In this episode, I interview some of my fellow participants at this year’s Everything Conference in Minneapolis. We talk about creativity and multipotentiality. Links mentioned in this episode Everything Conference Puttyverse How To Be Everything by Emilie Wapnick World Domination Summit Camp Indie Some of the above are affiliate links and I may earn a small commission. Transcript Welcome to the Creative Shoofly. I'm Thomas Beutel. This podcast is about exploring the creative journey as an artist. And in this episode, I speed-interview some of the people I met at this year's Everything Conference, which was held in Minneapolis. The Everything Conference is a semiannual gathering of multipotentialites, and it's styled as an unconference, where everyone is a participant, and the workshops and experiences are led by the participants themselves. I had an opportunity to lead a workshop based on some of the creative processes I've described on this podcast, mind mapping, role play, and Scrum for One, and I'm happy to say that I got some nice feedback. In addition to participating in other experiences, I met a lot of wonderful people and I made some new friends. It's really cool to be in a group that doesn't blink an eye when you say, I'm interested in this… and this… and this… and this! They totally get it because they have as many interests as I do. Before going to the Everything Conference, I knew that I wanted to interview my fellow multipods, and the idea I came up with was to write a bunch of questions and have them pick one at random. Half of the questions are about creativity, and half about multipotentiality. I ended up writing them on a set of blank Bicycle playing cards. I enjoyed seeing the look on their faces when they picked a card from the deck and realized that it was not a real playing card. I ended up interviewing about a dozen people. And we'll start with my friend, Heather. Heather: Can you tell me what it is? Oh, oh, okay. Thomas: Let's see. So, Heather. What's a piece of advice you would give to a young multipotentialite? Heather: Okay. That's a really good question because I think our society has typically been, quite, like you must choose something you have to specialize and I do think that's shifting. But in the meantime, it's really working on accepting that for yourself. Honoring that you do have all of these interests. And that basically, one, you're really awesome, you're not broken, and it's just sort of, it's, it's just like being a different flavor of human. Thomas: Yeah. Right, right. Heather: Yeah, um, and to explore, like get into your interests, try them out, it's okay to shift because that's what we do. But yeah, just to kind of honor that and try to be firm with others. Like, hey, this is really who I am, and I need your support, especially for a young person. It's just like, I need that support to nourish those interests and, and that identity, so. Thomas: Thank you very much. Thomas: So, Colleen, how do you know when a creative project is finished? Colleen: Oh, that is a hard question, because most creatives I know, they'll, they'll pick at it. And never let it go. I think there's a couple ways to see. One is by sharing your work. Because other people will see the whole better than you will. Another time is just to be comfortable with good enough, it meets your standards, and then let it out in the world. I think when we don't let our work out, it's really, fear that it won't be good enough. Thomas: Right. So that letting go part is, is key. Colleen: I think that is what it is. I mean, we don't, you know, especially people who do, one off work, and you know in my practice, I know that a lot of times I'm terrible at planning. I don't, I'm trying to learn how to sketch my work ahead of time, but really I just see what the materials want to be. And so it's sometimes hard to know when you're done because you didn't know what you were going to do when you start it. I think if you know, it's kind of like, well, in my corporate life project is done because you define done at the beginning. In my creative work, I'm not as good at doing that. Thomas: Great. Thank you very much. You're welcome. Thomas: Let me pull up my cards. All right. Stacey, how do you stay updated and informed in multiple fields? Stacey: Okay, primary way I do is I'm an avid reader. And my tastes are eclectic. So I'll read across anything that interests me. I mainly do nonfiction though. I do read fiction as well. And even a lot of the fiction you can learn or you can learn a lot of things or even spark thoughts if, especially if it's an author like a Michael Crichton, I'm trying to think like Dan Brown. Or those that meticulously or carefully that they really research before they write. So you learn a lot of stuff even from there. Thomas: They really study their craft. Stacey: So whatever the novel or that they're writing, you get a lot of good detail. And that usually has sparked me to look into other things, whether it's… mainly travel. But also trying new things or trying something based on something I read. But like I said, also read nonfiction. I usually read four or five books at once. So that's the primary, but also internet of course. And then coming to things like this, and just interacting with people and just hearing what I call like just different perspectives of what people are into. I'm lucky that, you know, I've either lived in big cities or in this now, like in a college town. So of course you have like a lot of different people with a lot of different ideas that sort of cross pollinate. So that also kind of helps, not just expose me to new things, but also even stuff that I do, interacting with other people that are into the same thing, but may have either a different level of experience or perspective. Thomas: Well, thank you very much. Thomas: All right, Cristy, how do you deal with creative burnout? Cristy: You know, I am really fortunate because I'm a multipod. So when I feel like I have creative burnout in one particular area, like I've been writing too much and it's just getting foggy, I can switch. I can do something verbal like a podcast or a discussion with someone. Or an interview with someone. And somehow I feel that it's returns my energy to me. So I think having a couple of different interests that you juggle is a real benefit because when you, when one of them just gets stale or you're not inspired, you can draw from that well of the other kinds of interests and hobbies. Thomas: Isn't that a wonderful thing about being a multipotentialite? Cristy: I love it the most. I love it the most. And I think also when you have those creative energizing people that you talk with, you can, you can draw from that too. You can be like, eh, I'm a little stuck, you know, like let's talk about whatever. And it'll spur something in you. So it's a real benefit. Thomas: Thank you. Cristy: Yeah, you're welcome. Thanks for asking. Thomas: Alright, Ted. how do you celebrate your multipotentiality? Ted: I celebrate it in my day-to-day life. Basically, based on how I live my life, I choose multi very multipotentiality friendly work and career. And, I don't shy away from it. I really embrace it. And it's, it's been a journey to get to that point, but I'm very happy with, with that. And, you know, a lot of it's the support from the group, for sure, from the Puttyverse and, and more broadly speaking, but people who get it, people who understand that. And, uh, it really helps us, I think, survive and thrive with that kind of mentality. Thomas: It's important to celebrate and it's important also to, to really have a good support group and that understands it. So thank you. Ted: Yeah, it's my pleasure. Thomas: Okay, Lisa, what role does failure play in your creative process? Risa: It's a tough one because I don't see failure in my creative process every time, like I do something and then I just try to make it better the next time. So it's not necessarily a failure. Because it's, again, it's a spontaneous, creative, instantaneous kind of thing that I go for. And so there is really no wrong way to do it. Just jump in and do it. So I've never, it's a tough question cause I feel like it's not, I don't view it as a failure. It's just Thomas: Right. So failure to you is just, it's just an iterative process. You just go and figure it out and do the next thing. That's wonderful. Thank you. Thomas: So Ryan, what's the most rewarding aspect of being a multipotentialite? Ryan: That it's opened my life to meeting people I never would have met if I wasn't a multipotentialite. Thomas: And that's fantastic because it's like, I want to meet these people. Ryan: No matter what size city you live in. And I'm, I'm from, I've spent 44 of my 46 years in Northeast Ohio, Youngstown, Ohio, and Cleveland, Ohio. Also briefly lived in Washington DC and Ann Arbor, Michigan. But when I read Emily's book, How To Be Everything, I thought she was writing my biography. And I immediately joined the then Puttytribe, now Puttyverse. After reading the book and listening to her Ted talk, and I realized, Oh, there's several hundred of these people worldwide. And this is now my second Everything Conference I've come to. And once you meet these people, you realize these would have been my best friends if I'd have met them when I was five years old instead of 40 years old. Thomas: Isn't that so true? I mean, what I love about it is it's just sort of like there's an instant comfort level. Ryan: Yes, absolutely. Fully agree with that. There's a sense of if you were all little kids in the same sandbox, that sandbox becomes a lot bigger. It's not just the six by eight or whatever your dad was able to fit in the backyard. It becomes like a football field size sandbox. And there's a little corner over here where people are doing arts and crafts. There's a corner here where peopl