011. guarding our creative energy

In this episode, we explore the essence of creativity and its profound impact on personal and professional growth. Our journey begins with a simple analogy comparing the need for fresh water to the thirst for fresh creative ideas, setting the stage for a deeper exploration of the nature of creativity. We challenge the common misconception that creativity is a sporadic, uncontrollable force, proposing instead that it's a vibrant energy awaiting cultivation.

This episode features insights from renowned executive coach Jerry Colona and creativity guru Julia Cameron. It uncovers the critical components of creativity: the container and the content. We delve into Cameron's transformative practices from "The Artist's Way," including morning journaling, artist dates, and the therapeutic act of walking, to unveil how these activities can rejuvenate our creative spirit. Additionally, we share personal anecdotes and success stories from coaching clients, illustrating the tangible benefits of engaging with our creative selves.

Whether you're a founder CEO seeking to spark innovation in your venture or an individual striving for personal development, this episode offers a treasure trove of strategies to unlock your creative potential. Join us as we explore how to harness creativity not as a random occurrence but as a dynamic force that propels us toward achieving remarkable things.

Don't forget to subscribe to "business is art" for more episodes that blend the art of business with personal growth, innovation, and the pursuit of impact.

Creators & Guests

Host

Ramon Estrada T

Executive Coach for Founders

What is business is art?

This is a show about successful entrepreneurship.

Unlike other shows about successful entrepreneurship, only we dig into the founder’s and leaders’ journey from purpose, mindset, strategies, and tactics to making an impact and achieving exponential growth.

Ramon: 00:00

When you are thirsty and you want a fresh cup of water, what do you need? You will need a cup, and you will need fresh water. Right? It's the same if you want to have fresh creative ideas. Let's talk about it.

Narrator: 00:17

Business artists learn how to channel their purpose, vision and talents while navigating the proper strategies and tactics in their companies to impact the world for good. No more business as usual. I'm Ramon Estrada and this is Business is Art.

Ramon: 00:40

It's usually, a common sense that we think that creativity comes and goes, and actually, it does. But let's think of creativity as an fresh energy. Let's, let's think about it as the energy that comes when we are alive, when we are truly alive. And what I have seen with my clients and even with myself is that there's this sense that creativity comes and goes and that it's totally random. But what I have found is by using one of my mentors, an amazing executive coach called Jerry Colona, he brought this concept of the container and the content.

Ramon: 01:23

So when we have these two things together, the container and the content, we can really achieve amazing things, but the 2 of them need to be in the right time, in the right place. What is the container for creativity? I will talk about it actually in the next episode, but let's now focus on the content. And I would say that one of the most amazing mentors or really creative development and that I really, let's say, I have cherished one of the retreats, I attended with her in Montserrat, in one of the mountains here in in Catalonia, is Julia Cameron. And she is like, let's say, the guru of creative thinking, of really living life as an artist.

Ramon: 02:13

And her book, The Artist Way, it's one of the most cherished practices that I follow. And I would, borrow from her, let's say, one of the poems that comes from Toni Morrison, one of the best American novelist. And she says, we are traditionally rather proud of ourselves for having slipped creative work in there between the domestic chores and obligations. I'm not sure we deserve such big a pluses for that. So friends, is creativity something that comes randomly and we dedicate just some time for it?

Ramon: 02:54

Or is it an energy that we cultivate, where we connect with this energy and then things unfold? Where we can do amazing things, new things, where our ideas can come to life. And I have seen this with many of my coaching clients where they are not feeling motivated. And because of that, they are not feeling creative. But I think it also goes the other way around.

Ramon: 03:21

When we are not feeling creative, we are not motivated because we are working day by day in the same chores. Our agenda, our schedule is actually ruling what we want to do, what we want to achieve. And this has happened to me this week, where I wanted to have this meeting with an important person for this, for my podcast, for this YouTube videos, and I thought, okay. I want to talk to her. And I noticed that the only time that I had available was between 11, 15, and 12, in the afternoon, at noon.

Ramon: 03:52

So I was like, what? When did this happen? So it's important to create the proper content and also the proper container. Let's focus on 4 practices that will help us to boost our creativity, and 3 of them I borrow from Julia Cameron's The Complete Artist's Way book. And the first one is to have a moment of morning journaling.

Ramon: 04:19

I have been really resistant to having this practice, but, actually, it has been amazing for me. What do we do with morning journaling? What we do is we need to write down in 3 pieces of paper. Here in Europe, we use a 4 or you could use something larger in America than later. But you just take the time early in the morning, as early as you can, with your best beverage, coffee, tea, whatever you want, and you sit down and you start downloading.

Ramon: 04:52

I mean, downloading. It's not thinking about, my dear diary, I would like to say today, no. It's whatever it's in your mind, you write down. And when you don't know what to write down, you say, I don't know what to write down right now. Right?

Ramon: 05:09

So it's downloading all the thoughts that are in our mind in this consciousness stream that we have. And that it's like these stickers that we can see when we are watching the news. When there are things happening, have these kind of thoughts in our mind. So by taking the time of writing down 3 pages of whatever is out in our mind that and that might take us maybe 20 minutes or so. The rest of the day is going to be for us like a like fresh water.

Ramon: 05:41

We're going to be in a different mindset. And I would like to say that I have been resistant to that because it's important for me, because it helps me to be clear. It helps me to focus. It helps me to clear the screen of my mind and to then focus into what's important. But my ego doesn't allow it.

Ramon: 06:02

So we need to be really confident that this kind of practices, like the morning pages done daily, helps a lot. Now let's move to the second one. The second one is the artist date. What is this? Julia says that we need to take the time once a week, and it could be just for 1 hour going somewhere by ourselves where creativity flows.

Ramon: 06:28

It could be going to a theater. It could be going to a museum. It could be going to a really nice library where we are there by ourselves, opening our eyes into something that is artistic, something that is creative, something that helps us to open our minds, that we can connect with this creative energy that it's in this place. One of my best artist dates that I had was a couple of years ago where I went to see some ballet, ballet from the National Opera House in Lyon, in France. And I went to Barcelona by myself.

Ramon: 07:08

I wasn't that much into dancing, to be fair, but something called me. And I went there. And, actually, I repeated the same activity, a couple of days later because I was so amazed by what I was seeing. The bodies, people moving, the scenario, the music. I mean, I even created a playlist in Spotify because the music was outstanding.

Ramon: 07:33

What happened there for me? I recharged my creative juices, and I was able to really open my eyes into something that it was new, that was outside of the hamster wheel of work or routine, and it really helped me. The 3rd practice that Julia Cameron mentions is walking. Again, walking by ourselves could be daily. Just taking some time to move around a calm way.

Ramon: 08:01

Again, open, looking at the buildings, looking at the trees, looking at the kids playing or dogs or whatever, just walking without any intention other than being with ourselves. So this movement of walking allows us to be in a certain pace, and this pace serves again our mindset. And by doing that, our emotional state. And we're feeling calmer, we're feeling better, way better after doing this. And the 4th is not from Julia Cameron, but it's from my own experience and the testimonials that I get from my clients.

Ramon: 08:36

I always tell them if they are taking the time to do something that is meaningful for them. Because we need to to connect with joy. We need to connect with something that we love. The first three practices are a little bit probably outside of what you normally do. But there are some things that you already have incorporated in yourself, like maybe cooking or drawing, playing guitar, or I don't know.

Ramon: 09:03

In my case, I really enjoy the act of just listening to music, sitting on my chair. I like getting this musical bath. Let's say, letting the musical notes and the rhythms touch me to be close to me and to make me feel. And just by playing something like, the October 7th Symphony, I mean, I get a lot of goosebumps and then my energy really changes. So up until now, we have talked about the container.

Ramon: 09:33

We have talked about the content and how these two parts go together. In the case of content, the four practices, morning pages, the journaling, the artist date, walking, and doing something that is meaningful and important for us. If you do that, trust me, in the next daily, you know, some of these practices or 1 or 2 cycles so far these dates that are weekly, you will get better ideas, your energy will be boosted, and then your motivation will increase.

Narrator: 10:06

Thanks for listening to Business is Art. And if you like what you heard, subscribe to the show, so you'll be notified when a new episode drops. You can also check for more free resources at business is dot art or check your show notes for a link. Godspeed.