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Daily Creative
Daily Creative
Formerly known as The Accidental Creative, Daily Creative is your source for becoming brave, focused, and brilliant. Being a creative professional should be the greatest job in the world. You get to solve problems, express yourself, bring something new into the world and you get paid to do it. What's not to love, right? Yet every day, creative pros face, tremendous pressure and uncertainty. The temptation is to just play it safe, surrender to distraction and settle for less than your best. Daily Creative is about making sure that's not your story. Each episode focuses on a topic relevant to creative pros, like how to come up with ideas under pressure, how the collaborate when you're overwhelmed, or how to lead your team and help them discover motivation. Host Todd Henry (author of The Accidental Creative, Die Empty, Herding Tigers, and other best-selling books) and featured guests such as Seth Godin, Cal Newport, Kim Scott, and other brilliant authors, practitioners, and experts guide our journey through practical topics to help you be brave, focused, and brilliant in your work and leadership. It's time to fall back in love with your work. Listen to Daily Creative wherever you get your podcasts, or subscribe for free to Daily Creative+ to get bonus episodes, full interviews, and more delivered each week.
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March 18, 2024

The Wisdom Of The Water Tower

The Wisdom Of The Water Tower

Have you ever noticed those water towers, scattered across the horizon, and thought "Hmm... I wonder how those work?" Well, there's actually lot to learn from them about how to manage your life as a creative pro.

In this episode, we explore the idea of managing energy instead of time in our creative process. Our guests, Lisa Congdon , Brian Johnson (author of Areté ), Tony Schwartz (author of Be Excellent At Anything ), and Jeff Karp (author of LIT ), share their insights on the importance of understanding the creative process as a journey with highs and lows. We explore the link between physical and creative energy, emphasizing the significance of managing energy effectively to achieve peak performance in our work.

The episode covers essential strategies for managing energy, including the concept of activation energy, the impact of deep work and intermittent renewal, and the importance of prioritizing tasks based on their energy requirements. It also delves into the power of micro-progress, the negative effects of multitasking, and the value of starting each day with the most important task.

Key learnings:

1. Managing energy is crucial for achieving peak performance in creative work.

2. Prioritizing the most important task at the start of the day can significantly impact productivity.

3. Working in increments and avoiding multitasking can lead to higher quality work.

4. Small victories and low activation energy goals can contribute to overall energy management and motivation.

5. Recognizing the link between physical and creative energy is essential for sustained optimal performance.

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00:00 - Untitled

00:37 - E12 The Wisdom of the Water Tower

03:42 - Act 1

07:15 - ACT 2

16:38 - Act 3

Lisa Congdon Profile Photo

Author, Art Inc.

Brian Johnson Profile Photo

Author, Arete

Tony Schwartz Profile Photo

Author, Be Excellent At Anything

Jeff Karp Profile Photo

Author, LIT