The Syncreate Podcast: Empowering Creativity
Welcome to Syncreate, where we explore the intersections between creativity, psychology, and spirituality. Our goal is to demystify the creative process and expand the boundaries of what it means to be creative.
Creativity. It’s a word we throw around all the time, but what does it really mean? On the Syncreate Podcast, we share stories of the creative journey. We talk to changemakers, visionaries and everyday creatives working in a wide array of fields and disciplines. Our goal is to explore creativity in all its facets, and to gain a better understanding of the creative process – from imagination to innovation and everything in between.
The Syncreate Podcast is hosted by Melinda Rothouse, PhD. She helps individuals and organizations bring their creative dreams and visions to life through coaching, consulting, workshops, retreats, and now, this podcast. She's written two books on creativity, including Syncreate: A Guide to Navigating the Creative Process for Individuals, Teams, and Communities (winner of a Silver Nautilus Award for Creativity and Innovation), with Charlotte Gullick. She's also a musician (singer-songwriter and bass player) and photographer based in Austin, Texas.
The Syncreate Podcast: Empowering Creativity
Episode 41: Creative Spark Series - Creative Practice, Process & Product with Melinda Rothouse & Charlotte Gullick
In this installment of our Creative Spark series of bite-size, mini-episodes, Melinda & Charlotte explore the distinctions between our creative practice, process, and products, and how this can help us in bringing our creative work into the world. When working with clients, we find it helpful to look at our creative work through each of these lenses. Our creative practice includes our workspace, the time we put into our creative work, and our habits and routines around it. Our creative process is how we go about bringing our ideas into concrete form, and our creative products are our creations themselves. Once we understand these distinctions, we can approach them with intention and empowerment. This episode, like the mini-episodes that preceded it, includes insights and prompts from our book, Syncreate: A Guide to Navigating the Creative Process for Individuals, Teams, and Communities.
For our Creativity Pro-Tip, we encourage you to examine your relationship to your own creative practice, process, and products, and to keep a reflective journal to better understand your own creative life.
Credits: The Syncreate podcast is created and hosted by Melinda Rothouse, and produced at Record ATX studios with in collaboration Michael Osborne and 14th Street Studios in Austin, Texas. Syncreate logo design by Dreux Carpenter.
If you enjoy this episode and want to learn more about the creative process, you might also like our conversations in Episode 20: The Syncreate Model of Play, Plan & Produce, Episode 29: Iteration, and Episode 35: Navigating the Creative Wilderness.
At Syncreate, we're here to support your creative endeavors, so if you have an idea for a project or a new venture, please reach out to us for 1x1 coaching or join our Syncreate 2024 Coaching Group, starting in July. You can find more information on our website, syncreate.org, where you can also find all of our podcast episodes. Find and connect with us on social media and YouTube under Syncreate, and we’re now on Patreon as well. If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and leave us a review!
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Melinda: Welcome to Syncreate, a show where we explore the intersections between creativity, psychology and spirituality. We believe everyone has the capacity to create. Our goal is to demystify the process and expand the boundaries of what it means to be creative. I'm Melinda Rothouse and I help individuals and organizations bring their dreams and visions to life.
Charlotte: And I'm Charlotte Gulick. I'm a writer, educator, and writing coach. We're the coauthors of a book on the creative process, also called, Syncreate.
Melinda: At Syncreate, we're here to support your creative endeavors. So if you have an idea for a project or new venture, please reach out to us for 1x1 coaching or join our Syncreate 2024 six-month coaching group starting in July. This virtual, six-month coaching group will guide you through the journey of creativity in order to move from start to finish on a creative project.
Charlotte: Join us for accountability, community, and fun! We're offering a 10% discount on the coaching series if you mention this podcast. You can find more information on our website syncreate.org where you can also find all of our podcast episodes.
Melinda: All right. We're back, and today we're going to be talking about the three P's. And these are: creative practice, creative process and creative product. So, these are slightly different from, but related to, the three P's we talk about in our book: play, plan, and produce. So, these three are kind of things that I came up with in working with clients that whenever I start working with a new creative client, I kind of frame things in terms of these.
So, what is your creative practice? Which is, you know, really, what is your space? What is your time that you're dedicating to your work? You know, what is the actual sit-down time on your instrument, in the studio, whatever that is? How many times a week? How many hours a week? Is there anything you need to do to make your space feel more conducive to your work?
Like I notice your flowers in the background there, which are very lovely. You know? Little things we can do to uplift our, our workspace to make it feel inviting. You know, some people light a candle, you know, in honor of the creative spirit, whatever that might be to you. Or even, yeah, just little rituals that you can do to get you into that creative mindset. So that's the first one: creative practice.
And then there's creative process. So, this is the actual doing of the work. So, once we get into our space, once we've blocked off the time, then, you know, we get in there and we're working on whatever it is, whatever medium that we're working in. And this is kind of where we talk in the book about kind of the, the drafting, the iteration phase, the composition phase. We, you know, where we're, you know… what is our process for getting things done? And it can be helpful to actually map out our process so that we understand the conditions under which we work best. Right? And so even if time is limited and we can only work in small chunks, we know how to get there and get into our groove more consistently.
And then the product is, you know, what we're aiming toward, what we end up with. It's the thing that we actually bring out into the world. And there can be different versions of this, you know, we might get to, you know, a working draft of something or, you know, a painting. And it's not quite finished yet, but we've kind of come to a place where we can see it coming to life or, you know, a musical work, whatever it might be. You know, and that's where we kind of, you know, start to get feedback from others, refine it, and then ultimately bring it out in the world. But it's, um, why is this important Charlotte?
Charlotte: Well, I think it kind of, if we back off just one minute and, like, what is the goal of Syncreate? Syncreate is to empower people in their creativity. And so, the subtleties and the nuances of what you're talking about, they go against kind of the, the myth of what it means to be creative. Like, [in silly voice] ‘I'm an inspired genius, and I found my painting and I do it and I'm crappy to my family at the same time.’
Melinda: [Laughter] Right? And it's all one thing, right?
Charlotte: One thing like, yeah. Montage, I'm done. And I think what you're asking people to consider, is that there is nuance and there is differentiation between these three elements of the creative process. And the more we think about the, you know, our process, our practice, and our product, we're actually gaining self-awareness,
Melinda: Mmm Hmm.
Charlotte: to, so that we can be more empowered. And if we don't, then the creative process kind of remains elusive. And almost for me, like that becomes depressing. Like I can't obtain it because I'm not an inspired genius.
Melinda: Mmm Hmm.
Charlotte: But with what you're suggesting here, and I think what the Syncreate mission is, is to, let's pay attention to what works for us, what -
Melinda: Yes.
Charlotte: Where do I work well?
Melinda: Yes.
Charlotte: When do I work well?
Melinda: Yes.
Charlotte: Am I clear on what I'm trying to do? And not that you need to have definitive answers in every moment, but knowing that there's some wiggle room and some flexibility in how we approach things allows us to have more traction within ourselves, and more traction with our creative expression.
Melinda: Yeah. Yeah. Beautiful. So, what's our pro-tip for today?
Charlotte: Our Pro-Tip for today is to learn which phase of the creative process you are in. And we encourage you to keep a reflective journal. So, at the end of your day, or your week, or your month, you take up a little bit of time and block it out and consistently check-in with yourself about: What worked well here? How could I improve? What felt good in my body when I was doing it? How can I increase my positive feeling around doing this?
And I think this also ties back into our creative community when we might have the opportunity to share with someone, like, “Oh, I'm keeping a reflective journal, and I'm realizing this about my process,” that the, the pro-tip of paying attention to how it is that you pay attention to yourself can be incredibly empowering.
Melinda: Yeah, yeah, for sure. And just knowing, you know, what am I doing at any given time? And, you know, just yeah, getting to know yourself and your creative process in that way.
Charlotte: And I think with like, compassion and curiosity…
Melinda: Mmm Hmm.
Charlotte: And not like, ‘Oh, I need to know what I'm doing at every moment, minute. Every minute.
Melinda: [Laughter]
Charlotte: But like, there's this, there's a, like, it's almost like, how we would tend a garden.
Melinda: Mmm Hmm.
Charlotte: You know, but let's tend our own creative process and pay attention to what it is that works well for us. And then we actually can be more joyful in our process, and in the rest of our lives.
Melinda: Yeah. Beautiful.
Charlotte: Find and connect with us on YouTube and social media under Syncreate, and we're now on Patreon as well. If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and leave us a review.
Melinda: And we're recording today at Record ATX Studios in Austin, Texas, with Charlotte joining us from the Hudson Valley. And the podcast is produced in collaboration with Mike Osborne at 14th Street Studios. Thanks so much for being with us. And see you next time.
