Design Speaks Episode 134  – Chapter 6: Choosing Motivation

BrandiSea: [00:00:00] Welcome to Design Speaks, the podcast that helps you discover uncommon inspiration so you can make more meaningful work. I’m Brandi Sea my cohost is Julie Haider. Today, we’re going to be talking about motivation and how you can actually choose to be motivated. Stay tuned for that coming up later in the show.

So Julie, do you consider yourself a very motivated person? I would say I feel like I’m pretty motivated. 

Julie: [00:00:38] Yeah. I dunno if I would say very motived, but I do think I am a fairly motivated person.

BrandiSea: [00:00:44] You’re, like, medium. 

Julie: [00:00:46] Yeah. Depends on the day, the week, the month. 

BrandiSea: [00:00:49] You’re like venti–venti, motivated. Is that, 

like, the medium size at Starbucks?

Julie: [00:00:54] Yeah. No. venti is the big one, right? 

BrandiSea: [00:00:57] Grande?

Julie: [00:00:58] Correct. Yes. Tall, grande, venti. 

BrandiSea: [00:01:01] Yes, sure. Okay. You’re, whatever the medium one is. That’s still pretty good. Yeah, so I think that–that motivation can be chosen, not just felt, so we’re going to talk about that today. 

Julie: [00:01:15] Oh, you sound  motivated.

BrandiSea: [00:01:17] Prepared. Is prepared the same as motivated?

Julie: [00:01:22] Hmm. I think they have some tie-ins for sure. 

BrandiSea: [00:01:24] Okay. Well, we’ll talk about that a little bit. I’m just going to tell you about my inspiration this week. Actually, it’s been my inspiration for some months, and I don’t–I don’t know why. So we have an Apple TV. We have–I don’t know what version of it is. I think it’s a newish one. But when you–when you stop using the Apple TV for a while, it turns the TV into a screensaver and they have all these really beautiful, like, drone videos in slow motion and this–this one always–I could just, like, sit there and watch it forever. 

Some of them I’m like, eh, you know, it’s just a screensaver. May as well be the little bouncing box on the old Microsoft’s like, I don’t care. It’s just up there. But there’s this one and it’s of the Santa Monica pier and the Santa Monica beach in California.

And the way I want–I’ll have to post a picture of it. But the way that it looks is, like, it looks like a piece of moving, abstract art. It’s got on the–on like–if you split it into thirds, sort of, there’s, like, a thick third on the left that has, like, the beach with–you could see like people, and beach umbrellas, and towels and stuff from, like, a flat lay.

It’s almost, like, a flat lay and Instagram. And then there’s, like, this thin strip where it’s, like, the waves. And then the other piece is, like, the ocean. So it’s, like, this really beautiful teal color. So it’s, like, brown and white and teal, and it moves, and it sort of has, like, this really interesting texture.

And I keep thinking, like, I need to paint that. 

Julie: [00:02:59] Ooh. Yeah. 

BrandiSea: [00:03:00] And because I paint–when I paint, I paint abstract stuff anyways and it tends to be blocks of color. And so I’ve been wanting, for probably six months, cause I just–I just sit there and I’m mesmerized by it. But what I’m trying to figure out is, like, what to use that painting for and why. Why it’s inspiring to me.

And I think it’s just more–honestly, I’m not sure that it would be as interesting to me if it was static. Like, if it didn’t move. So I don’t know if, like, a paintings really gonna capture, like, the feeling.

Julie: [00:03:32] Interesting.  

Somehow you need to, like, get that feeling of movement into the painting. 

BrandiSea: [00:03:37] Look at you. Yes. I’m writing that down.

And also, I love the little red and white beach  umbrellas that, like, pop up as it goes along. So I’m trying to figure that out. It’s going to happen. 

Julie: [00:03:51] I can’t wait to see it. 

BrandiSea: [00:03:52] So that’s–that’s what’s been motivating me to be making something, I guess, and be inspired. 

So, today we’re going to be talking about what I like to call the motivation myth. Bum, bum, bum.

So I–I kind of want to start, like, a little bit lighter before we get, like, into the really heavy meat of this. I was–I have this thing that I’ve been using for some time now that I got it online at Best Self Co. And it’s this–it’s called  an Edison Deck, and it’s like this little block of basically writing prompt cards. And how that works is, it gives you, sort of, a prompt and you have to set a timer for yourself.

I set a timer, usually 10 or 15 minutes, and you just write. It’s sort of like, do you remember free writing and in high school or college where the teacher’s like, “Here you go. I’m going to give you a topic. Don’t let your pen lift up. Just keep writing no matter what”. And so, that’s sort of the idea. 

It doesn’t matter if you–if you write nonsense or whatever, they just give you, like, a prompt. So the prompt for this particular day was things that motivate you. And I was like, “Oh, that’s interesting”. Because, for a long time now, which we’ll talk about some more in a little bit, I’ve basically felt like I choose to be motivated. Like, I choose my motivation. But in doing this exercise, I kind of realized what things I do to also help that choice, kind of, be a little easier. 

What are some things for you, before I talk about my stuff, that you feel are, like, motivating for you? 

Julie: [00:05:27] Yeah. Um, I think to go, like, kind of a little deeper first. Um, is in, like, learning a little bit more about myself. Recently, I’ve realized that a feeling of being overwhelmed, like, too much stuff from too many directions coming in at once, makes me feel unmotivated because I feel overwhelmed. And my response is to just, like, back off from everything and not want to get anything done. 

BrandiSea: [00:05:54] Whic is very “9” of you, by the way. 

Julie: [00:05:57] Yeah. Knowing my Enneagram type, um, definitely, like, helped me get to knowing that. Um, so the opposite. Um. I think having, like, feeling refreshed and not feeling pressure.

Um, like, the other day, I had, like, a full day. All of these, like, my to do list was just so, so long. And then, um, I was going to have dinner with my mother in law and sister in law and I don’t usually take work with me. It’s, like, time for us to hang out. Um, but I took my laptop. And we were just, like, watching TV and so I had a little bit of time to do it and I got so much done because I didn’t feel the pressure of like, okay, it’s work time.

I need to work. This was like freebie, extra work time. 

BrandiSea: [00:06:43] It felt like it was, like, fun work. 

Julie: [00:06:44] Yeah. Like, so many things marked off my to do list that had been on there for so long that I kept, like, pushing back cause I didn’t have time or whatever. And I was, like, Whoa. And really, I think it was just, like, the mental shift of not having the pressure on me anymore, which is kinda crazy.

BrandiSea: [00:07:01] Um, that’s interesting. 

Julie: [00:07:02] Yeah. So, and then also I think just feeling like refreshed of like going outside, changing my scenery. Um, doing something where, like, that mental, um, pressure isn’t on me. That kind of, like, breaks that cycle of overwhelm and just, I dunno, it just makes things a little easier. And, um, yeah. So I don’t know if that answers the question.

BrandiSea: [00:07:24] No, it does. 

I think that you do a really–I think that you do a really good job of being really self-aware. The past few times that we’ve recorded and we, kind of– we, kind of, chat a little bit before we start recording and you’ve–you’ve often said, you know, “Well, I took a break from X, Y, or Z because I was feeling overwhelmed”.

And that’s–that’s really good to know that–that that’s something that you need in order to stay motivated. Because a lot of people don’t even realize that they aren’t motivated because they’re overwhelmed and then they need to take a break. They just stop doing things. 

They let themselves–

Julie: [00:07:58] I mean, that was me for a very long time until I recently realized that.

BrandiSea: [00:08:02] Yeah, so that’s important to understand about yourself out there.

If you–if you tend to get easily overwhelmed, make sure that you’re taking– taking breaks so that you can stay motivated. 

So, some of the things that I–that I wrote down in this– that came out of this little writing 10–10, 15 minute writing session, that things that are–are a little bit more, I think, practical things.

And we’ll talk about the choosing the mindset stuff here in a minute. But what really motivates me, and I wrote this–there’s, there’s these seven things that I wrote down. I actually wrote, let’s see what this list is, I wrote 25 things. 

Julie: [00:08:39] Wow. 

BrandiSea: [00:08:40] And then went back and was like, “Okay. What of these things actually motivates me?”.

Cause this was just free writing and, like, things. Cause it was anything from the city of New York, to lighting a candle. And I can’t always be motivated by the city of New York. So, uh, the, the things that I–I, kind of, narrowed these down by, if I have a work day, like, if, if it’s Thursday, which right now, Thursdays are my–my full work day, I can come home and work on my own until two o’clock.

So I have the most of the day, which is a huge thing for me. So what I do is coffee in a souvenir mug. Coffee is a huge motivator for me. A rainy or overcast day. Which, if you recall listening to the episode with Leatrice, is obviously now explainable why that works for me. Um, a great playlist. 

Julie: [00:09:31] And music makes such a big difference on your mood and your mindset.

BrandiSea: [00:09:35] Yeah. Different styles of music too, depending on what you’re working on, completely changes, like, your productivity. The color yellow. I wrote that down. And it’s–not only is it, like, my power color, but it’s, like, all over my office and it’s–it’s very, uh, energizing. 

Julie: [00:09:55] I think you can’t be, like, sad and lethargic around yellow.

BrandiSea: [00:09:59] It’s true. I know. So even though it’s a gray day, which I love and is–is not dry, like, doesn’t de-motivate me having–having the little bit of yellow is, like, a little bit of energy.

 Uh, having a clean workspace. 

Julie: [00:10:12] Ooh, I feel called out on that one. 

BrandiSea: [00:10:15] Oh, I mean, hello. Look at my workspace right now. It’s not–it’s not super clean, but that’s definitely something that is–

Julie: [00:10:21] Which, I mean, I don’t know about everybody else, but I’m always, like, I’ll do that when my to do list is finished and–you know, cause I’m like, Oh, well, you know, clients aren’t waiting for me to clean my desk. Butif I took a half hour, or hour, or however long it takes to actually, like, organize and clean things. I bet it would save me a lot more time. 

BrandiSea: [00:10:43] Yeah, you’d probably actually be more motivated to get all those other to do things done.

Julie: [00:10:48] Yeah, exactly. 

BrandiSea: [00:10:49] Um, and then I–I put lighting a candle because I actually realized that, like, if I come in in the morning and I light a candle, I have my coffee and turn on some good music, I am, like, in–and you’re, you know, the cool thing about what we’re going to talk about today is that if you know what motivates you and you can then put yourself in this mindset of choosing to be motivated, you–you become–your brain becomes ingrained with this habit. It’s–it’s sort of like the Pavlov’s dog thing. Like, you ring the bell, the dog gets a bone or whatever. It’s like, okay, I light my candle, I have my coffee, I turn on my music. I write one of these little prompt cards and then I work. 

Julie: [00:11:32] Yeah.

It’s, like, checking off boxes and you’re like, alright, now I’m ready for the next thing, which is getting my work done. 

BrandiSea: [00:11:38] Yeah, it’s–it’s a good, it’s a good habit. And doing things that you love already–I love candles, I love coffee, and I have already told myself in my mind I will feel motivated to start working when I do these things.

I didn’t realize that that’s what I was doing until I wrote this little thing. And so that was–that was kind of where this idea for this–this whole topic came from.

Featured Song: [00:12:05] For Elise, Saint Motel

BrandiSea: [00:12:35] That was the song For Elise by Saint Motel. 

This song has been a favorite of mine for a few weeks. The thing that drew me to it was, first of all, the cutesy little pun of, “For Elise”, as an a person, and the song that it references Fur Elise, which is the little piano thing that we all know and are very familiar with.

And the other thing that I really love about this song is, if you listen to the lyrics, it’s really about needing inspiration, needing a muse. The first line–the first few lines say, “When it’s tough, when you get stuck, you’re at the wall of the writer’s block. You need a spark, a light in the dark,” to get you out of your head and into your heart.

Thinking about what is a muse. A muse is something that is in your heart. It’s not in your head. However, as designers, we are required to be both in our heads and in our hearts because we are artists, but we are also logical thinkers, and I feel like my personal muse isn’t a person, necessarily. It’s, sort of, this constant awareness for inspiration. 

So who is my muse? I don’t know. I guess it’s, sort of, myself. I feel like that sounds weird, but I feel like, as designers, we have the power to unlock our own, inner muse. We don’t have to look to another person to be that one source of inspiration. We have the power inside of us to be able to figure out a muse all on our own–find the thing that amuses us, that interests us, and use that to infuse it into our work.

There’s this post that I wrote and you can–you can check it out either on medium or on my website. It’s called “The Motivation Myth”. And so, a lot of what we’re going to talk about today is a little bit more in in depth and in detail on that post. But is motivation something that you’ve ever really thought about being a choice? Or have you–have you mainly considered that it’s, you know, if I wake up today and I feel motivated, I’ll get a lot of stuff done.

If I don’t wake up feeling motivated, I won’t get a lot of stuff done. 

Julie: [00:14:43] That’s a good question. I feel like it’s, kind of, a little bit of both. There are definitely things that make you have the feelings of motivation, but you’re also making the choice to respond to that and, um, to do things that make you feel motivated and, uh, to respond to situations.

I mean, sometimes I’m motivated by, like, there’s a problem I need to fix, or I had a really great idea and I really want to work on that. So that’s, like, kind of a response. Um, and it’s not like I woke up and felt motivated. I, like, saw this thing and decided, “yeah, let’s do something about that”. 

BrandiSea: [00:15:22] Yeah, so it’s funny because I will–I will often meet a lot of people that say, like, “well, I just, I wasn’t feeling–I wasn’t feeling really motivated to do that”.

Except, what if you have a client that has something due tomorrow? You didn’t all of a sudden become  motivated. You had to choose, “I’m going to get this done”. Which is really, essentially, you choosing to be motivated. I think that–I think that we–we are very spoiled as creatives sometimes with, you know, if I’m an accountant or whatever, I don’t get to choose.

If I feel like doing someone’s taxes. Like, I don’t feel motivated to do your taxes today. “Sorry, person who came in to hire me at H&R block. Like I’m just not feeling the math today.” Like, nobody does that, but because we’re creatives, I think we, sort of, lean on this. Like– 

Julie: [00:16:16] I wonder if we, like, confuse motivation for inspiration.

BrandiSea: [00:16:20] I think so. I think–I think that there’s definitely a correlation there. It’s funny you say that because I actually wasn’t even going to bring that up. I have this whole other little sub note thing about inspiration versus motivation. And you can feel inspired. But much like I’ve talked about on here, I guess–I guess I’m very much into this idea of taking control of your creativity. Because for me, it’s about choosing to be inspired, going out and finding your inspiration.

Be an active observer. Be an active inspiree. I don’t think that’s a word. But you know, in regards to motivation too, it’s like, okay. You can easily sit around and wait for inspiration. You can easily sit around and wait for motivation, but do you want to? Or should you decide.

Julie: [00:17:07] Yeah. Well, and truthfully, like, you may not feel motivated. You may not want to do something and–and feel that, like, spur of the spark.

Um, but like you said, like, if there’s a deadline with a client. Unless you’re a terrible business person, you’re going to do it because you’re motivated by that deadline. 

BrandiSea: [00:17:30] The Paycheck 

Julie: [00:17:31] And, like, people wanting to work with you again and, like, having a good reputation and just being a general good human being. Um, so, like, you might not feel those feelings of, like, propelling you forward, but you’re going to do it anyway.

So, yeah, it’s an interesting–interesting thing. Yeah. 

BrandiSea: [00:17:49] So, I mean, getting and staying motivated as a creative professional is, I mean, it’s no small feat. We, I mean, in–in saying all of that, how we’re, sort of, spoiled, it’s also people expect us to always be able to create something. It’s like, “well, I’m hiring you, be creative”.

Like– like, push the magic button, be creative right now. And it’s like, okay, so how do we cultivate this mindset of it? There’s an–there isn’t really a–a thing as being magically motivated to start creating. And I think if all of us, sort of–take a look at our process, we will see that there does come a point where we, we do choose to be motivated.

So some of the points that I wanted to talk about today have to do with this. So the first thing is, don’t wait. Don’t wait for the motivation to come. And I think we’ve, kind of, touched on that a little bit. But, um, it never really fails that, even for me, and even with this mindset that I have–and you can  probably relate– I have this process, but I still sometimes will be like, Oh, well I don’t–I don’t really feel like sketching right now. I mean, I think I’ll wait until I feel like sketching. I think I’ll wait until I feel like getting on the computer and searching for, you know, for, um, like colors or whatever it is. And then I go, okay, wait, I’m not taking my own advice, here. Do you have a point in your process where you can–you–where you tend to more easily not do that thing because you’re feeling motivated?

Cause for me, I think it’s the sketching. Like, I can do my word map, I can do my research, and it’s, like, I have to really muster up this, like, sit down with my sketchbook and start sketching. 

Julie: [00:19:45] I think it kinda goes back to what I said earlier about feeling overwhelmed. So I have something that just feels like, you know, if it’s an email that I’m not sure how to answer, that takes a lot of thought, um, to write out and to answer completely. Or, um, if I have 2000 photos that I need to call– 

BrandiSea: [00:20:06] That sounds–that sounds  overwhelming just hearing it, like, leave your lips. 

Julie: [00:20:10] Yeah. So, um, I think it–it really is–it goes back to, like, how I’m feeling if I’m feeling overwhelmed, um, versus, like, a specific thing. I mean, there are certain things in the process I don’t always love, but–and it also depends on ,like, the specific projects that I’m working on. You know, like, am I super pumped to, um, edit these photos? Or do I just, kind of, feel like they’re just average and I’m not–

BrandiSea: [00:20:36] Just getting through it.

Julie: [00:20:37] Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So, yeah. 

BrandiSea: [00:20:40] So, I think for me, and this is where, you know, all this stuff that I talked about really ties back in to each other. And I think that where I ultimately come back to being able to choose to continue on and–and choose that motivation to keep going is trusting the process.

Because I know that it works. And I know that if I–okay, I’ve done this step, I’ve done this step, I’ve done this step, and now I’m stuck here in this place where I don’t feel like doing the sketching. But then I know that as soon as I get this sketching done, it’s like all downhill from here because it’s like a puzzle.

Like, you have to put each piece in. You can’t just skip one and then have a completed project. 

So trusting–trusting that I know how this is going to go. It makes it so much easier in my mind. Like choo–knowing to trust the process, knowing that if I do this, the rest is going to continue to be easy, makes it a lot better and a lot easier mentally to overcome those hurdles. 

Julie: [00:21:46] Do you ever, like, break things down into, like, bite sized pieces? Basically, to help you move forward when you’re just feeling like it’s too much or you just don’t want to start it. 

BrandiSea: [00:21:57] Yeah, I mean, for sure. Ultimately the process that I use is already separated into, like, these pieces that we talked about in, actually, I think our first episode.

But even in that, like–so for instance, the sketching one. What I will often do is say like, okay, I’m going to sketch for 30 minutes. I will sketch for 30 minutes and often, by the end of the 30 minutes, I’m, like, on a roll–

Julie: [00:22:25] And, like, I can go another two hours.

BrandiSea: [00:22:27] Yeah. And so, I mean, I usually–I generally suggest to people anyways to set time limits for each of the steps because, otherwise, you could just be creating forever. Especially if it is something you’re super excited about or you just keep thinking you can keep coming up with ideas.

Cause sometimes you can and you don’t need to, like, just keep going. I don’t need a full sketchbook for one client. So– but yes, I think that–I think that breaking things down into–into pieces is–is definitely a huge, huge part of that. Cause otherwise–then I, too ,become overwhelmed. Yeah. 

Julie: [00:23:02] Yeah. 

I mean, sometimes, you know, when I do have, like, a thousand photos to edit or something like that, I’m like, “okay, this first section was the couple of getting ready, so I’m just going to edit those and then I’m going to take a break. And then I’m going to get through the ceremony and then, like–like he said, I’ll get through the ceremony and I’m like, Ooh, I really liked these next few pictures. I’m going to go ahead and start those.”

 So, yeah. As someone who is sensitive to feeling overwhelmed and has a hard time feeling motivated, at that point, I’m breaking things down and– especially, like, writing a to do list. Like, physically writing it and then crossing it off. That’s so satisfying. 

BrandiSea: [00:23:39] It is satisfying. I had downloaded– I’ve downloaded at least a half dozen different digital to do  lists.

Julie: [00:23:46] It’s not the same.

BrandiSea: [00:23:48] I–I can’t. It’s just not as satisfying to push the button. The button is the enemy. 

Julie: [00:23:52] I was just talking to a friend about this cause I started, like, an asana. Um, I love asana. It’s great. Especially when you’re working with someone else on a project.

But I started putting out different to do lists and I was like, “Oh, this is great because I can organize it by project and awesome”. And I, um, it’s just not as satisfying. And I think it was because partially, like, just physically writing it down and crossing it off is a great feeling, but also it, like, disappears when you check it as complete and you’re like, “did I do anything?”.

BrandiSea: [00:24:23] That’s really funny. I feel the exact same way. 

Julie: [00:24:25] And I will–I’m sure plenty of other people do this–but, like, writing something on the to do list that you just did and crossing it off because you’re like, “yeah, look at all these things that I did”. 

BrandiSea: [00:24:36] Yes, yes. And I–I’ve kind of gone away from this because I’m trying this–I’m trying a different method, um, that I’m not gonna talk about until I know whether it works or not.

But for a long time, for probably two years, I–I did this thing where I had a–a notebook where I would split into quarters. Um, and the first quarter is “to do”, the second quarter is “ta da” and well–we’ll just talk about those. The other two don’t really matter as much. So what would happen is, I would write the stuff like my “to do’s” on the left side, and then as I went throughout the day, I would–whether it was the thing on the left or not–I would write it down on the “ta da” side so that I would feel good about getting things done. And then I would know why the “to do” side didn’t get done. I’m like, okay, well this is where my time–if I didn’t do this, it’s because I was doing all of this. And so I’m–I guess I can tell you the method I’m trying to work on right now is this idea of having only one–between one and three things that I need to get done that day. 

Julie: [00:25:35] Yes, I know about that. Yeah. 

BrandiSea: [00:25:37] I’m just–I’m just insane when it comes to–to do lists. It’ll be, like, a whole yellow legal pad. That’s not–it’s not ideal. Those things do not need to get done today. So, yeah. Um, start the process and the motivation will follow, I think is probably the little takeaway from–from point one. 

Um, point 2, I would say, procrastination is a trap. It’s like on star–I dunno. Do you watched Star Wars? Am I going to lose you on another reference? 

Julie: [00:26:08] I love Star Wars. 

BrandiSea: [00:26:10] It’s a trap. 

Julie: [00:26:12] I say that all the time, actually. 

Good. I should have just said it and then waited for your response, but you hadn’t seen Terminator, so I think we need to have a movie night or something.

BrandiSea: [00:26:24] Okay, well we’ll–we’ll catch up with that another time .So, you can really fool yourself into thinking, sometimes, that if I just wait, like, it’ll save me time. Right? Because when I’m motivated, I’ll get it–I’ll get it done faster. If I’m feeling motivated, and if I sit here long enough, maybe ignore it. Maybe it’ll go away.

Maybe it won’t need to be done. 

Julie: [00:26:47] Maybe the, the work fairies will come and do  it for you.

BrandiSea: [00:26:50] Oh, work fairies. 

Julie: [00:26:51] Um, my husband and I always talk about the kitchen fairies and they never show up. 

BrandiSea: [00:26:57] What are kitchen fairies? 

Julie: [00:26:59] Fairies that coming clean your kitchen and put the dishes in the dishwasher.

BrandiSea: [00:27:03] I need those varies. They’re called my children.

Julie: [00:27:07] Well, unfortunately, I only have a dog and she definitely does not know how to clean a kitchen.

BrandiSea: [00:27:11] Here’s a dish, lick it. 

Julie: [00:27:12] She would do that extremely well. But I don’t know that it would be ready to go back in the cabinet. 

BrandiSea: [00:27:17] Oh my God. That’s terrifying. Oh man. 

So the thing with procrastination– I have found that procrastination breeds procrastination. It’s like, if you procrastinate, you’re–you just keep wanting to put it off.

Julie: [00:27:34] Yeah. You don’t feel  motivated after procrastinating. 

BrandiSea: [00:27:38] Yeah. You often feel–like, that’s where your feelings really trick you. Cause then it’s like, well, I procrastinated last time and it worked out okay. Except the only reason it probably worked out last time is because you chose to be motivated at the last minute.

Julie: [00:27:54] Because you had to. In, like, full panic mode, probably. 

BrandiSea: [00:27:58] Yes. And you know, you can–you can be creative without feeling creative. And I think–I think that we forget that being creative isn’t the same thing as feeling creative. Um, I–I’ve said this multiple times, and I think it might sound like a goofy thing, but feeling motivated is much, like, feeling, like, love. 

When you, like, when you love somebody. When you’re in a marriage especially, and you can probably speak to this, you don’t always feel love for them. Like, you don’t always feel, like, this super romantic.

Julie: [00:28:37] Yeah. 

BrandiSea: [00:28:38] Oh, I love that you didn’t do the dishes, and I just, I love you so much and I just feel this infatuation, like, puppy love stuff. Sometimes you have to just be like, you know what? I love you because I choose to. I love you because I said that I did and that I would, no matter what, and that’s not about feelings.

And so I–I feel equally that, like, being creative. And doing things creatively has to be that same kind of choice because it’s not always easy and you often don’t feel love for what you do. Even if we love what we do, we don’t always love what we do. 

Julie: [00:29:20] Yes, very true. 

BrandiSea: [00:29:21] If that makes sense. Decision and action is the only thing that you can really used to beat procrastination. I have to say that I’m really pretty good at doing this creatively, but when it comes to doing things like waking up early to exercise or, I don’t know, I–I’m not really super motivated. I don’t feel like I’m really good at choosing motivation in a lot of other areas, and so it’s definitely something I need to take my own advice on because I could probably stand to wake up early and exercise. Again, much–much like when you choose–much like when you choose, like, to love your significant other, or your kids, or your spouse, or your dog, or whatever. If you choose something, the feelings will follow. So, it’s like, if you choose to be motivated, eventually you will feel motivated.

So I think that that’s–that’s a huge  thing. The– the last–the last point is that intentional motivation really takes practice. 

Julie: [00:30:24] Yes. 

I was actually about to say that of, like, the more you’re making that choice and the more you’re just, like, pushing through the negative feelings or– 

BrandiSea: [00:30:34] The ambivalent  feelings .

Julie: [00:30:36] That’s more accurate.

 Um, the easier and more–more, like, a, um–it’ll justfeel repetitive and become part of your process and, um, it becomes, like, a habit, basically.

BrandiSea: [00:30:51] I love that. The choice becomes part of your process. I love that a lot. 

Julie: [00:30:55] Yeah. I mean, that’s how, you know–you have to start with–anything, like you’re saying, exercising. Like, in the last–in the last month or so. Like, I have been getting up every morning and exercising and that–it’s not something that’s really happened before in my life. But now, it’s just, like, a thing that I do. And it’s not like I don’t wake up and feel, like, Oh, I’m not thinking about it. I just get up and I do it. Um, but I definitely had those times of like, man, I’m really sore from yesterday. Or like, I’m just really tired today. I didn’t sleep well last night. Yeah. All kinds of excuses. And, um, those ambivalent feelings about that specifically. 

BrandiSea: [00:31:38] And honestly, even–even putting exercise and working out into this framework is, I have found–and you can tell me if you feel the same way–the days that I exercise, the days that I wake up and choose, no matter how I feel this morning, I’m just going to be the person that wakes up and gets up and exercises for 30 minutes.

I am so much more motivated mentally to do everything else I have to do that day. Do you feel that that happens for you too? 

Julie: [00:32:04] Yeah, I mean. It’s science that, um–I mean, like, exercise is giving you the endorphins and it’s getting your body moving and, um, is waking your brain up in the morning and all that stuff.

So, it has so many benefits and it’s just, like, getting over that hurdle. Um, but if you can continue to do that, um, then it’s just, like, okay, this is what I do. And the same thing goes for when you’re working and you’re  not feeling motivated. This is just what I do. Like, we have to do this. Let’s do it. 

BrandiSea: [00:32:36] Yes. So yeah, practicing doing creative things, even when you don’t feel creative, I think is really good practice.

Waking up–I think we’re going to have to be like, “are you up?” buddies, or something. 

Julie: [00:32:49] I didn’t say I get up early to exercise. 

I do if–if I need to go. Um, and I have been, like, actually, like, if I’m, like, okay, I have to be somewhere at 9:00 AM, like, I’m like, okay, I’ve got to get up earlier so that I can get this done before I go.

Um, and again, it’s, like, less of a choice these days. It’s just, this is what I’m doing. 

BrandiSea: [00:33:13] Yeah. I really like that. And we’ll talk about what time you wake up later. Nine o’clock is not early for me. 

Um, so the ability to be creative is not really this magical quality, either, that people have. Uh, you know, like, because we’re creatives as a profession, we were just born–we were just born this way. It’s,like, the thing that we have that other people don’t. I think that that every single person–I feel like every single person is creative. We just choose to use that creativity differently. The magic really happens because you choose to make it happen. 

There is magic in what we do, I believe–I believe that we can make magic, but it only happens if we choose it. And, as you know as graphic designers, we need to stop getting discouraged when we have to work for our ideas. 

Julie: [00:34:02] Oh, no. Work. 

BrandiSea: [00:34:04] This job isn’t supposed to be hard. We’re just supposed to wake up with, like, this laundry list of brilliance and open up the computer and press the magic button.

I don’t know why. I just always go back to this weird magic button thing. So, I really think that the best ideas do come from hard work and. You know, it’s– it’s much more impressive to me to see someone’s process to see that, even though they have these hurdles of motivation, even though they have a hard time with X, Y, or Z, it’s–it’s not real–it’s sort of like those movies. All–all the best movies have people with hurdles to overcome. Otherwise, they’re not really interesting. 

Julie: [00:34:45] If,they’re really good at it to start with, it’s, like boring. Nobody wants to hear about that. 

BrandiSea: [00:34:48] Nobody wants to just watch someone be super awesome at everything, and just wake up–

Julie: [00:34:52] It’s actually not inspiring. Becasue when we see someone go through something hard and, like, overcome it, then we’re like, “Hey. I am not perfect”. I don’t have kitchen fairies and the magic button. And so like, if they can do it, then I can do it too. And there’s that motivation from that inspiration. And um, yeah, I mean, that’s. Real life. 

BrandiSea: [00:35:15] It is real life. And so, in real life, we have to choose. We have to choose to be motivated.

So don’t be like the other people that wait for that to come to them. Like, make choices, make great work, make your own design magic. Choosing to work while everyone else is sitting around waiting to feel like working

Again, that was For Elise by Saint Motel. You can find this song and all the inspiring music we share on our music from Design Speaks playlist on Spotify. 

All right, everybody, that’s our episode for today. If you’d like to support Design Speaks, you can do so by sharing this podcast with a friend or head over to our Patrion page at patrion.com/designspeaks.

Design Speaks is produced by Kenneth Kniffin and Dakota Cook and me, Brandy Sea. Audio production by Kenneth Kniffin. 

Thank you to Colin from Vesperteen for our theme music. You can find Vesperteen on Apple music and Spotify. 

Design Speaks is a project of Brandi Sea Designs. It is recorded and produced in the shadow of the watermelon pink, Sandia mountains near Albuquerque, New Mexico.

You can leave us a note on Instagram at @designspeakspodcast and you can find all current and past episodes at designspeakspodcast.com.

 Thanks again for listening. Until next time.