AC Podcast: Julien Smith on The Flinch

Why do we hesitate when faced with a challenge? Why do we succumb to procrastination and avoidance rather than doing what we know we should do? Julien Smith calls it The Flinch, and he thinks it’s something we can learn to use to our advantage in our work.

Julien is the author of the new book The Flinch, writes regularly at JulienSmith.com, and in this interview he shares some thoughts about how we can get over ourselves and do our work.

[Get AC podcasts delivered automatically in iTunes or by RSS.]

Todd Henry

Positioning himself as an “arms dealer for the creative revolution”, Todd Henry teaches leaders and organizations how to establish practices that lead to everyday brilliance. He is the author of five books (The Accidental Creative, Die Empty, Louder Than Words, Herding Tigers, The Motivation Code) which have been translated into more than a dozen languages, and he speaks and consults across dozens of industries on creativity, leadership, and passion for work.

Be prolific, brilliant, and healthy.

Accidental Creative helps creative pros do the best work of their lives. Our workshops, tools, and podcasts will help you have better ideas, collaborate seamlessly, and thrive under pressure.

THE PODCAST

Since 2005 we've served up weekly podcast episodes to help you stay prolific, brilliant, and healthy. Follow the show in your favorite app:

5 Comments

christopher battles on January 15, 2012 at 1:40 am

I liked this outlook. Something that came to mind was that we flinch to run from conflict, but really it should not be so. When embraced it resolution can more easily be resolved and growth occurred.
Thank you for this podcast.

K, bye
Log in to Reply
Mike Reeves-McMillan on January 19, 2012 at 9:19 pm

I thought The Flinch had a good concept, but presented it in far more words than it needed. It also didn’t do a good job, for me, of selling a courageous life on its benefits. It was more of a fear-based marketing approach, ironically enough: “Flinching is bad! You don’t want to be a flincher, do you?”

So: good concept, execution could have been improved.
Log in to Reply
Boris on November 18, 2012 at 4:36 pm

Thank you for this podcast.
Log in to Reply
- Todd Henry on November 18, 2012 at 4:56 pm
  
  You’re welcome, Boris.
  Log in to Reply
Diana on November 21, 2012 at 7:59 pm

I was going over the “old” podcast and found this one…very funny…flinch worth to try.
Log in to Reply

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

Justine Musk on Creativity and Finding Your Inner Freak | Accidental Creative - [...] Fear can either be a motivator or an inhibitor of the creative process. If we learn to recognize fear…
Stop Flinching | Steven Stephenson - [...] while back I was listening to the Accidental Creative podcast with Julien Smith as the special guess. Julien had mentioned…