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The Accidental Creative
Don’t Fall Prey To The Tyranny Of The Adequate
Don’t Fall Prey To The Tyranny Of The Adequate

Don’t Fall Prey To The Tyranny Of The Adequate

What’s the greatest barrier to brilliant work? Is it fear? Lack of time or resources? Confusion? All of these contribute to one degree or another. I’ve written a ton about each of them, (including a full chapter in The Accidental Creative.) However, there’s one word that I think better stands as the bastion of mediocrity in many workplaces: adequacy. On this episode we discuss a few causes of the normalization of adequacy in the workplace and how to counter them.

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The Accidental Creative
The Road Back To You (with Ian Morgan Cron)
The Road Back To You (with Ian Morgan Cron)

The Road Back To You (with Ian Morgan Cron)

Self-awareness is a valuable asset if you want to lead well, create effectively, and live a good life. However, many people move through life reactively without a clear framework for how they're wired and what truly drives them. On this episode, Ian Morgan Cron shares insights from his book The Road Back To You, gives an overview of how the Enneagram framework can help you identify what drives you, and offers tips for applying that self-knowledge to life and work. 

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The Accidental Creative
How To Have The Right Idea at the Right Time (with Allen Gannett)
How To Have The Right Idea at the Right Time (with Allen Gannett)

How To Have The Right Idea at the Right Time (with Allen Gannett)

If you solve problems for a living (which most of us do), then ideas are critical to your effectiveness. But how do you increase the odds that you'll have the right idea just when you need it? On this episode, Allen Gannet will help us better understand the dynamics of creating under pressure with insights from his new book The Creative Curve.

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The Accidental Creative
How Expectation Escalation Keeps You In Your Comfort Zone
How Expectation Escalation Keeps You In Your Comfort Zone

How Expectation Escalation Keeps You In Your Comfort Zone

Are you comparing your in-process work with the absolute best thing ever created in your industry? How about this one... have you ever had a manager express disappointment that you only over-delivered a little instead of a lot? If so, you might be experiencing something called Expectation Escalation, and it is probably preventing you from taking risks, experimenting, and iterating your way toward brilliance. On this episode, we discuss how it affects you and what to do about it. 

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The Accidental Creative
How Fear Paralyzes Your Creativity
How Fear Paralyzes Your Creativity

How Fear Paralyzes Your Creativity

There's a hidden dynamic that inhibits your ability to connect dots and do brilliant work. Unfortunately, it's also misunderstood. Fear can erode your ability to think creatively and to take necessary risks, but not all fear is something to be shunned. Sometimes fear can help us stay alert and make decisions. It can be a signal that you have a healthy respect for your environment and its potential dangers. On this episode, I talk about the two kinds of fear and how to begin to dismantle them and produce your best work. 

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The Accidental Creative
The One Thing (with Geoff Woods)
The One Thing (with Geoff Woods)

The One Thing (with Geoff Woods)

If your organization is like most others, expectations are rising and resources are probably dwindling. We're trying to cram more activity into our days, but often feel like we're only falling further behind. On this episode, Geoff Woods is here with practical advice for making sure the most important things get done each day and that you don't go through your days in reactive mode. Geoff is the host of The One Thing Podcast, which is based on the best-selling book The One Thing. 

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The Accidental Creative
How Dissonance Steals Your Creative Edge
How Dissonance Steals Your Creative Edge

How Dissonance Steals Your Creative Edge

Have you ever had a sense that things just aren't adding up? Your brain is sending a signal that there's a gap between what you're doing and why you think you're doing it. That's a dynamic I call dissonance, and it can quickly rob you of your ability to engage fully and freely in your creative work. On this episode, we dive into a few of its sources and how they affect you.

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The Accidental Creative
Off The Clock (with Laura Vanderkam)
Off The Clock (with Laura Vanderkam)

Off The Clock (with Laura Vanderkam)

Annie Dillard once wrote "How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing." However, many of us struggle to find a good balance with our time. We always feel like we're running behind, and that we lay our head down each night a bit behind where we awoke that morning. On this episode, time expert Laura Vanderkam is here to help us understand how people with a healthy perspective on time allocate their hours effectively. Her new book is called Off The Clock.

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The Accidental Creative
Exactly What To Say (with Phil M. Jones)
Exactly What To Say (with Phil M. Jones)

Exactly What To Say (with Phil M. Jones)

Have you ever been in a big client pitch, a challenging company meeting, or a conversation with a peer and been at a loss for the right words? What do you say in those difficult situations to improve your odds of success? This episode features Phil M. Jones, the author of Exactly What To Say. He will help us understand the words that will help you achieve your goals, influence others, and connect more deeply with your peers and clients.

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The Accidental Creative
Why Empathy Is Essential (with Michael Ventura)
Why Empathy Is Essential (with Michael Ventura)

Why Empathy Is Essential (with Michael Ventura)

Every so often, a word becomes so common in the marketplace that it begins to lose its meaning. I believe that empathy is one of those words. On this episode, SubRosa CEO Michael Ventura shares insights into how to leverage empathy to thrill and delight your clients and customers and creative change in the world. Michael's new book is called Applied Empathy.

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The Accidental Creative
Choose Wonder Over Worry (with Amber Rae)
Choose Wonder Over Worry (with Amber Rae)

Choose Wonder Over Worry (with Amber Rae)

How much time do you spend worrying every day? For many of us, the answer is "too much". When you worry, you disengage parts of your mind and perspective that are necessary for creative brilliance. On this episode, Amber Rae shares how to identify those voices of worry in your head, and how to instead choose to focus on possibility. Her new book is called Choose Wonder Over Worry.

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The Accidental Creative
One Way To Spark Unique Ideas For Your Project
One Way To Spark Unique Ideas For Your Project

One Way To Spark Unique Ideas For Your Project

You need great ideas consistently in order to do your job. But, where do those ideas come from? You can't just sit there and stare at the problem. Instead, it sometimes help to have a few tools to pull out of your toolbox when you need to be brilliant. On today's show, I share a simple mothod called a "Stimulus Dive" to help you spark new and non-intuitive ideas when you need them most. 

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The Accidental Creative
Five Myths About Creative People
Five Myths About Creative People

Five Myths About Creative People

There are several myths that exist about highly creative people, and they can seriously affect how teams are led, how client interactions happen, and how we collaborate with one another. If you believe any of these five myths, it can create chronic issues on your team. And, if you are perpetuating any of them, it can seriously curb your effectiveness as a creative pro.

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The Accidental Creative
Getting To The Best Idea (with David Moldawer)
Getting To The Best Idea (with David Moldawer)

Getting To The Best Idea (with David Moldawer)

Ideas are often plentiful, but great, concise, well-presented ideas are rare. Sometimes you need another person to help you shape your work into something that can achieve maximum impact. David Moldawer is just such a person. He's an editor, and a writer, and he helps authors simplify and communicate their very complex work in a way that it can be received. On this episode, we talk about how to find your voice as an artist, a common fallacy that prevents us from success, and how to best position yourself for creative success. 

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The Accidental Creative
How To Finish (with Jon Acuff)
How To Finish (with Jon Acuff)

How To Finish (with Jon Acuff)

There's so much discussion about how to get started, how to overcome creative block, and how to find your motivation, but you know what's rarely discussed? That's right - how to finish when things get hard. Today's guest Jon Acuff has written the book on the topic, and he's here today to discuss his creative process, and some core principles for finishing challenging long-arc goals in your life and work. 

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The Accidental Creative
Friend Of A Friend (with David Burkus)
Friend Of A Friend (with David Burkus)

Friend Of A Friend (with David Burkus)

Networking. Just the word can sometimes bring chills to introverts like me. We tend to think of networking as "slapping palms" and "swapping business cards" and the whole thing often feel a little... swarmy. However, today's guest David Burkus is here to tell us how to think differently about networking, and how we can leverage both our strong and weak ties to help us accomplish our professional goals. His new book is called Friend Of A Friend.

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