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EPISODE 29 What We’ve Learned – Season One Wrap Up We have been doing this podcast for nine months and we have learned more than we expected. We tell some behind the scenes stories, review our best moments and thoughts – and we deliver the BEST interruption exercise EVER right at the tail end! Seriously. Stick around to the end and find out what happens next? Will there be a season two? What we learned: Having a creative partner (while weird and scary) is immensely helpful. Creativity loves constraints. Truer than ever! Pattern Interrupt is a valuable tool, not just when you are stuck, but as a fundamental part of the process. Books we obsessed over this season: Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon Daring Greatly by Brene Brown Catching the Big Fish by David Lynch Oh, and yes, there will be a season two. We are taking a short break to replenish our fucks. Then we will be interviewing more guests and building more shows to launch in January. And DO NOT MISS the final interruption: an original improvised song about Pattern Interrupt.

SHOW NOTES EP 028 Designing the perfect working day What if you spent your time only doing things you love? Do you dream of working for yourself? Do you dream of only working on things and projects you care about? What would that take? What would that really look like? What is a perfect day? Since Kyle quit his job in March he has been building his own creative life. What is great about that? What is hard about that? What REALLY happens when you have no boss? EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS What elements go into a perfect day What are the challenges to unstructured creative time Deep work vs change things up often How pent up work can flow out of you (deep work) Are your tasks obstacles or anchor points? Mary makes an excel spreadsheet to track your day INTERRUPTION: Choose a picture already in your phone. Write a tagline to sell a product or a brand idea. KYLE: Greek philosophy based therapy group ad MARY: When you have one child too many When you are touched out by noon Sometimes you shouldn’t catch them all A CHALLENGE: Send us a bizarre and/or odd stock image and we will send you something awesome. We swear.

EPISODE 27 Favorite Things (to spark creativity) You love stuff. I love stuff. We love stuff. Isn’t it great when somebody tells you about something they are super excited about and you don’t even know what it is – and then it turns out that thing is totally awesome and now you love it too? Exactly. Today we talk about our favorite things in these three categories: The written word Music Other (frankly because we couldn’t narrow it down more) KYLE’S FAVORITE THINGS (right now) WRITTEN WORD: Kyle is reading about Social Practice in Art What is it Website Book recommendation MUSIC: Take Off Your Sunglasses by Ezra Furman And Kyle’s band Taller Younger Brother OTHER: Photography of Bob Willoughby MARY’S FAVORITE THINGS (right now) WRITTEN WORD: The online writing platform Medium (link). Mary’s favorite publication on medium: Two Thousand Words Mary on Medium MUSIC: Downtown by Mackelmore & Ryan Lewis And also Sarchasm – the great Oakland band my daughter toured with this summer OTHER: Podcasts Storybrand This American Life WEEKLY INTERRUPT: Share something you love right now with someone who will love it, or even(!) with someone you havent spoken to lately.

Episode 026 Setting Goals This episode focuses on a viewer submitted question from Eli: “Goals?” We interpret that to mean that you want to know what we think about creatives setting goals. So we explored our favorite options. Plus Strongbad. Yaassss. Reverse engineer a timeline of activities. Start with your WHY (your deeper purpose). What about big audacious goals? What about practicality? Finding and being a mentor. SHORTY INTERRUPTION Get your phone (or camera) and find someone you do not know, or do not know well. Ask them if you can take their photograph (a la Human of New York). Get to know them. Take a great shot.

SHOW NOTES EP 025 Why You Should Write a Manifesto A manifesto is a bold statement, often related to an artistic movement. A manifesto clarifies what you stand for, what values you adhere to and what is your answer to a problem. Manifestos inspire, create boundaries, break down boundaries and generally facilitate change. We review some manifestos and how they worked or did not work. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS Episode opens with Mary sharing a listener email and confronting her fears How Mary wrote a manifesto on facebook recently to clarify her business Why we all like lists (manifestos are often lists) Manifestos define problem and then create an alternate option The “Shapoopidy Manifesto” and its revisions Dogma 95 Manifesto as an example of a artistic manifesto The No Bullshit No Drama Friendship Manifesto as a fun and funny and useful manifesto The Holstee Manifesto as another example of a optimistic manifesto We begin to build Kyle’s book of profound quotations Mary shocks Kyle with the possibilities of what you might be doing while listening to this podcast WEEKLY INTERRUPT Draft a manifesto with three statements. Define and criticize a paradigm. Come up with your solution. KYLE: 1. We live in an age mired in authoritative traditions. It is my intent to dismantle current authorities of their status through education of myself on their creation and histories. 2. Technology has us connected more now than ever, but there is rarely an increase in the depth of these connections. We must unplug from technology and social media in th home to gain deeper connection to the people in our lives. 3. Hollywood films are frivolous and fraught as is the life style surrounding their creation. People risk their lives everyday for candy-coated poison that entertains for mere hours and offers no actual value to the viewers or creators. I will tell stories that matter. I will tell stories that provide questions to my audience. I will tell stories that activate their curiosity and push them to push the boundaries of what they know, and how they know what they know. I will do this while respecting the livelihood of those I work with and that of their friends and families. MARY: 1. Expert Opinions I don’t know, but I’m curious. I’m prepared to listen and think. And not pass judgement or come up with a solution. I don’t have a solution. But I’m willing to stand with you here, holding your hand, until an answer appears. 2. What you do I only care about who you are. Who you want to become. How you think. What you dream and why. Who you BE enthralls me. 3. Looking for success and happiness I seek tiny moments of clarity. When you see the first flower. The genuine smile of a friend across the room – which you know is for you. The moment a child chooses to hold your hand. A funny moment that can never be explained. I look for the small yeses the universe sends 100 times a day. And we offer a prize to the first person to send us a manifesto. Something rad. We promise. Do it.

EPISODE 24: Getting Back on the Horse We interrupt our own pattern by answering a listener question and using a shorter format. The listener question from Jonathan is: After I have stopped doing something why is it so hard to start again? It feels so hard. I try and try and I struggle to reconnect to start doing that thing again. What hacks or tricks can I use to get back into that habit? OPTIONS Reconnect to the why underneath the activity. This requires going past the superficial answer. Write down your why and read it every day. You do this to remind yourself and rebuild the connection to the power behind the activity. Make a plan. Make a plan that builds in the time for the activity you are re-incorporating. Or plan a replacement behavior for something you want to stop doing. Get an accountability partner or plan in place. Use it. Check out Gretchen Rubin’s work for more info on this. WEEKLY (SHORTY) INTERRUPT Want to reset your biological system (and thereby your creativity)? Try grounding, the practice of connecting to the earth and the planet by going barefoot on the grass or dirt. Even if its just for a few minutes. Check it out. Put your tootsies on the ground. See what happens.

SHOW NOTES EP 023 The Incredible Value of Deep Work Do you have days (most days) where you are busy all day, moving from task to task to task and by the end of the day feel like you have not accomplished much of anything? Busy is not the answer to life. You can feel it. So what do we do? The best work, most meaningful work, most powerful work we can do is nearly always deep work. This episode was Inspired by Cal Newport’s book, Deep Work. Deep work is a distraction free state of concentration where you push your creative and cognitive abilities beyond the surface level. It requires focus. It requires commitment. It requires a plan. It requires practice. But DEEP WORK is worth it. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS The difference between shallow work and deep work Why do we default to shallow work How we get pulled away from deep work Why deep work is hard, but invaluable How to safeguard deep work How does this relate to the “jack of all trades” concept from episode 16 Four methods for getting into deep work: Monastic, Bimodal, Rhythmic, Journalistic The value of doing NOTHING Mary and Kyle brain storm ways to personally integrate deep work more often WEEKLY INTERRUPT Hey! We have a guest! Kayti Potgieter not only joins us in doing our interruption but also comes up with an interrupt for us! Yaaaay! Think of a virtue. Draw your virtue embodied as a comic book style character or story board. MARY: KYLE: KAYTI:

SHOW NOTES EP 022 Routines for Awesomeness Some people plan. Some people like to go with the flow. Some people like things to be the same. Some people like things to be different. Yet, nearly everyone ends up creating rituals and routines. It can be very simple. It can be very complex. It can be rigid. It can be flexible. But having a way to ramp up your process, your activities, your life…that’s a ticket to success in creativity. Content References: Amazeballz Challenge (created by Mary) The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS Mary describes her crazy daily routine The Amazeballs Challenge How much routine is good? How much flexibility? What kinds of routines do we use Why we love mornings Decision fatigue is not fun, and how routines save the day “Pre-paving” technique Easy versus most valuable to-do routine How to keep to a routine when your life is not routine The “chain” approach to routines WEEKLY INTERRUPT In the spirit of routines: Create your perfect day. MARY: 5-8 am: Miracle Morning (Questions: How can I win the day? How can I add the most value today?) 8-9:30: Get Ready/Transition 9:30-12: Deep Work 12-3: Lunch, meetings, shallow work 3-5 projects and collaboration 5-6: transition again 6-9: Connecting time 9-10: Get ready for sleep, wind down (Questions: what am I grateful for? Intentions for tomorrow) 10-5: Sleep! KYLE: 5a-8a: Miracle Morning (What can I do today to be BOLD? Who can I positively effect today? What can I do to win the day? 8a-9a: Coffee, Wash, Breakfast 9a-1p: Creative work 1p-2p: Lunch, etc 2p-6p: Technical work (projects, clients) 6p-7p: Dinner 7p-9p: Evening walk, relaxing, conversation 9p-10p: Reading/wind-down (What brought me joy today? Who did I bring joy to today? What amd I grateful for today? 10p-5a: Sleep

SHOW NOTES EP 021 Creative Hacks Hackers are mythologized as nefarious characters who can break into your computer and steal your information. But the “hacker” concept has developed into a vibrant community dedicated to sharing resources in order to build, teach, learn, create and innovate. We see buzzy articles touting “hacks” for many tasks and for overall productivity. What if you could hack your creativity? This week we talk about ways to jump start your creativity and your capacity to step into the version of yourself that best able to make stuff. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS Reference to an awesome and crazy video Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared Why do creative people need hacks? How does a uniform or costume prepare you to create Priming the pump to access a creative state The value of rituals in accessing your abilities WEEKLY INTERRUPT Inspiration time! Draw your dream environment for creating. KYLE: MARY:

SHOW NOTES EP 020 On Selfishness Art is an act of self exposure, where the artist shows the world their deepest ideas and feelings. We, as makers, must be willing and able to tap into our own (selfish) thoughts and beliefs as we create in order to make our art personal and meaningful. Our culture sends us mixed messages. “Put others first. Don’t be a selfish prick.” But we are also told to “put on our own oxygen mask first.” It becomes difficult to know when you are being an asshat and when you are taking care of your own needs and listening to your own inner compass. How do we manage the dance between empathy for others and selfishness as an artist and creator? “Art is the most intensive form of individualism the world has ever known” – Oscar Wilde EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS Being an asshat versus being self aware The dance of selfishness and community Positive/healthy kinds of selfishness versus those which are less healthy Jon Westenburg talks about the valuable things Kanye can teach us (see article here) How to recognize when your selfishness is unhealthy Chasing your joy vs chasing your ego Drinking your own “koolaid” How to build a process for your healthy selfishness Practical application: how to apply healthy selfishness to your life WEEKLY INTERRUPT Write a Haiku poem which uses the word “koolaid”. MARY: Stains cover my eyelids Simulate sleep nonchalance Koolaid cool liar KYLE: My koolaid floats boats Crushed the authority And tastes really good