539 - This Super Easy Thing Will Make A Massive Impact On Your Creative Practice

0:00Let's be honest. We all would like to make changes in our lives and in our creative practice. There are things we would like to do different. And in fact, if you look back in your journey, you can see key changes that you made that saved you, that made all the difference, that we are meant to evolve and change and grow, that that kind of life is the life that we want to live. And when you watch stories, you feel inspired when the character changes, when they learn, when they grow. And yet it's the new year and it's just so freaking hard to make any real significant change. And in fact, if the more that you try, sometimes the harder you push, sometimes the more jaded and nihilistic you get about, can I ever change?

0:54Should I just give up? on making any kind of significant shift in my life and creativity. Now, in this episode, I want to share the easiest, most impactful thing that you can do that will have a domino effect on your creative practice for the good, for the better. And it doesn't mean shooting for the stars. It doesn't mean pushing yourself, grinding to the edge. It's actually much easier than that. And this thing is exactly the thing that helped me create a picture book that hit the New York Times bestselling list. It was this practice exactly that helped me put myself onto that path. And so the plan is we're going to start by telling you why you might want to stop pushing yourself so hard and creating these huge result goals and what you should do instead.

1:53the easy thing you should do instead and then we're going to end this episode with a practice a creative call to adventure called select the seed and we're it's going to tell you the easy impactful thing that you can do next your next move that can create that domino effect of change that you're looking for in your creative journey let's do it on the creative journey it's easy to

2:19Andy J. Pizza:get lost but don't worry you'll lift up sometimes you just need a creative pep talk

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5:00Every new membership comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Right now, our listeners get an additional 15 % off any annual membership of Masterclass at masterclass.com slash pep talk. That's 15 % off at masterclass.com slash pep talk. I have sort of a love-hate relationship with the new year. I don't know how you feel about it. I If you're like me and you have this urge to level up, if you're watching the YouTube, you can see I'm wearing my Dragon Ball Z t-shirt. One of the things that I think has always appealed to me about Dragon Ball Z is they're leveling up. They go to the next stage, the next phase.

5:44They go from regular self to Super Saiyan self. And then you thought that was cool. What about Super Saiyan 2? What about 3? What about 4? What about Super Saiyan God? What about Super Saiyan? I don't know. they keep adding them because there's always another level. And when I was a kid, even that just so appealed to me, I always wanted to evolve like a Pokemon. I wanted to be the next, you know, Andy J Calzone. I want to go to the next level. Uh, and so in my twenties, that looked like getting so excited about the new year, just hitting the ground running, feeling like, all right, let's do this.

6:20But if you've lived on this planet for a handful of years, you realize that those aspirations and those promises to yourself, they are so easy to break and you become kind of like a bad boyfriend to yourself. The guy that's like, it's going to be different this time, I promise. And then one week later, you're like, no, actually it's not. It's going to be exactly like it was. And it can get you into this jaded place where you feel like why even try? I'm not going to get swept up and get my heart broken again by this guy. That is me over and over again. And so I have that urge to grow and change and evolve.

7:07And yet I also have so much evidence that I am not, that I can't trust myself to make those resolutions or make those goals. And I feel it like a little bit like those cards in Alice in Wonderland that see the change they want to make. They need to make the white roses red and they're like, all right, let's go mad frantic dash. Let's paint these bad babies and get it going. And when you're watching that movie from the outside, we're all like, dude, no, that's not going to work. That's not how you get red roses. It's gonna drip. It's gonna, as soon as you put it on, it's gonna fall away. It's just surface level shift.

7:52And what they, what we really know is that if you want red roses, it starts at the seed level. You've got to find the right soil and you've got to plant the right seed. And I think the same is true for change in your life. You know, recently I've just felt like I've, I feel like 2024, 2025, I had some things thrown at me and just some struggles and felt like I got into a rut and I couldn't make any positive progress. And I would be playing video games sometimes and think, man, it's so easy to level up in a video game. Like I wish progress was that easy. And I feel this sense that this might be a human thing.

8:41It might just be a me thing. I need to see that the effort that I'm making is putting me forward in some way. And I just had hit this wall where I couldn't figure out how to, in my real life, outside of video games, push the needle forward in any significant area. You know, I'm getting older. So there's ways where, you know, I'm almost 40. There's ways in which health becomes a much harder battle and you're really like maintaining or just trying to stay healthy rather than get faster times on your running and what have you. And the world is kind of in a weird place. The economy is in kind of a weird place.

9:22And I just felt in this stagnant space and I was burnt out from efforting. And there were times where, you know, I would be running on the treadmill and really trying to push myself and feel this just weary tiredness that would well up in me as this emotion of like, dude, I just can't be pushing myself like that anymore. And there are lots of ways where I've tried to be gentler on myself. And there are a lot of ways in which I had to shift that energy. But I tell you that because I want to, I just wanted to be vulnerable and share that, you know, when you get into this place where you just, you're trying so hard, but you're not seeing any results, it can be incredibly frustrating.

10:21And if you're in that place in this new year, I wanted to share with you something super small and gentle that has worked for me over and over again. When I got hitting this wall, I stopped to think, in the past, how did positive change really occur in my life? Was it obsessing about the result that I want, plastering it all over my room and thinking, give it everything you've got. Just go mad dash, paint those roses, baby. Go do the biggest run you can on January 1st. Think of 400 goals and go for it. Create the mega business plan. Is that how the real change worked or is that how I burn out?

11:07Now, there's good evidence even that you could shift that energy from outcome result type goals into process goals and get a much better return. Like instead of thinking, I want to get this much money or that many jobs or this place in my health, this health marker. Instead of shooting that way, that you can find a lot better results if you will think rather than this is the result that I want, the goal being this is the process that I'm going to do. So instead of saying this health marker, say, I want to run three times a week, or I want to draw every day. If you will shift from result to process, you will see it's much easier to get a benefit.

11:59It's much easier to focus your energy there. But I wanted to take it one step further in this episode because as I was reviewing my own personal growth and the times where I really did shift into a life that felt more like me, it didn't even look like that. It was easier than that. It was a step before that, a step before process. And it was more about input. It was more about the seed that I planted in my own brain. And honestly, it looks like reading. It looks like listening to podcasts and audiobooks. It looks like reprogramming my mind before I start thinking about the actions that I'm going to take.

12:43And so my suggestion to you is to quit thinking about the output for a minute if you are getting discouraged by your ability to take those actions and see those results. And instead, just little by little, plant that seed, water that seed every single day in the direction that you want to change. If you want to change the output, you've got to think about the input. And it can be like a Play-Doh machine. if you think about a play-doh machine and you're feeding white play-doh through that thing and it's coming out white the other side and you're smushing it into that little spaghetti thing or all the you know there's several different options what there's one that's just like got a hole in the middle of a circle i don't really know what that one's for maybe it's beads i don't know does that can you make beads with play-doh i don't think so but you know the play-doh smasher play-doh factory if you wanted the play-doh to come out red you wouldn't think what kind of film like what kind of red dye could we put on the output that would like you know color this thing no you'd put red play-doh in you'd think about the input to change the output and yet we i i'll speak for me i want to change the output i want to focus on the output these are the results i want to have but i don't think about how am I tilling the field?

14:04How am I planting the seed? How am I watering it? How am I taking care of it? How am I putting the stuff in me that I want to grow rather than the cover-up, the red roses? And so my suggestion and what I have been doing lately that's been really powerful is remembering that the change that I want to see, don't start with the outcome. Don't even start with the action. Start with the input. Start by every day reading a little bit. Sometimes I talk to people that listen to the show and they kind of give me the impression they think I'm a mega reader. I am absolutely not. So I talk about books a lot.

14:46They've had a massive impact on me, but all the way until I was up to 18, I would have never dreamt that I would have been a reader. I maybe had read five books from front to back by the time I was 18. In school, I was constantly trying to figure out how to get around reading because I really didn't like it. I didn't think it was for me. It took me a long time to see the kind of books that I wanted to read and why I wanted to read. And even now, I don't read a lot, but I do read every day. I don't read a large quantity. But what I do is figure out what am I trying to implant in my life? What am I trying to seed grow in my life?

15:24And can I little by little plant that seed every single day? And so that's my, that's my encouragement to you. What is the thing that you could, that would change everything for you if you made that shift in your creative journey this year? And how can you plant that seed? Let's talk about how to do that now.

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18:47We're gonna use a Venn diagram, because that's fun, I like doing that. I like visualizing, having a framework for externalizing my thoughts, very necessary for the chaotic brain that is inside this head. I have found that in my life, the times where I was able to make a lasting change were the times where I was reading something every day or listening to a podcast most of my days or an audio book or something, something where I am planting a seed in my brain that is growing the thing that I want to see in the actions and results in my life. And so what we're gonna do is we're gonna go through a process to select what that book or audio book or podcast or seed is going to be that we're going to plant every single day and see this difference.

19:37For me, it has looked like, yeah, there were times where I was thinking about health and I needed to read a health book every day. There were times where I needed to open up my right hemisphere, my symbolic brain, my spiritual side, and I was reading something like that every day. And it could look like in the morning, it was always the same time, first thing in the day, get my coffee, read, couple sentences, sometimes a paragraph if I had other things I gotta get to, maybe a couple pages, sometimes a chapter, but just a little bit to frame my day and remind myself. And I honestly think one of the things that inspired me going back to this and rethinking about this was messing around with determinism.

20:18Now, it's way above my pay grade to get into what that means. Do I fully understand it? No, I think it's something to do with people that believe that free will isn't real, that everything from the big bang to what you just said and what I just did is a domino system that is out of our control. This thing led to that thing led to that thing led to that thing etc you know dominoes you've seen them on facebook weird domino pictures you ever seen those ever seen those has that ever happened to but you get how dominoes work and i'm not a determinist mainly because i just can't stomach i'm not brave i can't stomach it i'm not brave enough to go down that path but what i love about uh determinism is that even the most staunch determinists lots of them still believe that we're an open system.

21:05And I've talked about that on the podcast because it's a huge part of my worldview and values that you have to be curious. You have to be open. You are an open system. One of the only things we have is that we can download new software. We can rewrite the code. And that can only happen if you are, in even a tiny disciplined way, continuing to take new information in sometimes that challenges your current beliefs hopefully because if you want to change if you want the output to be different you want the play-doh to come out the other side this year a different color you've got to put in a different color play-doh and that looks like consuming different things okay so we're going to select the seed that's how we're going to do that for me personally i'll just say another little bit this has looked like yes health things finance things, spiritual things, all that.

21:57But it's also looked like art. When I wanted to be, when I wanted to work for the New York times, when I wanted to do some illustrations for them, and that was my top goal, the best thing I could do, the thing that was make or break was listening to Sam Weber's podcast, your dreams, my nightmares that he used to do. And I listened to that over and over and over again until I started to change because I was listening to these people that work with the New York times. And it reminds me of this thing that James Clear in atomic habits talks about all the time, which is you need to be in a place. You need to surround yourself with people where your desired change, your desired behavior is the normal behavior.

22:39That's what you need to do. And if you, when you're around people that they're just doing the thing that you wish you did, it starts to change you through osmosis without effort, without pushing yourself, forcing yourself. And so for me, that is a complete and utter game changer. Can you find what it is? What's the one thing that you could do that would have the biggest impact on your life? And how can you soak in that? How can you plant that mindset into the code of your brain and start getting that output change? That's what we're going to do. all right it's called select the seed and here's the coolest part about this got the venn diagram going on in the middle kind of looks like a seed right of a venn diagram two circles uh and on one side you're going to put ease and on the other side you're going to put impact.

23:44And we're going to go through all the possible changes you could make in your life and creative practice and try to select the one that is the easiest to do and has the most impact. And I want to just speak to this real quick. So on the ease side, let's think about it in two different ways. One, when you're planting this seed, one of the things you want to think about is, is this native or is this invasive? I have spent, like I said, at the beginning of this episode, I am definitely a bit of a self-help junkie. And in my 20s and probably up to early 30s, but really in my 20s, early 20s especially, I wasn't thinking a lot about, is this seed that I'm trying to plant?

24:32Is this change that I'm trying to make? Is this idea that I'm trying to embrace, is it native to the soil of my brain or this invasive? This is a huge shift and it comes with learning about yourself both from experience, but then also kind of learning your neurotype and getting an idea of how does this work? How do people like me achieve the things that I'm after? Is it even possible? And so the first thing you're thinking about on the ease side is the stuff that you're putting in there. It's native to you. It sounds like this works with my system. Now, the other side of the ease that I'm kind of thinking about is taking from an idea called the snowball method.

25:13Now, I believe this comes from Dave Ramsey. I've never done any Dave Ramsey courses or anything. I don't remember even where I heard about this because I don't really consume his content, not really my flavor. It's a bit too scary to me, but and among other things. However, I do think this is a really legitimate idea, this idea of the snowball effect. It's about trying to get rid of debt. And instead of thinking, what's the biggest debt that would have the biggest impact on my financial situation to get rid of? And starting there, start with the smallest debt and erase that. And when you erase that, you get that positive sense of momentum.

25:53How can you see a change that's happening in your every day? That will give you more willpower. That will let your brain unlock more resources to go after that thing when it sees that this is worth doing. And so on the left side, on the ease side, that's what we're going to be thinking about. We're going to be thinking about what is the smallest thing I could start on that feels easy that I could get some progress in. And if I could do that, it would start, it would have a snowball effect. Okay, now let's think about the other side of this two circle Venn diagram. the impact. The impact. This one is essential to think about, and it comes from one of my favorite books.

26:39It's called The One Thing. If you've listened to this podcast very long at all, you've probably heard me talk about this book, The One Thing, and it's because it's had a huge effect on my life. It's very good for my chaotic brain that is difficult to organize and gets overwhelmed easily in that book, he talks about how instead of thinking about the 500 things you have to do, try to figure out what is the first domino that I need to knock over. That if I knock over this domino, everything else I want to do will either be done by default, like it'll just kind of happen, or it'll be easier to do if I accomplish this thing.

27:19When I was thinking about the options of what my next book should be or what should my next self-initiated project should be back in 2018. I started thinking about, okay, well, what, what project could I do would that would make all my other goals easier to achieve? And I decided, okay, I want to get better speaking gigs. I want to get on better podcasts. I want to publish kids books. I want to do all of that stuff. what would make all of those things easier? And I decided it would be easier if I pushed hard into picture books because I had some openings there. I had some people coming to me to make picture books.

27:59I thought if I push that way, I might be able to get on the New York Times bestselling list and that would open up doors and make it easier. That credential would make it easier to get on better stages that it would be easier to get on better podcasts. It'd be easier to get more picture book deals and other book deals if I did that. And I focused from 2018 all the way to 2023 on that goal. And thanks to a lot of you and also people throughout the world, therapists and teachers and librarians that helped champion the book, Invisible Things, we hit that target. And all of those things came true.

28:32All those dominoes got knocked over. A lot of, I got a lot of requests right after that happened. And then now when I cold call somebody and I have that credential, that domino is easier to knock over. So I'm now moving to the next domino. And here's the cool thing about the one thing. When you knock over a domino, one domino can knock over a domino one and a half times its size. And so you're trying to find what is the smallest, easiest to knock over that will have the biggest impact, that's set up to knock over something one and a half times its size. And the thing is, is that you can do that over and over and over.

29:11and it's something like in 10 dominoes, a regular size domino can knock over a domino the size of a door if each one is just one and a half times bigger and it's something like 29 dominoes and that little domino can have a domino effect to knock over a domino the size of a size creper. That is the power of the domino effect. So here's what you're gonna do. You're gonna go through all the kind of categories, health, family and friends, relationships, if you will, finances, let's say work, rest. There might be more than that, but those will get you started. These are general categories. You could think of a goal in each one, a domino in each one of those categories and place it in this Venn diagram.