Creative Pep Talk
002 - Strengths
(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. 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 them for it. 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 and 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. Hello, this is Andy J. Miller, and you are listening to the Creative Peptalk Podcast. This is episode two, and you know what? I loved doing episode one, and I want to keep doing this, and I don't feel like I've done it enough to commit to any schedule, but that is something I'd like to do in the future. I kind of talked about this last episode that I'd put off doing this for a long time, because I wanted it to be perfect, and I felt like I just needed to do it. And so you know, everything I do, I try to do with excellence, but sometimes there's a level of perfectionism that you have to drop, and I think for me, with this podcast, you know, I want the content to be as excellent as I'm capable of doing, but you know, the excellency of the quality, of the audio and all that, I'm gonna slide a little bit, if I want to do this in an instant, casual, conversational way that I can do kind of on the go. And so that's part of this whole thing. So you have to excuse the fact that the audio is not topped here, and just stick with me. So today's episode, I wanted to talk about strengths. I wanted to talk about leaning into your strengths and why that's important, and maybe also a little bit about the pitfalls of that. I like to kick things off with an analogy. You know, illustrators love their analogies. And the analogy I want to use for this is pretty simple, and it's finding your race, you know? I feel like, as like a runner, this is what I think the most important thing about strengths is, is that you might want to be a runner. Okay? But if you choose the wrong race, you're gonna get the wrong results, and that might result in you giving up. And I think, you know, and that's like the biggest worry of mine when it comes to creative people, is that they would give up. Because I think, you know, it's a long road, that creative professional pursuits are hard to do, and they're a long road, and they take a lot of investment. And I think giving up is one of the, probably the biggest things keeping people from being successful in their creative pursuits. 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 antijpizza.substack.com. And I hope to see you at this month's meetup. So, you know, I thought one of the things I'd like to do on this podcast and something that I do in my writing is I try to create an air of humility. I try to, you know, not just share my successes but also kind of my shortcomings. And you know, I think one of the things that I've always been aware of are my weaknesses. You know, I feel like to be completely honest, you know, I've got ADHD and you probably notice that even with the way that I do this podcast. And, you know, I've always kind of known that the normal everyday kind of pursuits that your average guy tries to be successful with. Like, I'm not going to run that race. Like I go, I knew from an early age like I'm not gonna compete in the normal kind of races of society for lots of reasons. And mainly just 'cause, you know, my weaknesses kind of prohibited me from doing normal things. And I think that, you know, leaning in on my strengths has always been a big deal to me because, you know, in my work, I always felt like, you know, I might not be as productive as the next guy but what I do end up producing, I feel like is gonna be especially creative. It's gonna be especially unique because of those are my strengths. And so, you know, leaning into my strengths has always been something that I've tried to do just by a necessity of survival. You know, when I graduated to college, I knew like I'm not gonna go into your typical full-time job because really those kinds of opportunities, my weaknesses just kind of outshine my strengths in that nine to five environment. I just don't thrive in that. And so I knew that I was gonna have to kind of make do and patch things together and make money where I could and tell I could do the freelance thing and do the project-based work that I was really good at. I'm not good at just doing a series of tasks. So that's kind of what it looks like for me. Now back to this analogy, picking the right race. So if you wanna be a professional runner and your strengths are sprinting but you're not really aware of that, what's gonna happen is, say you get into, say even let's just push it a little bit further as a thought experiment and say, someone tells you actually all the money and the easiest kind of professional running to get into is long distance. And so out of your fears or out of confusion, you get into long distance running. But the truth is your strengths, if you are aware of them, are sprinting. And so say you're getting in long distance running and you're running those races and maybe you're better than the average guy running in general. So you're doing okay, but you're really missing your thing. You're really missing the race that you're supposed to be in. And if you actually take the time to become more self-aware, you'll find that you should be doing sprints. It's not until you switch races and you find the right race that your strengths are really gonna shine and you're really gonna become successful. And so I think for me, this is something that is an ongoing thing. And I feel like this podcast is about helping other creative people find their thing. And I think that that pursuit isn't like in a Eureka moment. I think it's a series of Eureka moments and I think it's also, it's more like, I don't know what the quote is, but there's a quote by a famous sculptor. And they said, "How do you sculpt that piece of marble into an elephant?" And he says, "I just cut away all the pieces that don't look like elephant." And I think that that's kind of like what finding your thing is like. It's you're gonna keep developing, you're gonna keep experimenting, keep doing trial and error, until you kind of find that place where the demand in the market, you find the market where there's a demand for that natural talent and those skills that you've developed perfectly meets and you kind of hit a tipping point. That's kind of like what I see, finding your strengths, leaning into your strengths is all about. I think that that really kind of sums it up. And I think, you know, another side note is, you know, not to carry on too much about your Dreams My Nightmare's podcast. As you guys know, I'm a major fan, but one of the things I think that Sam says that, Sam Weber says, who's the host of that podcast, he always talks about how your weaknesses define you as an illustrator as much as your strengths. And so I think, you know, every contradiction, there's kind of truth in that. I think it's Niels Bohr who said that the opposite of a profound statement might be another really profound statement. And so I think finding your strengths and focusing on your strengths is a really good practice. But I think just as good is focusing on your weaknesses. So I think being self-aware in what you're good at, both with your strengths as well as your weaknesses is really important. I think understanding the areas, not that you need to develop, but the areas that you'll never be good at. Like things that you've tried really hard and you're not making any ground. I think it's really important to come to terms with what those things are. Own them and move on. I think that that's going to define which race you choose as much as finding your strengths. So I think that that's a really good thing to know too. Well, I think that that kind of wraps it up. I really appreciate you guys listening. You know, I'm going to try to keep this stuff as kind of short and sweet and to the point as possible. But I'm also going to do it in a kind of a casual way. So, you know, thanks for listening. I hope that this thing can be your creative pep talk in the morning that you can throw on and get you in the zone, get you revved up to do your thing and to keep making stuff every day. You know, I really believe in that. And I think just one thing I wanted to mention just to close off the podcast. For me, the strengths and weaknesses thing is such a giant deal because like I said, when I graduated, you know, I knew that I wasn't going to be your regular member of society. I just have too many kind of weaknesses that kind of go against your, you know, your kind of nine to five guy. And actually that right there is actually my motivation behind trying to give back and trying to help other people do their creative profession and be successful in it because I feel like if I don't make my creative path work, I really don't have anything else going for me. And so that's always been kind of a burden of mine. And I feel like if there's anybody else that shares that similar burden, I would love to help them break through in their creative career and make this thing work. And so that's kind of my heart for this. And I hope that this thing is a real blessing for you and just and really helps you. And if you want to find out more about my work, my illustration or the writing I do on my blog, my website is www.andie-j-millor.com. And so go check that out. Thanks for your time. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat 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 want to check that out and what I was able to do without any code, check out AndyJPizza.com. If you want to 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. I'm Wit Missaldine, the creator of This Is Actually Happening, a podcast from Wondery that brings you extraordinary, true stories of life-changing events told by the people who lived them. From a young man that dooms his entire future family with one choice, to a woman that barely survived her roommate, we dive into what happened and hear their intimate first-person account of how they overcame remarkable circumstances. Follow This Is Actually Happening on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts, or listen ad-free by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app.