective wins and measurable outcomes.

I know we're in a subjective business, but the truth is I'm really in pursuit of greatness. He said at once

of greatness. He said at once understanding the contradiction and disregarding it. To me, this is a very

disregarding it. To me, this is a very American way to think about art as a vehicle for achievement. I didn't really blame him for saying this. Like I I got what he was saying, but there's something about it that does kind of not

make sense in the context of acting.

Another recent reference I saw that was very clear the difference between intention setting with integrity versus just kind of like big dream goals was this Noah Wild video. He's the creator

of the pit or he's one of the creators of the pit. There were two points in my career. The flow of my career were

career. The flow of my career were interrupted. And when I couldn't work

interrupted. And when I couldn't work and didn't have a place to be creative and didn't have a community of people to share my experience with, it really rattled. I remember saying to my wife

rattled. I remember saying to my wife like, I don't think I work for money. I

think I work for health, my own health.

Like I think this is where I get my orientation. Without it, I'm not sure I

orientation. Without it, I'm not sure I know what I do on this earth. And so in those moments, I just started thinking, "Wow, if I never get to work again or if I do get to work again, what do I want

that work to feel like? What would I want it to be like?" And all I could think about was er and how great those first 15 years of my career were.

These two things that stopped the process, the daily process of makebelieve and being on set that I was completely used to. that stoppage made him think about which daily acts and

which process felt the best to him and then wanted to recreate that. He's so in process. You can just tell. It's kind of

process. You can just tell. It's kind of the same thing with Elizabeth Lou though. Like there's just like a vibe to

though. Like there's just like a vibe to people when they're in it and you're like, "Oh, okay." Setting your intentions in my opinion is imperative before you begin creating your systems because your systems are built on them.

What I what I just want to emphasize right now is that however you come to the conclusion of what is important to you about what you're doing is your own process. I don't think anyone can tell

process. I don't think anyone can tell you that it's wrong or you don't you're not doing it. There's not a notion template that I can give you to discover your greatest heart's desires. You're

already hardwired to pursue the things that resonate with you. I really like the Noah Wild video because you can hear him. He's basically explaining

him. He's basically explaining scripting, which is technically a manifestation technique, but I often use it more for goal setting. It's where you write about your dream future scenario

in the present tense with gratitude. So,

if you wanted to be pursuing painting, I wake up every morning and I go to my studio and I'm so grateful to be there and the light is shining and I begin painting at 9 a.m. and I take a break at 11:00. really important about scripting

11:00. really important about scripting is that you're thinking in the present moment dayto-day and so you're actually outlining which tasks you want to be doing. You know, I I want to be at the

doing. You know, I I want to be at the studio. I want to be painting. I want to

studio. I want to be painting. I want to be using a brush in my hands. Like

that's the intention. The intention is not I want to be in a gallery and I want to be famous. Like those are two very different things and people get them really mixed up. All about what is the

thing? What is the tangible quality of

thing? What is the tangible quality of experiencing the thing in the present moment versus what do I think the thing is? I think about a quote from this

is? I think about a quote from this following the white hot fire inside of you by Kieran O'Hare. It's him following the painter Brian Rutenberg through his exact daily ritual in his studio which

is kind of similar to what we're getting into here. If you intend to make art

into here. If you intend to make art then maybe you'll get a couple good paintings. You may even get a show or

paintings. You may even get a show or two. But I think of it this way. I don't

two. But I think of it this way. I don't

make art. I make things. Framing it like that keeps what I'm doing from becoming precious. And that's a good thing

precious. And that's a good thing because to be precious is to be timid and that's bad. Creativity requires

attention to detail and persistence in the face of failure. That's why it's called a discipline. This is great for a few reasons. It's really helpful if

few reasons. It's really helpful if you're pursuing multiple creative disciplines because I think it puts into context how they're all connected. If

you're not seeing like, oh, I'm making a song, I'm making a film. It's more like I'm just making a thing. Like I'm

bringing something into being out of nothing. And at the same time too, the

nothing. And at the same time too, the the losing of the preciousness kind of lets you focus on the actual thing you're making rather than the artistic arc that it fits into or the greater

story of it all. It allows it to be silly. It allows it to be easy. This is

silly. It allows it to be easy. This is

a It's the Why Cheap Art Manifesto by Bread and Puppet Glover. I've never been to one of their shows. I would love to go. This is basically their like

go. This is basically their like manifesto they hand it out at the beginning of every show. It says, you know, why cheap art? People have been thinking too long that art is a privilege of the museums and the rich.

Art is not business. It goes on and on.

But I think what I love about this is one how clear it is and two that the actual manifesto in itself is quite creative. This is almost a thing, a

creative. This is almost a thing, a piece in itself. And so it makes me think how abstract your intentions can be. Like you don't want to define it too

be. Like you don't want to define it too much because it almost limits the creative expression of them. And this is also like so unique to them. I

personally wouldn't one of my intentions or values behind art making wouldn't necessarily be that art is cheap like or that art should be cheap. That's not one of mine, but it's one of theirs and I

can totally respect it. So, you can get weird and abstract and fun with it.

Okay, let's move on to systems. And I actually want to watch this video. This

is actually about interior design, but I think it's really relevant here.

Everyone's talking about how they want a beautiful livedin, collected home. And

what I see nobody talking about is the fact that the second you style a room, it starts falling apart. The real key to a gorgeous, livedin, collected is that the functions of your life need to be

fundamentally incorporated into the design, not squeezed in where it fits your vibe. Absorption needs to be

your vibe. Absorption needs to be integrated into your architecture. Like

the functions of your life need to be incorporated into the design. And I

think this is really true of systems. And I think that it's why I don't usually like systems videos is because they're not yours. They're not your

life. I like things to be really clean.

life. I like things to be really clean.

I'm really type A, so my systems reflect that. They look that way. Do I think

that. They look that way. Do I think that works for everybody? No. That's not

how a lot of people work. A lot of people like to work messy. They like to work physically. I think going into, you

work physically. I think going into, you know, creating whatever you want your creative system to be. I think there's, you know, there's this like routine that we're kind of after. Thinking about the functions of your life and what you need

specifically is super important. I love

I've talked about this before, but the purpose of a system is what it does is a heristic and systems thinking coined by British management consultant Stafford Beer who stated that there is no point in claiming that the purpose of a system

is to do what it constantly fails to do.

We get caught up in in what we want something to be. You know, I do a morning journaling practice because I want to center myself for person A. It

can cause stress and confusion and make them late. For person B, it creates a

them late. For person B, it creates a beautiful zen-like experience. In that

um white hot fire inside of you where it's detailing this artist's process, I like this section where he goes, "Here in my studio, my system is a little bit more organic and handmade." In this

photo, you can see a lamp with a cylindrical shade that I keep on my desk. I tack notes of the things I have

desk. I tack notes of the things I have to get done onto that lampshade, and I can spin it around. It's just his to-do list, but he put it on a lampshade.

Like, the purpose of a system is what it does. This is his to-do list. It works.

does. This is his to-do list. It works.

Rachel Kusk has this piece on domesticity. To continue creating, a

domesticity. To continue creating, a person perhaps has to maintain an essential discomfort in the world. The

kitchen, where my mother spent most of her time, was often the smallest and dowiest room in the house we lived in.

And I too have found myself working over the years in cramped bedrooms or at a kitchen table, even when a degree of prosperity would have permitted me to claim the much vaunted room of my own. I

have often look looked at photographs of writers in their elegant bookline studies and marveled at what seems to be a mirage of sorts, the near perfect alignment of seeming with being, the convincing illusion of mental process on

public display. I think we get really

public display. I think we get really obsessed with the perfection or everything looking really pretty about a process. But you can have a gorgeous

process. But you can have a gorgeous house and you still choose the tiniest ter most terrible room as your writing room. I think if you're looking for a

room. I think if you're looking for a solid one to start with, a lot of systems are based off the Twilight Tharp box method. This is also kind of how I

box method. This is also kind of how I work as well. In the creative habit by TwiTarp, which I think came out in around 2003. For context, she is a very

around 2003. For context, she is a very famous dancer and choreographer. She

calls it the box method. Everyone has

his or her own organizational system.

Mine is a box, the kind you can buy at Office Depot for transferring files. I

start every dance with a box. I write

the project name as the piece progresses. I fill it up with every item

progresses. I fill it up with every item that went into the making of dance. This

means notebooks, news clipping, CDs, video tapes of me working alone in my studio, videos of the dancers rehearsing. The box makes me feel

rehearsing. The box makes me feel organized, that I have my act together, even when I don't know where I'm going yet. The box makes me feel connected to

yet. The box makes me feel connected to a project. It is my soil. I feel this

a project. It is my soil. I feel this even when I've back burned a project. I

may have put it away on a shelf, but I know it's there. Let me tell you what a box isn't. The box is not a substitute

box isn't. The box is not a substitute for creating. The box doesn't compose or

for creating. The box doesn't compose or write a poem or create a dance step. The

box is the raw index of your preparation. It is the repository of

preparation. It is the repository of your creative potential, but it is not that potential realized. The box method kind of feels like the grounds of how most people start a project. You know,

anywhere from 1 to 10 things they're majorly inspired by that kind of lead them to create something new. So, this

leads kind of perfectly into my own personal system. I have my system behind

personal system. I have my system behind intention settings and then I have my system behind my system or my you know how I make things or my creative process or projects and so for my projects it

definitely follows the twilight to start I'll just give a little how I come to my intentions I spend a lot of time auditing my year I look at every area of

my life work finances creativity projects relationships home health reflect on everything where did I give too much? Where did I not give enough?

too much? Where did I not give enough?

Where was I getting a lot back? Where

was I not getting a lot back? So, I take like a vague yearly inventory and then kind of after I I feel like I have my feet on solid ground, I will do scripting for the following year like

what I want a perfect perfect day to look like next year. And I can include big stuff like this isn't I don't try to make this small. It's way more about the

quality and the energy of what I'm writing about rather than the actual getting the actual thing. Then from

there I work backwards. What do I need to work on? So sometimes there's a sense of trust, a sense of safety, freedom of time, abundance, like but it changes and

I feel like it changes year to year. So

then from my intentions which can be quite they're sometimes just like words, what are the things I can do to make me feel this way? And so once I have those, I will then write out kind of like

everything I want to do over the course of the next year. And then I usually organize these by quarter. For quarters

1 and two, I have a lot of things I like want to do. I usually will throw things I have in the back of my head but don't feel as present in three and four. And

then this is the probably the most tangible way that I actually get stuff done. This is how my to-do list

done. This is how my to-do list operates. So I have like the whole

operates. So I have like the whole month. I have my monthly goals and then

month. I have my monthly goals and then I have my weekly to-do list. And then I will put the completed ones at the bottom. It's not that deep. I used to

bottom. It's not that deep. I used to write everything out, and I love writing everything out. I really do. But my

everything out. I really do. But my

to-do list started to have to change order all the time because I do a lot of different things at once. There's like a tangible handmade version of all of this. That's really important to me. I

this. That's really important to me. I

literally fill in by hand all of the month days here. It just really helps me. Obviously, this is this isn't like

me. Obviously, this is this isn't like synced with the Google calendar. It's

all very very much by hand when it comes to actually making stuff. If you've

watched any of my favorites videos, you guys know I read, I watch a lot. Any

piece of media I'm consuming, I do try to view through the lens, unless I'm in like full relaxation mode of something that could inspire something else or help me draw connections or bring together discord and ideas. So, when I'm

consuming stuff, I will basically save it like I'll, you know, like or save on like Tik Tok or Instagram or put a a link in my notes app or take a picture of a book while I'm reading it. And

everything I save, I add to Sublime. You

can add really anything on here. And as

I'm saving it, I add everything to collections. And my collections are

collections. And my collections are really like my Twilight Art boxes.

Everybody can organize their collections differently or their boxes differently.

I like to give things kind of vague names because I feel like they could be a video essay. They could be a play.

They could be a film. They're kind of abstract names. Some smooth grained

abstract names. Some smooth grained everything is television depends of being online. I have this one, a

being online. I have this one, a performance piece about women in exercise, but that could easily become a video essay. They can become whatever I

video essay. They can become whatever I need them to be. I can add cards from my experience elsewhere or I can also discover new ideas in Sublime. Search

pretty specifically and it'll give me cards around process versus outcome based thinking. These are all uploaded

based thinking. These are all uploaded by real people. There's a certain taste level to this that I'm not going to find on Pinterest or Google. Then once I have a collection going, I'll often create a canvas out of it which will take all of

the references I've built there and then lay them all out for me. So I can then organize. It can make a flowchart, a ven

organize. It can make a flowchart, a ven diagram. I can organize them however I

diagram. I can organize them however I want to move into the next stage. So I

took all the references from this collection and then I was organizing them so that I'd be prepped to film this video. Yeah. And that's kind of how I

video. Yeah. And that's kind of how I like start working. And then from this obviously there's the difficult part of this isn't a substitute for the actual thing. I've made this flowchart that's

thing. I've made this flowchart that's included in the video. I'll take you guys through it. It's pretty intuitive.

I don't think I'm cracking the code here. Start with collecting. And while

here. Start with collecting. And while

I'm collecting, and I feel like you'll feel this too, when you collect stuff, you come to a few of your own conclusions, a few new ideas in the back of your head. So, I can either write those down or I just know them. And then

I start writing, drafting, creating.

From there, I kind of have different options. If I feel like I don't have

options. If I feel like I don't have enough material, I can go back to the start, start collecting more. Feel like

I have too much, I like to take a break.

I like to go on a walk. I like to clean a drawer. Give yourself a lot of time

a drawer. Give yourself a lot of time and patience with this process. That's a

big part of the box method as well as she's like talking about back burnering things. I back burner things all all the

things. I back burner things all all the time. But if you kind of feel like

time. But if you kind of feel like something's happening, you keep going. I

kind of set a arbitrary timeline for a first draft. Whether that's a first

first draft. Whether that's a first draft of a edit of a script of an outline, like you're like, "Okay, by Wednesday I have this or by the end of the month I have this." And I feel like with all of this, I kind of use the

ideology of treating myself like a third grader. It's almost like I have a

grader. It's almost like I have a curriculum and I have, you know, a semester project due. I say third grader because I have to take it so slowly.

Okay, today we buy flashcards and make a script outline. And some days it's like

script outline. And some days it's like that and then some days I work so fast.

Personally knowing myself, I'm more of a sprinter, less of a marathoner. So

knowing that, I actually kind of build a lot of time around my creative work, ramping up, ramping down. So then I feel like once you have a draft, whatever that means to you, you can either be like, "I'm not satisfied. Go back to the

drawing board of gathering more references, you can show it to a trusted peer or close friend. Be very careful who that is." Or you can start a draft, too. And then basically, you can redo

too. And then basically, you can redo this thing again where it's like you get more, you keep going, or you take a break. At some point, that's just

break. At some point, that's just infinite drafting. At some point, you

infinite drafting. At some point, you decide to share it with people. And I

said there's no end, only beginnings because I like this quote. You only have one story. You'll write your story in

one story. You'll write your story in many ways by Elizabeth Stout. You notice

this when you look at an entire artist's work. The questions that they continue

work. The questions that they continue to ask in every piece, every project is a stepping stone to the next project. So

even if you have a final draft and getting something to the finish line is really hard. It almost becomes that like

really hard. It almost becomes that like research piece for the next thing. And

something that's been really obvious to me about that in the way that I use Sublime has been that I tend to go through all of my content at the end of the week that I've saved or that I need

to save to Sublime. Meditative time to get in touch with what I'm absorbing.

And I try not to do like read later lists or anything like that. I try to just absorb what naturally comes into my path. Trust more of like a timeline of

path. Trust more of like a timeline of like something's coming into my view when I'm supposed to see it. because I

spend so much time with my references, I sort of know them all by heart because of the space I have and the way it's organized and it's simple. I'm not one, I'm not really worried about forgetting anything and two, I just it's not even

because it's in here. It's because I've like handled it like I've spent time with it or I feel very in touch with what I'm interested in. Anything I save is something that kind of incites that gut feeling, oh, I have a curiosity. I

want to go down that rabbit hole. You

have to learn to trust it. But it's very intuitive. But yeah, this is pretty much

intuitive. But yeah, this is pretty much it. I hope that this was helpful in some

it. I hope that this was helpful in some way. At the end of the day, I always say

way. At the end of the day, I always say whatever works for you is what works. I

don't think some like me or a YouTube video can tell you or like make it work for you. I think you already have

for you. I think you already have whatever you need to get started. Yeah,

I really enjoyed doing this. It helped

clear my brain and thoughts about it all as well. I think that's all I have to

as well. I think that's all I have to say right now, but thanks for hanging with me, guys. I might have a vlog soon.

I might have a favorites video soon. If

you have a preference, let me know. Join

the substack chat if you want to gab about anything. And I so appreciate you

about anything. And I so appreciate you guys being here and I will see you soon.

So bye-bye.