The Visionist

DeAnna McIntosh

5.0 (2)
SELF-IMPROVEMENT
UPDATED WEEKLY

The most dangerous place for a great idea is in your head. Each season, we dive into prompts, concepts, techniques, and tools designed to spark the kind of thinking that gets it out - and built.

06/08/2025

Until Next Season: An Anti-Idea-Hoarding Manifesto

Today, on the last episode of the season, I'm inviting you to join a movement. A revolution against the dusty shelves in our minds where brilliant ideas go to hide indefinitely. It's time to bring them into the light. Take a few minutes to listen to this episode - close your eyes, take a deep breath, repeat after me, and commit to yourself to stop holding your ideas hostage. The gap between your ideas and bringing them to life is smaller than you think. Start An Idea Chat With Me Dive Deeper on Substack

4 min
06/01/2025

The 3 Things You Should Know About Being A Visionary

For today's episode, I want to share three essential truths about being a visionary that might just transform how you approach your own journey. The gap between your ideas and bringing them to life is smaller than you think. Start An Idea Chat With Me Dive Deeper on Substack

4 min
05/25/2025

Why Are We Allowing Our Life Systems To Fail Us When We Have The Power To Completely Re-Design Them?

Sometimes there's only one way to sum things up - "Life be lifeing" (as grammatically incorrect as it is, it gets the point across immediately right?). Sometimes it feels like we're just going, going, going. And that life doesn't ever give us a break. That this life we live isn't built to prioritize rest. Our current life systems are cracking under pressure, and the evidence is everywhere. But we have the power to redesign these systems! So the real question isn't whether we can change things – it's why we're waiting to do so. When you're ready to start imagining new possibilities for your life and work, use the free Possibility Explorer exercise to help you brainstorm. The gap between your ideas and bringing them to life is smaller than you think. Start An Idea Chat With Me Dive Deeper on Substack

7 min
05/18/2025

This Constant Scale Your Business Marketing Is Toxic

Some of the most successful and fulfilled business owners I know run companies that are deliberately kept small. They're making great money, loving their work, and guess what - they have time to actually enjoy their lives. The pressure to constantly scale is built on a false premise: that bigger always equals better. But what if your "better" looks different? Tune in. The gap between your ideas and bringing them to life is smaller than you think. Start An Idea Chat With Me Dive Deeper on Substack

4 min
05/15/2025

Your Doomscrolling On Social Media Is Keeping You From Meaningful Work

Do you ever catch yourself saying "I don't have time to work on my ideas"...yet you have plenty of time to mindlessly scroll through social media for the third time today? (Yes. I'm calling you out) Those quick hits from TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter are addictively comforting. They feel productive – because you're "staying informed" and "keeping up with trends," right? But here's the uncomfortable truth: every minute spent consuming other people's content is a minute stolen from creating your own legacy. This episode gives you 3 ways to reclaim your creative time so you can spend your time working on things that will help you actualize your vision for your life. The gap between your ideas and bringing them to life is smaller than you think. Start An Idea Chat With Me Dive Deeper on Substack

7 min
04/20/2025

From Make-Believe To Must Achieve: The Essay Dialogue

This episode of The Visionist is an audio deep dive of the entire essay, brought to you by NotebookLM. The From Make-Believe to Must Achieve: How Adulting Killed Our Creativity (And Our Ideas) Essay is a resounding wake-up call making people everywhere question everything – and finally take action on executing the ideas that matter. This essay explores how creativity becomes collateral damage entering adulthood - as the celebration of spontaneous creativity (What if?) is replaced by the demands of productivity and performance (What’s the ROI?) - and how we get it back. You can read and follow along with the text version of the essay at www.thecreativityessay.com. The gap between your ideas and bringing them to life is smaller than you think. Start An Idea Chat With Me Dive Deeper on Substack

20 min
03/16/2025

Is That Stuff Even What You Want?

Our culture has sold us a dangerous lie: Success is a mathematical equation of money + status + possessions = happiness. But the data tells a different story. It's time we design our lives around our values, a new (our own) definition of success, and what impact we want to make. And to be honest - it takes a lot of courage to walk away from societal norms and carve our own paths, but that's a decision you will have to make for yourself. The Personal Success Audit helps you survey your life and create your own definition of success. The gap between your ideas and bringing them to life is smaller than you think. Start An Idea Chat With Me Dive Deeper on Substack

8 min
03/09/2025

Your Ideas Don't Get Implemented Because You're Allergic to Structure

For most of us, creativity isn't the issue. Implementation is.The truth is, most of us are allergic to structure. We see it as the boring part, the creativity-killer, the thing that turns our exciting ideas into monotonous to-do lists. But here's what I know to be a 100% truth: Structure isn't the enemy of creativity – it's actually creativity's best friend. Try the 5-5-5 Method to breakthrough implementation fear. The way I support ideas has evolved since this recording. Start An Idea Chat With Me to move yours forward. The gap between your ideas and bringing them to life is smaller than you think. Start An Idea Chat With Me Dive Deeper on Substack

5 min
03/02/2025

There's A Reason Why We Idea Hoard, But It's Not What You Think.

If we get straight to the heart of it: most of us don't have an ideas problem. We have hundreds of them. Brilliant ones. World-changing ones. The kind that keep us up at night with their potential. What we have is a permission problem. We're waiting for permission. Permission we're never going to get. Permission to be imperfect. Permission to not know everything. Permission to make something that might actually not work. Permission to take up space with our half-formed ideas and messy first attempts. Permission to make something that's not revolutionary – yet. And here's the irony – we're waiting for this permission from ourselves. Here's the truth: The world doesn't need more idea collectors. It needs you – the real you, the messy you, the you that's willing to start before you're ready. Take the first step and do the 10-minute terrible first try. The way I support ideas has evolved since this recording. Start An Idea Chat With Me to move yours forward. The gap between your ideas and bringing them to life is smaller than you think. Start An Idea Chat With Me Dive Deeper on Substack

11 min
02/23/2025

It’s Safe To Say We’re In A Creativity Recession

We're literally in the middle of what I'm calling The Great Adult Creativity Recession, and its impact runs deeper than what you see at the surface level. Here's what's really happening: Society, and the demands of adulting, has convinced us to trade our creative power for predictable productivity. We've replaced "what if?" with "what's the ROI?" We've swapped innovation for imitation. The result? An actual ideas desert where genuine breakthroughs have been replaced by an endless stream of safe, recycled concepts. But the truly devastating part: Those transformational ideas you've been keeping hoarding to yourself? The ones you've dismissed as too bold, too different, too risky? They might hold the exact solutions our world desperately needs right now. We have to execute our ideas. I've written an unflinching analysis of how we landed in this creativity crisis and mapped out a clear path forward. This isn't just another think piece – it's a wake-up call and a practical roadmap for rediscovering your creative potential. Read the full essay here. The gap between your ideas and bringing them to life is smaller than you think. Start An Idea Chat With Me Dive Deeper on Substack

5 min
02/16/2025

Season 1: Welcome To The Visionist

Welcome to Season 1 of The Visionist: A think tank in your ears and in your inbox Each time you read or listen to this newsletter, it should stir up something inside of you to either create your vision for impact, brainstorm ideas about a vision you already have, or execute one of your groundbreaking ideas. Our ideas are what we always have in our arsenal to use to change anything and everything that we envision. The issue is that so many of us sit on our ideas because of many different reasons. There are actually many layers that have gotten us to this state of inaction that I discuss in my essay deep dive. There are three overarching steps in the idea lifecycle: visioning > ideation > implementation. Visioning is the process of creating a clear, magnetizing picture of your desired future state or long-term aspirations. It involves imagining and communicating where you want to go or what you want to achieve.Ideation is the process of generating, developing, and communicating new ideas or solutions (this is creativity in action).Implementation is the execution phase where ideas are transformed into concrete actions and tangible results. Think of the three steps like building a house: Visioning is imagining your dream home, ideation is exploring different architectural designs and features, and implementation is actually constructing the house according to the chosen plans. These steps should help you compartmentalize what step an idea you have is in, and what to focus on to keep it moving on through to execution. The Possibility Explorer exercise is what led me to start The Visionry. Answering the 9 simple, but powerful, questions will help you map new possibilities for your life. Take an hour to do the exercise here! The way I support ideas has evolved since this recording. Start An Idea Chat With Me to move yours forward. The gap between your ideas and bringing them to life is smaller than you think. Start An Idea Chat With Me Dive Deeper on Substack

37 min

11 Episodes

5

out of 5

2 Ratings

The most dangerous place for a great idea is in your head. Each season, we dive into prompts, concepts, techniques, and tools designed to spark the kind of thinking that gets it out - and built.

Creator

DeAnna McIntosh
Years Active

2K
Episodes

11
Rating

Clean
Copyright

© DeAnna McIntosh
Show Website

The Visionist