The Spark: Jeff Staple on Inner Critics, Creative Habits and UFOs

0:03Jeff Staple:We are back with Jeff Staple and we're very honoured to have him with us again. If you haven't listened to the episode on Monday, make sure you tune in. It was a brilliant chat with, you know, dare I say it, a bit of a legend. now i'm embarrassing him you'll know what i'm on about if you listen to the monday episode he doesn't take compliments very well but we're gonna we're gonna you know go further under the surface a little bit now with the spark and i get to ask you some fun questions just to sort of figure out who you are a little bit more if i haven't already you know stuck my nose in your business and trying to figure out who that last interview was was a was a therapy session so you got very deep already deeper than most that's what people always say to me like god you get really get into the kind of psychological side of things like i just like people and you know find them interesting what can i say all right so what's a piece of creative advice you always ignore but it works for you journaling oh okay yeah like writing you know taking out the pen and the pad and like write as much as you can first.

1:16I always ignore it, but I know it's good. It does work. But I always tend to just go straight into Illustrator and start like, you know, go like, no, let's just let's just go out for a walk, look at the trees and then pull out a moleskin and just start writing stuff down and journaling and then go to the computer after. That's always good advice. But I think in this world of just like deadlines and speed and like, you know, turnaround time, like we tend to just want to get to the answer you know yeah I feel like you and I are quite similar do you do you remember to breathe I forget to breathe big thing yeah even three of those

1:54Jeff Staple:changes everything yes it really does we have to remember to just calm down and yeah stop running so fast yeah exactly so it's something we share in common have you ever been creatively jealous of someone and how did you handle it? On a, if not daily basis, then weekly basis. It is, it's all the fault of social media. You know, we're looking at everyone's highlight reels and it's inevitable that you're going to feel jealous. I don't think you should fault yourself for feeling jealous. That's a natural human reaction. What you need to do is train yourself to compartmentalize the jealousy into something positive versus bringing yourself deeper into a dark hole.

2:43And what you need to realize is that this person that you're envious of on your phone that you're looking at is going through a lot of bullshit in their life also. And they have a lot of trial and tribulations and they're not showing it to you. They're just curating the 10 best slide because the algorithm told them to do it that way. And so they're showing you the highlight reel and you can do the same thing if you want. You could also choose to be more real and transparent and show the reality of what you're going through, which also works for the algorithm. But just know that everyone is going through their individual BS in their life.

3:17And this is not a competition of who stacks the most or even it's not even a competition of who has the most grief either. It's just you are living in your own lane and just do you.

3:29Jeff Staple:Yeah, I love that. It's like my nanny used to say, you never know what hell other people are going through. Yeah. it's liberating you don't want them to go through hell but it certainly makes you feel better knowing that they we're all human and we're all so similar really when you are going through a difficult moment or even if you're just having a good day is there a small ritual or habit that makes your existence better your day i am a i'm a massive creature of habit i do i'm a very routine ritualistic same thing same minute of the day every day type person and so when i go off of any of that it sucks probably one of the things this is a boring one let me think of a good one okay i yeah i feel like if i don't do the thing that i promised to do it really bugs me for the rest of the day and then i feel like the whole day is a failure i used to be like that too Oh, come on, Jeff.

4:27Jeff Staple:I used to be crap like you. I used to be an inferior human like that. Come on. Come on. You make to-do lists? Yeah. I used to be like, if I don't have everything off the to-do list, I failed. It's just ridiculous. No, it happened this weekend. I had a weekend to-do list, like just little chores I wanted to do. I probably knocked off 30 % of them. 70 % are undone. but it's I'm not stressed about it anymore it's fine yeah I'm gonna go snowboarding

5:02but so the ritual I'll give you one ritual that I do that um is a real game changer I wake up at 6 a.m now and it is very important I found through doing research that the sun has to hit your face and eyes the moment you get up. So I get out of bed, a little TMI here, I urinate, but then I go straight. That's the only, I don't brush my teeth. I don't wash my face. I don't put makeup on. I don't change my clothes. I just go straight outside with my dog. Right. And I take a walk around the entire block, only 10, 15 minutes. That's it. But getting the sun in your face at 6 a.m it changes the whole perspective of the day you know what 90 of the world does when they get up stares at the phone they do this no no no no no up and out and it just changes everything just do that just try that for seven days and see what difference it

6:02Jeff Staple:makes in your life i do that i do that in the morning it just don't get as much sunshine as I love not in the winter pro tip if it's overcast and if it's cloudy it's even more important to go outside and stare into the overcast sky yeah the photons and the lumens lumens is a measurement of light the lumens that come out on a gray day it's insane it's like I forgot the number it's like 50 thousand whereas like even the brightest white light in your house is like five thousand so it's like wow even a gray day is massively important more important to go outside you've clearly not lived in the north of england during the winter time have you i know that's the winner i love it the winner is tough for sure it is it is tough for us but you know we're a good bunch we still got our humor i think it is starting to go dark now as well well i'm just gonna come and live over there right what's a scent or smell that instantly takes you back to a memory baseball glove leather you know that old baseball glove leather that just takes me back to eight-year-old jeff with in the cul-de-sac kid and like let's let's go play ball you know that that smell is awesome oh happiness see we had a good we had a good childhood really right now this is quite an interesting one.

7:31Jeff Staple:If you could swap lives with a historical figure for a week, who would it be? So many. I know. The one that comes to mind is Bruce Lee. Oh, yeah. Yes. For two reasons. One is because, you know, we're obviously both of Asian descent and Chinese and what he was doing for our people back then, he put the whole, all of Asian culture on his back single-handedly. Like there was no one else back then, right? So he, this single one person was representing for 3 billion people, you know? So feeling that for a week would be amazing. And then the other thing, which we spoke about in our longer interview, was about skill and that sort of like Michael Jordan-ness, right?

8:24And I don't know if you've heard the story, but when he was doing films, his movements were so fast that the editors would need to slow down the film so that people can actually see his movements on camera. And I would love to just know how it feels to A, be representing for a culture completely, and B, be so in tune with your mind, body, and soul that you could move in that way. That would be a great thing to experience for a week.

8:53Jeff Staple:Well, he certainly had discipline, didn't he? Yeah. I don't think he was staring at his phone first thing in the morning. No. He was great. He was so wise. I loved some of his lines in the films, which I think he wrote himself some of them. He was an incredible poet. Incredible poet. One of my favorite. Can I drop you a Bruce Lee, my favorite Bruce Lee line? Only if I can share mine afterwards. Okay. All right. Maybe imagine we had the same one. I know. Go on. You go first. Okay. My favorite Bruce Lee line is he said, he was talking about like his greatness that he's being interviewed and how does it feel to be so great?

9:33And he goes, you know, if I tell people how good I am, they'll say that I'm boasting. But if I tell people that I'm bad, they'll know I'm lying. I just love that like reverse combo like yeah you know I could say I'm good but if I say I'm bad you know I'm lying yeah so mine is it's like a finger pointing to the moon don't concentrate

10:03Jeff Staple:on the finger or you miss out on all that heavenly glory glory did he say that one he it was a line in enter the dragon yeah that's right yeah don't think about this yeah yeah just as in try not to sort of hone in on something try to keep an open mind trying that's how i interpret it try and sort of keep questioning things stay curious um a lot of people just focus on that don't they yeah see the forest from the tree yeah i think so yeah i love those movies those movies for me were the 90s smoking pot and um watching the hip-hop and yeah basically i think we all did that i mean i'm not gonna i'm not gonna say that you did i can get myself into trouble right if your inner critic had a voice and a name what would it sound like oh great question this is so philosophical it is the answer says a lot and i'm already trying to censor my answer which i shouldn't but um i'll just say it's it's my mom's voice it's terrible what does she does she say your full name when you're in trouble no she doesn't but there's she says it she says this chinese word which is like it translates to the son the s-o-n right and like my mom and i will be in a room a small room just the two of us nobody else and she'll begin speaking to me by saying the son like imagine like the daughter come here like there's no one else in this room what are you talking to like just say the word that you want to say you don't have to start with the son gosh yeah so it's very i love that she's a cool mom she's super cool she's not like this you know beating you in the butt with a with a ruler type mom like she's really cool but like she just wants you to be the best you can be jeff that's it exactly yeah it's really a reflection on myself and not her oh maybe a little bit her but most mostly me mostly it's a reflection on me oh i love my parents they were strict when i was a kid but i'm grateful for that i am grateful too i am grateful that they beat the crap out of me when i was a kid were you a naughty were you a naughty kid I don't even remember.

12:31I don't think so. But like I was spanked. I had they had different weapons to spank me with. Like they either had it was either a coat hanger, a belt or a feather duster, depending on the severity of what I did. They go, oh, this is belt time. It's like, I love that. You know, I don't have kids now, so I'm not going to I can't tell people how to parent. I'm not a parent. But I think life needs to have some penalties. Basically, yeah.

12:58Jeff Staple:Yeah, I think we were of a certain generation, weren't we? And we knew. All my dad would have to say was, you've got three seconds to get to your bedroom. And I would be defiant and I'd wait to two and a half. And as soon as he went through, and I'd be like, shoo. Exactly. Wow, there we go. Ooh, dream dinner guest, dead or alive? I'll say Barack Obama, alive. Oh, interesting. Yeah. I would love to hear. I would love to talk to him. I'm not even that deep into the political landscape or anything. I'm not, you know, that person. But he just seems so intelligent and charming and charismatic that I think a dinner with him would be lovely.

13:44Jeff Staple:Yeah. You could slip some truth agent into his drink and then ask him about all the things he's not allowed to share. Yeah. That's what I'd do. But he's also cool. Like, you know, his like his playlist and his reading list. And he loves sports and everything. It wouldn't just be about politics and government. We could talk about all sorts of stuff. Yeah, I want to know if Area 51 is real. It is. Is it? Do you believe in all that? I do. Hardcore. I'm a hardcore believer. Are you? Are you really into sci-fi? I'm going to say this on record. I've never said this on any podcast or recording ever. And I'm going to say this now because when it comes true, everyone can look back and be like, holy freaking shit, Jeff Staple was right.

14:28Here's my theory. Every bullshit thing that you watch on the news today, whether it's like wars or scandals or sex tapes or whatever, is all being thrown to you because in the background, the real people in charge are trying to figure out and they're scrambling. They're trying to figure out how to release the information that extraterrestrials are here. And they're trying to figure it out of like, how do we prep the population so that when it's here, they don't just start being cannibals. Like, how do we control this situation and release this in a way? Like, even when you see UFO sightings and like all these little like hearings that are happening every once in a while, these are all a controlled press release to get us used to the idea that we are interacting with extraterrestrials and all this other clickbaity new stuff is just to divert our attention from this groundbreaking thing where, you know, because it could go one of two ways if and when this happens.

15:32It either is like we all kumbaya and say we're all earthlings together. No more world wars, no more, you know, this versus them, left versus right. We're all in this together. We have a new common ally and a new common... Optimist point of view. Optimist point of view. Or it's all our chaos. it's all out end the world chaos right there's going to be people breaking into your house trying to steal your sneakers yes and more so i think i think there's like uh you know maybe a room of a hundred people that are trying to figure out how to like disseminate this information i think they probably keep a few things from us don't they yeah what do you think do you believe in extraterrestrial beings?

16:15Jeff Staple:I'd like to. I'd like to. I'd like to think that they are aware of us and mean well, that they've already been. And they're like, yeah, they're a little bit, they're not so advanced. No. Weird and not so advanced. Let's come back in maybe 2 ,000 years if they're still around, we'll say along. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I agree with you. I think, what would we be, what are humans to an alien? I think we would be kind of like a lizard to an alien race. I mean, they're just like crawling around. They're holding all these devices. They're sort of harmless and like, you know, to themselves. Like, let's just let them be.

16:57Jeff Staple:Can you imagine if you sat down with your dinner with Mr. Obama and you were like, Mr. Obama leaned across and he was like, Jeff, we've got a bit of a problem. There's an alien race that's already living amongst us, but they're not very cool. Can you help us rebrand them? Dream job. That would be a dream job. Dream job, absolutely. Oh, do you read any sci-fi? I'm going to send you some recommendations. I used to when I was younger. I'm really big into sci-fi. I love all of that stuff. All right, I'm going to send you some new stuff. Okay. Yeah, whether you like to read or like to listen, there's some great stuff out there at the moment.

17:30Jeff Staple:I'm obsessed. Anyway, what's the most recent photo on your phone? All right. Yeah, you have to look. Look at this one that I took last night. Can you see that? Oh, very nice. I can, yeah. Like, can you see what's going on in the sky there? So that's not like a plane intro. That is a rocket ship. Is that Musk? No, it's, I had dinner last night near NASA JPL, which is the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. And we were just eating outside. And all of a sudden this, like this thing just shot out into the sky. And I got a great, relatively good photo of it. but yeah talking about extraterrestrial you know activities i love that what would you say this is another question i'm just going to throw one more question in what if if you just happened to come across an alien and it was just you and them and they said you know hi what would you say would you just sort of go i would say i'd be speechless i would say the following sentence take me with you beam me up scotty yeah love that yeah like what is it i want to get off stop the planet i want to get off yeah yeah so every um episode we ask our previous guest for a question for the next guest and the guest last week was ashley johnson of pentagram in london she's head of brand narrative and she asked what's the most beautiful thing you've made that no one else will ever see never is a is a hard word never see wow i don't really create things for that are never meant to be seen isn't that strange is that weird no i don't think so no if that's kind of your fuel to your fire um that you like to make things that are shared with the world then yeah i created i'll answer this i created this thing i'm looking at it right now it's right there and it's never been seen.

19:30I don't foresee ever sharing it, but I hate to say never, like maybe I will share it, but it's, um, it's a piece that I made using, you know what a box score is? Do you know what that is? Box score? No. Box score is like after a sport game, like a basketball game or something like that. It's all the statistics of that game, like tabulated into, it looks almost like an Excel spreadsheet, right? So I have a final box score that I created into sort of like a diorama of a, like there's a frame, there's like basket, it was a basketball box score game and it's a box score motif. And there's like, so there's like pieces of a flattened basketball.

20:08It's like a collage diorama thing that I made. And in the middle of it is this box score. And I made a golden plaque under it. And in the plaque engraved, it says the W-A-V-E off. Okay. In quotes. And the game in question is an athlete named Jeremy Lin, who was a New York Knick. He's a 5 '5 Chinese man, Harvard graduate.

20:37Jeff Staple:Wow. That somehow made it to the NBA. For the most part, terrible, his whole career. And then through a series of strange occurrences, because the Knicks got so many injured players, They went so far down the roster that they were like, all we have left is this five foot five Chinese kid from Harvard. Let's give him a try. His name is Jeremy Lin. OK, for a week he played. And talking about alien race culture, like an alien possessed him. And it was called Lin Sanity, Jeremy Lin, Lin Sanity, because he would score 40, 50 points a game. He went up against Kobe Bryant. Kobe's like, I've never even heard of this guy.

21:19He schooled Kobe Bryant, okay, for an entire week. It was incredible for sports, for New York, for Asians in general. And this game is the game that he played against Kobe, where he scored 38 points against Kobe Bryant. And Kobe Bryant, before the game, said, I'm going to erase this guy from your memories, New York. Like, it's over for this guy, right? He outscored Kobe. And also the game was a buzzer beater. It was like a very close game to the very end. It was the last shot that was going to determine it. And, you know, he's got the ball. And all his other teammates, these big six-foot, seven-foot goons, are like, give me the ball.

21:59Your dream is over. Give me the ball. And this is important now. Playtime's over. And what he did at half court, he's dribbling, and he waved everyone off. He said, everyone go away. I've got this. Went up, made the game-winning basket. And it was crazy. And I'm getting goosebumps telling the story because in my culture, you're taught to be humble. You're taught to be subservient. And you're taught to take your wins and be very quiet about them. And thank you for allowing me to share this moment of my greatness with you. I will go away now. That's what we're taught in my culture. So this idea of like, get away.

22:42I'm doing this. is and I put this up here because when I have meetings and when I have negotiations with people that are trying to put me in a box of either you're the sneaker guy or you're the pigeon guy or you're the Chinese guy or you're the young cool kid you're not ready for my world or this world or that world I'm the I'm reminded to go away I've got the ball yeah I love that that's

23:10Jeff Staple:magical thank you for sharing that now that just leaves with us to ask you what's your question for the next guest please okay my question for the next guest is if you had to live for the rest of your life with one typeface what would that typeface be oh my gosh that's brutal i love it thank you Jeff that's gonna really annoy them well this has been an absolute pleasure thank you so much for your time and uh yeah just wonderful thank you good to see you again thank you