Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
The Moonshots Podcast goes behind the scenes of the world's greatest superstars, thinkers and entrepreneurs to discover the secrets to their success. We deconstruct their success from mindset to daily habits so that we can apply it to our lives. Join us as we 'learn out loud' from Elon Musk, Brene Brown to emerging talents like David Goggins.
[Music]
hello and welcome to the moonshots
podcast it's episode 179
i'm your co-host mike parsons and as
always i'm joined by the man with a plan
mr mark pearson freeland good morning
mark hey good morning mike and what an
exciting show we've got for you and i
the moonshots family and all of our
listeners today as we near the end of
our current series on creativity can you
believe it and just to kind of mess with
everybody's heads mark we say this is
the last episode on creativity but it's
going to be so much more huh this one is
a huge one if we thought that all of the
episodes so far within creativity
including walt disney and jim carrey
were big hollywood powerhouses well
actually mike we're stepping out of the
tinsel town and getting into
education
and insightful research with mr well
should i say in fact mike sir
ken robinson and his new york times
bestseller the element how finding your
passion changes everything and what i
think our promise to you uh our
listeners today is
that you will see in this amazing array
of clips
that it really does change everything
when you find your passion what you were
designed to do your natural ability the
best version of yourself whatever you
want to call it
today we have a bunch of clips from sir
ken robinson where he talks about the
power of finding what comes naturally
what you're on this planet to do
how it can be expressed through
creativity purpose
it is so
rich it is way more than just an
investigation of creativity i think
today
is some mad combination of elizabeth
gilbert simon cynic maybe a bit of
stephen covey thrown in there just to
like jazz it up it is going to be so
much fun right huh yeah there is there's
a real blend of individuals and
moonshotters within the work of sir ken
i believe
and as we go on this journey with you
our listeners understanding and
dissecting different ways of thinking
and frameworks and approaches across all
of our library of moonshotters what
you're really starting to see with sir
ken robinson is the culmination of a lot
of those elements mike i mean we're
starting to like you say
run into different theories and
frameworks that perhaps we've seen and
understood and now plugging it all
together we're kind of like inspectors
aren't we detectives are putting
together the secret source behind
finding your element and passion oh yeah
and it's gonna be a one hot spicy sauce
today
you're so right it's what we call the
moonshots model right the model of the
recurring patterns of what successful
great amazing people do and we're just
trying to bottle it up so we can learn
how to do it how we can learn out loud
together with you our listeners so we
can just
really push it we want to be the best
version of ourselves we're not going to
just take the status quo we're not going
to have a fixed mindset we're going to
use people like sir ken robinson
and we're going to find our natural
abilities we're going to find our best
version of ourselves
and mark
i don't think we want to give too much
away but we are going to lead
with the clip of all clips
we are about to play a clip that will
well i think we should have an advisory
here mark
be careful make sure you're sitting down
make sure you're ready
because this first clip is a story that
will knock your socks off when it might
yeah that's right it's a great
demonstration of sir ken's wry sense of
humor mike but also demonstrating to us
that um i guess age and occupation are
no barrier to going out and finding your
passion so let's hear without further
ado from sir ken helping you and i and
all others find their elements today
our kids give us all kinds of signals
about who they are
and what they're disposed to and what
engages them
and sensible parents
encourage it
often well-meaning parents discourage it
because it doesn't sit with the
conception of who these what these kids
should be doing now i'm not arguing that
we shouldn't do other things at school
that we should only follow our bliss
that we should never do things that
require effort that run against the
grain
but part of our purpose is to become who
we are
and we become our best when we discover
what it is we can do
and we have created archetypical
pathways for people many of whom simply
rattle against the walls or
drop off altogether and think i want
nothing to do with this i mean look at
the levels of disaffection disengagement
and despair that many people feel
because they haven't found anything that
resonates with who they are
but the other important thing about the
bart story to me is this it illustrates
something profound to me which is that
life is not linear
our education systems are
but life is not
you know when i went to school the the
premise was if you worked hard and went
to college and got a degree
you'd get a job for life
that was kind of true
you know
in the 70s if you had a degree you were
guaranteed a job the idea you wouldn't
have a job with a college degree was
ridiculous i mean the only reason you
wouldn't have a job if you had a degree
if you didn't want a job
and i left college in 1972 and i didn't
want a job
i didn't i wanted to find myself you
know you could do this in the 70s fairly
easily
you know
so i decided to go to india
where i thought i might be
you know and
i didn't get to india i got to london
you know where there are a lot of indian
restaurants so i can go there but
i
but we still have people on this path
like the whole premise of our education
system is you have to go to college if
you don't go to college your life is
over and this is in the face of all the
evidence the country that some people
never want to go to college some people
go to college and don't know what to do
with themselves now some people rattle
around the walls and go back home again
to carry on playing video games
um some people go to college and love it
and that you the whole system is
designed for those few people really or
that relatively small group this
obsession with college is really
important i think to get our heads
around i was in danville recently doing
a book signing i was signing a book
i didn't go to danville by the way to
sign one book
i mean that would be pathetic you know
it wasn't
it wasn't like they rang from the
publishers quick somebody bought a book
in danville you know
we'll keep him talking you know you get
here fast
a throng of books were being sold
but i was on this guy he was in his late
30s i'd say
and i said uh what you do
and uh
he said i'm a fireman
and i said well how long have you been a
farm he said always
it's what i've always done
and i said so when did you decide to be
a fireman
he said uh well
always he said i want to be a fireman as
soon as i got to elementary school he
said actually it was a problem
because in elementary school everybody
wanted to be a fireman
you know he said but i wanted to be a
family and
he said so when i got to the upper
secondary school into high school in the
junior and senior years it was a big
issue because um
everyone was applying to college and the
school was saying which college you're
applying to everyone had to go to
college he said i didn't want to go to
college i wanted to join the fire
service
and he said i had this one teacher
who ridiculed me
in front of the whole class in the
junior he said you know you will never
amount to anything if you're throwing
your life away if this is all you're
gonna do to go and join the fire service
he said you could really do something do
something you could you know make
something of yourself he said i was
angry but also humiliated that that's
what he thought he said anyway
i was thinking about it as you were
speaking earlier he said because six
months ago
i saved his life
he was in a car wreck
and our unit was called out and i pulled
him out and i gave him cpr
and i saved his wife's life as well
he said i think he thinks better of me
now
you see him saying that
we are born with immense gift of
diversity and imagination creativity
but our
particularly our educational systems
have
um stereotyped it and
stifled a great deal of it
and
this is a process we can't allow to
endure
so when people talk about getting back
to basics my argument is we should get
really back to basic and say well what
is it to be a person what is it to be a
human being what kind of life do you
want what kind of life do you want for
your kids
what kind of life do you want i think
that might in fact be the question that
we're asking as well mark don't you i
mean it's a huge
a clip you know
i mean first of all let's just take her
and take a breath because what what a
charming
uh speaker
so good so
you know i think that great insight
about life not being linear was a real
hard hitting truth because a lot of us
do expect our lives to follow a certain
pattern and when we do step back from
that you think well who who told me that
should be the pattern why should it be
the pattern for every single one of us
but i think you're right mike the big
important question
is that that that final one that we
often ask ourselves
maybe it's late at night maybe it's when
we're doing our journals what kind of
life do you want
and i mean where do we start
well the fact that you ask the question
is already a great start isn't it
you're right if you've got the
awareness
and the admission that it's something
you can own and therefore you can
control i think you're already
slightly down that path of understanding
it and figuring out aren't you because
you're then putting yourself in the
situation
where you can start to a identify and
maybe be proactively action certain
behaviors that drive you to uncovering
that passion or that reason for being
absolutely and i think what he goes on
to do is tell one of the most powerful
stories i have heard
about listening
uh
to
your
heart
mind your soul about what you are
designed to do
and pursuing that and i mean how
incredibly poignant and touching that
the man
who told him
you know you're crazy you're not going
to amount to anything he ended up saving
his life doing the very thing
that teacher criticized and oh by the
way saved his wife
as well
make something of yourself i mean he
probably he probably regretted it by the
end
i think it's it's a really encouraging
story isn't it yes because it makes for
me when i think about passion finding
your way identifying what kind of life
you want to live
not only as ken would put it is it
orientated perhaps or
controlled by
some of the lessons you learn at school
and maybe it's influenced by your
friends what are they doing therefore
what should i be doing i think your ego
comes into that a little bit as well
and i think what's really
reinforcing within that clip from sir
ken just then about the firefighter
instead of him following that path
following his friends following the
teachers and following that linear path
that's ken identified
instead he's saying no no i'll just do
what what i want i'm not going to be
influenced by others and i think that's
such a nice stoic demonstration of
following the the gifts that you believe
you have and the life that you want to
go and live and to then be in a
situation where you do get
not rewarded but you are
utilizing the skills that you you've
trained for and you end up saving
someone's life
isn't that a great reinforcement of
making the right decision that's
appropriate for you oh
it really is and i i think what um
we would encourage everyone to do when
they hear that story
is
to
listen to the feeling
when either a you're doing something
and
get over the initial hardship kind of
barriers but if you know something's
really just not for you
and um
on the other hand you know there are
some things
that come naturally some things that
speak to you you just enjoy
almost a flow state you just feel like
this just comes to me naturally and
you're compelled and curious to it you
think about it even when you're not
doing it it's about listening to those
signals interpreting them
and having the capacity to say what's my
purpose why am i here and how can i live
today
in line with that purpose and i think um
i think this is the book if you're if
you want to listen to those signals
inside of yourself if you want to pursue
the question of
purpose what you were born to do why you
are here and having the courage to go
down that path
this is the book because i think for a
lot of us
we might not know the path is there and
if we sense it that path looks rather
dark and murky doesn't it
yeah well because it's possibly a path
that's untrodden particularly when it
comes to us in our lives
you know
the parts that are well children are the
ones that again our family maybe have
gone down or our friends or well-known
individuals in in the media
so it feels a little bit more achievable
but you're right mike when you start to
think okay well maybe i'll lean towards
something i haven't done before oh that
is
murky territory it might be deep water
you know beware the souls who go that
way so i think it's just a fascinating
and really encouraging story there of
somebody taking ownership and trying to
be the best version of themselves
totally and before we play this next
clip from ken where he starts to break
it down and we're just going to get into
some serious learning together i think
you i tell you who's on the right path
mark i'll tell you who's on the right
track who who is prepared to go down the
murky path
of being the best version of yourself
and that is our members right yeah
that's right our patreon members who all
receive that lunar power dose of good
karma and thanks as well as uh the
achievement of going down that murky
path and learning the best version of
themselves include
bob niles john and terry nyla margelin
ken the emma tom and mark marjan connor
rodrigo yasmin daniela lisa sid mr
bondur maria paul berg and cowman
annette david joe crystal evo christian
hurricane brain and samuel ella i mean
my every week it seems to get just that
little bit longer and i get a little bit
more breathless it really does and um
pretty soon you're gonna have to take
three breaths and we shouldn't forget
that uh if you become a member you get
access to our moonshot master series if
you're a member
if we hit 50 members
or what i should be more of a growth
mindset when we hit 50 members mark
we will
launch
our first
merch
and i'm talking teas and posters and all
that kind of good stuff but we got to
get to 50 and i'm thinking we can do
some cool stuff around um the year of
jfk's moonshot speech got some ideas
there
um
i got some i mean when you think about
shooting for the moon and the galaxy you
can imagine some cool stuff that you
could do around that some nice gifts
um that you could give friends as well
so uh we're at 30 we need 50 rate mark
yeah we're not too far away it's it's
it's going well and i think you know
again just thanks to to our current
members and again
big shout out to all of the listeners
who want to take part not only in
getting some good old merch and swag i
certainly mike i'm looking forward to
getting a moonshot hoodie particularly
sydney's getting that little bit
chillier for this time of year yeah
but i think getting a access to all of
our master series
is a pretty good exchange so do i so go
on to moonshots.io click on the big
members button
join up i mean it's the cost of one
cup of coffee
a month
and you
can support us help us pay some bills b
you get a whole bonus show three you get
us to the the tipping point of swag i
mean this is something you've got to do
so head over to moonshots.io
and unlock the element and unlock how
you might find your passion and change
everything
but we can do that right now too and
let's do that with sir ken robinson
really breaking down the thinking behind
the element the element
was not intended to be a how-to book
it was a its intention really was to to
encourage a different type of
conversation
because
i believe that
this is a powerful important argument
for what several reasons one of them is
economic
you know we i believe make scandalous
misuse of people's abilities
and we
throw away and squander
huge amounts of natural talent and
passion and enthusiasm and you can see
the evidence that everywhere
people are disengaged detached
disaffected
but when people connect with who they
really are the whole story shifts
so it's also important for personal
fulfillment for people living a life
that means something i can't imagine why
you would live a life if you could avoid
it
that didn't mean anything to you and yet
many people do
and it's also important for cultural
reasons for health and strength of our
communities
so this book was about that and it has
quite a few things to say about
education
and why it is that education wastes a
lot of people's natural abilities and it
does
but also why people get lost in
organizations and why we can't afford to
do that anymore
but naturally what people do say is this
is great but how do i find my element so
the new book is about that and i think
it's it's too it's a two-way journey
one of them is internal
in the end you have to spend time with
yourself
and listen to
the
the signals that you give yourself you
know people know the things they're
drawn to things they would like to do
very often i don't think they always do
but very often there's things in our
lives that we wish we'd tried and we've
kind of turned away from it or
we're encouraged not to go there uh
there are obstacles or barriers that
other people present to us sometimes so
part of it is living with yourself and
listening to those voices and making a
list of them or if you prefer a collage
of some sort or but some audit of
yourself and maybe that's a meditative
process for some people but you can't
avoid that in a journey
but the second is an outer journey
you need to try things because if you
don't no if you don't try things you
will never know many of the people i've
talked to in the book
might never have discovered their
talents but for
a mentor who pushed them
or an opportunity that came their way
which they took
and a lot of us live in kind of encased
habits of practice and thought and we
can't break out of them so the book is
really encouraging to break out and try
it
an encouragement to break out and try it
as well as
encourage the conversation to be started
again break down mike of the element
from sir ken i think i'm now really
getting into the mindset that sir ken
has around this book which is
encouraging
those new conversations those news ways
of thinking in order to become that
little bit more shall we say comfortable
or confident in the path that you choose
yeah so
let's go insanely practical right now
because
we've heard that amazing story of the
the firefighter
who saved the life of the teacher that
criticized him for wanting to be
uh a firefighter and now we've kind of
heard from
uh so ken like we need to reflect don't
miss out on your natural talents
so
how do we do this like i'm just getting
straight into it and i i think
i'm just gonna throw some stuff at you
and you tell me what you think is a
great place
uh to start
i feel like you you need to have
you know some sort of
checklist or assessment of where you are
right now i think you have to have
the
ability just to like i don't know
assess where you're at um
you know do you feel
that you are resilient
in the face of uh um challenge
uh do you are you surrounded by good
people
uh do you think positive thoughts do you
feel in control of your life do you have
do you feel confident that you're on the
right track do you have clear goals that
you can see you're making progress
towards
can you be grateful
are you listening and learning are you
taking on
uh criticism and changing your behavior
are you investing time not only in your
work but your health family and friends
these would be ways at which i would try
and
find out if i'm if i'm you know
on the right track
um and then more specifically then i
would get into some
like myers-briggs skills analyzer
uh that will get you more into you know
what kind of
person are you and and where might you
find um like a great fit in terms of a
career or a lifestyle i don't know i'm
just thinking like how do we actually
embody what sir ken is talking about how
do we work out where we're at and
ask ourselves are we
serving our natural talents are we
pursuing our natural path or are we sort
of ignoring those signals what do you
think
i think you're you're on to you're
definitely on the right path there mike
and you you've stepped away from or
maybe you're embracing the murkiness but
you've got a good head torch on
um because what i like about the
checklist and the mantras you were just
going through
is that it encourages an ongoing
revisitation
of those
um signposts let's let's continue the
metaphor
in order to see that progress because i
think what sir ken's really calling out
is you've got to listen to the internal
concept that's voice that's um
reflection on yourself that's listening
to yourself
as well as that outer piece which is
trying something new finding a mentor
taking their advice and so on but i
think if you take those in isolation so
internal reflection and external
stimulus let's say
without being able to
identify the journey that you've been on
and where you were at point a which was
let's say six months ago
point b let's say that's where i am now
you're not going to be able to therefore
identify whether or not you found your
element your passion or not because
you've just changed some of the goal
posts
and i really like where you're going
with that which i think is encouraging
all of us to not only ask ourselves
those questions but honestly answer them
in the format of let's say a journal or
yeah or
maybe it's as practical
as a physical checklist similar to the
mars briggs or the personality tests
actually marking something down on a
point-based system
is quite interesting as well because you
can then try it maybe it's every quarter
every three months that's right seeing
how you're changing and there's a couple
of frameworks around designing your life
and whether you talk ikigai
hedgehog they're all basically looking
at an intersection between the following
things so
if
you have
got some curiosity
um on how finding
uh your passion your natural talents can
really
really change your life
i think the checklist kind of looks like
this mark i think what what you want to
be able to do is say
what am i naturally good at okay
what can i get paid for
what do i really love doing
and what am i uh
what are the world's needs in terms of
the mission like what does the world
actually need right
um
so
you might say that's the intersection
between
passion profession vocation and mission
there's the ikigai model which is
similar it's basically what we're
talking about here is an intersection
between
what gives you natural energy what comes
naturally what does the world naturally
need and what can
when you do so there is value in doing
this from those around you
um
without making it too simple i think
this is if you find
the things that speak to you
this is why the the the payoff to sir
ken's book is how finding your passion
changes
everything
yeah exactly it does change everything
and i think if you can
find that piece of passion let's let's
put it into a practical situation here
if you can find something that you are
good at
and you therefore feel i mean for me
mike if i found something i was really
good at in a work situation how does
that make me feel well i feel confident
i feel confident to
talk to others to express my point of
view to listen to others
and to maybe be the best version of
myself in that given situation
and when i don't feel like i'm very good
at something how do i feel well i feel
insecure maybe i want to be a bit
quieter maybe i'm going to be defensive
or passive-aggressive
and that's not something that's going to
be relevant or useful in a working
situation isn't it
and instead if you
lean in towards the things that yeah i
think as ken was sir ken was saying in
the first clip he's not discouraging us
from trying something new in fact in
that second clip he's saying go out and
try something new embrace that
difficulty and see whether it works or
not but once you do start to hone down
into the thing that you're really good
at imagine that feeling you're gonna
have imagine how efficient productive
and
pleasant you're going to be to work with
yes right because you're going to be in
that best version of yourself in that
work situation and so like following
this line of thinking let's say we're
using
sir ken's
uh inspiration here and we're trying to
find our element
and let's say you've got a hunch about
things that kind of come naturally and
things that you care about
i say start small prototype do something
on the weekend
i think one of the common things people
do is
if they you know first of all people
often don't pursue that curiosity i
think that's the first one but the
second one is if they do sometimes they
take too big a jump
they go all in
and
uh
just like like any sort of health and
exercise goal they set the first
objective so big that it like crushes
you
because you've just taken on too much
start small prototype experiment do
something on the weekends or at night
maybe it's just a little hobby
um like pursue it i think
more than anything i can't tell you mark
how many times in life
things have grabbed my curiosity and i
have not
per
sued them yeah
right and and and so
uh you know write it down don't let that
at that that moment of curiosity go
and make a commitment to coming back to
it try it read something
um go and experiment investigate
don't
uh
sort of
don't be a zombie and just trudge along
and just do what you think everyone else
expects of you
find your element that's the call to
action isn't it man well it's funny
the people that stand out the most
for me when i've collaborated with
people when i've met them socially the
ones who i almost admire the most and
i'm most interested i supposed to speak
to are the ones who do something a
little bit different so they might have
unusual hobbies
and i think to coin the word you were
just using their mic
that curiosity
and sometimes in our lives you're right
we'll run into something that we're kind
of curious about and we think oh that
would be really fun to do and then what
happens well the business as usual kind
of gets in the way
and you almost forget about it or you
deprioritize it you're right if you have
the ownership around writing it down
coming back to it later or as i know
that you do mike we might put it in our
todoist
and
put a time in our to-do list to research
it or maybe give it a go for half an
hour on the weekend whatever it might be
let's say it's swimming or running or
just learning a new skill at work
doing that just for that little piece of
time will then give you the confidence
over time to pursue it more i mean like
you say mike with exercise whether it's
running or swimming within the first
either couple of k of running or within
the first five or ten minutes of
swimming
things get a little bit uncomfortable
and you want to turn away from it but
actually the truth is if you get past
that little bit of a blocker
you start to realize actually i i am
enjoying this new habit or hobby or
curiosity whatever you want to call it
and i think that's that's a really
interesting
uh point of life if you can actually get
past
the blockers
and actually start to live those uh
experiences it can be a lot more can be
a lot of fun totally so on that note i
think it's time to get into
the the how to's we suck in so let's
have a listen
uh to sir ken talking about creativity
and how to make it
a habit
the first them is imagination
imagination to me is the key to
everything
it is
i believe what's distinctive about
humanity
we might talk about this and see if you
agree but i put this to you
imagination is the ability to
step outside
of your current
space to bring to mind
things that aren't present to our senses
with imagination you can
go backwards to the past in fact you
have a pest
with imagination and not just one past
but multiple possible paths i mean the
whole process of history is the
reinterpretation revisiting the past and
trying to see it differently if if it
were just a catalogue of dates and
events there would be no discipline for
history there'd just be bookkeepers
but history is a contest isn't it for
meaning but the the the discipline but
you can also step outside your
your immediate way of seeing things and
enter somebody else's consciousness you
know virtually you can empathize with
people you can try and see things from
their perspective
and you can visit the future with
imagination i don't think you can
predict the future truthfully there are
some things you can predict you can
predict when halley's comet's coming
back
or when the next
um eclipse will be you can you can
predict inanimate possibilities but you
can't put much in the human field for
reasons that we'll come on to after the
break
imagination is the heart and soul of
this whole thing
if you
if you have
if you take a young child into the
garden
at night
and point to the moon
the child will look at the moon
if you take your dog into the garden
and point to the moon
the dog will look at your finger
won't they
critically
like now
what do you keep doing this
and the thing is that we are born as
human beings with this expansive sense
of reference with uh with imagination
and it's why although we're probably
evolving at the same rate biologically
as every other form of life on earth
i mean i can't imagine where nature's
last word can you i mean i hope not
really because there's some stuff that
needs to be sorted out frankly
but biology we're probably moving at the
same rate but culturally
we're in a different category from
everything else on earth
aren't we i mean if you have a dog you
don't have to keep checking in with dogs
do you
to see what's new
you know culturally what's what's
happening with you people at the moment
well pretty much the same stuff really
that we've always done
but with human beings there's always
something new because we have these this
power
creativity is a step on
as i see it creativity is putting your
imagination to work
to be creative you have to do something
you can be imaginative all day long and
never do anything
but to be creative you do things it's a
very practical process and it can be
anything we'll come on to it
so one short way of defining creativity
is applied imagination but let me be
more specific i define it as the process
of having original ideas
that have value the process hang
original ideas have value and and the
three terms matter it's a process it's
not an event and you can understand and
manage the process it's about
originality
and it's about
making critical judgments of whether
this work is any good
all creative processes are intermingled
with value judgments
and that's critically important because
you have to know which values to apply
and why to what sort of work and if
you're helping children draw like
five-year-old kids you have to apply
relevant criteria to their drawings
ones that are relevant to their
development
you know it wouldn't be right would it
take a five-year-old kid's drawing and
drag him to sistine chapel
and say this is okay you know but check
this out you know really and don't waste
my time you know
you have to apply what's relevant
so it's about process originality and
value innovation i think i was putting
good ideas into practice it's the
process of implementing
original ideas
i mean mike that is a huge
clip isn't it this is sir ken breaking
down the dna of creativity which is
obviously the series that we're in right
now
as well as giving us again that kind of
call to action around imagination and
fundamentally how to bring new ideas to
life what a powerful interesting clip
yeah and isn't it interesting that that
he um specifically talks about
imagination applied
creativity done
um and it is and it's not navel gazing i
can't stress
how we are learning that it is
whether you look at great athletes great
artists great entrepreneurs
they're biased to doing something every
single day continuous
refinement continuous execution
said differently nobody is waiting to be
zapped by our an aha moment and they're
perfect at that point
it is hard work trumps talent every
single time there's no like one moment
it's all about
continuous
iterative processes to find to refine
you know the best version of yourself
like to me the pattern is very strong
there
yeah i 100 agree whether it's somebody
like a tom brady or michael jordan they
are not
uh just waking up in the morning walking
down to the court
out or the field and just naturally
talented are they you know i think that
natural talent might last for a bit it
will take you so long but to be truly
great
and be that best version of yourself it
is that process as sir ken's calling out
a managed process of identifying or
imagining a new way of doing things
stepping outside as he was saying and
creating something new
that's something you could be a product
it could be a way of thinking or it
could be a brand new move on the court
whatever it is
then into that application that
execution
actually bring it to life exactly like
walt disney mike you know we were
hearing from walt disney just a couple
of shows ago at the beginning of our
creativity series of taking an idea and
actually creating it bringing it to life
applying it
and then into the third bucket or third
strand of dna from sir ken
that judgment piece
looking at it with a lens of value is it
good is is again just a natural book end
to creativity isn't it
it's wonderful and i'll tell you um a
great way to express your creativity is
with your uh
pointing your thumbs up or perhaps even
writing a review mark what do you think
oh i mean talking about being in your
element if listeners and members want to
get into their element and help the
moonshot show continue to educate and
learn out loud ourselves as well as our
listeners from around the world
pop along listeners to your podcasting
app of choice spotify apple podcast and
leave us a rating or review because mike
i mean we've spoken about it before but
it's amazing how much of a difference
that rating or review makes for the
moonshot show getting out there isn't it
yes so if you've been enjoying uh this
show today or maybe you're a regular
listener
um and you know if if you haven't uh
have if you are yet to get shall we say
uh to becoming a member maybe a first
step is give us a rating of or a review
in your podcast app of choice we would
deeply appreciate it we'd be very
grateful because this is how we get the
word out it was by doing this that we've
gone from 50 to 50 000 listeners a month
it's thanks to you
sharing liking reviewing commenting the
show it's a big part of how we can grow
the audience we can find more
moonshotters who want to learn out loud
together and be the very best version of
themselves so come on
if you're listening
on that app right now just flick the
screen open
go in hit the thumbs up maybe type in a
little review if you're on apple podcast
app we would so appreciate it and it
fills me with goodwill maybe even a
touch of love for you so it's only
appropriate that we talk about love and
talent
from the book of sir ken robinson the
element and to do that we're going to
listen to one of our absolute favorites
which is brian johnson from optimize
the nexus point
of these two things what you love
and what you're good at
what you love and what you're good at
right at that nexus point if you love
doing something so much maybe you'd even
pay to do it and you're good at it you
have a talent for it you put those two
together you have
passion you have the element
sir ken's idea is look we all need to
discover our element not only for our
own personal fulfillment but for the
world the world needs more people who
have come alive by discovering
this nexus point of what we totally love
to do and what we're really good at
that's how we're going to be able to
serve the world most profoundly now i
like to add a third little circle here
often and talk about what the world
needs
and what it will pay for so when we talk
about how to discover our purpose
i love to lean into jim collins's work
who wrote good to great
built to last a bunch of other great
business books and he talks about
something called the hedgehog concept
which is basically these three ideas
what do you love to do again so much you
pay to do it fires you up time
evaporates it's just you doing what you
absolutely dig
what are you good at and colin says what
are you so good at that you could in
fact be among the best in the world at
great businesses
are focused on what they love to do and
what they can think what they think they
can be the best in the world at
i mean mike you were touching upon a
couple of these frameworks that brian
johnson's uh touching on in that clip a
little bit earlier the headshot concept
as well as ikigai i think really what
it's uh coming down to
is that the element
this passion this uh nexus point of good
and enjoyment of your life
is really about finding flow isn't it
it's finding a bit of mihai chin sent me
high and the idea of being in your
element your focus of doing something
that you're pretty good at and doing it
to the best of your ability and just
being in that moment of flow isn't it
oh my gosh so um
we are we're on to some of my favorite
topics right now so
so yeah it's flow
where things where you're just in the
zone right
i think
what sir ken robinson is doing is going
to the underlying conditions in order to
get that and he's even going to the
first principle
of asking you know what are you born to
do what is your natural talent what
comes to you
so naturally you know as brian said what
could you be the best in the world at
now all of whether it's the hedgehog
concept or ikigai these are just
frameworks that help you get that out
so um definitely look
at the hedgehog concept jim collins
we've got lots of episodes on him check
that out
ikigai
fantastic book
totally get that but and and framework
as well so just search that up we'll
have links to all of these in the show
notes the other one is kaizen it's uh
also inspired from uh from japan as the
same as ikigai
there's obviously this idea of zen
um but you know what's really
interesting is
that there are other philosophies
from different countries like the danes
have this philosophy that's a bit icky
guy like which is called higge
so you can go and check that out
there's many
good
bodies of work that will give you
checklists and frameworks really to find
when you're in your element when you're
experiencing flow um one of the books
that i think can really help you that
we've talked about and done a whole
episode on is dale carnegie's how to
stop worrying and start living
and he goes to this
linearity of what we're expected to do
it in life and how to overcome the
challenges with that so there you go
there us mark there are so many ways in
um that can unlock the best version of
yourself i think once you've determined
that you want to get in there
and ask these questions what's the
intersection between your passion your
purpose what can you get paid for
only good things can come of it don't
you think mac
i totally agree and in fact we are so
passionate about this topic mike that
you and i and the moonshots family we've
created a master series on this very
topic which is available for those
patreon members as well as subscribers
and members on spotify and apple podcast
where if you want to go even deeper
we've mentioned a few frameworks a few
books there but if you want to hear from
the likes of simon sinek
tim tapashiro ron holliday
as well as mark manson on finding your
purpose
head on over to moonshots.io hit that
subscribe button and you could access to
episode 8 which was a couple of shows
ago on finding your purpose as well as
all of the other i think we're up to 11
now mike master series episodes where we
go deep into topics just like this on
purpose and element
wow wow wow wow so let's just do a quick
recap on where we are right now we
obviously we kicked it off with that
epic
fire fighter story which i i'm just
gonna tell this like a hundred million
times is such a great story
and really it was a story of someone who
found their element they pursued maybe
that intersection between
profession passion mission and vocation
they did
they found what they were designed to do
in life
and it's all about
imagination applied and
using these to expand on these to use
these concepts like love and talent as
well
finding what you love finding what
you're naturally talented at and mark we
are just going to bring all of this home
with this final clip why don't you set
it up for us that's right i mean this is
the perfect real bookend mike because at
the very beginning we heard from sir kim
reference
the
topics
the focuses within this book the element
and he touches upon the idea of
education and how important it is that
our schools embrace kids creativity the
way they approach things and rather than
getting caught into that well-trodden
path like the uh the college versus
firefighter we need to be open so let's
hear from ken now bookend the show and
close us out with a clip all about
creativity and legacy
my contention is all kids have
tremendous talents and we squander them
pretty ruthlessly i had a great story
recently i love telling it of a little
girl who was in a drawing lesson she was
six and she was at the back drawing and
the teacher said this little girl hardly
ever paid attention and in this drawing
lesson she did
and the teacher was fascinated she went
over to and she said what are you
drawing
and the girl said i'm drawing a picture
of god.
and the teacher said but nobody knows
what god looks like
and the girl said they will in a minute
kids will take a chance
if they don't know
they'll have a go
am i right they're not frightened of
being wrong
now i don't mean to say that being wrong
is the same thing as being creative
what we do know is if you're not
prepared to be wrong you'll never come
up with anything original
if you're not prepared to be wrong and
by the time they get to be adults most
kids have lost that capacity
they have become frightened of being
wrong and we run our companies this by
the way we stigmatize mistakes
and we're now running national education
systems where mistakes are the worst
thing you can make
and the result is that we are educating
people out of their creative capacities
if you think about the whole system of
public education around the world it's a
protracted process of university
entrance
and the consequences that many highly
talented brilliant creative people think
they're not
because the thing they were good at at
school wasn't valued or was actually
stigmatized
and i think we can't afford to go on
that way picasso once said this he said
that all children are born artists
the problem is to remain an artist as we
grow up
i believe this passionately that we
don't grow into creativity we grow out
of it
or rather we get educated
we have to be careful now that we use
this gift wisely and the only way we'll
do it is by seeing our creative
capacities for the richness they are
and seeing our children for the hope
that they are
and our task is to educate their whole
being so they can face this future by
the way we may not see this future
but they will
and our job is to help them make
something of it
wow
wow
wow i i just like don't grow out of
creativity and what's fascinating is we
hear about the natural intuitive nature
of kids and their minds and creativity
but to go a little tangential
do you remember
we were doing a episode in our health
series mark where we talked about
stretching and there was uh i'm going to
test you here do you remember the
english chap that um we studied who
talked about the fact that we forget how
to sit properly how kids are naturally
very um
flexible and
physically they can like put their legs
behind their heads and do all this stuff
but we kind of forget how to take care
of our body
do you remember who that was
i i want to say patrick mccowan but i
think he was all about oxygen
let's see if if this kind of inspiration
roger frampton roger frampton that's it
that's it but isn't this fascinating ken
robinson
and roger frampton
one takes something from the mind and
the heart the other one takes something
from the body to make the point of how
perfect we are as little children and
how we lose sight of our creativity how
we lose our
physical flexibility
i was just struck as i was listening to
that it's amazing how it's all about
holding on to these gifts that we are
born with well and and i think this i i
love that connection to roger franson
and the flexible body book and i think
you're totally right much like
confidence
i think this connection that sir ken is
making to
um
creativity so confidence i mean to try
something new
roger frampton to stay flexible
so ken's now connecting it with with
creativity as well i think this is
something as as he says that you you
grow out of you fall into
the easiest path and we've spoken about
this a lot on the show mike haven't we
you find the path of least resistance in
life and it's it's quite hard to then
get off it
and i love this idea of uh almost
reflecting as sir ken was saying at the
very beginning of the show reflecting on
what it is that kind of gets us moving
mike you said the word earlier that i
want to come back to what gets us
curious
and if you can identify those reflect on
them and start to maybe lean towards
them then maybe you do start to fall
back into that pattern of being a
curious and confident uh
individual who's a little bit more
inverted commerce childlike and willing
to go and take those risks
totally totally and you know for me
that um holding on uh to your
to that creativity you had as a kid
to me that is um
just such a strong
wake-up call
that
we need to go back to this essence
i mean he ken calls it the element
this is where the truth is and it's like
we just kind of strayed from it right
and and what ken's book does is it
brings us back to it just like icky guy
just like kaizen all those the hedgehog
framework all of these things are means
to get back to your essential
element your essential self how powerful
is that
uh enormous and i think it's really in
line with that key moonshot concept
mantra way of thinking mic which is to
go out and give it a go challenge the
status quo take ownership of what it is
that you go and do and for me that final
clip there which is encouraging us to
not grow out of curiosity and not be
afraid to try something new kind of
reminds me of some of the big people
we've had that we've covered on the show
including somebody like elon musk
whereby unless you're willing to give it
a go and maybe to be wrong you're never
going to know whether that way of
thinking is right or not so like the
girl in that final story of drawing the
picture of god hey great give it a go it
doesn't matter it's the first time that
you've done it and again it reminds me
of elizabeth gilbert with big magic uh
no matter whether it's been done before
or not it's gonna be the first time that
you've done it
yeah really powerful isn't it so um
so much inside of this this this body of
work almost wraps around a lot of the
moon shots
model the moonshot's thinking it touches
upon everything from purpose to
creativity
uh designing your life uh
what a wonderful body of work from sir
ken robinson the element huh i think it
was a perfect bookend to our creativity
series he's really proven that you don't
have to be in a particular part of your
life you can be a child or you can be a
little bit more mature you can be in any
occupation creativity is something that
as long as you have the ability to
follow that process of imagination and
application um and judgment i mean it's
kind of encouraging isn't it that's
that's really what i'm taking mine yeah
yeah and which which of the little
uh nuggets that we discussed today have
stuck most for you well you know what i
think the fire fighter story is just too
good
i think just that that classic
insight that somebody has strayed away
from the path giving it a go because
they're passionate about it and hearing
that it's been successful that for me is
a kind of fist-pumping moment almost
what about you mike which one is which
nugget are you taking away from today i
mean you know i love ikigai
kaizen and hedgehog but i am with you
100 mark the firefighter clip was a
barnstormer i mean
i almost you know just as a side note
production meeting right now we should
do like
five clips
from you know the 200 when we get to our
200th show or something
we should do five clips
that are the best five clips out of what
would have been over a thousand and i
think the firefighter one is right there
oh yes i think i agree i think i agree
maybe even coupled with a clip from
matty mcconaughey
i'm turning down
the uh oh yes
the the jobs as well oh
yes yes yes and maybe we maybe we do it
live and in video
so people have to put up with our ugly
faces for one time out of 200.
well there you go listeners yeah you're
hearing us come up with with ideas on
the fly so let us know if you agree
[Laughter]
all right mark well listen thank you to
you and thank you to you our listeners
and our members because today was show
179 where together with sir ken robinson
we looked at his book
his tome
the element what a book indeed and the
story started with the clip of all clips
the fire fighter
who followed his path despite all of the
humiliation and ended up saving the life
of one of the people that humiliated him
wow wow wow and behind that is this idea
from sir ken robinson that life is not
fixed it is all
about a growth mindset to find your
element to find your passion and your
purpose and the way you do that is
imagination applied and as you go
throughout that journey you can use all
sorts of great tools to find your love
and your talent ikigai hedgehog
kaizen you name it whatever it takes to
find the intersection of what you do and
what you love to unlock your talent and
make sure that you go back to that inner
creativity that you were born with as a
child because therein is the best
version of yourself
and we are all about learning out loud
together and how each and every one of
us can find what we were born to do our
essential talent
that's it for the moonshots podcast
that's a wrap