Creative Pep Talk
017 - You Purpose, or Whatever
(upbeat music) Hey y'all, just a quick heads up. The episode you're about to listen to is eight to 10 years old. Now, these episodes were intended to be evergreen, and I still believe there's a lot of good information in these early episodes, but I do wanna let you know that some of my ideas have evolved over time. Times have changed since we made these episodes, and ultimately, I'd like to think I've grown a lot as an artist and a human, and that these don't necessarily represent my best work, or the best of the podcast. If you're new around here, I suggest starting with the most recent episode, or at least go back to around 300, and move forward from there. Enjoy the episode. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Well, hello, it's been a little while. I think it's been about a week, and you know, I've been storing up energy to unleash upon you through this podcast. This is the Creative Peptalk Podcast, which you probably know, 'cause you put it on, and this is Andy J Miller, I'm an illustrator, and I do this podcast to spread joy throughout the land, and you know, I really do it because I feel like trying to make a living doing creative things is pretty tough, and it's tough for me, and it's tough for people I know, and I love having conversations with other creative people, and I don't get to do it enough, so this is the overspill. And you know, today it could get a little weird. I'm trying to figure out ways to make it not too weird, but I've had the same kind of thought on my mind, and I felt like it's worth teasing out a little bit. So today, the podcast is about purpose. I'm a believer in the idea of dressing for the job you want, not the job you have, and I have applied this to my creative practice too, which means if you want professional results, you need to present online like a pro, and that means going beyond social media and having a professional website that reflects your style and looks legit. I rebuilt my site this year with Squarespace's fluid engine and was so happy with how easily I could build my vision without coding that when they approached me to support the show, I jumped at the chance because I love and use this product. So go check it out squarespace.com/peptalk to test it out for yourself, and when you're ready to launch your site, use promo code PEPTALK, all one word, all caps for 10% off your first purchase. Thanks goes out to Squarespace for supporting the show and supporting creators all over the world. Hey, in case you don't know, we have a monthly live virtual meetup every last Monday of the month with supporters of the show from Patreon and Substack. We have so much fun on these calls and they are the warmest, most encouraging creatives that I have ever met. And we also talk real creative practice stuff. We have authors, illustrators, lettering artists, picture bookmakers, fine artists, musicians, and folks that work in video and film as well. And we have people that are just starting out, people super established in their creative careers and everything in between. For the rest of this year, we're gonna chat through our new Journey of the True Fan series exploring questions and ways to apply these ideas to your own creative practice so that you can leave 2024 stronger than you came in with more visibility, connection with your audience, and sales. Sign up to whichever suits you best at either patreon.com/creativepeptalk or AndyJPizza.substack.com. And I hope to see you at this month's meetup. And, you know, I thought through this a lot and I thought, I feel like, you know, I consider myself to be a person with faith and spirituality, you know, I kind of fall in that camp. And, for me, it's really easy to think about purpose, you know, that's kind of tied up all into that. But then I also have atheist friends or agnostic friends that I think have a similar worldview when it comes to purpose. And started to try to think about, how do I talk about this without alienating people? Who don't share that type of open world view that says that there's things beyond what we can see. And that's a big part of my understanding and life and interests. Most of my interests, you know, fall. Even as a kid, when I think about the movies and the media that really moved me, it was always stuff that, you know, would say, here's our world, and then right below the surface, there's this other thing happening. If you think about like Wizard of Oz or Alice in Wonderland or Fraggle Rock, even, you know, there's this, you have the real world and then right below what we see, there's this other thing happening, you know. And I think that's always been interesting to me, but some people don't like that and they don't, you know, that makes them uncomfortable or they just think that it's not true. And, you know, I started thinking about how this relates to everybody. And so let me just kind of go on a little side path here and give you a disclaimer so that you don't shut off the old podcast right away. You know, I think if you're more of an atheist or agnostic, here's how I think purpose looks for you. You know, I'm a big radio lab fan and some of my amateurist views and ideas about science kind of are slightly informed by that. And one of the things I found really interesting was they were saying that for species to thrive, part of the thing that evolution does is it makes it so that every being is different and it makes it, it makes, it's good for a species to have different opinions. So some people are more predisposed to this type of view and others more, this type of view. And actually the reason that is is that there's all this differentiation between the species and variation because if there's a catastrophic kind of event, then, you know, if we're all the same and we're all not able to cope with that catastrophic event, then we're gonna be wiped out. Whereas if 50% of us are quite a bit different than the other 50%, one of those might be better suited to keep going after these types of events. So with all the variation, you're more likely to keep the species developing and growing through all kinds of different adaptations and changes. And so I think when you look at it like that, you look at it through that lens, you can see that every person has a part to play for the thriving and flourishing of the species. And so my point there is you could see your purpose as this great God-given thing, this thing that's overarching and spiritual, or you could see it as a really practical thing that says, only you have your genetic makeup and only you can help the species thrive in the way that you can. And I think that the other thing I start thinking about when I think about this idea of purpose and how some people are gonna be put off by that word, I think about how, I think about semantics, you know, the idea that the way that we talk about semantics is something I think about a lot. You know, I think about, I think a lot about what's profound truth and what's not, that sounds really like I'm some kind of great thinker. I'm definitely not, definitely a complete goofball, but you know, I'm fascinated by the idea of profound truth. And one of the things that I am really drawn to is this idea of wisdom. So this idea that there's these general principles behind life that are purely true. And then when we try to translate them into English, we usually lose something. And we also, if you, everybody has different words for things, then a lot of times there's a death cap song and I like that band. I kind of, you know, listen to them a lot in high school, but they have a song that I think was pretty good. It was called, "They're Different Names for the Same Thing." And I just, you know, I liked that. He's talking about, you have the same thing in reality, even if you're gonna talk about a profound truth or wisdom, you've got this thing and there's so many, the language is the mask of the thing. So we all come at it from different angles, but we're talking about the same thing. And so if you don't like the word purpose, you can call it your sweet spot, or you can call it, you know, whatever you wanna call it, the idea is that you're genetic makeup and who you are as a person. At the core of that person, there's a thing that you can do and there's, or there's things, maybe it's not, again, if you don't believe in overarching, kind of spiritual understanding of life, maybe you don't have to look at it as, there's just one thing. But there are things that you're more predisposed for than the things that you're, than other things. And so if you wanna call it your sweet spot, or you wanna call it your purpose, whatever you wanna call it, I'm talking about the same thing. And so today, what I wanted to talk about was the people that really, I get a sense that, you know, the people that don't just survive in the creative professional world, it's the people that thrive. To me, when you meet that person who's really firing on all cylinders, you know, I'm talking about the big dogs, you know, those people. You know, I met Aaron Draplin, who's a designer out of Portland. I met him at one of his talks, not too long ago. And I've listened to his talks, and, you know, I follow him on social media, and there's a guy who I get a real sense of purpose. He's driven, and I don't know, from his own kind of admission, I think that he wouldn't describe himself as a spiritual person, or someone that, I don't know, gets weird in that way. You know, I think that he seems like a practical guy. But if you listen to the passion he has, and you can tell he is in his sweet spot, he's in that little spot where he's found his place, and he's driving in that environment. You know, I thought, to me, to me, the make or break thing in any profession, in any sector, do they, it's not, and I don't think it's, do you find your purpose? I think something about purpose, or your sweet spot, is this idea of a road, or a path. It's never this thing where you find, I'm a lettering person, or I'm this or that, and that's it, and you've found your purpose, and you're working on it, and it's all good, and it's finished, and you just keep going, and tinkering away. I think that view sounds like the worst boring view of life that you could possibly have, where one day you'll find your perfect job, and then you'll just repeat yourself for the rest of your life. No, I don't think that that's how it works. I think, to me, the defining characteristic, and it separates people, is that whether they're on that road of their sweet spot, or they're not, or they're far off, and I think people, there's another group of people that hate this idea, and you know why? Because it's inclusive, or it's exclusive, I mean, sorry. It's exclusive, it's saying that some people get it, and some people don't. Everybody hates that view. But the truth is, we see that all the time in our world, is that some people get the promotion, and other people don't. Some people do this, and some people don't, and it's that real. You can be like kindergarten, where everybody gets a ribbon. But that's not the world. That's not how things go. And whether you like it or not, I think that's the case. Now, the good news is, you know, I think is that not only, is it not this thing that you just find and you're done, and so you either uncover the treasure or you don't, I think it's really, it's this journey. So it's not about, you're so far off that you'll never get it, or it's so hard to figure out that you could never find it. It's about choosing to go on the journey, to go, and I think, I come back to this all the time. There's a talk on 99u.com about Gutchurn by Jad Abumrod from Radiolab. And he talks about Gutchurn. And to me, that's one of the signs that you're like on the right road. It's like, are you working it out? Is it a little bit painful? Are you like, you know, worried and thinking and, you know, developing these ideas of the direction you should go? And are you really doing the work? And so I think sometimes that kind of concern and difficulty is something that puts us off doing the work, the real work. But I think that that's the good stuff. That's the stuff that you need to be doing. So, all right, so this sounds all great. This sounds like, yeah, find your purpose, easy. Okay, it's not easy. But that's why it takes a lifelong pursuit to get to. You know, and some people are gonna get it faster than others and some, or it's gonna appear like it's more successful earlier than others. But I think that this is a worthy pursuit. And, you know, one of the things that I know some people hate, I personally don't hate this. It's, I'm a weird guy. I like the touchy, feely, you know, cloudy, fuzzy stuff. I just like it. It's kind of, sometimes I like it in a detached way. Like I like to just sit back and listen to some Bizarro dude talk about really grand, ethereal, otherworldly stuff, you know. Just, I don't know, I'm weird like that. But I know, but I hate that they don't pay mind to the people that can't stand that. And so what I thought, let me just give you a few practical things that I think will help you find your sweet spot or your purpose, whatever you wanna call it. I think the first thing for me is going on that long road of self-awareness. And, you know, it's a long road and it's not an easy game. Because it's confusing. That's the thing I think that in the whole overarching idea of purpose or finding your thing or whatever, developing that or finding the best place for you to be. I think the biggest problem is that it's confusing. It is confusing. It's a confusing game. I almost feel like there's forces trying to confuse you, trying to mix you up, so it's hard to find a specific vision or clarity within that confusion. And one of the things I think helps is getting to know yourself on a values level. So not defining yourself in black and white terminology. I do think it's important to do things like the Myers-Briggs test and understand are you more of an introvert or any more of an extrovert or, for me personally, I consider myself to be either an INFP or an ENFP. But I also kind of realize that my intuition feeling, which is the middle letters, the N and an F, those are the only things that kind of stick. I could be an INFP or an INFJ or an ENFP or an ENFJ. I could flip flop all over the place, all over the board. The only things that really stay constant for me are the IN and the F, intuition and feeling. And those things are like, I'm really extreme in those ways. But I actually feel like if you get too defined in your black and whiteness about who you are, you're actually gonna miss the nuance and that's what makes you human and interesting. It's those contradictions that actually make you who you are. And so I think self-awareness that's less about black and white, like I like this and I like dogs and I like less about that in particular 'cause that's an extension of who you are, but it's not who you are. And more about principles and values that define the heart of who you are, not the symptoms of the heart, not the extensions of who you are, but who are you on a deeper level of values and understand, what are your values? What are the things that you, and for instance, for me, one of my values is I'm drawn to things that are beyond reality. Like I said earlier in the podcast, that's something I've learned about myself. And when I play to those things, I'm so interested and happy and that's when I start getting excited and I play the best in my work when I'm working with something that is about what's below the surface of the world? What's the things that we can't see? As an example, there's a book called, There's a Walk It in My Pocket by Dr. Seuss and there's an image where the page is in his house and there's all these hidden monsters in his house and there's one page and it's really dark looking page. It's like all blue and the kids sneaking by, there's this big lump under the rug and it says something like there's a bug under the rug. And I always was obsessed with that because it's something that you can't even see it. You never get to see what's under there. I remember as a kid, that is my imagination just exploding from what is under that rug and I loved that because it was like the hidden things. And so, hiddenness is a or mystery or stuff below the seams. That's part of my values, that's at my core and that can look like a billion different things. That's the cool thing. All the extensions or the symptoms of that value can manifest in all different ways in my creativity and that can change as I develop. As my style develops, as my output develops, I always have that. It's always, I always come back to that and it's a deeper thing than I like to draw pizza or whatever. Although I do like to draw pizza and I like to eat pizza too. So self-awareness, going on that road, committing to getting to know yourself, getting to know what's happening in your life and what you do and all that. That's the key, that's the biggest one. - The holidays are upon us and finding the right gift for your kids, nieces and nephews and partner and family members can be super difficult, but it doesn't have to be. Go check out Uncommon Goods. Sophie and I were checking it out the other day, looking for gifts for our kids. They have a make your own storybook kit, which we love. There's this cardboard tool kit with a cardboard saw that's safe and connectors. You can build cool stuff and forts and whatnot. They also got these building connectors where you can connect sticks and make a fort. Mainly, I just like forts, but there's tons of cool creative gifts that will inspire your kids to go make stuff, but we could also easily have just bought stuff for each other or even ourselves. This curated selection of goods means you don't have to scour the internet for something unique and exciting and you're supporting artists in small businesses at the same time, which you know I love. To get 15% off your next gift, go to uncommongoods.com/peptalk. That's uncommongoods.com/peptalk for 15% off. Don't miss out on this limited time offer, uncommon goods. We're all out of the ordinary. - The second one is mindfulness and I think for me that means being present in the moment which looks like spending time alone, having solitude, weighing up what's happening and where you're at, being in the present, like knowing where you've grown and then where you need to grow. And so that looks like solitude and feedback. If you're having, I think you need to cut through the confusion, you need to call your friends and you have long talks about, you need to find people that love you, that care about you, that want to talk about you and you can help them go through this for them and you can share what they feel like you're good at and what you feel like they're good at. What things you need to improve and what ways, what are you worrying about that you shouldn't be worrying about? That's great, you need these creative partners that are going to help you advance in understanding what it is you're supposed to do or you're good at. So then the last one, the number three is, it's called 50% swimming upstream and 50% riding the wave. To me, it's a collaboration with life, it's with what's happening and what's coming at you like the wave and then it's also, I feel like I see people do both sides of this and I think leaning into either of these is kind of a problem. So we're always riding the wave. I heard Jim Dats who did an interview with Sam Weber on his podcast recently. It was beautiful, that's one of the best podcasts on your dreams my nightmares. Go look that up, Jim Dats, he's an awesome guy. I got to meet him I think last year at his studio in New York and he was a gracious guy. We went to lunch, it was just a great time and he's a wise guy and he knows a lot about creativity and he talks about riding the wave of what's happening. I think that's so true, you gotta go with what's working. Sometimes we have this pressure that we really like doing this type of illustration but you keep getting these other jobs that are coming from a different direction that maybe you didn't expect or you didn't set your goals to but you gotta be aware and mindful of when this thing over here is working you need to set down the other thing for a little bit or you need to go with the current a little bit. You need to be discerning in the moment and go with what's working. And I think you gotta be aware of where's the wave going and you gotta be looking for where it's coming and where it's going and be ready for that. Now the other side of it though is if you're never treading upstream, if you're never swimming upstream you're not gonna grow and learn because when you grow and learn it's always painful, it's always difficult, it's always hard work, it's never something that just grabs you and takes you there. And for me that's looked like these kids books that I've been working on. Now I've talked about it almost every episode but I feel like I'm making some serious ground in that and I started from a place that was not great and it feels like swimming upstream. Now I'm starting to feel a little bit of a wave coming now. Now that I've got a head enough stream I'm seeing some waves, some currents that are actually starting to naturally carry me but I feel like you get these bands right and they come out with these good albums early in their career and then they just plateau and they're done and I think that that happens from, they were good at riding the wave initially, like they were good at seeing I'm really good at this, people are demanding this, I'm gonna get on that wave and ride it but they were not on the backside, swimming upstream, trying to develop and you see that with the great artists, you see they make this wave, this musician, they'll get on the wave, they do this thing, it's in demand, it's fantastic. I think of people like Panda Bear or Sufion Stevens, they'll come out with something from left field, you didn't know they even had in them. You didn't even know that they could do something real dirty rock or crazy electronica thing that you didn't even know they had those skills and it's that unexpected quality that keeps you interested. So I think that's the other thing, when it comes to living into your sweet spot is riding the wave, being self aware and mindful enough to see where the wave's coming and riding it and not getting so predisposed on the path that you're charting, that you can't collaborate with what's happening and then also always being hungry for development and getting better and I think it's hard to balance those things but I think it's important. So I've sufficiently gotten weird on you and but I do think for me, the bottom line is this, is that it's the separating line for the people that inspire me and the people that seem kind of like uninspiring is do they have a sense of purpose, do they have a sense of their on their path, they're doing their thing, that quality is night or day for me and I think it's really a big deal. And the good news is this also, is that whatever your sweet spot is, that's gonna fulfill you. If you just own that, that'll help you not feel jealous of other people's purpose in sweet spot. If you had what they had, it wouldn't fulfill you in the way that it fulfills you. I always feel like Ryan Howard from the office, Ryan, he said something that's so offensive and this sounds like what I'm saying but he said when they start their Michael Scott paper company it's him, Michael and Pam and the phone rings and he wants Pam to answer the phone and Pam doesn't want to answer phone 'cause she doesn't want to be the secretary and he's like, "You're just better at that." And she's like, "Really? "Can you be better at answering a phone?" And he's like, "Yeah, it's not offensive." It's like some people are good at working on cars and some people are, and I'm good at being a CEO. It's not different or it's not worse, it's just different. It's clearly super offensive, ridiculous thing to say. But I do think there's actually truth in trusting that however big or small the world views, your sweet spot is irrelevant because once you get into that sweet spot, the peace and fulfillment and development that you can sense, that's all that matters. And so sometimes I feel like we reject our lot because we think it's unimportant or not meaningful as someone else's. And I think it's really important to just own what you're good at, what you do, what the thing that you can serve the world in, the thing that you can do that helps the species flourish. However you want to view it, I really believe you've got this, you've got these things or this thing that's yours. And when the closer you get to it and the stronger you fight to find it, the more enjoyable and the better the work and the better results that you're gonna get. So thanks for listening. I hope this has been a real great start to your day or finished to your day and keep coming back. The listeners are growing and the feedback's pouring in and it's great and I love doing this and I'm gonna keep trying to do it. And until then, try to stay peped up. This is Andy J. Miller. Thank you. (dramatic music) - Hey y'all, one more quick thing. Earlier this year, I rebuilt my website using Squarespace's new fluid engine and I was so pumped about how it turned out that I have been really thrilled to find as many ways to partner with them and tell you about what they can do and bring you discounts as possible. With social media going haywire, I think having a site that feels as unique as your creative work is essential to building trust with your target audience or your clients. I have had several clients point out how cohesive and fresh my site looks lately and if you wanna check that out and what I was able to do without any code, check out AndyJPizza.com. If you wanna test it out, go to squarespace.com/peptalk to test it out yourself and when you're ready to launch use promo code PEPTALK for 10% off your first purchase. Thanks Squarespace for supporting the show and for supporting creative people. (upbeat music) - Do you love hair raising allegedly true stories about the paranormal? Then some in the podcast scared to death. It's the popular horror series with more than 60 million downloads and is co-hosted by me, Dan Cummins. - And me, Lindsay, co-host and also Dan's wife. Each week on scared to death, we share bone-chilling tales from old books and creepy corners of the web and some submitted by our listeners, all designed to make you sleep with the lights on. - Think you can handle the horror? Tune in to scared to death every Tuesday at the stroke of midnight to find out.