1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,960 Hey friends, it's Jules and welcome to the pool party. 2 00:00:05,960 --> 00:00:10,200 I thought we would do something a little bit different today and in the same vein of talking 3 00:00:10,200 --> 00:00:16,320 about branding, creativity, design, what it takes to make design, I wanted to switch it 4 00:00:16,320 --> 00:00:21,560 up a little bit and talk about self-care for creatives and when it's time to reassess, 5 00:00:21,560 --> 00:00:23,920 revisit and revise our work. 6 00:00:23,920 --> 00:00:29,360 And when I'm talking about our work, this broader context of the roles we do, how we 7 00:00:29,360 --> 00:00:36,440 define ourselves as multi-hyphenates, maybe you're a designer, photographer, someone 8 00:00:36,440 --> 00:00:42,760 who has your own business and in that case, you're able to make decisions and decide 9 00:00:42,760 --> 00:00:47,120 what you work on but sometimes that task can be quite daunting. 10 00:00:47,120 --> 00:00:52,160 Honestly, with the internet and social media, there have been many new businesses I've 11 00:00:52,160 --> 00:00:59,000 seen my friends and collaborators be able to make over the years and while it's exciting, 12 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:05,440 I think some of the social media platforms we see don't really show all of the work 13 00:01:05,440 --> 00:01:12,040 that goes behind being a producer, what it takes to build a business with longevity and 14 00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:15,880 to be honest, I think many folks really figure it out on the fly. 15 00:01:15,880 --> 00:01:22,600 As a person who is in my 20s, my late 20s now, I find that I see people start new ventures 16 00:01:22,600 --> 00:01:28,440 all the time and it's really hard to know whether that idea is going to be something 17 00:01:28,440 --> 00:01:31,880 that lasts a season or a long time. 18 00:01:31,880 --> 00:01:37,000 I genuinely don't believe that anyone can tell you what the answer is, what's going 19 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:41,640 to happen next and the reality is you just have to check in with yourself. 20 00:01:41,640 --> 00:01:47,480 You have to be very real about what is working for you, why it's working, if you're learning, 21 00:01:47,480 --> 00:01:53,140 if it's contributing to your goals and if it isn't anymore, why that might be and everything 22 00:01:53,140 --> 00:01:54,960 is a learning process. 23 00:01:54,960 --> 00:01:59,760 I think work is one of the things that we will, whether we like to or not, have to engage 24 00:01:59,760 --> 00:02:06,440 with for a large part of our lives and since the pandemic, work has also gone remote. 25 00:02:06,440 --> 00:02:12,760 Work has changed, titles have changed, it's consolidated, become more quick and I think 26 00:02:12,760 --> 00:02:15,680 sometimes it's hard not to change. 27 00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:20,520 Things are rapidly changing, especially for the creative industry and while you might 28 00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:26,680 have been a producer even early on in your career, it's very easy to even transition 29 00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:32,160 to a creative director role but then the context in which you work, what companies you work 30 00:02:32,160 --> 00:02:34,200 for can also change. 31 00:02:34,200 --> 00:02:39,760 So this is exciting, there's a lot of room to grow and develop but I also find that there's 32 00:02:39,760 --> 00:02:46,440 this issue that comes up which can at times be paralyzing and that's this question, what 33 00:02:46,440 --> 00:02:50,600 do I really want to do, what do you want to do and what is it going to look like in the 34 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:51,800 next few years? 35 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:57,800 I think due to the unpredictable nature of the creative industry and over the past few 36 00:02:57,800 --> 00:03:04,000 years we've seen a slowdown even in the amount of jobs that are offered to some creatives, 37 00:03:04,000 --> 00:03:09,920 it can be hard for people to plan and planning is great because it helps to create realistic 38 00:03:09,920 --> 00:03:16,960 goals and find skills to improve upon but the truth is I think that as quickly as industries 39 00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:24,040 change into your job titles, so do our internal compasses and we have to make decisions quickly. 40 00:03:24,040 --> 00:03:30,600 And so in this podcast today, I want to talk a bit about this concept of creating an offer 41 00:03:30,600 --> 00:03:35,720 that really makes sense to you with what you're aligned with in this moment, this season of 42 00:03:35,720 --> 00:03:42,000 your life and some things to consider as you're offering a new service as a creative or even 43 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:47,360 product and then I want to talk a bit about this Japanese concept of Ikigai and you may 44 00:03:47,360 --> 00:03:53,160 have heard this before but I think it's important to revisit especially for creatives because 45 00:03:53,160 --> 00:03:58,920 I mentioned this a few times, I think one of the issues that creatives run into is that 46 00:03:58,920 --> 00:04:04,960 let's say you're a designer, graphic designer, it's really easy to work for an agency, get 47 00:04:04,960 --> 00:04:11,560 work assigned to you and continue doing that work for months, maybe even years and then 48 00:04:11,560 --> 00:04:16,920 not really think about the business aspect, how this work comes in, how much you get paid 49 00:04:16,920 --> 00:04:23,740 and to even really grow beyond that role other than churning out projects and increasing 50 00:04:23,740 --> 00:04:24,960 speed and efficiency. 51 00:04:24,960 --> 00:04:31,280 I find that many designers and creatives, they get into this line of work not to necessarily 52 00:04:31,280 --> 00:04:36,840 become a more efficient part of a creative machine but because they have a true deep 53 00:04:36,840 --> 00:04:43,600 and deep love of design process, they like the way it engages their brain and I think 54 00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:48,680 this is a fantastic way to get involved in the industry but there are a few paths to 55 00:04:48,680 --> 00:04:54,640 go and at the end of the day, I think one of the most beautiful outcomes is to maintain 56 00:04:54,640 --> 00:05:00,360 creative decisions and design thinking and apply that to your skill set and even design 57 00:05:00,360 --> 00:05:06,560 and create a job, a career that you truly love, that you feel really benefits the people 58 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:12,800 you work with and makes the world a better place and I think these are pieces of a triangle 59 00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:19,000 that fall flat with many designers as they start to get their first few industry jobs 60 00:05:19,000 --> 00:05:24,360 and it's because the work is tough, it's not always easy going, sometimes there are 61 00:05:24,360 --> 00:05:31,320 long hours demanding clients and it becomes a mental game, a game of prioritizing what 62 00:05:31,320 --> 00:05:36,680 you value, what you truly want to get out of a role and then not letting all the other 63 00:05:36,680 --> 00:05:43,720 factors that might slip in, other people's stress get to you and why you decided to start 64 00:05:43,720 --> 00:05:45,400 in the first place. 65 00:05:45,400 --> 00:05:49,520 So again, we're going to talk about a bit of self-care for creatives today, when it's 66 00:05:49,520 --> 00:05:55,040 time to reassess, revisit and revise and then as we begin to talk about crafting an offer 67 00:05:55,040 --> 00:06:00,440 that really speaks to you, what you love and what you need in the season of your life, 68 00:06:00,440 --> 00:06:03,240 we'll discuss this Japanese concept of Ikigai. 69 00:06:03,240 --> 00:06:04,400 So let's dive in! 70 00:06:04,400 --> 00:06:11,200 As we've discussed this grand project of branding, values and essentially building 71 00:06:11,200 --> 00:06:16,560 companies from scratch, that is oftentimes what people set out to do with the goal of 72 00:06:16,560 --> 00:06:18,840 branding and design. 73 00:06:18,840 --> 00:06:23,720 And in my opinion, I think that some of the best companies and brands start with really 74 00:06:23,720 --> 00:06:30,320 strong values of services that they offer and what they essentially want to branch out 75 00:06:30,320 --> 00:06:31,560 and do in the world. 76 00:06:31,560 --> 00:06:37,360 The reality is that over the years, we've seen across many industries that people will 77 00:06:37,360 --> 00:06:46,160 sometimes use branding and hire brand marketers in order to essentially create a mask and 78 00:06:46,160 --> 00:06:52,720 beautiful packaging that masks up a much more sinister reality of the work life culture 79 00:06:52,720 --> 00:06:58,880 they're creating, false promises of product that aren't actually creating the outcomes 80 00:06:58,880 --> 00:07:04,480 that they want, yet they sell a ton because the branding is beautiful, there is this whole 81 00:07:04,480 --> 00:07:10,720 vibe and there is a psychology to branding and marketing where if it looks good, it must 82 00:07:10,720 --> 00:07:11,720 be good. 83 00:07:11,720 --> 00:07:17,520 I think this is one of the realities and the truths behind branding that sometimes designers 84 00:07:17,520 --> 00:07:19,560 can fall into. 85 00:07:19,560 --> 00:07:23,920 Oftentimes when you take on a job, you can ask your employer a few questions and then 86 00:07:23,920 --> 00:07:29,920 obviously everyone wants a job to work out in their best favor, but what do you do when 87 00:07:29,920 --> 00:07:35,600 the role you were promised ends up becoming something that really drags you down and no 88 00:07:35,600 --> 00:07:38,000 longer aligns with your values? 89 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:43,680 The product mission that you were sold isn't actually firm and then as a designer and an 90 00:07:43,680 --> 00:07:49,920 artist, you're being tasked with this role of putting on makeup around an idea that isn't 91 00:07:49,920 --> 00:07:55,720 so pretty and taking this ugly idea in order to sell it to the broader public. 92 00:07:55,720 --> 00:08:00,800 This is actually something that's really common in the design industry, especially when it 93 00:08:00,800 --> 00:08:07,160 comes to roles where people hire in-house designers and they hire them to do a branding 94 00:08:07,160 --> 00:08:11,000 project but the product isn't quite done yet. 95 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:16,560 I have had many friends over the years who have worked for startups or have been contracted 96 00:08:16,560 --> 00:08:22,680 by companies and they fell in love with the creative work and they get excited because 97 00:08:22,680 --> 00:08:27,800 they want to work for a big brand and make a good salary, but then they find out that 98 00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:31,080 they don't really believe in the product that they're building. 99 00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:36,560 And so we're going to go back to this question of when is it a good time to recess and revisit 100 00:08:36,560 --> 00:08:38,760 and revise the work that you do? 101 00:08:38,760 --> 00:08:44,480 In my opinion, that time is any time where it feels like what you're doing no longer 102 00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:47,480 aligns with your personal values. 103 00:08:47,480 --> 00:08:51,720 And in this podcast, I've talked a lot about people who might be going out and starting 104 00:08:51,720 --> 00:08:55,920 their own venture and they get the opportunity to build from scratch. 105 00:08:55,920 --> 00:08:58,720 Maybe that's you right now and that's a great place to be in. 106 00:08:58,720 --> 00:09:04,600 But for many designers and artists and creatives, maybe you've taken on a job where your role 107 00:09:04,600 --> 00:09:10,200 has been compartmentalized and there are lots of things about the job that you enjoy. 108 00:09:10,200 --> 00:09:14,760 You get to apply your skill set, but maybe you no longer believe in what your company 109 00:09:14,760 --> 00:09:15,760 is doing. 110 00:09:15,760 --> 00:09:19,400 There is a phrase that maybe you've heard of before and I think it really applies in 111 00:09:19,400 --> 00:09:20,560 this scenario. 112 00:09:20,560 --> 00:09:23,200 If it's not a hell yes, it's a hell no. 113 00:09:23,200 --> 00:09:28,320 In my opinion, I think one of the great goals of branding, especially for yourself, is to 114 00:09:28,320 --> 00:09:33,540 become more of yourself, to get to know your talents and share that with people. 115 00:09:33,540 --> 00:09:37,120 And branding is not a scam in this sense. 116 00:09:37,120 --> 00:09:39,440 Branding is not a scam in this sense. 117 00:09:39,440 --> 00:09:45,000 There are many people who will hire branders, unfortunately with the malicious intent of 118 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:49,800 pulling a fast one on the public to really try to get something through the door. 119 00:09:49,800 --> 00:09:52,520 And truthfully, that's a red flag. 120 00:09:52,520 --> 00:09:57,840 And it's hard to describe when you know it's happening, but when you recognize that it 121 00:09:57,840 --> 00:10:01,080 is, your instincts are so important. 122 00:10:01,080 --> 00:10:06,680 I got into design because I thought it was a great way of communicating to the public. 123 00:10:06,680 --> 00:10:12,000 I wanted to inspire people and help them be more connected with each other. 124 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:18,520 I learned about mood boarding, brand values, and creating artwork that would translate 125 00:10:18,520 --> 00:10:24,000 a vision to a wide variety of people and that to me felt like a superpower. 126 00:10:24,000 --> 00:10:28,160 It is a superpower and I think it's one that needs to be used carefully. 127 00:10:28,160 --> 00:10:33,960 Some of you may have the pleasure of working on projects that do offer a lot of good to 128 00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:34,960 people. 129 00:10:34,960 --> 00:10:41,240 Whether that because you're working on a project that is meant to assist organizations that 130 00:10:41,240 --> 00:10:46,320 are connecting people with resources that they need or putting on events that bring 131 00:10:46,320 --> 00:10:47,600 a lot of value. 132 00:10:47,600 --> 00:10:54,560 There are also projects out there, many companies I feel, that get into any line of work essentially 133 00:10:54,560 --> 00:11:02,680 to churn profit, to productize, to sell, and not even really sometimes vet their products, 134 00:11:02,680 --> 00:11:07,360 but they understand that you need money and the biggest thing that they ever want to do 135 00:11:07,360 --> 00:11:09,260 is just maximize profit. 136 00:11:09,260 --> 00:11:14,220 I feel like this is probably one of the most shallow values you could have, especially 137 00:11:14,220 --> 00:11:18,440 because you could maximize profit while helping people. 138 00:11:18,440 --> 00:11:24,120 And I don't think that these two things are mutually exclusive, but I have seen a trend 139 00:11:24,120 --> 00:11:30,520 over the years where people will maximize profit at any cost, especially at the cost 140 00:11:30,520 --> 00:11:37,440 of relationships to people, the health of the environment, and quality of design work. 141 00:11:37,440 --> 00:11:42,560 Now that last one I think probably pales in comparison to the first two. 142 00:11:42,560 --> 00:11:47,520 It's really important to keep good working relationships with people and I think there 143 00:11:47,520 --> 00:11:53,440 is also a biological clock that we all run on and that is the health of our earth. 144 00:11:53,440 --> 00:11:58,680 In the digital age, a few creatives, many creatives out there work with deliverables 145 00:11:58,680 --> 00:12:03,440 that are not made on print products, do not need to be made in a factory, and there may 146 00:12:03,440 --> 00:12:09,800 be this misconception that because people are not working with physical products, there 147 00:12:09,800 --> 00:12:12,960 isn't a cost, a biological cost. 148 00:12:12,960 --> 00:12:18,840 But there's a lot of strain I've seen put on creatives who work around the clock in 149 00:12:18,840 --> 00:12:21,720 the digital age and this leads to burnout. 150 00:12:21,720 --> 00:12:28,680 I think before people even can recognize what's happening, the cycle of making money, of being 151 00:12:28,680 --> 00:12:34,720 attached to a computer happens so quickly, people can't unplug and I've experienced 152 00:12:34,720 --> 00:12:36,320 this myself even. 153 00:12:36,320 --> 00:12:41,400 It gets really scary because there's this question of how do you stop? 154 00:12:41,400 --> 00:12:43,440 Is the work going to be relevant? 155 00:12:43,440 --> 00:12:47,840 I don't really know how to answer any one of these questions to be honest, but I'll 156 00:12:47,840 --> 00:12:54,040 give you an example, when I worked in social media, a lot of times there would be new trends 157 00:12:54,040 --> 00:13:00,880 developing every single day and while we could plan as much as possible for a calendar, if 158 00:13:00,880 --> 00:13:08,240 you want to act on a trend and maximize viewership, you have to act within frankly a one to two 159 00:13:08,240 --> 00:13:14,400 day window and if you don't, it's highly likely you'll pass on the opportunity to 160 00:13:14,400 --> 00:13:17,960 grow at the pace of that trend and you'll miss out. 161 00:13:17,960 --> 00:13:24,280 There's a lot of this fear of missing out that happens I think with companies and marketers, 162 00:13:24,280 --> 00:13:29,640 people who create this content, but I feel that it can create a really unhealthy dynamic 163 00:13:29,640 --> 00:13:36,240 and I think it's interesting that oftentimes people very early on in their career are hired 164 00:13:36,240 --> 00:13:41,080 in task with this burden of creating trending content. 165 00:13:41,080 --> 00:13:48,240 I genuinely feel it's because there's also a big burnout period that happens after making 166 00:13:48,240 --> 00:13:54,420 this type of content for months on end and I think now with this discussion of a surgeon 167 00:13:54,420 --> 00:14:01,840 general warning on social media and consuming content, I also want to flag that in the background, 168 00:14:01,840 --> 00:14:06,760 I do think that there is a cost to making this type of content. 169 00:14:06,760 --> 00:14:12,080 When I used to work at a social media agency, I wouldn't just be making trending content 170 00:14:12,080 --> 00:14:18,280 for a single account, I would be making it across all accounts and while I know the boxes 171 00:14:18,280 --> 00:14:23,960 to tick for a trend and what it needs to look like in order to be passable to an audience, 172 00:14:23,960 --> 00:14:30,000 I was operating so quickly that at times it didn't necessarily matter if I was hitting 173 00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:36,720 the process of a good design flow, what mattered is that we got it out the door fast and I 174 00:14:36,720 --> 00:14:43,080 think for me that satisfaction of creating good design really went down and I started 175 00:14:43,080 --> 00:14:49,560 to prioritize pleasing the algorithm but from this point of view of not doing it necessarily 176 00:14:49,560 --> 00:14:56,520 for myself even but for all of these brand accounts that I worked on and my agency was 177 00:14:56,520 --> 00:14:57,680 tasked with. 178 00:14:57,680 --> 00:15:03,360 Now I know there are many people who think that this might be a dream role of working 179 00:15:03,360 --> 00:15:08,960 with many celebrities and big brands, honestly I think at the start of your career it really 180 00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:14,800 is and it can be but and that's not to knock all of the great benefits that I got from 181 00:15:14,800 --> 00:15:20,520 doing this type of work and the audiences I got to touch but it did come at this cost 182 00:15:20,520 --> 00:15:27,400 of where I was no longer satisfied with any of these metrics and I started to feel a high 183 00:15:27,400 --> 00:15:36,280 level of disdain for the feedback that I would get that I knew would not necessarily matter 184 00:15:36,280 --> 00:15:41,880 for the design or for the content because what mattered most of all was that we just 185 00:15:41,880 --> 00:15:48,000 kept on making more and then these people who we worked with had content to put out 186 00:15:48,000 --> 00:15:53,040 and it's challenging because when you work in a digital sense for algorithms, a lot of 187 00:15:53,040 --> 00:16:01,120 times volume does count a lot so does consistency and timing but when the trends change so quickly 188 00:16:01,120 --> 00:16:08,760 it can become a huge burnout role to essentially be on multiple accounts creating content and 189 00:16:08,760 --> 00:16:14,680 not really being able to retain any of that creativity or talent for yourself so I started 190 00:16:14,680 --> 00:16:21,040 to feel extremely drained doing this type of work but I was also burdened with this 191 00:16:21,040 --> 00:16:27,200 fact that I was really early on in my career and that most people actually would only really 192 00:16:27,200 --> 00:16:34,060 want to hire me for social media work not for some of these longer term brand or design 193 00:16:34,060 --> 00:16:40,000 projects that might have a slower pace so I think it's interesting now in this guys 194 00:16:40,000 --> 00:16:46,720 of pop psychology and when it comes to talking about burnout there's this idea that we can 195 00:16:46,720 --> 00:16:53,280 control our burnouts and essentially the rate at which it happens by having boundaries and 196 00:16:53,280 --> 00:16:58,200 sometimes those boundaries don't necessarily look like communicating that you can't do 197 00:16:58,200 --> 00:17:04,480 a certain type of work but it's also turning off the computer past a certain hour I know 198 00:17:04,480 --> 00:17:10,320 some folks who genuinely could not do that working in a social media context especially 199 00:17:10,320 --> 00:17:15,820 with the type of clientele that they work with and I find that this is extremely bad 200 00:17:15,820 --> 00:17:21,200 for mental health and it's really good to get ahead of this so while I couldn't have 201 00:17:21,200 --> 00:17:28,480 predicted my level of burnout I feel that when you go into a role it's important to 202 00:17:28,480 --> 00:17:35,040 have at least a few days out of the week in which you do absolutely log off at 5pm I know 203 00:17:35,040 --> 00:17:39,960 that sometimes last minute things come up but I genuinely don't believe it's fair for 204 00:17:39,960 --> 00:17:46,000 employers to ask their employees to stay on or be available for edits or changes past 205 00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:53,080 8pm especially when the workload is such that it's going to be there the next day and that 206 00:17:53,080 --> 00:17:57,920 there are deadlines multiple deadlines coming up in the same week I at the beginning of 207 00:17:57,920 --> 00:18:03,680 my career would just say yes to anything and there are times for sure where you definitely 208 00:18:03,680 --> 00:18:08,240 need to say yes if there's if these are like the only projects you can work on but I got 209 00:18:08,240 --> 00:18:13,960 so used to saying yes to the point where I just even if I was so burnt out and I had 210 00:18:13,960 --> 00:18:19,360 nothing to offer creatively I would feel anxiety saying no so I've gotten a bit into this 211 00:18:19,360 --> 00:18:25,000 personal story of my burnouts and I wish I could tell you that I handled it the right 212 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:30,960 way but realistically what happened was that I hit a wall where I wasn't setting where 213 00:18:30,960 --> 00:18:36,920 I wasn't setting boundaries that one day I found a backup project that I could do that 214 00:18:36,920 --> 00:18:41,280 would make me enough money in the meantime and I put in my two weeks notice if I had 215 00:18:41,280 --> 00:18:47,240 the opportunity to go back I really wish that I actually practice having stronger boundaries 216 00:18:47,240 --> 00:18:51,920 before putting in my notice and I'll tell you why it's because I didn't really solve 217 00:18:51,920 --> 00:18:57,680 this problem I had with boundaries and saying yes or no to work I just delayed it but here's 218 00:18:57,680 --> 00:19:03,080 the problem I was working weekends nights taking on freelance projects on the side of 219 00:19:03,080 --> 00:19:07,880 a full-time creative job and this is what I probably would have done instead to create 220 00:19:07,880 --> 00:19:13,720 boundaries on the side instead of essentially cold turkey putting in a two weeks notice 221 00:19:13,720 --> 00:19:18,840 so here are some ways that you can have a better sense of boundaries and your own creative 222 00:19:18,840 --> 00:19:24,940 direction and I think that these ideas that I'm going to offer you are also what's going 223 00:19:24,940 --> 00:19:30,740 to help preserve your sense of creativity your personal mental space and then also help 224 00:19:30,740 --> 00:19:36,440 you feel like you have a better control of your creative process and this first one might 225 00:19:36,440 --> 00:19:41,520 be obvious but it's go on a social media cleanse I think that there are many roles these days 226 00:19:41,520 --> 00:19:46,600 where creatives are tasked with knowing what the trends are and that has developed into 227 00:19:46,600 --> 00:19:52,760 a chronic sense of being online genuinely there's no reason why you need to be scrolling 228 00:19:52,760 --> 00:19:58,480 on your phone on the weekends or after work especially if you work in the realm of social 229 00:19:58,480 --> 00:20:04,560 media I know that it might seem hard to delete the app sometimes but I was discussing this 230 00:20:04,560 --> 00:20:09,880 with a friend the other day I feel that the algorithms and the trends have gotten so good 231 00:20:09,880 --> 00:20:16,380 at hooking people's attention that the act of it becomes as addictive if not as harmful 232 00:20:16,380 --> 00:20:23,640 as basically vaping constantly and the dopamine rush you get becomes so highly charged that 233 00:20:23,640 --> 00:20:28,440 it's hard to tell when you've gotten your fill and so what I would do 234 00:20:28,440 --> 00:20:35,040 instead is some people even say that they have another phone or a separate iPad for 235 00:20:35,040 --> 00:20:41,040 social media and their work socials I think this is also a really good idea just for hygiene 236 00:20:41,040 --> 00:20:46,480 to keep it separate have that work phone use it only during the day and then put it aside 237 00:20:46,480 --> 00:20:51,400 don't mix your work and your personal phone and social media together I think that may 238 00:20:51,400 --> 00:20:55,740 lead to a lot of problems and there are also times too where I saw people who worked in 239 00:20:55,740 --> 00:21:02,040 social media accidentally post to professional accounts when they were really actually like 240 00:21:02,040 --> 00:21:06,520 at a bar trying to have a good time with their friends and I think you can avoid that just 241 00:21:06,520 --> 00:21:12,840 by having a separate phone of course not everyone can afford this until I think that at some 242 00:21:12,840 --> 00:21:19,460 point you do need to develop a personal boundary of just fully shutting off socials and only 243 00:21:19,460 --> 00:21:25,480 responding and logging in when it's needed at this moment in time I've gone on the longest 244 00:21:25,480 --> 00:21:31,320 social cleanse I've ever gone I haven't logged on to Instagram or TikTok in about three weeks 245 00:21:31,320 --> 00:21:37,800 but before that I would log in just once a week to post and respond to direct messages 246 00:21:37,800 --> 00:21:41,560 and then I would delete that from my phone and the reason why I did this was because 247 00:21:41,560 --> 00:21:46,800 I got into this really destructive cycle of scrolling just to feel like I was knowing 248 00:21:46,800 --> 00:21:53,200 what was going on in the world but the reality is new things happen all the time and I started 249 00:21:53,200 --> 00:21:57,920 prioritizing what was happening on my phone more so than actually being a person in the 250 00:21:57,920 --> 00:22:03,440 world and going out to events and talking to people around me in order to get a sense 251 00:22:03,440 --> 00:22:07,200 of what was happening in my own life one thing that's really good to do if you decide to 252 00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:11,800 go on a social media cleanse is to actually tell your close friends and the people you 253 00:22:11,800 --> 00:22:17,120 meet who might be new friends that you have social media boundaries or that you are not 254 00:22:17,120 --> 00:22:22,080 going online as often these days just so they know that you're not ignoring them and I know 255 00:22:22,080 --> 00:22:27,760 this seems like a little extra task but interestingly enough when I'm not on social media as much 256 00:22:27,760 --> 00:22:32,680 I text my friends more I actually directly send them photos and videos and that's something 257 00:22:32,680 --> 00:22:37,840 that makes me happy because I want to be intentional about what I put out into the world and I 258 00:22:37,840 --> 00:22:44,560 don't just want to contribute to the sense of FOMO that I know people get from seeing 259 00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:50,500 other people's Instagram stories this might seem like a bit of a chant tangent but I genuinely 260 00:22:50,500 --> 00:22:58,280 feel that platforms like Instagram are made with intention of preying on FOMO which is 261 00:22:58,280 --> 00:23:02,720 like the fear of missing out and that sense of anxiety that you might have if you're 262 00:23:02,720 --> 00:23:09,360 not at an event but what I see so often with friends and people who work in social or chronically 263 00:23:09,360 --> 00:23:15,720 online is that they basically never rest and I started to get this feeling of hanging out 264 00:23:15,720 --> 00:23:22,320 with my friends who work in social media that they're just constantly trained and they 265 00:23:22,320 --> 00:23:27,440 never really have a sense of peace and genuinely that would impact my health as well so what 266 00:23:27,440 --> 00:23:31,880 do you do instead of being on social media there are so many things to do you can go 267 00:23:31,880 --> 00:23:38,960 to an art library I visited Los Angeles recently and Glendale has a beautiful art library called 268 00:23:38,960 --> 00:23:46,120 the brand and you can go for free get a library card and there are so many books on art how 269 00:23:46,120 --> 00:23:54,000 to draw on music magazines and biographies of artists that are so entertaining and you 270 00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:58,840 can even listen to podcasts they have there it's a beautiful space I think that what's 271 00:23:58,840 --> 00:24:07,440 wanting in the world is the sense of self-reflection of time away from the pressure of creating 272 00:24:07,440 --> 00:24:13,280 content that only fuels the sense of this fear of missing out and then wanting people 273 00:24:13,280 --> 00:24:18,960 to get out to do more but I'm starting to feel that people are doing more than enough 274 00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:23,480 but they're not resting and that's not the type of world I want to live in so I want 275 00:24:23,480 --> 00:24:30,280 you to consider what would the version of you who has what you want do about this particular 276 00:24:30,280 --> 00:24:36,580 scenario and I think sometimes we act so much from this place of not having enough not being 277 00:24:36,580 --> 00:24:42,680 enough and I think social media is largely responsible for this and it's not the aspect 278 00:24:42,680 --> 00:24:48,400 of seeing your friends online I think it's that genuinely the algorithms are predatory 279 00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:53,680 and they manufacture this anxiety because it's to their benefit it keeps you online 280 00:24:53,680 --> 00:24:58,640 it keeps you hooked it keeps you doing things you might not even feel like you want to do 281 00:24:58,640 --> 00:25:03,560 just to impress people you might not even care about and there are studies on this and 282 00:25:03,560 --> 00:25:08,480 I think if you are chronically online or if you use social media enough you will know 283 00:25:08,480 --> 00:25:15,080 how this feels I think instead of overdoing it one thing that's good to cultivate especially 284 00:25:15,080 --> 00:25:21,240 for creatives is this thing that I call Jomo which is the joy of missing out so let's talk 285 00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:24,760 a little bit more about this but first let's go on a break 286 00:25:24,760 --> 00:25:26,320 Hey! 287 00:25:26,320 --> 00:25:27,640 Do you love this podcast? 288 00:25:27,640 --> 00:25:34,360 Alright, I'm gonna need you to follow it, read it 5 stars and share it with a friend. 289 00:25:34,360 --> 00:25:40,120 I'm asking because this helps me continue to make more of these podcasts, give you my 290 00:25:40,120 --> 00:25:43,720 thoughts on branding, design and free advice. 291 00:25:43,720 --> 00:25:45,240 This podcast is free. 292 00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:47,080 You love it, no? 293 00:25:47,080 --> 00:25:57,360 Also head over to JuliaEspero.me that's J-U-L-I-A-E-S-P-E-R-O.me and sign up for my newsletter. 294 00:25:57,360 --> 00:26:03,960 I have some services coming out very very soon and I want you to be the first to see 295 00:26:03,960 --> 00:26:09,260 them and you're only gonna get them if you're subscribed to my newsletter so go ahead hit 296 00:26:09,260 --> 00:26:15,640 the subscribe button on this podcast and go to my website JuliaEspero.me and sign up for 297 00:26:15,640 --> 00:26:16,640 my newsletter. 298 00:26:16,640 --> 00:26:20,880 Alright, thanks and let's get back into the podcast. 299 00:26:20,880 --> 00:26:25,480 There were moments in my early 20s where I would go out just to say that I did. 300 00:26:25,480 --> 00:26:28,600 I wanted to have a packed calendar, experience everything. 301 00:26:28,600 --> 00:26:33,400 I was living in San Francisco and if there was ever a moment where I experienced any 302 00:26:33,400 --> 00:26:36,280 sort of downtime, I felt sad. 303 00:26:36,280 --> 00:26:41,600 It didn't matter what I was doing as long as I had plans, I somehow felt that I was 304 00:26:41,600 --> 00:26:43,200 making the most of my life. 305 00:26:43,200 --> 00:26:46,520 The problem is I'd come home feeling empty and depleted. 306 00:26:46,520 --> 00:26:52,480 Now in my late 20s, I'm trying to switch over to this sense of JOMO, this joy of missing 307 00:26:52,480 --> 00:26:56,720 out as opposed to the fear of missing out I faced in my early 20s. 308 00:26:56,720 --> 00:27:02,120 So in my late 20s, I set goals for my personal work and I itch to make them happen. 309 00:27:02,120 --> 00:27:07,400 When I finally do, I feel relieved and I think one of the reasons why I'm able to do this 310 00:27:07,400 --> 00:27:12,760 is because I save energy, I prioritize rest, care, relaxation. 311 00:27:12,760 --> 00:27:19,920 I made a list of things that I genuinely enjoy doing and that's reading, going to libraries, 312 00:27:19,920 --> 00:27:23,320 taking long showers, doing my YouTube workouts. 313 00:27:23,320 --> 00:27:27,160 These are all things that I love doing in my free time, especially when the clock hits 314 00:27:27,160 --> 00:27:33,060 5pm and I know that it's important to do these things because later on, they fuel my 315 00:27:33,060 --> 00:27:36,280 creative battery and my ability to produce work. 316 00:27:36,280 --> 00:27:41,880 I feel inspired by the activities I have outside of work and while they might not actively 317 00:27:41,880 --> 00:27:46,240 be making me money, I know I'm investing back into myself. 318 00:27:46,240 --> 00:27:52,160 So I have a little bit of a list for some quick advice when it comes to finding your 319 00:27:52,160 --> 00:27:57,840 personal true nor's and developing this sense of intuition of what might fuel you, what 320 00:27:57,840 --> 00:27:59,480 might replenish you. 321 00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:02,960 And it's quite simple, it's just four things. 322 00:28:02,960 --> 00:28:07,880 And the first piece of advice I have is don't take advice from people who aren't taking 323 00:28:07,880 --> 00:28:10,600 the same risk you are. 324 00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:16,040 And I think pursuing a creative career is a very special and particular type of risk. 325 00:28:16,040 --> 00:28:22,000 Like I mentioned, I think it requires a certain amount of rest and reflection, piecing together 326 00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:27,560 inspiration, but also devoting time to work and pursuing your craft. 327 00:28:27,560 --> 00:28:32,200 And this was something I noticed that a lot of people around me in my early 20s were not 328 00:28:32,200 --> 00:28:33,200 doing. 329 00:28:33,200 --> 00:28:39,160 They were on a very defined career path as engineers or maybe pursuing academia. 330 00:28:39,160 --> 00:28:45,000 But for me, I had to learn about my own creative cycle, what helps me create the best work. 331 00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:49,240 And sometimes I would get advice from people to work hard, play hard. 332 00:28:49,240 --> 00:28:52,760 But the reality is they weren't taking the same risks as me. 333 00:28:52,760 --> 00:28:57,240 They didn't have the same vision for their future that I did. 334 00:28:57,240 --> 00:29:02,800 And when I followed that advice, work hard, play hard, I actually didn't really have 335 00:29:02,800 --> 00:29:06,400 any energy to make creative work I felt proud of. 336 00:29:06,400 --> 00:29:10,160 While that might have worked for someone else, they were following a different life path 337 00:29:10,160 --> 00:29:13,080 and they were taking a different set of risks. 338 00:29:13,080 --> 00:29:17,440 So again, don't take advice from people who aren't taking the same risks you are. 339 00:29:17,440 --> 00:29:19,200 They don't have the same things on the line. 340 00:29:19,200 --> 00:29:21,000 They may not even have the same vision. 341 00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:23,480 Ultimately, that's for you to decide. 342 00:29:23,480 --> 00:29:27,720 But if you're in a phase of gathering information, take other people's advice with a grain of 343 00:29:27,720 --> 00:29:32,720 salt and really don't ask advice from people who don't have the life that you wish to 344 00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:33,720 have. 345 00:29:33,720 --> 00:29:36,520 Some people want to be there for you as a friend when you're going through a rough 346 00:29:36,520 --> 00:29:37,520 time. 347 00:29:37,520 --> 00:29:42,680 But unless they have the life that you might want to take inspiration from, seriously, 348 00:29:42,680 --> 00:29:44,160 don't even ask for it. 349 00:29:44,160 --> 00:29:45,160 Don't listen to it. 350 00:29:45,160 --> 00:29:50,360 Or you can be present for it, but in one year, out the other and cap the amount of time you 351 00:29:50,360 --> 00:29:52,400 spend listening to that advice. 352 00:29:52,400 --> 00:29:54,920 You need to find what your true north is. 353 00:29:54,920 --> 00:30:01,880 And I think that the most well rested bodies and rested minds will create a sense of true 354 00:30:01,880 --> 00:30:06,280 north for creatives where you will know what the next step is. 355 00:30:06,280 --> 00:30:08,680 So that's actually advice number two. 356 00:30:08,680 --> 00:30:13,400 Don't take advice from people who aren't living the kind of life you want to live. 357 00:30:13,400 --> 00:30:20,320 And while we can get a lot of FOMO and inspiration from people online, maybe try to meet people 358 00:30:20,320 --> 00:30:24,040 out in the wild who are living the life that you want. 359 00:30:24,040 --> 00:30:28,120 And there might be aspects of their life that you really enjoy, and there might be other 360 00:30:28,120 --> 00:30:30,240 aspects that you don't. 361 00:30:30,240 --> 00:30:33,600 And that might just be because it's their life, it's their personal choice. 362 00:30:33,600 --> 00:30:38,680 And so you can essentially pick and choose, but don't get obsessed with the highlight reel 363 00:30:38,680 --> 00:30:40,560 of someone else's life. 364 00:30:40,560 --> 00:30:46,040 Because the reality is, I know many people who work extremely draining hours, whose life 365 00:30:46,040 --> 00:30:52,280 looks really good on social media, but I would not trade my life for theirs in a single second. 366 00:30:52,280 --> 00:30:57,160 All right, piece of advice number three, investing in self might be the best investment. 367 00:30:57,160 --> 00:31:03,240 And I think that this is important to learn, not just from an educational sense in pursuing 368 00:31:03,240 --> 00:31:08,520 your career, or even spending money on things that you think will help you with your career. 369 00:31:08,520 --> 00:31:14,120 I think you can take time and learn to discipline yourself with time. 370 00:31:14,120 --> 00:31:19,200 And I find that really setting boundaries and limits with the work and social media 371 00:31:19,200 --> 00:31:25,280 is important because time is your personal currency that you can then use to devote to 372 00:31:25,280 --> 00:31:27,440 things that actually interest you. 373 00:31:27,440 --> 00:31:32,840 And I think for this fourth piece of advice, it's super important to find things that 374 00:31:32,840 --> 00:31:38,360 actually interest you, but it's only going to come when you have even the smallest amount 375 00:31:38,360 --> 00:31:40,440 of time to devote to yourself. 376 00:31:40,440 --> 00:31:46,720 Even if today you only have 30 minutes, spend 30 minutes in silence, maybe spend even 10 377 00:31:46,720 --> 00:31:52,240 minutes of that 30 minutes in silence, just asking yourself what you like, what you want 378 00:31:52,240 --> 00:31:59,480 to do, and then allow yourself to engage with that joy of doing the things that you like. 379 00:31:59,480 --> 00:32:04,520 And this all ties back into the joy of missing out because all of us have a limited amount 380 00:32:04,520 --> 00:32:05,520 of time. 381 00:32:05,520 --> 00:32:09,720 I don't mean for this to get dark, but going back to that biological clock, we live on 382 00:32:09,720 --> 00:32:15,600 the earth and the earth has its own timeline, but we also have our own timeline. 383 00:32:15,600 --> 00:32:19,240 Many of us may live a long life, but some of us will not. 384 00:32:19,240 --> 00:32:25,040 And I think it's really important to understand the biological processes of our bodies, the 385 00:32:25,040 --> 00:32:30,160 rest they need in order to feel creative and nourish the relationships that we need in 386 00:32:30,160 --> 00:32:32,160 order to feel motivated. 387 00:32:32,160 --> 00:32:36,480 And I think this is a really delicate balance to maintain these days, especially when there 388 00:32:36,480 --> 00:32:43,200 are all these little earworms and trends and social media platforms vying for our attention. 389 00:32:43,200 --> 00:32:49,040 I think that really dedicating time to ourselves and exploration and pouring into ourselves 390 00:32:49,040 --> 00:32:52,600 is truly the only way out of this mess. 391 00:32:52,600 --> 00:32:59,180 And lastly, I just want to leave you with this before we go into this concept of Ikigai. 392 00:32:59,180 --> 00:33:03,520 Just because you can do something doesn't mean you necessarily should. 393 00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:08,560 And this is something that I wish I had really internalized early on in my career. 394 00:33:08,560 --> 00:33:15,320 I think sometimes people treat creatives, especially designers, like magicians, and 395 00:33:15,320 --> 00:33:20,200 I think having the talent and the skills to use a lot of different tools to read boards, 396 00:33:20,200 --> 00:33:24,760 storyboard, and create a vision is extremely powerful. 397 00:33:24,760 --> 00:33:30,000 But just because you can do something quickly or you can sell the vision of a product doesn't 398 00:33:30,000 --> 00:33:31,720 necessarily mean you should. 399 00:33:31,720 --> 00:33:36,800 None of us creates within a silo and I think it's important to take a step back to get 400 00:33:36,800 --> 00:33:42,320 to know what kind of world we want to live in and if what we're doing every day is contributing 401 00:33:42,320 --> 00:33:46,240 to that world that we want to create, that we can tolerate living in. 402 00:33:46,240 --> 00:33:51,520 So lastly, we're going to talk about this Japanese concept of Ikigai and I think this 403 00:33:51,520 --> 00:33:56,760 is really important for examining when you make your first offer. 404 00:33:56,760 --> 00:34:01,160 And if you are going on the path of freelancing, you work for yourself. 405 00:34:01,160 --> 00:34:07,040 This Japanese concept of Ikigai has become really popular and it's this mix of what you're 406 00:34:07,040 --> 00:34:11,960 good at, what you like, what people need, and what can make you money. 407 00:34:11,960 --> 00:34:15,440 Let's say that you're in a career that you don't particularly enjoy. 408 00:34:15,440 --> 00:34:18,120 That might be the piece of your life that makes you money. 409 00:34:18,120 --> 00:34:22,600 And then there are a few other buckets you can fill in terms of knowing what you're good 410 00:34:22,600 --> 00:34:25,240 at, what you like, and what people need. 411 00:34:25,240 --> 00:34:31,400 So maybe today what you spend your time investing in is just doing this journaling exercise, 412 00:34:31,400 --> 00:34:36,780 taking a walk, listening to this podcast, and really truly answering, taking the time 413 00:34:36,780 --> 00:34:40,680 to find a piece of the puzzle to all of these things. 414 00:34:40,680 --> 00:34:45,060 And I think it's important to understand that you're not going to know right away. 415 00:34:45,060 --> 00:34:50,120 This is not a question to be answered overnight, but the beauty of this is we can keep on returning 416 00:34:50,120 --> 00:34:51,440 to these questions. 417 00:34:51,440 --> 00:34:53,240 What am I good at? 418 00:34:53,240 --> 00:34:54,240 What do I like? 419 00:34:54,240 --> 00:34:55,240 What do people need? 420 00:34:55,240 --> 00:34:56,440 What can make me money? 421 00:34:56,440 --> 00:35:02,120 And over time, the hope is that we can create our own individual sense of balance that fulfills 422 00:35:02,120 --> 00:35:07,720 all these needs and reaches back to a broader sense of value that isn't necessarily based 423 00:35:07,720 --> 00:35:13,600 on just maximizing profit or increasing shareholder yields. 424 00:35:13,600 --> 00:35:15,680 It's going to pour back into us. 425 00:35:15,680 --> 00:35:20,520 And I think this is really important because you're only early in your career for so long 426 00:35:20,520 --> 00:35:24,920 and then suddenly you're mid-weight and then you're senior and then you're the creative 427 00:35:24,920 --> 00:35:25,920 director. 428 00:35:25,920 --> 00:35:30,200 I think it's important to recognize that we are always the creative director of our own 429 00:35:30,200 --> 00:35:33,320 lives and that starts with right now. 430 00:35:33,320 --> 00:35:37,640 That starts with today, the types of thoughts that we tell ourselves, the types of habits 431 00:35:37,640 --> 00:35:39,200 we engage with. 432 00:35:39,200 --> 00:35:45,680 And I think it can be a lot more simple than we make it out to be. 433 00:35:45,680 --> 00:35:51,600 That is my episode today on self-care for creatives when it's time to reassess and revisit 434 00:35:51,600 --> 00:35:52,600 and revise. 435 00:35:52,600 --> 00:35:58,480 I would love to hear from you and what you have done in your life if you're creative, 436 00:35:58,480 --> 00:36:03,080 if you've worked in burnout creative roles, or if you've found the perfect balance. 437 00:36:03,080 --> 00:36:08,300 I would venture to guess that not many people have, but we're all working on this together 438 00:36:08,300 --> 00:36:15,360 and I find that online community is so important in finding your true-knowers and finding a 439 00:36:15,360 --> 00:36:19,360 sense of strength in making the right decisions for you. 440 00:36:19,360 --> 00:36:23,840 If you could please give this episode a like or five stars, follow it. 441 00:36:23,840 --> 00:36:29,280 Wherever you listen to this podcast is now available on all streaming platforms. 442 00:36:29,280 --> 00:36:34,760 And if you have any more questions about branding and design, you can listen to the other episodes 443 00:36:34,760 --> 00:36:41,160 in this series and most of all, you can always visit my website, juliaaspero.me. 444 00:36:41,160 --> 00:36:46,240 J-U-L-I-A-E as in elephant, S-P-E-R-O dot me. 445 00:36:46,240 --> 00:37:05,920 Alright, thank you for listening to the pool party and I will talk to you next time.