Stop Hoarding Your Genius: Why Habits Precede Breakthroughs

Todd Henry [00:00:02]:

In 2007, a real estate agent named John Maloof paid $380 for a box of film negatives at a Chicago auction house. He was co writing a local history book about a North side neighborhood and figured the box might contain some old photographs he could use. He really didn't give it much thought. But what he found inside was one of the most extraordinary, undiscovered bodies of work in the history of photography. The negatives had belonged to a woman named Vivian Maher. For nearly five decades, Maier had worked as a nanny on Chicago's North Shore, spending her days off walking the city streets with a Rolleiflex camera around her neck, photographing children, storefronts, strangers, shadows on brick. She left behind more than 100,000 negatives, thousands of rolls of undeveloped film, audio recordings, Super 8 home movies, all of it locked in storage. She had shown essentially none of it to anyone.

Todd Henry [00:00:55]:

When Malou finally pieced together her identity and went looking for her, he only found an obituary. Vivian Mere had died in 2009. She never knew her work had been discovered. She never knew it would be exhibited in galleries around the world or that critics and historians would one day call her one of the greatest street photographers of the 20th century. She essentially took everything with her. Now, here's the thing. The reason this story stays with me has nothing to do with photography, of course, or the craft or the art of it. Mayer had the practice.

Todd Henry [00:01:27]:

She did the thing. She went out and she did the work. She showed up day after day with a camera and an eye that could stop you cold. What she never did, for reasons we may never fully understand, was release it. And I think that most of us have some version of that feeling inside of us. The project that's been almost ready for three years, the idea that you've been refining in your head but haven't let out into the world, the creative side of yourself that you kept tucked away, protected, private, just not quite ready for public consumption yet. In my 2013 book, Die Empty, I wrote a story about how I was impacted by the words of a colleague, quoting the late Miles Monroe when he said, the greatest risk we face isn't failure. It's arriving at the end of our lives, realizing our best work is still inside of us, that we've taken our best work to the grave.

Todd Henry [00:02:16]:

The graveyard is. Is full of unrealized potential. So we may have the genius, but it doesn't matter if we never give the gift. Today's episode is about changing that. My first guest is Tina Roth Eisenberg and she spent two decades building something that we could only call an engine of generosity. A global community of creative people who are choosing together to be brave. And then we're gonna talk with John Gordon, bestselling And then we're gonna talk with New York Times bestselling author John Gordon, whose new book on positive habits will show you that who you become is built one small daily decision at a time. Between these two conversations, I think you're gonna leave this episode with something you can actually do, and then I hope you actually do it.

Todd Henry [00:03:10]:

This is Daily Creative. Since 2005, we've served up weekly tips to help you be brave, focused, and brilliant. My name is Todd Henry. Welcome to the show.

Tina Roth Eisenberg [00:03:24]:

So the origin of Creative Mornings. And for those of you that don't know what Creative Mornings is, you could explain this church for creativity.

Todd Henry [00:03:31]:

That's Tina Roth Eisenberg, entrepreneur and founder of Creative Mornings, as well as numerous other creative projects, including the upcoming release day.

Tina Roth Eisenberg [00:03:40]:

It is gathering 25,000 people every month for free, organized by volunteers in 70 countries and 250 cities every month. So it's a breakfast lecture. Like once a month on a Friday morning, we gather for breakfast and a talk, and it's completely free and volunteer run. It's an engine of generosity. That's the notion of it. But the reason I started it is because I trained as a graphic designer in Europe, in Switzerland. I'm from Switzerland and moved to New York in 1999 to work as a designer, find an internship. And I did, and I started working in New York.

Tina Roth Eisenberg [00:04:17]:

And I was just like, where are my people? We're the kind, curious, entrepreneurial, generous people like me. And what I didn't understand is, why are we all gathering in silos? The photographers were over there and the designers over here and the writers over there. And I have a very idealistic view of the world. And that is that I wanted to. I'm a curious person, and I think creativity is an expression of curiosity. And I was like, why don't we just gather all under the same roof? And eventually, a few years in, after being in New York and just really craving, bringing again the curious, kind people together, I started just gathering them in my coworking space, and I just invited them in. And it's beautiful when you start something and there's real energy coming towards it and you run in open doors. I'm someone who really pays attention to that.

Tina Roth Eisenberg [00:05:09]:

And I could just tell people agencies were inviting us in to come to their spaces. And the next thing you know, it's 18 years in and I'm still running it. And now we're just a global force and a place for the creative community to be brave, get, have a feel, have a place of where your nervous system can relax a little bit, where we can celebrate each other. And I'm really proud of what this global community has. It's a labor of love, a global, a collective labor of love.

Todd Henry [00:05:38]:

I do think that this is something that's so needed. We need to find our people. We need to find people we can process things with. But I guarantee you, you are not the first person who had that idea and yet you are the first that I know of who actually implemented it, who executed it. And you seem to do that over and over again. Like you said, walking through open doors. Why do you think so many people have those questions or notice those patterns, but they don't do anything? And yet why do you feel compelled to act? Why is it that you are consistently acting in those ways? What is it about your wiring that causes you to do that? Do you think?

Tina Roth Eisenberg [00:06:13]:

There's this quote by James Murphy in which he said the best way to complain is to make things. And I grew up in Switzerland where a lot of people could spend a lot of time complaining all the time. And I am just such a. I like to offer solutions and not complain. So my orientation is to if I see something could exist and it would be wonderful to exist and it would work to make the world better, I have a tendency to want to execute on that. And then this is where the Swiss quality comes in. Like I really stick with things. Pete Davis, who gave a beautiful talk at Creative Mornings and wrote a book dedicated, he said something in this talk that really stood out to me.

Tina Roth Eisenberg [00:06:50]:

And as a mother of a 16 and of a 20 year old, I reiterate often to them. And it was this notion where he explained that we have lost the art of committing to something. He calls it we're all stuck in the hallway of life and nobody's committing to a room. We all keeping our options open. And he said in his research he has learned that people who are committing to a cause, a place, community, he calls them the long haul heroes, they're the happiest people. And I feel like I have committed to fostering creativity and loving, kind communities around the world in whatever shape or form, be it as my co working space, be it as creative mornings and hosting dinners, whatever it is. And I think that is just something that I on a soul level have committed to and brings me so much Fulfillment and joy. And I think if anyone who's listening kind of ask themselves, like, what is that thing that I'm committing to in my life? And leans into that, I just feel like I believe that modeling to your children a fulfilling, creative, brave life is everything you can do.

Tina Roth Eisenberg [00:07:59]:

And so I'm dedicated to that.

Todd Henry [00:08:01]:

That leads me to my question about your latest project release date. Because I do think that there are many people who have these ideas. They're in the hallway, as you said, and they're not going into the room. And they know that they should, and they've had this idea or maybe they've even been secretly working on something, but it's just not quite. They don't think it's quite ready or. And it hasn't quite been ready for probably longer than it should have not quite been ready. Tell us about the intent of Release Day and what it's designed to help with for creative pros.

Tina Roth Eisenberg [00:08:32]:

Yeah. So Release Day is a campaign that is very timely right now that we're currently running into Creative Mornings Ecosystem. And it's really a call to all creatives out there. And we're doing this in partnership with an organization called Creative Quest and Adobe. And basically what it is, and this is just so beautiful. We're asking anyone who has a project they've been neglecting, a labor of love, they haven't finished something they haven't started, whatever it is that thing you want to work on, but you need a deadline. We gave you a deadline. So May 29th is the deadline.

Tina Roth Eisenberg [00:09:08]:

We're giving anyone who has a creative project to push over the finish line, and they want to be brave and share with the world. We have a month long of programming, of cohorts and virtual workshops in our Creative Mornings ecosystem. So if you go to creativemortings.com releaseday you can find all the information and you can pledge. So it's a collective call to lean into your creativity, lean into that project that wants to come out, and then collectively and bravely share it with the world. And anyone who's ever been to a Creative Mornings event knows that there's a real ethos of generosity and kindness and celebration of each other in our universe. And I feel there's a real withholding of creativity in the current time we're in because there's just so much negativity and canceling and sarcasm happening. And this is really a safe space we're creating where we want to celebrate each other. And anyone who is brave enough to put something out there, we want to Lift up.

Tina Roth Eisenberg [00:10:09]:

So on May 29, we're all going to upload our project, whatever it is, on our site. And I really do hope that we're with this month long campaign, create and start something where we, that we're going to be doing regularly. And this was, and I want to give credit to where credit is due. This idea of release day was the brainchild of Sam Furness, who's England based and who I saw doing this last year in a very scrappy way. And I loved it so much that we are so excited to bring this to a global stage this year.

Todd Henry [00:10:41]:

You mentioned the snark and the cynicism and some of the worst side of humanity that's been unleashed probably by easy access to anonymous critique and the ability for people to say things that express the darker side of themselves that maybe they wouldn't have said if there was any sense of shame or if there was any kind of personality relationship involved. I do think to your point, I think our willingness to be brave and to step into those spaces and to release things and to put them out into the world for public consumption and just say, I don't really care what you think of my work. This is the work I want to put into the world. It almost overwhelms that cynicism. I think the more we can, because what that cynicism wants is for us to shrink back from releasing. It wants us to shrink back from expression. But the moment that we all say, hey, I don't care what you say, what you want, it doesn't matter. Because cynicism and critique is not creative, it's destructive.

Todd Henry [00:11:38]:

It's the antithesis of creativity.

Tina Roth Eisenberg [00:11:40]:

And I have to say, anytime I was brave and put something out there in the world, it has paid back manifold. I always say to my children, by putting yourself, for example. My daughter is a poet, she's 20 and I for months worked on her and said, please put your poems online. Share them with the world, share your work. And eventually I convinced her to do it. And I said, and she says, why? I said, because you increase the surface of luck to find you. I feel like so many things that I have put out in the world bravely have then come back to me with opportunities and meeting new people and doors opening. And so I really hope that we can.

Tina Roth Eisenberg [00:12:25]:

I feel like Creative Mornings is very much a new world to model. This place, this model, a space of bravery and also a space to remind ourselves that when the time we're in, I always feel like reconnecting with your own creativity. And that inner spark and just leaning into action can really soothe anxiety. I know. Just so many of us feel anxious right now.

Todd Henry [00:12:51]:

Yes, that is a hundred percent true. I love that phrase you just used. You're increasing the surface area of discoverability. I'd never heard that before, but it's so true. I think so many people think if I just make something great, everybody will find me. I just need to sit tight and wait for people to discover me. And that is 100% not true. In fact, there are all kinds of people probably putting out, and I won't use the word inferior in a negative way, but like putting out work that is maybe not as excellent or creative or whatever as someone else, but because they're out there putting it into the world and they're pursuing, it's going to get discovered and they're going to get opportunities.

Todd Henry [00:13:30]:

I. I love that phrase. There are many people who, I think, fear that they won't be as good as they hope they are. And one of the reasons they don't put the work out is because they're afraid maybe they'll discover that it's not as good or they won't have the kind of success that they wish they would. What would be your word of advice to people who maybe feel that way?

Tina Roth Eisenberg [00:13:54]:

Oh, I totally understand that. But to. For me, it's not about perfectionism or how good you are. It is more the joy you feel in being in tune with your creativity and creating something that comes out of you. I think if you just shift your focus not on the output and then on the response, but on the actual process as you're doing it. And I'm really leaning into that, just to give you an example. I'm not overthinking it. I am just drawing again.

Tina Roth Eisenberg [00:14:23]:

Every day. I used to go. I went to art school. Drawing came naturally to me. I had a sketchbook with me all the time. And then I got busy and I had children and I built companies and I lost that sight of me and just leaning into just a very small task of every day sitting down and drawing. And I can see it coming back, and I can. And I totally feel all those feelings like I'm not good at it anymore.

Tina Roth Eisenberg [00:14:46]:

What should I draw? I don't know. And I'm overthinking it, but it needs to be perfect. And I feel like it's like peeling it on me. And I'm taking one layer after another off. And it's really. It's very much. I think the work starts with us and taking the pressure off us. And I think in a community like Creative Mornings, where there's so much enthusiasm coming at anyone who's willing to share what they're working on, that is really helpful because I think when you put something out there, let's say on Instagram, and nobody's responding and the algorithm doesn't show it, and it's just really.

Tina Roth Eisenberg [00:15:17]:

It's really frustrating. That's why we're doing this as a collective. And on. On our site creativemornings.com releaseday on May 29, and you can even see now already people are uploading already things they're working on, and it's just really exhilarating to cheer people on. We click through, we applaud them. And I think this sort of collective celebration of each other's creativity is really something that I want to model and I think we all need.

Todd Henry [00:15:46]:

What I love the most about what Tina Roth Eisenberg is building is the architecture of it. Creative Mornings, Release Day, the whole ecosystem. It's a counterculture of release, a global infrastructure for creative courage. And the elegant mechanism at the center of it is so simple. It's a deadline, a community, a celebration. You don't need to be ready, you just need to decide to go. But here's the question. What do you do after Release Day? What happens when the collective energy quiets, when the deadline passes and you're back in the room alone with your work and your resistance? How do you build the kind of life where showing up isn't just a special occasion, it's just what you do? That's where John Gordon comes in.

Todd Henry [00:16:27]:

John's work is all about the daily practices that determine who you become. And one of his most important insights, one that I think Tina would agree with, is that creativity isn't something that you have on good days. It's something you build through consistent practice by creating the conditions where it can show up. The habit before the habit, the walk in the morning, the quiet before the noise starts, the small act of self encouragement that determines whether you enter the day with belief or with doubt. These aren't accessories to creative life. They are creative life. So Tina talks about releasing as a habit, as a discipline. John is going to help us build daily practices that keep us coming back to him.

Todd Henry [00:17:09]:

We'll be back with our conversation with John Gordon after this. Stick around.

Tina Roth Eisenberg [00:17:30]:

Foreign.

Jon Gordon [00:17:38]:

Positive habits uplift you, they encourage you, and bad habits will break you. It's as simple as that.

Todd Henry [00:17:44]:

That's John Gordon, New York Times bestselling author of the Power of positive habits.

Jon Gordon [00:17:49]:

So what are the positive habits that create positive results in your life? Leadership is so often a transfer of belief. You talk about leadership. I do often as well. I look at it through the lens of positive leadership. And I honestly shouldn't have to even use the term positive. It's like organic. Why can't we just call it food? Why do we have to use the term organic? But we call it organic because we've polluted our food supply with all these chemicals that are not good for us. It's the same thing with leadership.

Jon Gordon [00:18:18]:

We have polluted it with bad leadership. So to me, positive leadership is actually the pure, intended nature of what leadership is supposed to be. It's everything it should be to bring out the best in yourself and others. And then the habits part is, what are you doing day in and day out to create the results that you want? Because thinking actually is a habit. I actually am naturally negative, which is so interesting that this is my life's work. So I have to work on my positivity often to be a more positive person. And as I've done it over the years and done these habits that have elevated my thoughts, my mind, it has literally changed the direction of my life. Like a thank you walk.

Jon Gordon [00:19:00]:

Years ago, when my wife threatened to leave me because I was so negative, I wanted to stay married. So I began researching ways I could be more positive. And I found this research that showed you can't be stressed and thankful at the same time. So I said, okay, how can I apply this? I'm going to take a walk every day and practice gratitude. And that one habit literally changed the course of my life. That one habit has rewired my brain from negative to positive. Doing it now for 25 years of thank you walks, that has changed me.

Todd Henry [00:19:31]:

I think. So many leaders are focused on the big things that they do. They think that change happens because we have big initiatives, big efforts. But to your point, I think so much of our leadership arc is defined by what we choose to do every single day or what we choose to do consistently. And it's typically, it's very often small things that we consistently do well that lead to effectiveness. So for leaders listening, what are a couple of your favorite recommended habits that you think leaders should consider adopting?

Jon Gordon [00:20:04]:

First, I want to say that creativity is also a habit, as the more you create space to be creative, you'll actually be more creative. If you're always busy and you're not taking the time to think and reflect and you're not taking moments of solitude or walks or even in your showers if you're too busy overthinking. You're not gonna allow the space for creativity to happen. So being creative is actually a habit. You become your habits, your habits become your life. And so for leaders. I'm glad you asked that question. One thing for a leader is actually first and foremost to feed yourself.

Jon Gordon [00:20:39]:

If you don't have it, you can share it. So one of my favorite habits in the book is to be your own greatest encourager. Because as leaders, we still struggle with doubts and fears and decisions and wondering if we made the right decision. But when you become your own greatest encourager and you encourage yourself through the challenges and the adversity and you don't beat yourself up, so many leaders do, you actually will overcome the failure, the negativity, and the defeat along the way to rise above, to overcome. That's what great leaders do throughout history. So you see that. So I really love the idea of being your own greatest encourager. Now I always say encourage others, be a great encourager to others.

Jon Gordon [00:21:18]:

But you must become your own greatest encourager. Another tip is to catch people doing things right. You talked about the simple habits. That's from Ken Blanchard. He taught us that years ago in the one minute manager. And he's my mentor. And he's 80, just turned 87. I put that in the books.

Jon Gordon [00:21:35]:

I wanted to honor him. But that's such a great habit because when you catch people doing things right, they will do it right more often. So often we think it's a job of a leader to say what you're doing wrong and to correct. And yes, you have to correct. But spend more time focusing on what people are doing right and you'll help your team rise. Now, I also have a habit in there. Make sure you connect before you correct. Correcting is important, but make it a habit to connect with the people you lead first and foremost.

Jon Gordon [00:22:02]:

Build that relationship, create that connection. When you do and they know that you are for them and with them and see them, they will be more open to what you have to say to correct them and make them better. So that's another key habit. But from a leadership standpoint also, it's essential that you're taking that walk in the morning or exercising a morning sunlight. And mastering your morning is key. That's another habit I have so many. Right. But mastering your morning and not allowing the morning to create you, but you to create your morning and set yourself up for success.

Jon Gordon [00:22:36]:

And the one habit that every leader could use and every person could Use is actually. It's the number one habit. It's actually the first habit in the book. And it's the habit before the habit. And I had this thought that, okay, when you have a habit and you want to make it work and become a part of your life, a lot of times there's resistance in the beginning of doing this. So how can we make sure that we get rid of the friction? It's the habit before the habit, which means you're going to go work out in the morning, all right? Put your clothes out and your sneakers out the night before. So when you get up, you see them, and you're more likely to take that walk. You want to read a book at night, you say, you know what? I got to read more.

Jon Gordon [00:23:13]:

Great. Put the book on your bed. So when you go to your bedroom and you see that book, you're going to lay there and read before you go to bed. That's more likely. It makes you more likely to do that habit. You want to be kinder to your wife. All right? Then plan out what you're going to do that night or the next morning before you actually embark on the day and get crazy with the day. So it's just being intentional in creating a habit before the habit.

Todd Henry [00:23:37]:

I love that principle. It's something so overlooked. And I think we make our habits too big, right? We make them something that seems insurmountable. But that reminds me of. I think it was Twyla Tharp in her book the Creative Habit. She talked about how she would. Every day, every morning, she would get up and she would go and she would do this workout at her dance studio. She would get out of bed, she would put her clothes on, she would get down, she would hail the cab, she would get in the cab, go to the studio, and she would do her workout.

Todd Henry [00:24:03]:

And she said, but the habit wasn't doing the workout. The habit was hailing the cab. Because once I hailed the cab, I knew I had no choice. I'm going to the studio to work out. And I thought that was such a great way to think about it. Similar to what you're saying, the habit before the habit. Sometimes we fail to engage in these habits because we made them too big. But if we broke them down and said, okay, what do I need to do to get me to the place where I'm doing that habit? Then it would completely change our calculus.

Todd Henry [00:24:30]:

It would make it a lower barrier.

Jon Gordon [00:24:31]:

Yeah, Todd. My whole philosophy over the years, my whole approach, and I never realized this was my approach. I Just thought it was normal because that's the way I saw things, is I always took complex things and made them very simple. All of my work is about principles and practices. Principles inform, but practices transform. Habits are where we see the transformation. So taking those complex things and what can we actually do to apply it so that leader could see results and make an impact. And as you said, there's a lot of consultants out there, there's a lot of leaders that talk about these big ideas, these big projects, and nothing gets done because we don't make it simple.

Jon Gordon [00:25:13]:

So my thing is remove the clutter, focus on what matters most. Every day you wake up, what matters most. What am I going to work on today? What am I going to zoom? Focus on? Do those things and over time you will see results. Most change initiatives fail because one, the ideas are too big. And also there's actually no connection, no relationships amongst the leaders driving the change and the people implementing the change. So again, we've got to have connection that allows the habits to be implemented. So it's connection which is also a habit and it's actually doing things as a team and focusing on what matters most, that's a habit. There's a bunch of habits in there that will allow a leader in their team to become more productive and also bring more creativity to what they do.

Todd Henry [00:25:59]:

So one of the concerning patterns that I'm seeing, and I'd be curious to know if you're seeing this as well, is a lot of leaders don't know what's actually on their mind. They don't know what they think because they don't spend any time alone with their thoughts. They are reacting and it's so much easier. I don't know how long you've been doing this work. I've been in this work for three, almost three decades now. Two, two and a half decades I've been doing this work. But I've been in the workplace for over three decades. Yeah.

Todd Henry [00:26:24]:

And that has only accelerated. It's getting harder and harder to know what's on your mind because there's so much more being thrown at us. What are some habits that you would recommend for us to get in touch with our intuition, to get in touch with what's actually on our mind, to sort through our own thoughts so that we can more meaningfully respond to what's going on in our lives and in our workplace.

Jon Gordon [00:26:46]:

One of the habits is to find stillness and to make these moments of silence and stillness in your life a priority and to just sit there and be Quiet in solitude and spend time in nature and slow down to enjoy the ride that is essential for us and this busyness of life and the craziness of this world just to take time to spend with yourself. You probably don't even know yourself, and you don't know what you truly want. And it's asking yourself these questions, what is my purpose? Why am I here? Why does this matter? One of the habits in the book is to write down your purpose statement and to read it every single day in the morning. What matters most and what is your purpose? What are you here to do that is essential? Prayer is also a habit I put in the book because research is clear on this. People who pray increase immune system, enhance longevity, health, better friends, more friends. All of that is helpful from prayer. And I'm convinced that prayer also enhances your creativity and your capacity. And meditation is a very great exercise as well to do for that.

Jon Gordon [00:27:56]:

And then I have this one habit that you're going to love. It's what you just said. The habit is to think intentionally. So that is one of the habits. And I put that in there because I was spending time with John Maxwell. He and I have done some talks together recently. And I realized that his superpower as he spends a lot of time thinking intentionally about things, about everything, about life, about ideas. We talked about devotion, driving, discipline, which is my concept and my idea.

Jon Gordon [00:28:26]:

And he literally was thinking about it nonstop about how that works and what's the difference and looking at it from every angle. And I thought, wow, he is a intentional thinker. And I'm thinking intentionally about that. Instead of reacting to life, I'm being proactive in how I want to handle things. And I got to say, I learned that from John to be much more intentional with my thinking.

Todd Henry [00:28:50]:

John Gordon's book, the Power of Positive Habits, is available now wherever books are sold. I want to go back to the story with which we opened this episode about Vivian Mair. And. And I keep thinking about not the tragedy that her work wasn't seen by others during her lifetime. It's the mystery of it. She had the practice. She had the habit. Every day she walked out the door with her camera and she made something true and lasting.

Todd Henry [00:29:15]:

She was by every measure doing the work. She just never put it out for others to experience. And I think maybe what Tina Roth Eisenberg, our first guest, would say is the surface area of luxury shrinks to zero when the work stays in the drawer. Every time you release something, whether it's imperfect, unfinished, just good enough you increase the chance that the world finds you, that the right person sees it. And what John Gordon, our final guest, would say is maybe the courage to release isn't something you summon once in a heroic moment. It's built through daily practice, the habit of self encouragement, of intentional thinking, of choice, showing up when the pressure and the resistance is loud and the audience is uncertain. You talk to yourself before you listen to yourself together. I think they were saying the same thing from two different directions.

Todd Henry [00:30:05]:

The life you want to live as a creative person is not waiting for you on the other side of some threshold you haven't crossed yet. It's constructed one daily decision at a time in the choices you make about what to build and what to release. So here's the challenge for this week. Think about your storage locker. Think about the work that you're carrying that the world hasn't seen. Not because it needs to be perfect, not because the audience is guaranteed, but because, and I mean this quite literally, the graveyard doesn't need any more unrealized potential. Hey, thanks so much for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, you can listen to our full interviews@dailycreativeplus.com just go there, enter your name and email address, and we'll send you a private feed where you can listen to every interview in its entirety absolutely free.

Todd Henry [00:30:55]:

My name is Todd Henry. You can find my books and my work and my speaking events@toddhenry.com until next time. May you be brave, focused and brilliant. We'll see.