50: Kevin Chung on Art, Creativity, and Lessons Learned While Cracking Creativity

This week is going to be a little different. Instead of interviewing another creative, I wanted to celebrate the fiftieth episode of Cracking Creativity by having someone else interview me.

I had my friend and former podcast guest, Jacques Ho, interview me. He has been a huge part of my work on this site and this podcast. Each week we meet to discuss what we are working on while also keeping each other accountable to our goals. He has a lot of insights on my work, which I thought would be great to have for this episode.

In it, I discuss the beginnings of my creative journey, why I started my blog Marketing Your Art the Right Way, my quote art collection and upcoming book, influences for my work, my podcast, and much more.

By the time you finish this episode, I hope you have a better idea of why I started this site and why I want to help all of you on your creative and artistic journeys.

Here are three things you can learn from me:

Start each day by working for yourself

Many of us start each day without making room to do something for ourselves. We might start checking our email or social media. We might prepare for work. Or we might get ready and just head out the door. I used to be one of those people too.

Every morning I would wake up, eat breakfast, brush my teeth, get dressed, and head out the door. I would do the least amount of work possible before heading out the door to work for someone else.

It was only after listening to other people talk about their own mornings that I started to change mine too. Instead of using the beginning of the day to work for someone else, we need to work for ourselves.

We only have a certain amount of energy each day. Why don't we use our most productive hours working for ourselves? Why do we insist on giving our best hours to someone else?

Now, I begin each morning working for myself. I read the books I want to read. I write what I want to write And I create art for myself.

I'll tell you this, it has made a huge difference in my day. It has fueled my mornings. It has invigorated my passion for my work. It has changed everything.

Don't spend your most precious hours working for someone else. Use them on yourself instead.

You normally can't be creative on command

One of the myths of creativity is that you are either born creative or you aren't creative at all. That simply isn't true.

If there's one thing I know about creativity it's that everyone has the capacity to be creative. As artists, we fall for this myth too. It's most common form is writer's block.

When we get stuck on an idea, we are stumped. We don't know what to do. We let it paralyze us. "I am a creative artist, why can't I be creative?"

The reason people think they aren't creative, or the reason so called creative people get stuck is, they haven't practiced using their creative muscle. Just like any other muscle in the body, if you don't use it, it will become weak. We must practice using our creative muscle every day if we want it grow strong.

One of my favorite methods for strengthening my creative muscle is James Altucher's ten ideas a day. Every day, I choose a topic and write ten ideas for it. In fact, it has helped me write some of my best and most successful articles.

The point of the exercise is not to come up with ten good ideas. It's to constantly practice using your creative muscle. When doing the exercise, you will come up with the first five ideas fairly quickly. It's those last five ideas that strain your brain. It's those same ideas that help make your creative muscle strong.

The next time you are feeling creative block, try coming up with ten ideas to overcome it. If you keep practicing it, you will notice yourself become more and more creative.

The power and importance of story

One of my favorite parts about working on this site and this podcast is hearing about and uncovering people's stories. We are all going through our own journeys in life. Often times we forget that other people are going through their own journeys too.

It is both an honor and a pleasure to hear about other people's projects and lives. Some of the greatest lessons in life don't come from our own experience. They come from learning from other people.

Other people have the capacity to inspire and move us the way we often can't ourselves. We are too close to ourselves to notice the things we need to change. By listening to the story of others, we can gain insights into our own faults and flaws.

That is the beauty of hosting this podcast and creating this site. My podcast has introduced me to people who are changing the world. But I would never have met many of my guests if I hadn't started this show.

One of my favorite parts of every week is when I get to jump on a call with one of my guests. Each one has an interesting and beautiful story to tell. I have made it my job as the host of Cracking Creativity to uncover the wonderful story behind each of my guests.

Too often, our connections with other people just scratch the surface. We rarely get the chance to dive deeper into other people's lives. We rarely give ourselves the chance to learn lessons from those around us. We are too busy with our own lives to care.

That is why I want to share these wonderful guests with all of you. It has been an absolute pleasure sharing the stories of my guests, and I hope they have inspired you too. Thanks for joining me for my fiftieth episode. I hope there are many more to come.

More shownotes for episode 50 with Kevin Chung