The Unmistakable Creative Podcast

How Creative People Get it Done with Samantha Bennett

The question of how creative people decide what to do and keep at their endeavors drove Samantha Bennett to form The Organized Artist Company. In this episode, we have a discussion about her journey, and how to make significant progress on our creative projects in just 15 minutes a day.

The role theater has played in Samantha’s career
Finding the thumbprint of your own creative work
How theater training plays a role in job interviews
Learning to look at where we go in times of crisis
Why you need to move your body and your mind
Cultivating your personal intuition to lead your creativity
Dealing with the difficulties of childhood depression
Navigating the occasional uncertainty of creative work
Why the thing that you will succeed at will surprise you
The beauty of not knowing how to do something
Spending 15 minutes a day on the projects that matter
How we can use 15 minute tasks to make significant progress

Samantha Bennett is the creator of www.TheOrganizedArtistCompany.com dedicated to helping creative people get unstuck from whatever way in which they’re stuck, especially by helping them focus and move forward on their goals. Based in Los Angeles, Samantha offers her revolutionary “Get It Done” and “Get Your Work Out There” Workshops, teleclasses and private consulting to overwhelmed procrastinators, frustrated overachievers and recovering perfectionists everywhere.

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Duration:: 1h 3m
Broadcast on:: 16 Jul 2014
Audio Format:: other

As you've probably noticed this month, we're bringing you our Life of Purpose series and revisiting some of our most transformative episodes, tune in to explore expert insights and practical strategies on help, performance, and community well-being, all aimed at helping you achieve personal and professional fulfillment. If you sign up for the newsletter, you'll not only get recaps of the key ideas in each interview, but at the end of the series, you'll receive our free Life of Purpose e-book. What you have to do is go to UnmistakeableCreative.com/LifePurpose again. I'm Srini Rao, and this is the Unmistakeable Creative Podcast, where I speak with creative entrepreneurs, artists, and other insanely interesting people to hear their stories, learn about their molding moments, tipping points, and spectacular takeoffs. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. You chose to hit play on this podcast today. Smart choice. 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I'm sorry, I shouldn't be victim blaming here. Give it a try at midmobile.com/switch, whatever you're ready. $45 up from payment equivalent to $15 per month. New customers on first three month plan only. Taxes and fees extra. Speeds lower above 40 gigabytes of CDTails. Getting engaged can be stressful. Getting the right ring won't be at bluenile.com. The jewelers at bluenile.com have sparkle down to a science with beautiful lab-grown diamonds worthy of your most brilliant moments. Their lab-grown diamonds are independently graded and guaranteed identical to natural diamonds and ready to ship to your door. Get $50 off your purchase of $500 or more with code listen@bluenile.com. That's bluenile.com code listen for $50 off. Sam, welcome to the Unmistakable Creative. Thanks so much for taking the time to join us. My pleasure. Thank you so much for having me. Hi, everybody. So, you know, I came across you by way of both your publicist and one of our listeners who highly recommended you as a guest for the show and, you know, when I came across what you're up to, I thought, yeah, this would be a really fascinating chat. So, can you tell us a bit about your background, your story, and sort of the journey before the journey that has led you to where you're at today? Sure. I mean, I think the whole thing with, I mean, I have a business called the Organized Artist Company and it all came out of my own life as a writer and an actor and a teacher. I mean, I was always a, I mean, I was a theater kid. I went to theater camp. I was a theater geek, you know, and that was all I ever wanted to do with my life. And so that meant that once I left college and even while I was in college, my whole life was just this hard podge of jobs and gigs and projects and shows and, you know, constantly juggling a lot of different things and having a very erratic income. And I just, I just got more and more interested in this question of like, well, how do creative people decide what to do? And how do we keep going once we've decided, you know, in the middle where it gets to be a big slog or at the end where it looks like it might really be real and that's terrifying. And so I just started looking at that and going, well, how would when you've got 50 different things you could be doing, how do you decide? Well, how would I do that? And then just making worksheets and little questionnaires and sort of probing little exercises and stuff and really it's just endlessly fascinating to me. So, you know, I want to take a few steps back and really kind of dig into the earlier part of your career, especially the theater piece and kind of your childhood influences as an artist and a creative person. You know, one, how has theater influenced and shaped sort of the way you view the world, the way you view creativity, the way you view work, and, you know, what kinds of influences have you had growing up that have kind of impacted the way that you do your work today? Yeah, theater is, you know, the thumbprint of everything, I think, it's at the root of almost everything I do is my background in theater. And, and I think I came to theater because I was such a big reader, I learned to read really early and I'm still a big reader, my favorite thing in life is to be in bed with a book. And I think it's, but it's a pretty short step from wanting to, from enjoying a story to wanting to share the story. Somebody asked my mom, or they asked me actually what my first memory of doing theater was and I said that I remember doing a production of stone soup when I was in kindergarten, you know, that old folktale stone soup. And, and my mom was there and my mom said, Sam, she was, you didn't just do it. She said, you produced it. She said, you made them do it. You brought in the costumes and you brought in the script and you made them do it. And I'm like, I was three and a half years old. How did I even know what a play was? But that's what I wanted. Yeah, I always love doing it. And, you know, unlike a lot of creative people, I wasn't exactly a member of the Happy Childhood Club. So it was a great place to escape. It was a place where it was okay to be weird. And, and I loved it that it engaged all of me. When I was, when I'm acting, and when I'm working on acting, it's, it engages me intellectually, psychically, spiritually, physically, emotionally, kinesthetically, you know, creatively, like there's no part of me that it is not engaged. And there's one of the reasons I stayed with it and still stay with it to this day is because I've never found anything else that's as engaging. This, this work I do with the organized artist company is a very close second. But even that, I have a friend who I met originally in the theater. He was a director and now he spent the last 15 years or so working for Apple. And he said that he thinks that time in the theater should be mandatory for young people, like, like the Israeli army or something like everybody should just have to go spend three years working in the theater. He said, because he can tell immediately when somebody comes in and interviews that whether they're theater training or not, the way they carry themselves, they understand energy, they understand teamwork, they understand ensemble. They understand give and take, they understand how to present in front of people, you know, they just get a whole raft of knowledge that people who don't study theater don't. So a couple more questions come from this. You know, you mentioned that theater is sort of the thumbprint of everything that you do in your life. And I think, you know, I've asked a similar question to a lot of people. I wonder, you know, how we can look back at our own childhood experiences or our own experiences throughout the course of our lives and find what is the thumbprint of everything that we've done in our lives and how we could apply that to our own creative efforts. How we can look back, how we can each look back. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, that's a good question. I mean, I think the heart of it is desire. You know, what are the things that you will always do that you default to that given an unlimited amount of time and unlimited amount of resources you would do anyway. And, and I think when you sort of dig dig in there, dig into your own, your own desire, your own want, that's, that's probably where those that well spring is, you know. And it can be a little hard because most of the creative people I know, you know, I've never met a single disciplinary artist. Every, every creative person I know is like, Oh, well, I'm a writer, but I play guitar and I make stained glass windows and I love to bake and I used to clog dance, not so much anymore, you know, like, you know, we have a lot. Most creative people have created people have a lot of skills and talents. They're good at a lot of things. And, and they're used to kind of picking things up pretty quickly, being fairly adept at things, which is one of the reasons why it makes it so hard to figure out what to do. I think when you just look at like, where do you go in times of crisis, you know, what do you do to self comfort, what do you do when the world's falling apart. Yeah. And that's probably your first clue about where you're your thumbprint, you're what your well spring is. And then you say that because I think in times of crisis, I mean, I pretty consistently turned to a blank page. I have a journal and that's the first place I go. Mm hmm. Exactly. And I mean, I think it's different. I mean, there are two, I think for me, it's waves and words like I either open up a journal, I get in the water and surf. Definitely. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that dual impulse is great that you got to move the body and you got to move the mind. Yeah. And that's the way out. Well, we'll have to talk about that in a bit more depth. You know, there's another thing that you mentioned when you talked about your friend at Apple and how he can spot theater train people because they come in with this set of skills that you can only really gain from theater training. And I wonder, I mean, are there other ways to acquire those skills? I mean, are there things that we could be doing on our daily lives to bring about those skills? And you know, how have those skills influenced your life? Yes, I think absolutely. And I think the number one thing I would, I would suggest cultivating and that's because it works so great in theater. It works terrific and improvisation and it works great in life is really cultivating your intuition. Really letting yourself know what you know and see what you see and respond to what you respond to. It's been one of my favorite things as a teacher. Like the minute I sort of gave myself permission to call bullshit as a teacher. I started being a much better teacher. And, you know, when you're on stage, the whole game of it is to what they call be in the moment, right, to be completely immersed in the reality of the stage. But that means you have to be completely immersed in reality and you really have to be paying attention to what the other person is saying, even though you've heard it 57 times before. Or even though you can't remember your next line or even though somebody's rustling in the aisle or even though, you know, there's these other things going on. And so the ability to concentrate and really respond to all the information you're getting from someone, both what they're saying. But also what you think they're thinking, how their body is, what their energy is like. Most of us know way, way, way, way more about each other than we sort of let ourselves know that we know. And I, and when you, and again, the people who are likely to listen to this podcast, creative people, we're super sensitive. And, you know, and we, we, it might have gotten discouraged in you as a child, you know, all adults don't always like it when children tell them the truth. But I really, I really recommend it. And, and, and even if you just use it, you know, in terms of like sort of just using your powers for good, you know, when you write a thank you note to say, you know, thank you so much for such a beautiful dinner party. Your home is so, and like really go deep. What did you really notice about that person's house? Or about the way they were in the room? You know, thank you so much for taking the time to meet with me. You know, your office is so, well, I can tell that you're very like, what are they like? And really let people know that you see them. There's a whole thing about people wanting to be, you know, heard and understood. I don't know if people really care about being heard and understood. Does anybody see me? So yeah, I think that would be, there's definitely other places you can, you can cultivate, you know, the skills you get in theater, of course, of course, a million ways. And it's not that all the skills you cultivate in theater are actually necessary for life. Pretty good. It's not a bad place to start. And I think of all of them, that ability to really use your intuition and to think about and to find creative solutions to things and trust your own creative solutions is in the top five for sure. So, you know, one of the other things you mentioned was sort of this hodgepodge of activities of theater, of acting, of creative projects. And, you know, I want to spend some time in this earlier part of your career. And, you know, what I really want to focus is kind of the struggle, right? I think what I find consistently with anybody who has been on the show and any person who has accomplished something of great significance is almost a hero's journey of sorts in which there are some very challenging parts of. Getting to where they got to. And I think that, you know, too often we see creative people and we see them where they're at and we assume that that's where they always have been. And we don't see what's gone into it. And I'd love for you to talk about in a bit more depth, this hodgepodge idea and the challenges that you've had to overcome and some of the struggles. I mean, I'd like to hear about some of the darker parts of the story. Sure, happy to. But first, I'm so glad you said that because this actually, it makes me a little crazy like that we see it's true I think everybody does it we see somebody who accomplishes something that maybe we wish we could accomplish or that we would like to do. And we immediately assume that they must have had it easier. That somehow it was easier for them. You know, sure. This person can write it. Oh, sure, Sam can write a book. Oh, sure. You know, this person have a podcast this person. Of course they can do that because they're so. And whatever that the data is. Oh, well, they come from this family or they're so beautiful. They're so good looking or they. You know, friends with this person or this made it easier. They've got a PhD here. And I'm here to tell you. Well, it's not easier for anyone. I work with all kinds of creatives from, you know, I'm meeting Academy Award winners and. Literary luminaries to, you know, people who just want to do some crocheting for the craft fair and no, it's not easier for anyone. So, like, just let's just bust that myth open. It's hard. It's as hard for everybody as it is for you. And, and in fact, it's, you know, just like in, you know, league of their own. It's the heart that makes it great. Right. When I was, you know, like I said, I did not, I came from a pretty chaotic family background. I have more ex-step parents than most people have toes. So there was a lot of, you know, throwing and doing in my, in my emotional life and my family life as a kid. And I was suffering from childhood depression, which at the time there was kind of no such thing. You know, certainly not in nice, upper middle class families in Chicago. So it was a long, long time. I mean, I was old before I figured out that I actually, like, I wasn't crazy. I was insane. And that, that a lot of what had been so difficult for me. That was a big part of it. Definitely the financial struggle, you know, was huge, huge epic. I mean, every, every month was a, was a, was a new ball game and it's as an as an entrepreneur. It's still kind of that way. But it's also great because it means you're working for love. It means you know, you know, I sometimes I think that people with, or I don't think, I imagine that people with regular jobs, you know, get sort of lulled into a certain sense of competency and they're sort of doing their thing and they show up every day and they get paid and they have a life and it's pretty predictable and, you know, and then they wake up somewhere along the line and go, "Holy crap. Wait, this is my life? Wait, what happened? Where was I? What? How am I 45? What? You know?" Whereas for a lot of creative people, our life is so flipping hard that we're sort of asking ourselves at least once every two weeks. Like, really? Am I really doing this? Is this really worth it? Am I really sure I don't want to go get a job? Like, really? Like, we know where our time went. We were there for the decision over and over and over again. Yeah. You know, it's interesting you say that because, yeah, absolutely. I think they're at least once a week. It's like, what the hell am I doing? Like, who would choose this life? For real. So, you know, I want to ask you a bit more about sort of the childhood depression and financial struggle because there's, I mean, it seems one, I feel like dealing with emotional trauma is kind of almost another inherent theme for anybody who does creative work. Sure. But also the financial struggle. So, two questions come around this. And this one I've asked numerous times. This is about, you know, the difference between people who experience post-traumatic stress and post-traumatic growth and what separates those two people. I'm curious to hear your perspective on this, having gone through such a challenging sort of family environment when you're growing up. And then also, you know, around the financial struggle is navigating the uncertainty of this kind of work without feeling like you're going to lose your mind. Like, how do you find, how do you do it in a way that you, you're actually able to stay happy while you're doing it? Yeah. I think. Oh boy. What do I think? I think, first of all, I should just mention, because it just came up. There's a great, great, great article in the Atlantic this month by Nancy Andreasen about creative genius and madness and the relationship between creative genius and depression, bipolar, anxiety disorders, it's really, really well done. So, just, if you're interested in that, I would absolutely pick up that article. And I think... Well, okay, let me put it this way. For me, the part of what came out of depression also, just in terms of things we've lived through, when I was 20, I was in a big car wreck and I brought my back and I fractured my skull and it was a neuro ICU for three and a half weeks. I had to learn to walk again, like it was a big thing. And I think when you go through stuff like that, either emotionally or physically, you become very aware that we're here for about a blink. You know, we're really... I was always very conscious and I remained very conscious that our time here with each other is so, so short. And so to spend it on things that don't matter is at best foolish and at worst rude. And so it's... And I see how money comes and goes. I mean, I've always had the magical power of being able to bring in the exact amount of money I need at the exact moment I need it. I know a lot of other people who do the exact same thing. So we just make it work. We just make it work. And I think the perseverance and the sheer force of will, I used to joke that we should rename the theatre company. I was in the sheer force of will theatre company because we just make it happen, you know, just make it work. And I think that drive, you know, that will not, you know, the show must go on. You will not say die. It doesn't matter. You have to get the workout. You have to tell the story. You have to help the people. Interesting. Yeah. You know, I think that you're right. I think there's a certain level of commitment it requires. I call it you're reaching a point of no return where you get to a point where you're like, there's no turning back from this. It's either going to be, you know, wildly successful or go down in flames and those are your two options. Or it'll be moderately successful. Or, you know, parts of it will succeed and parts of it won't. And I guarantee you, the thing that you're going to do that's going to be most successful will not be your favorite thing. It's going to be the stupid thing with the puppy. You know, it's going to be the thing that you're like, really? You know, 40 years of backbreaking labor and that's the thing you people love, you know, the loveboat theme. That's the thing that's going to make me the most money. But yeah, yeah, and people get to like what they get to like. You know, they're allowed. They're allowed to think you're great. So let them quit fighting them on it. Yeah. Well, let's do this. Let's shift gears a little bit. You know, we've been focused especially on your story. Let's talk about this whole idea of how creative people choose what to work on because I know that's the real, you know, sort of bulk of what your book is about having gone through half of it. And I really loved it. And I felt this was such a great framework for actually making progress with our projects. Because, you know, I mean, too often what I see is people who are, they're either in limbo or they're not consistent or they don't start at all. Right. And so let's talk about this. I mean, let's break this down into a practical framework that people can put to use in their lives. I mean, talk to me about where this all came from. And, you know, let's break it down. Yeah, I think that the heart of it that I've been seeing more and more. And I'm just about to start writing about this. I think there's something that school does. There's something about school that makes you believe that the way to succeed is to have all the answers in advance. Right. You're supposed to know ahead of time. They're going to give you a test. You're supposed to know all the answers in advance. And, but that's not what art is. You can't know the answers in advance. So people get this feeling like, well, I want to do this thing, but I don't know how. And I want to change the frame of that completely to be you want to do this thing. And you don't know how. Like, that's so great. How cool that you don't know how. Of course you don't know how. How could you possibly know how you've never done it before. Nobody's ever done it before. Not the way you want to do it. So, like, go find the sparkly breadcrumbs. Enjoy the not knowing how. How many times has grownups do we get to not know how to do something? You know, and just start to recognize that feeling of terror and dread. Because again, this goes right back to the thing of like, oh, other people who are successful somehow had it easier. We think that somehow people who are successful or do big things don't get scared. Oh, no, baby. They're just as scared as everybody. You know, we just start to not recognize that as a reason to say no. And in fact, it becomes a reason to say yes. I don't know about you, but when I start to get that really pit in my stomach feeling. Usually accompanied by a little voice in my head that's going, no, no, no, no, we can't do that. No, no, no, no, no, don't do that. Like, then I know I have to. Like, I'm so scared I have to. Like, oh, great. Now I have to. But it is super challenging. I don't mean to run down how hard it is. You know, we're afraid of success. We're afraid of failure. We're afraid of working really hard on something and not having it pan out. We're afraid of being laughed at. We're afraid of. We're afraid of it being great and then we got to be great all the time. So, like, there's a lot of, there's a lot of anxiety there. And, and all I can say is, you know, this is not you using your imaginative powers for good. You know, it's an important survival mechanism that we are able to imagine consequences. You know, that our brain can go, Hey, what's over in that field? And we can immediately think, I don't know, maybe we should check it out. Has anybody else ever been over there? I'm not sure. Maybe it's better to stay here. Do you have enough water? Is it okay? You know, like all that, you know, it's survival. It's, it's good that we can do that. But to stay in that place is just paralyzing. And the number of people I hear who it's like, well, if it can't be perfect, I don't want to try. Is just like heartbreaking to me. 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A couple of different things here that I want to tear apart in a bit more detail. One is this idea of the mindset that school trains us into knowing this idea that we have to have all the answers before we start. How do we start making a shift from that mindset to, you know what? I don't have all the answers and that's perfect. Because I think that alone, I mean for me, was one of the big turning points. Yeah. And I think the way I've been teaching it recently is just change the butt to an aunt. So, you know, I want to be a writer, but I don't have any formal training. You know, I want to be an actor, but I'm really old. I want to be a health coach, but I'm super fat. Like, no, you want to be a writer and you have no formal training. You want to be an actor and you're old. You want to be a health coach and you're super fat. That's part of what you have to bring. That's the magic. That's your way of doing it. That's excellent. That's the excellent part. I was teaching recently and I had a woman, like, you know, she's just typing into the webcast, her comments, and she clearly had this major epiphany as I was talking. She goes, "I'm a fashion designer and I am not glamorous." I'm like, "Right." It's like, "I'm a fashion designer and I am not a fashionista." Like, exactly. Exactly. And you know that that idea, "Oh, I'm a fashion designer, but I'm not glamorous." That would keep her stuck forever. Mm-hmm. Forever. And instead, the ability to go, "Oh, wait a minute. I'm a fashion designer and I am not glamorous." Now, she didn't go make a bucket of money catering to people like me who are frankly intimidated by glamorous people and would love to have a fashion designer who is not a fashionista. Mm-hmm. You know, that "and" is where the permission is. That "and" is where your particular magic is. There's no person you're supposed to be. There's no... This is the other one that makes me crazy is that, "Oh, I'm not ready. I'm not ready." What is this ready? Mm-hmm. You know, there's no... There's no ready. There's no ready. There's just the doing of it. Yeah. Well, I think... Okay, so, you know, I love this. Absolutely. I don't think there's any... I think there's this myth of a perfect time, right? Amazing. What comes to starting a creative project and there is absolutely not. No. You just kind of start. And the thing that the analogy I always, you know, have kind of turned to when it comes to some of this is that it's like standing in two different spots in the same room. The view keeps changing with every step that you take forward. And so new information and new insights get revealed to you that wouldn't have if you didn't take the first step forward. Exactly. Exactly. And this is why, you know, and that's true of life. It's, you know, it's what they call the process. That's process theology. That's, you know, that's how we do it. It's you've got to move. You've got to move intellectually, spiritually, emotionally, physically. You have to move your body and move your mind into something new and into the space where you don't know exactly what's happening. And that's when the miracles happen. I mean, that's why the book, you know, the whole thing with the book is 15 minutes a day. And 15 minutes a day on the projects that matter most to you. This is all I want. I want a global revolution of people taking 15 minutes every single day on the projects that matter most to them. I want it to be patient, international conversation, you know, in the same way that people talk about what they did at the gym. Oh, do you do Zumba? Oh, no, I'm doing soul spinning. Really? Oh, that's fun. Right? Like, I want there to be, you know, in the morning talk shows where they've got like the health experts. And the home decor expert, I want there to be the creativity expert. I want it like, like, of course you would talk about that. Of course you would be spending time on that. And 15 minutes a day is a remarkably lengthy amount of time. It's astonishing how much work you can get done in 15 minutes. And when you're doing it every single day, when you eliminate the decision-making, so you're not going like, oh, should I write today? Maybe I should. Maybe I shouldn't. I want tomorrow. No, no, every day, that's when the miracles happen. Like you say, that's when you start to take steps and all new things open up. All new possibilities start to happen. That's when the miracles happen. That's when you get this whole like, oh, my gosh, I was in line at the dry cleaners and the dude next to me and his sister is a literary agent and da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, you know, like next thing I know. That's when that happens, but only when you move. So let's do this. Let's talk about this 15 minutes a day concept and a lot more depth because I think that's really where I want to spend the rest of our time talking. Like I said, I mean, I probably got through about half of the book and I realized, okay, there's a lot of gold in here that put into action can really lead us to, I think, some very, very powerful outcomes. And so I'd love to say, let's maybe we can frame it in the context of a creative project or just at a general level. You know, let's take this idea of 15 minutes a day and, you know, what do we do with those 15 minutes a day? I mean, and how do we take these concepts to, as you say, get it done? Yeah, I mean, the first thing I would do is make a list of 15 minute tasks because I am not doing the same thing every day kind of a person. Some people are, you know, some people love to spend their 15 minute doing scales. I have a woman who's been a musician for 60 years and she started doing scales for 15 minutes every day. And like, it's completely transformed her musical life. So when we threw that kind of a person who likes routine, who likes to do the same thing every day, then great, do that. But otherwise, yeah, I would start by brainstorming a list of 15 minute tasks so that then, you know, the mornings when you wake up and you're like, oh, I'm a badass, I'm going to enter that poetry contest, you know, I'm going to do that thing. And you have that on the list to do. And other days when you're like, I'm shy and sad, you know, you have some, you know, more daydreamy, quiet, internal things to do. And even for people who feel like, oh, I want to be creative, but I'm not sure how or I'm not sure what I want my project to be. Consider it a time of exploration, you know, spend 15 minutes making a dance, 15 minutes exploring the world of mine. 15 minutes drawing, 15 minutes, dumping around, 15 minutes, staring off into space. I mean, 15 minutes of enforced boredom is not the worst thing that ever happened to a person. So I think the real, the key is, like I said, to make the decision that just make the commitment right now that you're going to do this every single day, non-negotiable. I don't care if you're sick, I don't care if you're tired, I don't care if you don't feel like it, I don't care. You do it every single day. And that alone, I think, sends such a strong message to your sort of deep inner self. You know, all of a sudden your inner self is like, oh, oh, wait, she's serious. Oh, wait, we're really doing this. Oh, Marshall, the forces, let's go. And it also gets you right through the perfectionism, you know, I mean, because really how perfect is it going to be in 15 minutes, right? So yeah, that's, I think the key is really keeping and keeping that promise to yourself. And because, you know, we build esteem with other people by keeping our promises to other people. And we build self-esteem by keeping our promises to ourselves. And when you consistently break your promise to yourself, it's hard. You know, you're making it very hard for you to feel good about you. But when you keep your promises to yourselves, and it really can be very tiny, it doesn't have to be a big deal, you really start to feel kind of great. And then you start to get that sort of "I'm in love" feeling, you know, like, the world is still just as, you know, the Trader Joe's parking lot is just as obnoxious as, but you don't care 'cause you wrote today, or 'cause you did your corn abdomen work today, or you played guitar today, or you, you know, you spent some time on that thing that really matters to you. I love this. I mean, I love the simplicity of this, and that's a big part of why I was so intrigued by your work. So let's push this a little further. So we take this concept of 15 minutes a day. We come up with our 15-minute tasks, and then, you know, we start pushing it forward. I mean, how do we take it from there to, you know, ultimately what we want to see happen, whatever it is we're working on? Yeah, I think there comes a point where it gets really useful to bring somebody else into the picture. Whether you have a mentor, or a coach, or an accountability buddy, or a class, or, you know, something. Because there will come, there will come a point in the project where it needs to get out of the house, where it, you know, you need to schedule the reading, you need to do whatever, and you're not going to want to do it. You know, there is no point at which anybody says, yay, you know, I get to just get my work out there. Like everybody feels dread and horror at that point. So you need somebody to bully you into it. So that would be my step to is to find somebody that you really love, that you really trust, and notice that this person is probably not in your circle of family and friends. Your circle of family friends love you very, very much, and they want you to be happy, but they do not understand what you do or why. Yeah. And that's okay. We don't need them to understand what we do or why. They are not your constituency, they are not your clients, they are not your fans, they are your family and friends. So you need, but you need someone who does understand what you're doing. And someone who's better at what you do than you are. Someone that you really care about and respect and that you feel really cared for and respected by and get some partnership in there, whether you have to pay them or whatever you have to do, but get some help. Well, I can absolutely attest to the fact that to pull off any project of significance requires other people. Yeah. You know, having done an event, having even built our website, I mean, our website is beautiful because of the other people who built it. Because of our developer, because of our artists. I mean, you know, like my friend Sarah Steenland and our friend, Mars Dorian, without them, we wouldn't be where we're at in that sense. So, you know, I want to ask you a question about recognizing when it's time to get help. Because, you know, I had a conversation recently with somebody who, you know, attended a Seth Goden event and he said, you know, in any one of these endeavors, whether it's a business or creative project, he said, you're going to get to a point at which you realize that you're either the creative person or you're the business person, but almost nobody is a good at both. And I'm wondering, you know, how you start to recognize when you've arrived at that point. Yeah, you know, I, I'm a little distracted because I love Seth Goden so much. I got to meet him recently, actually. It was really cool. Yeah, I think, you know, part of what's sort of niggling at me here is there is this huge thing in the world that says that, oh, creative people are good business people. And I don't think that's true. I think that the percentage of creative people who are good business people is the same as the percentage of anybody who's a good business person. I think basically good business people are hard to find. Whether you're looking for them in the creative field or you're looking for them in dentistry or home building. You know, it doesn't matter. And in some ways, I think creative people are better suited for business as we discussed. You know, they're good at persevering. They're good at putting up with a lot of pain and hardship. They're comfortable with a certain level of uncertainty. And, and really, you know, everything I hear about business now about, especially about marketing has to do with authenticity and store and service. And that's what creative people are all about. We do that falling off a log. That's easy. So in some ways, the things that can't be taught were great at. But absolutely, you absolutely need other people, other voices in your work. And I think the question is not so much are you the creative person or are you the business person. But are you the visionary, the pie in the sky person, the person who sees something that's not there and works to make it true? Or are you the person who pokes holes in everything and says, let's double check this. Let's look at all the reasons this might not work. Let's have a backup plan. And if you're one, you must have the other. That's a good way of putting it. You know, I'm very, I'm very forward focused. I'm very like, I'm sure it'll work. Let's go. And I really need people in my business to say, Sam, wait, the open door policy is not always the best one. Like, let's hold on. And even though, and once I figured out that they weren't actually criticizing me, but rather trying to help me, things got a lot better. Yeah, you know, it's interesting because you start to realize that you look at when it's time to bring in other people or when you've brought in other people and you see the impact. I mean, I'm going through this personally right now. It's funny because I've read a lot of articles lately and I was looking at it. It's like, wow, it's like there are people who realize, okay, as a founder, sometimes it makes a lot more sense for you to do the work that you're skilled at than the work of, you know, a CEO. I've seen this in startups a lot where, you know, they'll say, okay, like, I mean, you know, like the Google guys are a perfect example. It was like, okay, you guys have done something brilliant, but you wouldn't be what you are without a guy like Eric Schmidt. Exactly, exactly. And I see so many small business people and entrepreneurs and solar printers who are so busy keeping their foot on the neck of their business. It's, it's mad. It's crazy making and maddening. And, but it is a real, it was a real point of decision making. I mean, the way I expressed it was, you know, I had a business that I built with my own two hands. And so I ended up with a business that I could hold in my own two hands. And, and again, if that's the business you're looking to have, and many people are, like, they just want to make an extra couple hundred bucks a month. You know, they just want to do their Reiki healing, or their writing, or their painting, or their whatever and, and have it be sort of a lifestyle business. And, and that's great. Like, that's fine. I am so in favor of that. I think that's terrific. But if what you are being called to do is bigger than, than you are, then you've got to get other people. And it's an important decision to make it. It came up for me a lot before the book came out. You know, a lot of visibility issues, a lot of feeling scared about that. A lot of, you know, is this, is this really okay for me to do? It was funny. I'd gone my whole life as an actor and I had never asked myself if it was okay with me if I got famous. It had just never come up for a lot of factors. It doesn't come up. It's not really, you know, it's not really what we're in it for. And I'd always sort of thought like, yeah, sure a million dollars. Yeah, but what would I do with it? You know, I like my life. I'm fine. But when I think about this worldwide epidemic of creativity, when I think about supporting creative people in their own little whackadoodle weirdness, when I think about helping those people get in touch with their creative voice, get their creative work out there, get paid for their creative work, that's much bigger than me. And, and this was, this was probably the most exciting thing. When I figured out that the organized artist company was far and away the best art project I had ever been involved in. And the best sort of spiritual development project I'd ever been involved in. I mean, this business, this book, this work calls me forward to be a better writer, to be a better teacher, to be a better partner, to be a better woman, to be a better thinker, a better problem solver, a better leader, a more sure person. Like, every day I am challenged to grow and be better. And in ways, I don't really feel like it. There are plenty of things I'm like, no, I don't want to do that. But the business needs it. The people need it. And I think, Sam, do you want to help these people or not? Like, get over yourself, girl. And so I do it. And it's caused this really intense growth. And it's so satisfying because it's not like the business is just a reflection of my spiritual life. The business is my spiritual life. It's my prayer in action. It's my faith in action. It's my, you know, that divine, creative voice, that little whisper, that's it. That's the gas in the tank. Let's talk about something that's not always top of mind, but still really important. Life insurance. Why? Because it offers financial protection for your loved ones and can help them pay for things like a mortgage, credit card debt. It can even help fund an education. And guess what? Life insurance is probably a lot more affordable than you think. In fact, most people think life insurance is three times more expensive than it is. So with state farm life insurance, you can protect your loved ones without breaking the bank. Not sure where to start? State Farm has over 19,000 local agents that can help you choose an option to fit your needs and budget. Get started today and contact a state farm agent or go to statefarm.com. Explaining football to the friend who's just there for the nachos, hard. Tailgating from home like a pro with snacks and drinks everyone will love. 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Forging ahead together drives Colorado's pioneering spirit at Chevron. We donate funding and volunteer thousands of hours in support of the communities we call home. We also employ our neighbors to deliver the energy needed as the state's largest oil and natural gas producer. All to help improve lives in our shared backyard. That's Energy in Progress. Visit Colorado.chefron.com. Awesome. And it's fun. Well, if it's not any fun, I think that's, you know, that's actually a subject worth digging into a little bit because I think it's really easy to look at sort of the life of a creative person and think you want it and not realize that by the way, you're seeing the surface. You don't see everything that comes with it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Luckily for me, I really, it turns out I really love all the tech stuff and all the, and I'm a super big marketing nerd. So I love all that. I ended up in the most sideways way possible. I'm actually an infusion soft certified consultant. I am one of like 300 last rows in the top 15, like a certified consultants in this extremely hard to learn sales and marketing technology software. I'm like, what? I'm a what? But that's how big of a nerd I am is I just couldn't, I got into it and I couldn't stop. So yeah, in some ways, you're not seeing all of it. But on the other hand, a lot of it that you don't see. I don't know. I find really fun. I love even people ask me all the time, you know, how do you stay up on all the information and all the new stuff and all the social media trends and everything. And I'm like, well, you know, I probably spend an hour a day studying. That's, that's part of it. Watching other people's webinars, listening to podcasts, whatever I can do. But I also really love it. And then I'm always looking for the thing I love about marketing is the same thing I love about acting, which is why do people do what they do? What motivates them? Why do they make the decisions they do? What language do they use? And why did they use this word and not that word? No, it's fascinating to me. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think that, you know, in a lot of ways we can glamorize the lives of a creative person. And we don't see that. Okay. I guess the other way I thought of it was, you know, there are two types of people, those who know the matrix exists and those who choose to live outside of it. For sure. For sure. Yeah. I don't think you can be both. You have to be one or the other. Yeah. And I do, I do make an effort to look around my life at least, at least once a day and think, you know, if you had told me 15 years ago that this was going to be my life, that I would live in this perfect little beach town and I would take a beach walk every day and I'd fly first class and I'd have a book and a six figure business, then I get to take a nap, whatever I want. I would have, I would have told you you were crazy. I would have said there's no way. It would be, it would have been unimaginable to me, I think. And now that I'm, that this actually is my life, I do try to notice actually the parts of it that are kind of glamorous and awesome as much as I noticed the parts that are terrifying and horrible. Yeah. Yeah. I'm with you. Yeah. I think it's important to recognize those and we don't do that nearly enough either. I think we're tough on ourselves as creative people. For sure. Yeah. Yeah. Well, and also we're a hundred gatherers, right? I mean, we're not done with lunch before we're thinking about dinner. We're just always on for the next thing. Well, Sam, this has been absolutely phenomenal. So I want to close with one final question. You've seen a lot of creative people throughout your life and in the work that you've done. And, you know, we finish every show with this question. What is it in your mind that makes somebody or something unmistakable? I think it's when they're really, it's the twin rocket fuel of doing that which you truly desire, that which you really, really want to do. And not the things practical and not the things logical and not the thing that your mom thinks you should do, but the thing you really want to do and I don't care how weird it is or how middle of the road it is. And the person that you are, the personality that you have, the story that you've lived out, I think when you combine those two things, you become not just unmistakable but indelible. You know, when you're writing erotic stories and you're super duper shy, and you put those two things together, that's unmistakable. When you love comedy and you're a big old freewheeling, you know, drunken monster of a person, that's unmistakable. I think too often we think either we can't do the thing that we want to do or we can't do it being that the person that we are. And I'm here to tell you that not only can you do the thing you want to do, but you must. You must do the thing you want to do. And you must do it as the person that you are. Awesome. Well, Sam, this has been just absolutely fantastic. I mean, there's so many amazing insights into this and that stuff that I plan to put with you right away. And like I said, I've got my hands on the book and I was just blown away by how much practical information is in it. So I can't thank you enough for taking the time to join us and share some of your insights with our listeners here at the Unmistakable Creative. Oh, my pleasure. I'm so happy to do it. Thank you so much for having me. This has been a blast. Yeah. And for those of you guys listening, we'll wrap the show with that. You've been listening to the Unmistakable Creative Podcast. Start our website at unmistakablecreative.com and get access to over 400 interviews in our archives. Let's talk about something that's not always top of mind, but still really important. Life insurance. Why? Because it offers financial protection for your loved ones and can help them pay for things like a mortgage credit card debt. 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Thirty-six percent better on average compared to other leading commerce platforms. Because businesses that grow grow with Shopify. Get a one dollar per month trial period at Shopify.com/work. Forging a head together drives Colorado's pioneering spirit at Chevron. We donate funding and volunteer thousands of hours in support of the community's we call home. We also employ our neighbors to deliver the energy needed as the state's largest oil and natural gas producer, all to help improve lives in our shared backyard. That's Energy in Progress. Visit Colorado.chefron.com Have you ever felt a twinge of worry about AI taking over your job or diluting your creativity? Well what if you could turn that fear into creative fuel? We've just published an amazing new ebook called "The Four Keys to Success in an AI World" and this is more than just a guide. It's a deep exploration into the human skills that AI can't touch. 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The role theater has played in Samantha’s career
Finding the thumbprint of your own creative work
How theater training plays a role in job interviews
Learning to look at where we go in times of crisis
Why you need to move your body and your mind
Cultivating your personal intuition to lead your creativity
Dealing with the difficulties of childhood depression
Navigating the occasional uncertainty of creative work
Why the thing that you will succeed at will surprise you
The beauty of not knowing how to do something
Spending 15 minutes a day on the projects that matter
How we can use 15 minute tasks to make significant progress

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