#29 – Three steps to creativity

Summary

Three years ago Erik’s energy levels were like a roller coaster. When the food reserves crashed, so did his temper and some times he could barely speak unless he got a banana.

What effects does sugar have on your body? What can you replace it with? And what are the main sugar traps around us? How would you feel if you are less sugar? What would the benefits be for you?

Transcript

[00:00:02] Have you ever been in a complete flow state? You know, the time when ideas, inspiration, creativity is just coming through you. It’s popping up from within. It feels like water coming through a pipe and it’s just flowing at other times. Have you noticed how the pipe is just shut?

[00:00:24] Nothing comes to you. No good ideas of how to solve task or how to create something. Why is that? Why? What is the difference between those kinds of states?

[00:00:38] So what I’m really saying right now, that sometimes inspiration, motivation and everything just feels blocked. And the reason why we’re talking about this is that I’ve been feeling that way in the last week and then struggling with this. And to be honest, I’ve never given it much thought. Why, that is. What is it that happens when the pipe is blocked? So that’s something that we’re looking to explore today.

[00:01:05] That is right. And you’re here listening to me, Amiel, and the founder of Great Dot.com, Eric Bergman. And together we’re doing this become a great podcast where we explore how to grow as people and how to grow as an organization. Great dot.com. And if you want to hear about the doubt that Eric was feeling. Go back and check out last week’s episode. Are updates a period of doubt? Today we’re gonna explore creativity and we are gonna explore three things that we feel are blocking creativity. And if those are removed, I think there’s a much higher chance to have that water flowing to your creative pipe.

[00:01:50] I just see it as a watery rainbow. I just felt like, of course, the rain rainwater for TV. It looks like a rainbow.

[00:01:57] I wanted to say rainbow unicorns riding on it. Of course. Of course. And those three blocks are distraction, fear and health. Dum dum dum dum dum dum.

[00:02:13] And well. Guys, do you have someone around you that is just this creative genius? Because I have in my life the most creative aaronson.

[00:02:26] Oh, no, it’s not, Eric. The most creative person that I know, his name is Joanne. She’s a music producer and producer. Producer. He’s a music producer. And the way he’s being creative is that he is like doing random things like playing Mario Kart, hanging out with friends, smoking sandwiches, smoking stuff. Yes. Doing random things. And all of a sudden he gets all of these new ideas.

[00:02:59] When I’m looking at him and trying to be creative, it’s not really helpful because he’s so natural at being creative.

[00:03:08] What do you think is happening there?

[00:03:12] I think that he is in some ways like the typical thing that we see creativity in movies and stuff like this artist, so that it just comes to and I’m thinking Californication. If you’ve seen that movie, that is that serious issue. Yeah. The show. Yeah. Yes. Just coming from nowhere and doing nothing. And then a book comes. Yeah. And I think that with that picture in mind, it’s kind of hard to see what is creativity, how can I get to it and how can you kind of do you have to. You can say that I have a creativity. And to me, that’s like something that you need to do to get there.

[00:03:49] And by just looking at a person like that, it feels like you. But it’s just supposed to come kind of like love and relationships just come to some people or they just naturally good at this or that.

[00:04:01] But I think that you have to work to creativity.

[00:04:05] Well, at least us mortals, because I think having very high creativity or very good creativity, I think that’s quite a rare skill to have it to that magnitude. But my friend has or someone like I heard Elon Musk say that it never stops from him, like never, never, never stops getting new ideas. And I think that’s kind of rare. I think that’s maybe one in 100 people. Yes. So but I don’t think that means that us mortals can’t be creative.

[00:04:37] I know for sure. But at the same time, before we started planning this episode.

[00:04:41] Have you ever thought about what’s behind creativity or what could block it or what it is?

[00:04:50] Jimmy, what’s behind it? As in a personality trait or what? Like what?

[00:04:55] What does creativity mean in terms of how to get creative? Have you ever thought about what could block it or what this could be before or have you thought about it? That’s something that’s just there or it’s not there.

[00:05:08] Well, I can definitely see patterns in my own life, habits that I can get into that quite reliably. Put me in a state where that rainbow water is flowing. The rainbow water metaphor. I was creative of.

[00:05:24] Yeah. You know, I’m I’m in flow state, you know. Yeah. Okay. So let’s see. I’m started to jump into these three things. You mentioned them. Yeah. So what it is that blocks then you started by saying distractions. What is it that you think about then.

[00:05:40] Well.

[00:05:43] I know that I can get into the point where the rainbow water is flowing, but for me it kind of takes time. I need like fifteen minutes, half an hour of pure focus on one thing to get into that flow state. And for me, just getting one text or just having the idea that I’m gonna go and do this other thing in my apartment that gets me out of that flow state and it takes about 20, 30 minutes to get back in there. And if that distraction is happening that often, it means that I never get there.

[00:06:19] This reminds me of something that I read about open plan offices. You know, it’s very popular these days that you just have an open plan office that looks really cool and everyone is sitting everywhere and doing these kinds of things. And basically, every study that I’ve read on open plan offices says that it is a horrible shitty idea.

[00:06:39] Yeah, it makes you save some money on space and it gives you this cool vibe. But just because of what you’re seeing right now. Destruction’s and apparently, especially for developers that sit and write code that whenever someone comes knocking on their shoulder, it takes them 10, 15 minutes to get back into whatever they were doing and then, you know, compliant, so easy to knocks on the shoulder. And sometimes that’s a good thing because you can ask something, but not if you’re stealing 15 minutes of someone who is really in flow state.

[00:07:12] Man, I was I was a girl I was seeing before I was in her office and she was sitting on an open office next with two people on her side and she was using headphones that were not voice voice reduction. So every time someone has a phone call in that office, she can hear them speak. And if she hears them speak, that means that she gets out of her train of thought and into theirs. Maybe some people are really good at shutting off. I am not one of those people. If someone is talking in the background, it’s so much more difficult for me to get in to a flow state.

[00:07:48] Yeah, I completely agree.

[00:07:50] Okay. So what to do and what to do to limit distractions?

[00:07:54] Well, one thing that I think we have found out, we talked about this yesterday and kind of had a realization is that we are naturally getting into a flow state. When you and I are planning this podcast and what do you what do you think that is?

[00:08:09] Is I like what we talked about there. And it kind of aligns to the struggles of being undistracted ourselves that if I’m sitting and writing something for my own purpose and I’m struggling a little bit at that time, it’s very easy to put up my phone and start playing with it or go grab a snack or whatever it is to create that kind of distraction for myself. But what we’ve seen when when we’re doing this together is that whenever I’m kind of losing focus a little bit, then you help me to get back on track because you haven’t lost focus on that very second. Yeah. And it would be rude for me to start playing with my phone just because it beeps or whatever when I’m sitting talking to you. So we’re kind of helping each other to stay on track, which is. A bit of a paradox compared to the open office kind of thing that is actually better to be to than to be one. And I’ve never thought about this before, but it goes for when you want to focus on a certain job task. But I can see the same thing going for when you need to really go through an idea or think about something. Because if I keep talking on one topic and then I’m passing the ball back to you and you’re kind of on the same topic, we’re gonna stay on that topic. But if I’m trying to get somewhere with my thoughts, they are going to derail and go in another direction a hundred times before I get to where it is.

[00:09:30] Yeah, for sure. And I think that is one gift when you that we get when I convince you. You live in Malta. I live in Sweden. And we are just hanging out together and we’re talking about great and dick conversation in and of itself is helping to anchor to focus on one topic. And a conversation gets me to flow state. A lot of the time. And I think that is why. Focus on one thing.

[00:09:59] Yeah. So at least for the two of us then one. One of the key things of cooperating here is that we keep focus in a way we wouldn’t do and we’re building on each other’s ideas. So it’s kind of we’re also we’re keeping distractions away, which is kind of what we’re talking about here. But I can also see that we’re building on each other’s creativity, inspiration. So you are kind of sending your rainbow fireworks into my brain. They kind of explode in a way of love and creativity, inspiration. And it triggers a lot of things in my head. So, for example, now, I hadn’t thought about talking about this office thing. It just made so much sense. And it was your kind of rainbow that went into my head and triggered that. So you can see it as a limited distractions in a way, but it also improves the strength of the rainbow.

[00:10:50] I have really cool images in my mind right now. Me too. I like frame, but so what can someone then do? Because I noticed this when you and I hang out that that I’m often inflows day. And when I get back from Alter, I tried to think, OK, not because I work from home. I’m in my office. How can I simulate that flow state? The things that your company is helping me with. So how would you do that? How would you simulate the conditions of being two when it’s just you on your own?

[00:11:25] Yes, that’s tricky. I don’t have a good answer to that. But I would still I would put my phone away. I think that’s key, that such distractions far away from you. So flight mode on your phone. Usually when I need to do something that if feel okay, I’m gonna need to focus on fitness. I’m going to need to be creative. I’m writing something, doing something. I usually put my phone away and I turn off Wi-Fi on my computer. And that’s like two key things. I make sure that I water next to me because one of my common excuses is to get up and go and get a glass. And that’s just a common excuse. Not sure if I have any other ways of limiting those distractable I’m setting aside time. It’s like, okay, I’m gonna sit here now and I’m not gonna do anything. I don’t let myself do anything else than this task. So either I sit here, do nothing and just completely suck.

[00:12:20] And that’s fine. Or I stick to this task. And a lot of the time creativity comes after just sitting and listening to it or writing a little thing. And that becomes kind of my way, too, to keep in the line that I’m going for.

[00:12:37] So are you setting a timer then that for two hours I will only do this thing?

[00:12:43] Are you doing it until you’re finished kind of thing?

[00:12:47] Neither or I think I don’t really have a timer and I don’t do it until I’m done. I do it I usually working kind of two hour slots like, okay, for that long I have a lot of energy and after two hours I’m usually drained of energy or tired or I mean something. So it’s more like, okay, I’m not going to do any other task during this kind of session. And that’s more like how much energy do I have than anything else. So.

[00:13:14] Are you standing up and moving around at all during this time?

[00:13:19] Yeah, a little bit. So I go to the bathroom. My. If I if I get stuck when I feel that I’m not in flow state or coming up with ideas, I tend to walk around in a circle in my living room. Yeah. And so I get to that point. I walk a little bit and try to get keep my thoughts on that. And that’s usually happens when I feel a little bit stuck. So when I feel this pipe isn’t closed completely, but now it’s just dripping. Yeah. And if I kind of walk through it, it will open up a little bit more.

[00:13:48] I heard a public speech about it from a guy called Ben Greenfield. He’s a health health guy. And he said that whenever he’s doing some work where he’s in flow state, every 20 minutes he goes up and he’s doing 10 burpees. Korstad is putting out something called nitric oxide in your body, which is kind of like natural Viagra. You get more oxygen and when your brain has more oxygen, you get more creative. And I haven’t tried to do much, but I do know that when I’m out walking ran, I’m out running. I’m having much more creative thoughts. And I think that is because I have more oxygen in my brain.

[00:14:25] Yeah, my my friend Joanne is doing the same thing, but he works here. He always works in 50 minute slots. If they say 50 5 zero. Yeah. And then he does. I think he does 50 squats. So just that’s also me bent bending his knees. Yeah. And the logic with that is that the thighs are the biggest muscles in our body. So if you’re gonna use one muscle to pump oxygen into your body. Those are the best muscles to go to. Yeah. And he does that regularly. And I’ve been thinking that’s such a smart thing and I’ve been too lazy to try. So, hey, if you’re listening to this and you want to try something smart, try this. Let me know if it works. And I’m probably not going to try it. But I think it’s a brilliant theory.

[00:15:14] Well, I’ve actually been trying it for a week now since I heard a podcast. This is a little bit of a sidetrack. But I think it’s interesting because he was talking about this bloke, blue bluestones, where people are living to be above 100 and they said those guys are not really exercising much, but they are moving around all time naturally. So what he wants to do is to assimilate that. So two times every hour he’s doing some kind of movement, like just ten burpees or some squats. And the idea is that he wants exercise to be optional at the end of a day because he actually moved around so much and that you can do that even though you have a job where you’re sitting still.

[00:15:50] Yeah, I think that’s really good. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I’ve heard that sitting down is the new smoking in terms of health. And I can easily fix that by just moving around a little bit and not even getting exhausted doing so.

[00:16:04] It seems like we’re getting distracted from our distraction. All right. So, Josh, is that you put your phone away? It’s very important that happens naturally when you’re two people. And I think if you’re one, it’s very good to assimilate that. So for O and one thing as well, I think planning to be creative, planning that for these two hours at this time, I will not be distracted. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:16:30] So put your phone away, put your computer in Y and turn off the Wi-Fi if you can. You don’t need an internet to do the task you’re doing. And if you are, log out from Facebook, log out from Skype, log out from slack or whatever instant messaging thing you have.

[00:16:44] Yeah. And set time aside. That’s the key. Three things.

[00:16:48] Yeah. And I think a main reason for it is that it takes time to get into that flow states. For us mortals and every text, at least for me, is making me think of something else. And then I need like five, 10, 15 minutes to get back in there. And if it’s happens all the time, constant distraction. All right. So let’s go in to number two. Fear. Spooky.

[00:17:14] I think this one is really interesting. It definitely blocks creativity for me. And I think it ties into the fear of failure.

[00:17:25] And I’ve heard something really smart about this being that procrastination or putting things into the future is a self-defense mechanism. So by not trying, you cannot fail. So by not starting, you cannot fail and you cannot humiliate yourself or whatever it is that you are afraid of. So. Not being inspired or not being creative in this way is a way of ourselves to protect ourselves from not even doing it. So even if is that suppose let’s say you’re supposed to write an essay in school and have. At your core, you’re actually afraid that this is not gonna be very good, one way of protecting ourselves from that feeling of doing something not that’s not good is to not do it at all. So it’s it’s less than Barrass to say I didn’t start or didn’t finish. Then I used to say I did it and I failed. So I think that’s an interesting thing, and I can see for me it’s a big block like this week. I’ve been feeling OK.

[00:18:27] Am I really the right person to do this project? Are we gonna get to this grand visions that I’m talking about are this and this gonna happen? And I can see then that it’s easier for me to just shut off and not even try than it is to to move forward through this resistance of.

[00:18:48] Yeah, it’s this feeling of how big it is.

[00:18:52] Yeah. And then you. At least when that happens to me, what I do is that I do tasks that are easier and less scary to finish. So some make my submissive, but I don’t do the important things that are more scary. I think even for me. Doing a creative and difficult task in the beginning of that. I often feel like I don’t know how to do it. I feel incompetent. And it’s not a pleasant feeling is doing something that I know how to do. So I kind of avoid feeling like that by not starting.

[00:19:30] Yeah. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Agassi One of the questions I get most often is, okay, how would I start a company from people and. What I think is interesting with that one is that.

[00:19:46] The people that I talk to most of time have this grand vision of what a company is. And if you build if you have a big vision of what a company is, it means that it’s a big possibility that you’re gonna fail. It’s a very overwhelming thing. And my most common reply to this is, how can you make this vision smaller? How could you create something where it wouldn’t hurt to fail?

[00:20:07] So let’s say instead of thinking, I need to quit my job, I need to invest money and then go all in, which is there is a lot of risk here and there’s if you’re failing, it’s a big important failure. But if you’re instead saying, I’m going to start a business that I can do for an hour a day. And I don’t need money to invest. If you’re failing here, you actually haven’t put that much at risk. So the fear of failing isn’t that big. You don’t need to tell people about it. It’s not gonna be a public thing in the same way. So I think that’s something that, at least for me, applies to any task. If I can take that risk of failing down and make it less scary, it’s going to be easier for me to unlock the creativity.

[00:20:52] This is quite different from what I hear. Many motivational speakers say I often hear the advice from people like Tony Robbins and other big coaches that dream big. You want to see this grand vision. You want to visualize that you’re there. And so you’re saying that that could kind of be counter-productive in a way.

[00:21:14] Yeah, I think so. I think it’s. I think if you’ve managed to get started, dream big can be a valuable thing. And sometimes that might be the best course. But I think the main reason why we fail and reaching our dreams is that we don’t try. And I think a very big reason for that is that it’s too scary. It’s too big. It’s.

[00:21:37] I’m never gonna be able to build a Tesla, but I might be able to build some little electrician car. So by taking the gold down, I think it’s so much more likely that we try. And if we try, we might succeed, if we don’t try, we’re never gonna succeed.

[00:21:53] Do you think both is needed? Because I sometimes when I’m in flow state, when I’m in a really, really, really good mood, like I’m Freddie Mercury out in the forest here in Stockton. And at that time, I love a good mood guy is someone who kind of committed suicide. He had a good time before, during and when he had that good time. I bet that and I felt like those big dreams are possible. And seeing that vision is actually making me very inspired and it is making me do things. And then other days I’m waking up and I’m kind of in the opposite of that state. Right. There is no rainbow water. It’s just like some brown little thing coming out. There’s a spider in my pipe. And when that is happening, I that that big dream seem impossible. And then that is actually blocking me. So at that time, a smaller image that is more doable would help me much more.

[00:22:55] Yeah, I think the I think it’s individual based. I can see myself dreaming about the really big thing. And I need to it down in smaller tasks and be good at that for it to not scare me. And I think that a small task is something that always had you go. I think it matters a little bit where you are in your life. If most people that ask me questions are just coming out of school. And I think then the key thing is just to get started. But there’s also people asking me who’s been at the same job for ten years and not liking it. It’s like the paralyzing thing is to get started. So personally, I think it’s much, much more important to keep start with a smaller dream and be there. And then, sure, you can play away with inspiration. But I think that most people get more scared of the big picture than they would otherwise and get paralyzed.

[00:23:47] But that’s just my my experience isn’t a good thing to do scary things, though, because if you have because when you do that scary thing, you kind of strengthening the willpower muscle to do things even though they are scary. So if the only focus is to reduce the scariness. Wouldn’t you kind of lose out on doing scary things if you do the scary things?

[00:24:13] It’s good that they’re scary. If you get paralyzed by the fear, it’s it’s not good.

[00:24:19] So I think that if you’re going to start a company and you haven’t done that before, you’re gonna start a business. And that’s always gonna be scary. So if you take the fear down to the level where you can easily deal with it, I think that’s a good way of doing it. It’s still gonna be scary. And I think it’s very beneficial to challenge the fear, but it’s important that it’s not super scary.

[00:24:46] Got it. So to summarize, fear is stopping creativity. And so there should be some fear, right.

[00:24:54] But not losing. Yeah, I would summarize it like that. So fear is a big thing. So if you’re feeling stuck, ask yourself, what am I scared of and how can I limit that fear, which potentially could be not tell us many people about what you’re doing. It could be a way of limiting your fear. Make it a smaller task. We need to get to this point. Might be a way of dealing with a fear. Writing down what is actually the effects of me failing right now. And probably it’s not as scary as you think it is. So to look at this fear and ask yourself, is this really real or not? Or am I just imagining this fear?

[00:25:32] One final thing on fear. What if you’re someone that is choosing tasks where you never feel scared?

[00:25:40] How do you think that affects creativity?

[00:25:44] Well, if you never feel scared and. I don’t think you feel much creativity, to be honest. I think those go together. You need to challenge yourself to get to the rainbow.

[00:25:56] Yeah, I think it’s a part of it.

[00:25:59] So it’s kind of like going to the gym. You don’t want so many weights that you can’t lift the bar, but you don’t want it to be too easy either.

[00:26:06] Yeah, well, thinking if if you’re never doing something that you’re that the only time that you’re doing that you don’t risk of failing is when you’re doing things you’ve already done.

[00:26:18] So if you’re going to the gym and you’re doing 10 pushups each time, you know that you’re gonna make 10 push. So there is no fear of failing doing 10 pushups.

[00:26:26] But there is also very boring to do the same repetitive task and not challenging yourself, I guess, as soon as it’s a risk of failing. I think there is a certain element of fear.

[00:26:38] All right. We’re at a gym now and I think this is a good time to Segway in to the third part of creativity, which is health here. So which part of health would you say? For you is the most important for. Creativity.

[00:26:53] Surfing this part of the podcast is quite apparent, what we’re going gonna say, Sandra. Just touch upon these things and we’ll see if there is something we’d like to have like. So I think a key thing is to sleep well. So if you’re feeling stuck in creativity. One good question is how much have I slept? And by much I’m not saying five hours, I’m saying eight. I think exercise is key. I have I’ve been working out lately. Or am I just sitting here? What have I eaten? How much have actually cared about these things? And for me, these are the three key things about being able to stay focused and being creative. And if I mess up on these three. The rainbow is going to be smaller and smaller and might just be dripping.

[00:27:39] I want to add one thing you said on sleep, because I think. Especially dream sleep. r.e.m.’s sleep, which is happening in the later part of tonight. That is our brain actually focusing on being creative. A lot of inventions have come from people dreaming about them. The guy who made up the periodic system, for example, he’d drink about it, got the whole thing and they just pieced it down the next morning and it was complete. All that and periodic systems is this sort of thing when you they all all the elements of the unit, all the elements the guy had worked out for two years, didn’t have a clue that he dreamt about it and got the whole thing in one in one piece.

[00:28:22] And so similar then to waking up and feeling, oh, I should write this down. I got this brilliant idea and then I never do. And I decided by the next morning.

[00:28:31] So what is happening when you’re in dream sleep is that your brain is looking for connections that are unrelated. So just it it wants to think about things that are as unrelated as possible, which is an example here. OK. So. It might be thinking about how your take two very unrelated things in your life. So just trying things like how is your morning shake comparing to your your dancing? And it’s just trying, trying, trying, trying many, many different things and at rapid rate so your brain is more active when you’re in dream sleep than when you’re awake. And it’s just trying as it’s looking for connection that are as different as possible and could see that it could be connected.

[00:29:20] Could you say that the brain is kind of going bonkers and just collecting my hometown with the periodic system? Yeah. And suddenly the brain realized, OK, this doesn’t make sense instantly. Try something else and try something else.

[00:29:31] Exactly. And it’s thinking about things that you would never think of when you’re awake because it’s so random.

[00:29:37] Why is the brain doing this? Well, creativity is one thing. It’s doing it, too.

[00:29:47] It’s doing it for one thing that happens if you don’t get dream sleep is that you don’t understand social cues as well.

[00:30:00] So in case of the brain is doing this to practice how people interact with each other, it’s practicing social things and is practicing creative tasks.

[00:30:10] So it’s looking for new solutions to problems that you have in your life. I’m sure there’s more reasons.

[00:30:16] I am looking for new solutions. Might make sense. OK, so the brain is is looking for ways to improve your everyday life. And that could happen by taking two things together. Yeah.

[00:30:28] So basically they say that that all all inventions are actually just two old inventions crossed together, etc. And other things like like a wheelchair is just a wheel. And someone take a share and they put them together. Exactly. And everything in fashion is just taking one thing and then take something away or add something. Yeah. It’s just the same thing. So that’s kind of what the brain is doing.

[00:30:50] That is kind of what the brain is doing. And it wouldn’t be surprising to me then when you’re awake and from inside of you comes this inside like, oh yeah, I can do my business idea this way. And it wouldn’t be surprising if that connection was actually made during dream sleep because you put two pieces together and now it’s kind of just bubbling up into your conscious when you’re awake. How do you know about this? I just read a very interesting book called Why We Sleep About a Guy. His name is Matthew Walker. So I really recommend that book on sleep. We’re gonna do a whole episode on sleep in the future. And if you want to learn more about it now, go. He was in on Joe Rogan’s podcast. So search for Joe Rogan and Matthew Walker. Okay. And one thing I want to add on on dream sleep, then it’s very important for creativity. And if you in his book, he says that 99 percent of people actually need eight hours of sleep. And if you’re someone that. Only sleeps six hours. Maybe you go up early to go up to work into a creative task. It seems like you’re getting 75 percent of the sleep that you’re needing. But almost all dream sleep happens in the last four hours of the night in the first four hours of the night. You’re in deep sleep, which is restorative to your body, etc. So if you get two hours less in the end of the night, that means that you’re losing half of your dream sleep.

[00:32:19] So to sum this up, a little sleep is important. Yes. Dream sleep, which is the last part of your sleep as the most important, and you dream for creating it more and more towards the end of the night.

[00:32:32] If the last two hours is almost all dream sleep, so then you could argue that if you’re gonna wake up early, it’s very important that you go to bed early. So you still get that part of your sleep. If you need to be creative.

[00:32:43] Yes. So I’m not shump that part away. Yes. Going up 2 hours earlier to do a creative task is a pretty shitty trade because your brain is being super creative when you’re sleeping.

[00:32:53] Ok. So should we sum this entire episode up because we’re running short on time, we want to touch upon some more brilliant stuff?

[00:33:01] Well, one more health thing that I’m really into. I know you’re not into it. And that is meditation. And I’ve been practicing this for six, seven years myself. I know many people are taught about meditation, but for this specific topic, I want to mention it because meditation for me is basically as the art of not being distracted. You practicing being undistracted. And since the first thing we touched upon in this episode is it’s important for creativity to not be distracted. I think practicing that skill. Yes. For 10 minutes, 20 minutes a day will really help at least me getting into flow state. And if you’re new to meditation, I recommend checking out an app that is called Headspace. Headspace? Yes, that’s a really good app for beginners. So check it out. For me, it works great.

[00:33:54] You know, one teeny tiny thing on that then. So when I’m meditating quotation marks, I’m usually just sitting and thinking and it ties into fear them that creativity can come in that state.

[00:34:07] Because when I’m in front of my computer, whatever ideas I get, I need to actually write down and becomes more real. So I think that’s get more challenged by fear. But if I’m just sitting there just being, I don’t need to take the idea so seriously. So I think that I’m kind of on blocking fear in a sense. So by not being in front of the future, by not saying I need to get here now, it might actually unlock these kind of things. And I can feel that I get a lot of ideas when I’m in that state.

[00:34:37] Final question, when are you the most creative?

[00:34:43] It was one of what when I’m with you. To be honest. So what we are together and you are my muse and I want to create rainbows and unicorns with you. So when we’re two people focus on one task that I enjoy. That’s the most important thing. And I’m not going to ask you because we’re running too short on time.

[00:35:03] I want to say. Come on. Oh, did you get. I get easily 20 percent more creative when I’m moving. So when I’m on a treadmill, when I’m out walking. That really works for me.

[00:35:15] Could it be the same thing there? There is less fear. So you are both getting more oxygen into your brain, but you’re also not taking your ideas so serious as you need to do in front of the computer.

[00:35:26] I’m not evaluating myself. I’m just playing in my head. And I’m also thinking images when I’m running. And that helps. That’s good. All right. We are done for today.

[00:35:39] So if you have any questions for us, if you have any idea for an episode at this topic or if you have something you think we did well or something we did bad. Please send us an e-mail to podcasts at great dot com. We’ll see you next week. Greenville’s and UNICOR since the first.