Overcoming Creative Block: Reignite Your Creative Spark

In this episode of 'Diary of a Nobody,' Frankie returns after a four-year hiatus, sharing major life changes including moving, being medically retired from the military, and venturing into music production and web3. The focus of this installment is on understanding and overcoming creative blocks, discussing personal experiences with creativity, stress, perfectionism, and depression. Practical advice is offered, such as taking breaks, engaging in different activities, setting flexible creative goals, and collaborating. The episode also touches on aspirations to expand the podcast into a broader media brand.

What is Diary Of A Nobody?

Frankie Styles, self proclaimed creative to lazy to create, shares his struggles, accomplishments and more within is own personal life. If you have a side hustle, want to start a passion project, just want to hear some great career advice, or want to know you're not alone this is the podcast for you.

Speaker: Welcome back
to Diary of a Nobody.

It's been four years and a lot
has happened over that time.

Weirdly, I stopped in December and
a couple months later was COVID.

My last was about me living
in Texas, moved from Texas

and now I moved back to Texas.

So full circle, if you might say.

I am gonna be changing up
a lot of how this goes.

I'm still doing those things, but I don't
want to tie that into the podcast anymore.

I might, put, a book and some other things
in like the description to go check out.

But yeah, I've, I'm out of the military,
so I was medically retired, 2021, moved

to LA for a couple of years, went to
Icon Collective, did, been making music,

released a lot of music since then.

Joined what some would say web
three and crypto twitter This is

probably going to be on some sort of
place for crypto like Probably zora

or hopefully pods really depends.

I don't fucking know.

We'll see But yeah, i've just
been Living I went through a

little a lot of a depression.

I definitely since the last time i've
gained some weight A lot of weight.

I think I was like 230 the
last time I did a podcast.

I'm like 280 right now.

whatever on the weight stuff, but Yeah,
that's enough recap honestly, so Let's

Get into what I'm gonna be talking
about today is overcoming creative block

And you're probably like, Frankie, how
do you know what a creative block is?

I've been a creative my whole
life, and so I know what it is,

but I'm going to give you the
Google definition, and the writer's

going to break it down from there.

The Google definition, a creative
block is a period of time when

a person experiences a lack of
inspiration or motivation to create.

Sounds like a lot of people.

It can also be described as a barrier
to inspiration or an inability to

access one's internal creativity.

Yeah.

I feel like that is just something
that people who are in the creative

field , they just go through.

You have spurts of creativity and then.

Obviously, once you run that creative
fountain out, you gotta let the water

build back up, like a water heater.

If you sit in there too long
and it's going, you're gonna

let all the hot water out.

So what do you do?

You have to turn off the water, go do
some other things, go about your day, take

care of business, knock out other things
you might want to do, and then boom,

by the time you come back and ready for
another shower, there's hot water again.

That's what Going through a creative
block is you have to Navigate your

way around and it will come to you

but Why do we get creative blocks?

Some people might say stress,
you know trends blah blah blah

for me It's perfectionism.

I want things to be Exact a lot of times.

Lately I've been like, just
forcing myself to not let things

be like perfect and exact, but
then there's a downside to that.

It changes your brand voice.

And so now you have things
that are coming out that.

Not up to par with the brand
that you've been pushing out.

And so now you have not
a lot of brand cohesion.

It makes lackluster, especially pairing
it next to something else you've done.

And so you just.

Have to figure out which
way to go about that.

I'm not really one to follow trends.

I will do what I think works for me.

And if it just so happens that a trend
has happened in that way, but I think

that for me as a person and as a creative,
it works, I will do that specific thing.

So let's take web three, for example.

I want to get my music to it into
as many people's hands as possible.

So I find ways to decide if it's a
single and I'm going to put it on

Spotify, I don't really think I need to
make that an expensive piece of music.

If someone can pay a on iTunes right
now to listen to that song, paying 3.

In web three, I'm fine with that, but

I have to figure out how to
get that into people's hands.

A lot of my following on web two platforms
is still majority web two people.

Web two meaning normal social
media for people who are not.

Crypto savvy web three is
basically blockchain and crypto.

Yes.

For me, the easiest way to do that
is put it as many places as I can.

Lens is a really great place for that.

I still have some thoughts
about sound, but putting things

on sound, the list goes on.

That is just way that follow trend.

If I'm quote unquote following
the trends now, I do think that

depression, And stress go hand in
hand, but I think that also will

put you into a major creative block.

I've dealt with both.

I still deal with both.

I go to therapy.

I have medication, which I don't know.

Maybe the medication could be a problem
of what's happening right now, but I

feel like the best way to embrace the
creative block is to take a break.

Step away, say, okay, this is where I am.

I've laid out what I want to do.

Now I'm gonna go and I'm
gonna go train for a marathon.

That is today.

100 percent hypothetical and random pull
out of the hat but doing something that

isn't creative and making that like a side
quest will then like why if you run for

some people they run with no headphones
i don't know how to do it but for me i

run with headphones or airpods in but
i will play music that has no words it

allows me to just let my word mind go
crazy like my creative mind but in word

form go crazy Because if I'm, if I hear
words in the song, you get the gist.

And sometimes you just
need to say, you know what?

I'm not going to do anything.

I'm going to go sit on this couch
and watch my numbing Netflix because

that is also a thing you could do.

Now let's also unpack that.

For me, I do that more.

I go for walks and such still,
but I'll go turn on Netflix.

And because of the things that I
like to watch, I will randomly

come and make something, it spark
something creative in my mind.

So yeah, I think embracing
that break will help you in

any blockage or writer's block.

Song block, creative block,
whatever block it is.

I've been doing, mainly because I'm
getting forced because of therapy, I

have been going and trying new things.

I try to go and eat at a new
place by myself, out to eat a lot.

Going to museums.

Going to like different workshops,
listening to different podcasts.

For me, I've been reading, like I
said, I've been reading a lot lately.

I read things all over the place, but
no books have anything to do with music.

There's design books.

Like I'm in school for advertising.

There's books on web three.

There's books on Python,
the coding language.

None of this has anything to do with.

Music per se, but they all help craft
and mold my creative mind, which

again, that's what you want to do.

Another thing for me on lens, I
created a one of one PFP collection.

There's 111 of them.

They're called red eyes.

The only, the two similarities that they
have red eyes and it's collage style.

Everything else is completely different.

I use , cutting of newspaper, some like
hand drawing things, AI, Photoshop,

you name like all that for each one.

I do each one individually and it's
just another way to get a different area

of my creative mind to do something.

And I think that also can help you
when you're trying to do something.

Yeah, I think you should
also be someone who

is creating without goals or expectations.

Like you can have goals for, I
want to run seven minute miles

over five miles or over a 10K.

But I think when you go and.

Making music or making something creative
with an end goal and not in that end

goal not just be doing what can flow
well Because sometimes you go in wanting

to say if you go in saying I want to
make a full song today And you can't get

past one verse Is that really a failure?

I don't think so.

Are you really blocked creatively?

I think you're blocked by expectation.

And that's okay.

Sometimes Those unfinished songs you
have to step away from, like I said,

you might step away and go to a museum,
bump into someone, have a conversation,

and somehow that conversation is exactly
what ties to the song you're writing.

I also would say you should start
collaborating, if you're not

collaborating, and you don't have to
collaborate on trying to finish a project.

You could just say Hey, can we just have a
conversation for 30 minutes and just shoot

ideas back and forth, throw darts at a
dart board and work out our creative minds

off of each other and see how that goes.

Because you never know.

You could say something to be like,
Oh yeah, you should do this and this.

And then you'd be like,
Oh, that's actually cool.

I can then add this and that.

And then vice versa.

You say that same thing
to the other person.

You basically have someone
to bounce ideas off of.

You should have dedicated time set out.

Where you're like, Alright, I'm gonna
use this time to see what flows out.

To see what I can create.

To see what comes about.

And then if you have that set time
consistently over a long period of time,

your brain will slowly start morphing
into that timeframe and be like, all

right, we have this three hour block and
it just starts, it becomes second nature

and it starts flowing a lot easier and
it makes it to where you don't feel, you

still don't have expectation, but you have
a Secured ground play in if that makes

sense in a time frame to where you're
like, all I have this amount of time every

day No matter what happens Good or bad.

This is the time what happens in
there will be written down recorded We

can edit it at a different time in a
different block of time that you have

And it doesn't have to be like Three
hours every day no matter what it could

be Every Monday because it's Monday.

I only want to do an hour Tuesdays I
don't want to do anything creative.

I want to do technical things.

So I want to go edit this that any
other Wednesday's hump day middle

of the week third day of the week.

Let's just say number three and do
three hours Friday's a technical

day just in case I'm about to
go out With the boys, the girls,

the friends, the thems, whatever.

And you're just like, I just
want to do some technical things.

I don't want to really have
to turn my brain on just mind

numbing edits that we're going to
be easy to edit and everything.

And then leave Saturday and Sunday
open to the ear just in case you're

traveling, doing something different.

Once you get into that routine, you're
like, all right, wake up Monday, do

my morning routine this night and
the other go do my little hour of

creativity exercises or whatever
you have going and continue on and

just don't make it a strict one.

Some Mondays you might be like,
Oh, I'm really feeling it today and

just have some buffer times and If
you don't do a full three hours on

Wednesday, be like, okay, I'm not
going to be doing three hours today.

And again, that's okay.

And you have to be okay doing things
in a non traditional way, especially

when it comes to creativity and the
creative field, because There is no

traditional way of anything, even if
there's traditional ways of the end goal,

but the way to get to that end goal and
to the end product, there's no one way.

There's no one way to do a lot of things,
but when it comes to creative things,

Getting to the end product can be done
many different ways and so you have to be

Easy on yourself and not be too
Stressed because then you could go

and Get right back into a creative rut
and it could fall into the depression

Remember celebrate small victories
Like I said, even if you only get 30

minutes in and you just let's say You
did 30 minutes and you wrote a whole

song, made a melody, and this and that.

Even though it was only, you're like,
dang, I only did 30 minutes though.

You wrote a whole song though
in 30 minutes and made a melody.

And even if you took 3 hours and you got
a verse down, you got a verse down though.

And many people However you want to put
it, can't even make a verse in a week.

And you got it done in
a three hour time span.

So you have to take what you can get
and whenever you get it, it's a victory.

Even if you can't get anything done
or put down the victory is that

you took the time to try to do it.

And yeah, so I want everyone.

Somebody, nobody, whoever you are,
to go, take the time, reevaluate,

don't get too upset about things.

So yeah, that's all.

You got a creative block.

We're trying to Lower our causes.

Get rid of some of the perfectionism, get
rid of some of the stress if possible.

Don't follow too many trends.

Cause if you get into the hopping on
trends, you're going to feel burnt out.

And when you feel burnt out, you get some
of that block in you go on and do some

walks, do little side quests of either
museums or even other creative tasks.

Experiment, doing different things, don't
set hard, rigid goals or expectations.

Just , go and bump your head, have
fun, and remember that at the end

of the day, you're choosing a field
that doesn't require you to have.

a traditional nine to five.

Some people treat it like a nine to
five, but a lot of the people that

treat it like a nine to five also have
those creative blocks and creative ruts.

Sometimes they're forcing
it and you can tell.

And yeah, I think that's going to be it.

We talked about a lot today.

I gave you a good example.

A good amount of examples from my side my
yeah, you'll be able to find me Everywhere

at this point i'm going to be posting
a lot more My web two handles are going

to be at frankie styles with two s's at
the end If it's a web three, it's just

frankie styles Without the extra s at the
end Yeah, I want to say thank you guys.

It's going to be You A slow come
back, but we'll do what we can.

I'm going to be trying my hard
and going to be doing some guests.

Actually, I'm going to be doing
different topics in tech, music,

lifestyle, fashion, all kinds of things.

I'm trying to take Diary of Nobody
and make it into An entire media

brand it's possible that there will
be a bunch of new things happening.

I know it's episode 11 and four
years technically so um it'll be slow,

but yeah, thank you for listening
and I will see you guys next week