Transcript // reflection on episode “Special,” for module 3, Your Creative Personality

[Timestamps from Descript]

[00:00:00] Laura: My biggest impression, listening to this episode special, is that with audio editing, you really never stop learning. 

[00:00:07] When I made this episode, It was about three quarters of the way through season one. So I had been doing it for a little while, but I've continued to learn so much more since then, You know, I had learned a fair amount about how to edit audio. . I was editing in logic at that point.

[00:00:22] And so I did delete mistakes and things like that.

[00:00:27] But I didn't know about de script yet, so I didn't have a very easy way to tighten up my audio, those spaces between words and sentences that now I would definitely tighten up. I've kind of developed more of a natural cadence.

[00:00:42] That is a little more, fast paced than what you hear here. 

[00:00:45] But it's interesting listening back. It's almost painfully slow to me. there are times when I can tell that I'm reading off a script. I would like the cadence to be a little faster now.

[00:00:56] I recently learned that in Hindenburg, you can actually take [00:01:00] a section of audio like this, that to my ear sounds slow.

[00:01:04] And you can actually just squeeze that and it'll speed it up just enough so that there isn't quite so much space between words and sentences, but keep it sounding pretty natural. 

[00:01:14] Nate: Another thing we immediately noticed was that there was no more. And there were a number of times when listening to the episode, we thought it would be nice to have some music to enhance the mood or add some more contrast, or just simply add some more texture and variety for the listener. that's something we've done through season two and season three, 

[00:01:37] however, the other observation is the value of creative constraints. This episode special is 15 minutes. It's pure memoir. It's a very focused idea. It was something that Laura had been thinking about for a long time. And so. Poured right out of her.

[00:01:58] We discussed [00:02:00] the script, she recorded it in one day. She knew she only had one day to work on it. And also we weren't spending several hours looking for music and doing sound design. So there is a virtue to having creative constraints and having an extremely focused on.

[00:02:19] Laura: Yeah, I totally agree. And I also think it's worth pointing out that this thing that I did in season one, where I did a hundred episodes, six days a week, in four months, That was really only possible because of some very specific circumstances lining up. One of which was, I had been thinking about a lot of these ideas for years and years and years, but hadn't written about them yet. And this was one of them.

[00:02:45] The Enneagram was something that I'd thought about in my own life a lot. And it was really just ripe to write about, I don't know that I could do those hundred daily episodes. Now, the way that I did then. What you hear in season one, I'd had [00:03:00] more than a decade at that point. What often felt like fallow ground, these ideas taking shape and doing a lot of research, thinking a lot, trying out different ideas. 

[00:03:11] And I think it's important to recognize you have seasons of life where you might be really fruitful creatively and then other seasons where you're just kind of storing up ideas and maybe it's even fallow ground for a little bit, but you need that fallow ground for things to be able to really take root and grow later. 

[00:03:27] So the second thing that I noticed right away in this episode and thinking back on what it was like to make this episode is discomfort. And this is something that you'll hear me talk a lot about, because it's definitely been a theme for me creatively.

[00:03:42] And I think for Nate too, Often in your work, whether it's in writing or ideas, or even working with other people, you will come up against these times where you notice that something is making you uncomfortable. And I think this episode was one of the [00:04:00] times where I really was able to articulate for myself early on.

[00:04:05] That discomfort is not a bad thing that discomfort actually can give you some great clues about yourself, about your creative process, about where ideas need to go. And certainly in this episode that happened for me. 

[00:04:19] Nate: The analogy that occurred to us listening to this episode, that's all about the Enneagram personality test. Is that a good personality test and good creative work can both make us uncomfortable, but they can both prompt us to grow. looking back now, over hundreds of episodes. Our favorite ones are the ones that changed us. 

[00:04:41] Laura: One thing that I touch on in this episode is that personality tests and the Enneagram specifically can really show you the best and worst version of yourself. When I see that healthy version of myself, the clear I can imagine that the more it gives me something that [00:05:00] I can actually aspire to and work toward in my life and in my work and in the way that I interact with others.

[00:05:06] And by the same token, It can also show me the worst version of myself. And so when I am stressed out or I'm struggling, if I know what that unhealthy version of myself looks like. Or even that average version of myself, it kind of helps me to recognize, oh, I maybe need to stop here.

[00:05:27] And think about how I can adjust the situation so that I don't keep barreling down this path of being more stressed out or short with other people, or however that comes out with my particular personality type. the other thing that's done for me, and the more that we've used this in our team, Is when you understand what somebody else's personality type is not just their type, but what they look like in strength and in stress, it can really help you to be a lot more gracious to people when they are struggling and to recognize, oh, this is what [00:06:00] this person looks like when they're really stressed out.

[00:06:02] And when they're really having a hard time, And it might look really different than I look when I'm stressed out and having a hard time, but I can extend that grace to them because I know they are being triggered to move into that more unhealthy version of themselves or even, an average version. 

[00:06:18] Being able to see that best version of people, that healthy version, has helped me as a coach and as a mentor. Once I understand the world that they're moving in, whether that be with the Enneagram or the big five, or, one of these other things, it helps me to have a vision to encourage them toward and to hopefully inspire them to move toward that best version of themselves.

[00:06:42] I think that's something that we all can gift each other with To just be able to hold up that version of each other, that we know is possible not to push people toward that, but try to remind them that that is possible for them

[00:06:56] Nate: another important distinction. To make [00:07:00] here is between creative work and hobbies and both creative work in hobbies, are part of an integrated, healthy life. But a hobby is something that doesn't challenge you. It's something that's merely enjoyable for its own sake.

[00:07:15] Like for me playing the guitar or planting succulents in the garden or doing woodworking they're things where there's not a whole lot riding on the outcome, I'm just doing it because I enjoy it. They don't really make me uncomfortable versus working on the episode a good age and a better age.

[00:07:35] Those were episodes that prompted me to think about the aging process for myself and confront some of the deep, emotional issues that I was going through. The discomfort of creative work is an important part of growing as a human being. And also it's important to have hobbies that simply nurture your spirit and make you happy.

[00:07:57] Laura: And I think it's worth pointing out here [00:08:00] too. Creative work. Doesn't always have to make you uncomfortable, right there going to be plenty of times you do it where it's just fun That's great. That's wonderful.

[00:08:08] And it may be that the work that you decide to do is in fact, something that doesn't push you to discomfort on a regular basis. And I think even just that little fork in the road, It's an important one to consider because some of you going through this course, you're going to come to that conclusion.

[00:08:23] You're going to say, you know, I do not love that feeling of being uncomfortable. don't want my personality to get into this at all. these are all totally valid decisions to make. But if you can know yourself in that, and you can know that you're making that decision. It will help you be a lot more focused in the work that you do. 

[00:08:43] Each of you is going to have to decide for yourself. Whether or not, you're willing to have the work make you feel uncomfortable at times. , coming back to that, why create question that we asked at the very beginning, it may be for you that you need to make decisions about why you create [00:09:00] that are not going to make you uncomfortable. And that's an okay outcome. 

[00:09:03] So the last thing that really struck us as we listened to this episode, was that this episode would not have come about. If I had not been sharing my work with the people in my life. 

[00:09:17] The idea for it got prompted by my brother, because he had heard the work that I was doing. And the Nate sister, Hillary, who ended up being featured in that Enneagram series, she was our Enneagram too. She also engaged in that conversation and you know, it was just a couple of comments on Facebook. That ended up prompting, not just this episode, but a whole series that we did on the Enneagram. It's a good reminder to show your work. 

[00:09:43] Nate: Jumping off of that, each personality type may have specific reasons for not sharing their. But again, that's how we grow. So for example, if you are an Enneagram type one, you'll have a tendency towards perfectionism and a tendency to [00:10:00] not want to share your work until you believe it's perfect. 

[00:10:03] Or to switch to big five terminology. Let's say you're low on the conscientiousness factor. Like I am, you may get sidetracked before you end up sharing your work.

[00:10:15] The takeaway again, from any of these personality tests is helping us be more aware of our strengths and weaknesses, both in relationships and in creative work and helping us act accordingly and intentionally.