Nancy Norbeck's Blog

Is multitasking real? Possible? It depends on your definition, but I’d rather talk about how the attempt affects us—why we feel so pushed to do it, and what’s the price we pay? I’m sharing my thoughts in this short episode.

If watching your kids build a pillow fort makes you wonder where the heck that zany, wild, playful part of yourself went…we should talk.

Want more tips? Check out this playlist with all my previous Creative Pep Talks!

Could you leave a review? It’s really easy, and it helps SO much. Thanks!

Join my free creative community, The Spark! We celebrate each other’s creative courage, and I’ll be sharing programs for subscribers and listeners there in the coming months.

Get in Touch

I’d love to hear your feedback, questions, and experience with these ideas! Send me a note at fycuriosity.com, or contact me on Instagram, or Bluesky.

Subscribe!

You can subscribe to Follow Your Curiosity via the handy links at the top of the page for Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, TuneIn, and YouTube. If you enjoyed the episode, don’t forget to tell your friends!

Please note: This is an unedited transcript, provided as a courtesy, and reflects the actual conversation as closely as possible. Please forgive any typographical or grammatical errors.

Nancy Norbeck [00:00:06]:
Welcome to follow your curiosity, ordinary people, extraordinary creativity. Here’s how to get unstuck. I’m your host creativity coach, Nancy Norbeck. Let’s go. You remember when multitasking was new? About thirty years ago when Windows came out and you could have more than one thing running at the same time and woah, what an awesome thing that was. I remember that really well. I’m Nancy Norbeck with this create with I’m Nancy Norbeck with this week’s Creative Pep Talk. And here’s the thing.

Nancy Norbeck [00:00:38]:
I don’t think any of us could have predicted thirty years ago the effect of multitasking. Most of us were quite content being, as Alton Brown would say, unitaskers, doing one thing at a time. Maybe we got a little bit impatient waiting for something to finish running its course or whatever, but for the most part, I don’t think that anybody was really, really itching to be trying to do 30 things at the same time. Raise your hand if you recognize that one, because I think that’s probably most of us. Here in 2025, we live with this illusion that we should all be doing 18 things at the same time with, you know, multiple sets of arms and legs to somehow make that happen. But the truth is brain science tells us that multitasking is a myth. As much as many of us want to tell ourselves that we can actually accomplish two things at once, we just can’t, at least not well. And and really, I think that’s an illusion that we actually can do more than one thing at a time.

Nancy Norbeck [00:01:43]:
Your brain can only focus on one thing at a time. Now if you’re switching back and forth every couple seconds, it may feel to you like you’re doing multiple things at the same time, but I don’t think that’s the truth of it. And honestly, from a perspective of 2025 versus, say, the early nineties, I feel like multitasking is just another way to try to get more and more labor from the same exhausted person without any extra compensation, acknowledgement, rest time, anything like that. Because if you’re trying to do 18 things at the same time, you are going to need to rest. The thing is this belief in multitasking has become so normalized over the last thirty years that even creative folks seem to think that we should be able to do multiple things at the same time. And we just can’t. We may have multiple projects that we’re working on at any given moment, But that’s, you know, this painting today, that painting tomorrow, working on getting them ready to go into the gallery the day after that. It’s it should not be I mean, you don’t know any painters who are really painting with both hands doing two different paintings at the same time.

Nancy Norbeck [00:03:00]:
Right? I mean, even that image as I dream it up sounds ridiculous right on its face. Because it doesn’t make any sense. If you are devoting your attention to a creative thing, you wanna be devoting your attention to that thing and not trying to figure out five other things at the same time. Now that doesn’t mean that while you’re painting, you may, somewhere in the back of your head, be contemplating your grocery list, but you’re still primarily focusing on that painting and probably only distracting yourself in moments when you can kind of go on autopilot. My point with all of this is that multitasking is a myth and it’s one that we hold ourselves to, to our detriment. If you are the kind of person who chronically tries to do too many things, and honestly, I suspect that’s most of us at this point, I really want to encourage you to give yourself permission, because at this point, I think we need it, to focus on one. Focus on one thing you really want to pay attention to and do it really well. Now, the catch is that because we have been so trained to scatter our attention everywhere, which brings up my perpetual question, is it really ADHD or is it that our attention spans have been destroyed? And I don’t know that we will ever know the answer and it probably doesn’t matter because the symptoms are the same.

Nancy Norbeck [00:04:30]:
It may be really, really hard to say I’m going to just work on this thing for this period of time. And part of the reason that I think that’s true is the multitasking I strongly suspect has become a way for us to totally dissociate from everything else that’s going on in our lives. If we are that busy, we do not have to sit down and actually feel what we feel. And the thought of having to do that may be deeply uncomfortable. It could be that the first time you sit down to try to work on just one thing, you last thirty seconds. It wouldn’t surprise me if that’s most people. But the more we do it, the more determined we are to retrain our focus, the easier I think it’s gonna get over time and the happier I think we will be. Because I don’t think we realize how much this illusion of too much busyness has eaten away at our happiness, our souls, our relationships, the whole thing.

Nancy Norbeck [00:05:42]:
So this is my plea and my permission for you to actually take a break and pick one thing that you want to focus on and give yourself permission not to worry about anything else for that time. Start with five minutes and see if that’s enough and if it’s too much. And you can always adjust the amount of time and keep adjusting it. But I have a feeling that your whole soul and probably your body too is gonna breathe a huge sigh of relief when you try it. The more you do it, the better it’s gonna feel. And remember, this is the way we all used to be back before technology made all of these multiplicities possible. So I hope you’ll give that a try. I have a follow-up coming up next time that I think you’ll be interested in, and good luck to you whatever you end up doing.

Nancy Norbeck [00:06:35]:
See you next time. If this episode resonated with you, or if you’re feeling a little bit less than confident in your creative process right now, join me at the spark on Substack as we form a community that supports and celebrates each other’s creative courage. It’s free, and it’s also where I’ll be adding programs for subscribers and listeners. The link is in your podcast app, so sign up today. See you there, and see you next week. Follow Your Curiosity is produced by me, Nancy Norbeck, with music by Joseph McDade. If you like Follow Your Curiosity, please subscribe, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And don’t forget to tell your friends.

Nancy Norbeck [00:07:14]:
It really helps me reach new listeners. Norbeck [00:00:06]:
Welcome to Follow Your Curiosity. Ordinary people, extraordinary creativity. Here’s how to get unstuck. I’m your host, creativity coach, Nancy Norbeck. Let’s go. Hey listeners. This is Nancy Norbeck and we’re here for this week’s Creative Pep Talk. But first, I want to make sure that you know that my anti perfectionism course, Make Bad Art is coming back starting October 14. I would love to see you there because most of us have at least a little bit of perfectionism these days.

Nancy Norbeck [00:00:38]:
It doesn’t have to look like an obsession with getting everything right. It can look like wanting all of the things that you need to be correct before you get started. It can look like not starting at all because you don’t think that you will do a good enough job. It can also just look like a heck of a lot of self judgment. You know, those nasty voices in your head. So if you are really tired of your inner critic running amok in your head and you are ready to confine it to quarters, Make Bad Art is the course for you. And if you sign up at the link that is in the show notes or below this video and use the code PODCAST, all in caps, you’ll get a $100 off. I hope to see you there.

Nancy Norbeck [00:01:18]:
If you have any questions at all, get in touch and I will do my best to answer and give you an honest answer on whether or not this course is right for you. So with that, here’s our podcast. Remember when you were a little kid and you sat in somebody’s car, possibly on somebody’s lap, depending on how big you were and sat in a parking lot or a driveway playing with the steering wheel. I’m driving to California. I’m driving to New York. Maybe if you were especially ambitious, I’m driving to Australia. Anything like that. You remember how that was, that person that you were with was a trusted adult and they let you sit there and play with the car because they knew you couldn’t reach the gas and they knew the car was properly parked and the ignition was not on.

Nancy Norbeck [00:02:10]:
I think almost every kid has done this in some way, shape or form, even if it’s just pretending that they’re in a car. Here’s the thing you ever notice? How far did you get in that car? You didn’t get very far. And the reason for that on top of the fact that you were a small child is that you cannot steer a parked car. You can’t steer a car that has no ignition, where you can’t reach the gas pedal, and that’s in park. It doesn’t work. That’s one of my friends, Sandy Parker Martinez’s favorite sayings. And she’s so correct. You can’t steer a parked car.

Nancy Norbeck [00:02:50]:
You can’t go anywhere that way. But a lot of us love to get in the car like we’re little kids and pretend that we are doing things to make progress. But we don’t have any gas. We don’t have any ignition. And we don’t really have the confidence to steer that car when it’s not in park. Now, the key to this is not only to have those three things, but also, you know, taking action can be hard. It can be really rough when you haven’t done it for a while or when it’s your first time with a big project. And a lot of the time we think that we have to do it all at once.

Nancy Norbeck [00:03:37]:
We have to take this enormous step out. You know, we have to do all of the things all the time. What happens in your brain when you think that way is that you completely freak yourself out, which turns off the ignition, makes sure you can’t reach the gas and, you know, leaves you in park forever. So I want to encourage you today to take some kind of small action in whatever way it is that feels doable to you. Not that feels enormous. Not that feels like I’m going to be super ambitious and do everything. No, no, something small, something you can do in just a couple of minutes. Cause here’s the thing, shorter rungs on the ladder, smaller steps, get us farther faster than trying to take that giant leap.

Nancy Norbeck [00:04:34]:
They always have, they always will because it’s easier to feel the progress or to put it in more of a modern parlance. You get a little dopamine rush for every small step you take. And so you want to keep doing them. Whereas that big step is scary and intimidating and probably more than you can chew at one time. So I would encourage you to find a small step and do it. If you’re really clever, you could map out two or three, but only plan to do one of them at a time. Two and three will, will happen on their own. The only reason that I suggest that you plan them out is if you’re the kind of person who’s gonna get to the end of that first step and go now what? Right.

Nancy Norbeck [00:05:20]:
But probably if you have a big thing that you wanna work on, you, you know what those steps are. So take the chance on a tiny step as counterintuitive as it sounds. And I can pretty much guarantee you you’re gonna get a whole lot further because that tiny step will be enough to get your foot on the gas, to turn on the ignition and to take the car out of park. Not necessarily in that order, but you get what I’m saying. It’s enough to start the process. And as the cliche goes, once the ball starts rolling, it’s harder to stop it. So what’s the smallest step you’re going to take today this week. What’s that tiny step.

Nancy Norbeck [00:06:03]:
What would make you feel better? Feel like you got started and get that ball and that car in motion. Give it a try. Let me know how it goes. And I really hope that I’ll see you and make bad art. If this episode resonated with you, or if you’re feeling a little bit less than confident in your creative process right now, join me at the spark on Substack as we form a community that supports and celebrates each other’s creative courage. It’s free, and it’s also where I’ll be adding programs for subscribers and listeners. The link is in your podcast app, so sign up today. See you there, and see you next week.

Nancy Norbeck [00:06:42]:
Follow Your Curiosity is produced by me, Nancy Norbeck, with music by Joseph McDade. If you like Follow Your Curiosity, please subscribe, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And don’t forget to tell your friends. It really helps me reach new listeners.

It can be one of the hardest things to convince ourselves to do when the voices of doubt, self-judgment, and perfectionism are up to their old tricks, but it really is important to take action, not just think about it. I’ll tell you why—and how—in this short episode.

If watching your kids build a pillow fort makes you wonder where the heck that zany, wild, playful part of yourself went…it’s time to Make Bad Art. Doors are open now for a new cohort starting on October 14. (Use code PODCAST for $100 off!)

Want more tips? Check out this playlist with all my previous Creative Pep Talks!

Could you leave a review? It’s really easy, and it helps SO much. Thanks!

Join my free creative community, The Spark! We celebrate each other’s creative courage, and I’ll be sharing programs for subscribers and listeners there in the coming months.

Get in Touch

I’d love to hear your feedback, questions, and experience with these ideas! Send me a note at fycuriosity.com, or contact me on Instagram, or Bluesky.

Subscribe!

You can subscribe to Follow Your Curiosity via the handy links at the top of the page for Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, TuneIn, and YouTube. If you enjoyed the episode, don’t forget to tell your friends!

Please note: This is an unedited transcript, provided as a courtesy, and reflects the actual conversation as closely as possible. Please forgive any typographical or grammatical errors.

Nancy Norbeck [00:00:06]:
Welcome to Follow Your Curiosity. Ordinary people, extraordinary creativity. Here’s how to get unstuck. I’m your host, creativity coach, Nancy Norbeck. Let’s go. Hey listeners. This is Nancy Norbeck and we’re here for this week’s Creative Pep Talk. But first, I want to make sure that you know that my anti perfectionism course, Make Bad Art is coming back starting October 14. I would love to see you there because most of us have at least a little bit of perfectionism these days.

Nancy Norbeck [00:00:38]:
It doesn’t have to look like an obsession with getting everything right. It can look like wanting all of the things that you need to be correct before you get started. It can look like not starting at all because you don’t think that you will do a good enough job. It can also just look like a heck of a lot of self judgment. You know, those nasty voices in your head. So if you are really tired of your inner critic running amok in your head and you are ready to confine it to quarters, Make Bad Art is the course for you. And if you sign up at the link that is in the show notes or below this video and use the code PODCAST, all in caps, you’ll get a $100 off. I hope to see you there.

Nancy Norbeck [00:01:18]:
If you have any questions at all, get in touch and I will do my best to answer and give you an honest answer on whether or not this course is right for you. So with that, here’s our podcast. Remember when you were a little kid and you sat in somebody’s car, possibly on somebody’s lap, depending on how big you were and sat in a parking lot or a driveway playing with the steering wheel. I’m driving to California. I’m driving to New York. Maybe if you were especially ambitious, I’m driving to Australia. Anything like that. You remember how that was, that person that you were with was a trusted adult and they let you sit there and play with the car because they knew you couldn’t reach the gas and they knew the car was properly parked and the ignition was not on.

Nancy Norbeck [00:02:10]:
I think almost every kid has done this in some way, shape or form, even if it’s just pretending that they’re in a car. Here’s the thing you ever notice? How far did you get in that car? You didn’t get very far. And the reason for that on top of the fact that you were a small child is that you cannot steer a parked car. You can’t steer a car that has no ignition, where you can’t reach the gas pedal, and that’s in park. It doesn’t work. That’s one of my friends, Sandy Parker Martinez’s favorite sayings. And she’s so correct. You can’t steer a parked car.

Nancy Norbeck [00:02:50]:
You can’t go anywhere that way. But a lot of us love to get in the car like we’re little kids and pretend that we are doing things to make progress. But we don’t have any gas. We don’t have any ignition. And we don’t really have the confidence to steer that car when it’s not in park. Now, the key to this is not only to have those three things, but also, you know, taking action can be hard. It can be really rough when you haven’t done it for a while or when it’s your first time with a big project. And a lot of the time we think that we have to do it all at once.

Nancy Norbeck [00:03:37]:
We have to take this enormous step out. You know, we have to do all of the things all the time. What happens in your brain when you think that way is that you completely freak yourself out, which turns off the ignition, makes sure you can’t reach the gas and, you know, leaves you in park forever. So I want to encourage you today to take some kind of small action in whatever way it is that feels doable to you. Not that feels enormous. Not that feels like I’m going to be super ambitious and do everything. No, no, something small, something you can do in just a couple of minutes. Cause here’s the thing, shorter rungs on the ladder, smaller steps, get us farther faster than trying to take that giant leap.

Nancy Norbeck [00:04:34]:
They always have, they always will because it’s easier to feel the progress or to put it in more of a modern parlance. You get a little dopamine rush for every small step you take. And so you want to keep doing them. Whereas that big step is scary and intimidating and probably more than you can chew at one time. So I would encourage you to find a small step and do it. If you’re really clever, you could map out two or three, but only plan to do one of them at a time. Two and three will, will happen on their own. The only reason that I suggest that you plan them out is if you’re the kind of person who’s gonna get to the end of that first step and go now what? Right.

Nancy Norbeck [00:05:20]:
But probably if you have a big thing that you wanna work on, you, you know what those steps are. So take the chance on a tiny step as counterintuitive as it sounds. And I can pretty much guarantee you you’re gonna get a whole lot further because that tiny step will be enough to get your foot on the gas, to turn on the ignition and to take the car out of park. Not necessarily in that order, but you get what I’m saying. It’s enough to start the process. And as the cliche goes, once the ball starts rolling, it’s harder to stop it. So what’s the smallest step you’re going to take today this week. What’s that tiny step.

Nancy Norbeck [00:06:03]:
What would make you feel better? Feel like you got started and get that ball and that car in motion. Give it a try. Let me know how it goes. And I really hope that I’ll see you and make bad art. If this episode resonated with you, or if you’re feeling a little bit less than confident in your creative process right now, join me at the spark on Substack as we form a community that supports and celebrates each other’s creative courage. It’s free, and it’s also where I’ll be adding programs for subscribers and listeners. The link is in your podcast app, so sign up today. See you there, and see you next week.

Nancy Norbeck [00:06:42]:
Follow Your Curiosity is produced by me, Nancy Norbeck, with music by Joseph McDade. If you like Follow Your Curiosity, please subscribe, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And don’t forget to tell your friends. It really helps me reach new listeners.

You’ve probably heard someone describe a performance as “electric,” or “electrifying,” and may even have used that term yourself. But how does that kind of performance happen, and what does it have to tell you about your creative practice? I’ll tell you in this short episode.

If watching your kids build a pillow fort makes you wonder where the heck that zany, wild, playful part of yourself went…it’s time to Make Bad Art. Doors are open now for a new cohort starting on September 29.

Want more tips? Check out this playlist with all my previous Creative Pep Talks!

Could you leave a review? It’s really easy, and it helps SO much. Thanks!

Join my free creative community, The Spark! We celebrate each other’s creative courage, and I’ll be sharing programs for subscribers and listeners there in the coming months.

Get in Touch

I’d love to hear your feedback, questions, and experience with these ideas! Send me a note at fycuriosity.com, or contact me on Instagram, or Bluesky.

Subscribe!

You can subscribe to Follow Your Curiosity via the handy links at the top of the page for Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, TuneIn, and YouTube. If you enjoyed the episode, don’t forget to tell your friends!

Please note: This is an unedited transcript, provided as a courtesy, and reflects the actual conversation as closely as possible. Please forgive any typographical or grammatical errors.

Nancy Norbeck [00:00:06]:
Welcome to follow your curiosity, ordinary people, extraordinary creativity. Here’s how to get unstuck. I’m your host creativity coach, Nancy Norbeck. Let’s go. Have you ever heard someone describe your performance as electric? Hi. I’m Nancy, and I’m here with this week’s Creative Pep Talk. And, you know, when when I think of an electric performance, and I think we’ve probably all experienced this at one time or another, though probably not on a routine basis, one of the first things that happens is that I literally feel the hair on my arm stand up. The memory of that experience and what it means causes this physical response, which is not generally what we associate with a performance.

Nancy Norbeck [00:00:52]:
You know, most things that we hear on the radio or see on TV or whatever, it’s it’s a thing on TV. But when we experience something that causes that kind of a reaction in us, the word electric is not coincidental because what does that feel like? It feels like something that makes the hair on your arm stand up, which is also exactly what happens if you take a balloon and you rub it against a piece of fabric for a couple of minutes and you hold it close to your arm because that’s the electricity. The static electricity does that. If you’ve ever been in a position to have a nerve conduction test as I have, you know what that feels like as it zaps along your nerves. It’s all very similar. And the thing is, our nerves and our nervous system are such an important part of who we are. I don’t know about you, but I am hearing more about nervous system in the last year or two than I ever have in my life up until then. So why do we call these artistic moments electric, and what makes something electric? I think that it’s because the performer is so in that moment, so one with whatever they’re doing, the song they’re singing, the character they’re portraying, could even be a lecture.

Nancy Norbeck [00:02:15]:
It doesn’t have to be an artistic experience. But they are so into it. They are so impassioned about it that you can’t help but pick it up in response. And the way that they get there is by not worrying about what anybody else thinks about what they’re gonna say or how they’re gonna say it, and going with how they feel, with how that aliveness inside them guides them to make that speech, that performance, you know, to play that particular piece of music. I think that these moments don’t actually have to be as rare as they tend to be for us. I think that any of us who get caught up in that aliveness, who really start to feel the thing that we are working with can achieve that electricity of performance. And it could be anything. You know, It could be the process of helping your kids solve a problem.

Nancy Norbeck [00:03:17]:
It could also be standing up on stage and doing something that doesn’t even necessarily have to be amazing. I think it’s much more about how it feels both for you and the audience. In any case, I was thinking about this electricity thing because I’m very interested in aliveness. I think that our modern culture has drained a lot of our aliveness out of us, which is why we tend to feel like we’re just going through the motions, walking around like zombies, waiting for something to mean something to us again. So if that’s how you’ve been feeling, I really hope that you’ll start to think about where where you can find the things that light you up, because being lit up and aliveness and that electricity of the moment are all very closely interrelated. What lights you up special what lights you up that you haven’t been doing, And can you do more of that thing? I hope you’ll think about it. And even more, I hope that you’ll do it. And I hope that if you do, you’ll let me know how it goes.

Nancy Norbeck [00:04:23]:
Until then, I will see you next time. If this episode resonated with you or if you’re feeling a little bit less than confident in your creative process right now, join me at the spark on Substack as we form a community that supports and celebrates each other’s creative courage. It’s free, and it’s also where I’ll be adding programs for subscribers and listeners. The link is in your podcast app, so sign up today. See you there, and see you next week. Follow Your Curiosity is produced by me, Nancy Norbeck, with music by Joseph McDade. If you like Follow Your Curiosity, please subscribe, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And don’t forget to tell your friends. It really helps me reach new listeners.

In Western culture, we don’t often think of creativity as something controlled, but the truth is, there’s a place for chaos and control in our creative process. In this slightly-longer-than-usual pep talk, I give a couple examples of the push-pull of chaos and control, and how they can both be helpful–and detrimental–to our creative work, and why it’s worth experimenting with a little more of one if you’re used to working primarily with the other.

Want more tips? Check out this playlist with all my previous Creative Pep Talks!

Could you leave a review? It’s really easy, and it helps SO much. Thanks!

Join my free creative community, The Spark! We celebrate each other’s creative courage, and I’ll be sharing programs for subscribers and listeners there in the coming months.

Get in Touch

I’d love to hear your feedback, questions, and experience with these ideas! Send me a note at fycuriosity.com, or contact me on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.

Subscribe!

You can subscribe to Follow Your Curiosity via the handy links at the top of the page for Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, TuneIn, and YouTube. If you enjoyed the episode, don’t forget to tell your friends!

Please note: This is an unedited transcript, provided as a courtesy, and reflects the actual conversation as closely as possible. Please forgive any typographical or grammatical errors.

Nancy Norbeck [00:00:06]:
Welcome to Follow Your Curiosity. Ordinary people, extraordinary creativity. Here’s how to get unstuck. I’m your host, creativity coach, Nancy Norbeck. Let’s go. Hey, everybody. Just a quick announcement before we get started. I am currently in the home stretch of putting together my upcoming Make Bad Art group program, which will be starting in about a month.

Nancy Norbeck [00:00:30]:
Make Bad Art is the anti-MBA. It’s a safe place to come unlearn all those things you’re taught you have to have as an adult. Things like stress, perfection, and conformity. So you can reclaim the inner wild, curious, creative kid who’s always been inside you. The one who knows how to play, invent, have fun, and live with abandon and joy. It’s a playground for the liberation of your inner artist and your authentic self, and the effects will go beyond the class container if you let them. I’ll be posting more very very soon on the Spark, my newsletter. So subscribe to get the details as soon as they’re available.

Nancy Norbeck [00:01:10]:
We’d love to have you, and there’s a link right in your show notes. Hope to see you there. Hey, everybody. This is Nancy Norbeck here with this week’s Creative Pep Talk. And, you know, I’ve been doing these for three and a half years, I think. And in that time, it’s kind of amazing to me, the things that I’ve talked about and the things that I haven’t. And this morning, I had a conversation with someone, and we were we were talking about creativity in general. And he mentioned how in Asia, the arts are taught very differently than they are here.

Nancy Norbeck [00:01:49]:
And he gave the example of Asian art classes teaching by having students reproduce the same painting over and over and over again to an exacting standard, which is the opposite of how we in the West tend to think that art should be taught. We tend to think that it should be very free and creative and, well, creative. What’s the definition of creative? You know, but but that it should be very free and free form and flowing and whatever. Now if you listened to my first interview with Domenic Sciortino about his experience in art school, you might think that perhaps the 2 are not so different. Perhaps if you went to art school, your experience may reflect his and a little bit more of the Asian art experience. But the point was the point that he made is that the this person that I was talking to this morning was that the philosophy is that you must protect perfect the technique first in order to have the skill built up, to be able to know how and when to break the rules. And, you know, if you have been listening to this podcast for a while and are familiar with your friendly neighborhood creativity coach here, you might come to the conclusion that she would be against this, this philosophy. And in in initial knee jerk reaction, you might not really be wrong about that.

Nancy Norbeck [00:03:30]:
But the thing is, multiple things can be true at the same time. There is definitely room for that point of view. And if you think about it, many things in life, we learn first by imitation. You learn handwriting by imitation. Your goal, or at least a zillion years ago when I was in elementary school, is to imitate those letters as closely as possible while you’re learning them. So that, you know, when you learn your own handwriting style, everybody can still read it. Right? Everybody’s signature is unique to them, but we can still usually, hopefully, at least in the early stages, read each one. Certain doctors, not so much.

Nancy Norbeck [00:04:23]:
But in theory, we can read everybody’s signature even though they’re different. So so there is some merit to that idea. And this had me thinking today about one of my high school English teachers, because my 1st year in high school, freshman year, I had an English teacher who is, is all right. He had us do some creative writing. I was pretty happy in his class. My second year in high school, 10th grade was my favorite year in high school because I really, really liked my English teacher. He was sort of like a second dad to me in some respects and certainly a writing mentor and lots of lots of creative writing, lots of interesting conversations about writing and reading and all sorts of good stuff. And we’ve stayed in touch for a very long time.

Nancy Norbeck [00:05:13]:
And then then we hit junior year and it was a very, very different year. That year started off with 2 solid weeks of writing about the only summer reading I had to do in high school, which so first of all, that was to strike against this teacher before we even started the year. And the summer reading that we did led to a couple of essays, which then became the basis of the most rigorous grammar boot camp of my entire life. To say that my class was thrilled about this would be one of the biggest overstatements in the history of the universe. And after the last couple of years, that’s saying something. So so we suffered through this, though I have to say to his credit that for the first time in my life, I really truly knew which grammatical terms went with which grammatical constructions. So fair play to him for that. Now how useful is that in the real world? I don’t really know.

Nancy Norbeck [00:06:24]:
I’m the kind of of kid–was the kind of kid, maybe still am–and the kind of writer who just kind of instinctively understood how these things worked. So knowing the difference between a gerund and a predicate nominative didn’t really make much of a difference to me. Knowing what it was called. Didn’t help me use it any more or less effectively. Now, if you had told me back then that one day being able to use all of those things was going to mean that not only did I become a really good writing teacher and eventually end up being hired to and being a very good copy editor and proofreader. I don’t know if that would have impressed me when I was 16 years old, but it’s true. But that year we did no creative writing and boy did it wrinkle. I mean, to say that I hated that year’s class would be a gross understatement.

Nancy Norbeck [00:07:35]:
I mean, I hated that class. You know? When I think back to that class, I just imagine myself shooting invisible daggers out of my eyes the entire time I was in that class, which is why I will not name this teacher to protect the guilty. But, but, yeah, you know, it it it was it was a jarring experience, I think, for most of us in my class because that’s not what we were used to. And what I remember hearing from an older student who had had his class previously, because previous classes loved this guy, was that he didn’t want us doing creative writing. Why? Because we would use it as an excuse to break the rules. So was he actually going for the idea that we had to learn the technique first before we would know how to break the rules? I don’t know. It’s been a long time, 30 odd years. So I couldn’t say.

Nancy Norbeck [00:08:48]:
Given the experience that we had, where we had ample evidence that he actually really didn’t like our class, I’m not particularly inclined to give him too much of the benefit of the doubt, but maybe I’m wrong. I don’t know. But the fact remains that there’s a level of chaos that is inherent to creativity that you need to bring to k to creativity. If you try to control creativity too much, you’re gonna kill it. You just are. You’ll take all the joy out of it and and you take all of the experimentation out of it. And at that point, it’s no longer creative. But if you let the chaos run too rampant, then you’ve got other issues.

Nancy Norbeck [00:09:40]:
So it’s kind of like you’re trying to drive, you know, a cart or a stagecoach or some, you know, pre internal combustion engine vehicle with 2 horses. And you gotta have the 2 horses in sync. You have to balance the horse that is the chaos with the horse that is the control. 2 things can apply at the same time, even if they seem to be polar opposites. And you have to have just enough of each of them. And it may not be an equal amount in any given situation. Think about it. When you’re gonna turn, you have to have a little bit more of one than the other in order to successfully turn your vehicle.

Nancy Norbeck [00:10:24]:
But you have to have the right balance in order to make it go, in order to make it work. And in order to make it happen without either grinding your vehicle to a halt or turning it over in the middle of a street or over a canyon. Right? So so they’re both part of the equation. There is a merit to the idea of being meticulous about learning your technique before you let in the chaos. And there is merit to the idea of being completely chaotic and learning how to reign in the chaos, the chaos with a little control. It really depends on what suits your personal style best. If you’re a more chaotic person, you may need to let it run wild and then figure out how to tame it. And if you’re more of a controlled person, you may need to learn the basics and the technique and all that stuff first, and then slowly learn to let in the chaos.

Nancy Norbeck [00:11:26]:
I suspect in the writing world, we call the more chaotic people the the pantsers, and we call the more controlled people the plotters. It may not actually map out that that neatly. I don’t know. I’ve never studied it, but it’s possible. But my point is you need both. Don’t be afraid of either one. So if you’ve been afraid to be a little more controlled, maybe give it a try. If you’ve always been super controlled and you’re afraid to be a little bit more chaotic, let a little chaos in and see what happens.

Nancy Norbeck [00:12:02]:
It’s probably not going to be the end of the world either way. And it’s always good to try something new and see what it brings to your process and what you can learn from it. And it may be that you’ve done a little too much and that’s okay too. You can always scale it back. You can always try just a little bit more. It’s why we talk about small steps and we talk about learning from failure. So give it a whirl. 2 things can be true and even necessary at the same time, even from opposite ends of the spectrum, And they will enhance your process as long as you don’t let them get too out of hand.

Nancy Norbeck [00:12:42]:
So let me know how it goes. And with that, I’ll see you next time. If this episode resonated with you or if you’re feeling a little bit less than confident in your creative process right now, join me at the spark on Substack as we form a community that supports and celebrates each other’s creative courage. It’s free and it’s also where I’ll be adding programs for subscribers and listeners. The link is in your podcast app, so sign up today. See you there and see you next week. Follow Your Curiosity is produced by me, Nancy Norbeck, with music by Joseph McDade. If you like Follow Your Curiosity, please subscribe, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

Nancy Norbeck [00:13:23]:
And don’t forget to tell your friends. It really helps me reach new listeners.

All those little things you think are weird about you? They’re the things that make you unique. That make you stand out. It’s time you embrace your weird instead of running from it. I’ll tell you why in this short episode.

If you’re tired of waiting for “someday”—which is NOT a day of the week—to get unstuck and step toward your creative dream, let’s talk! 

Want more tips? Check out this playlist with all my previous Creative Pep Talks!

Could you leave a review? It’s really easy, and it helps SO much. Thanks!

Join my free creative community, The Spark! We celebrate each other’s creative courage, and I’ll be sharing programs for subscribers and listeners there in the coming months.

Get in Touch

I’d love to hear your feedback, questions, and experience with these ideas! Send me a note at fycuriosity.com, or contact me on Instagram, or Bluesky.

Subscribe!

You can subscribe to Follow Your Curiosity via the handy links at the top of the page for Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, TuneIn, and YouTube. If you enjoyed the episode, don’t forget to tell your friends!

Please note: This is an unedited transcript, provided as a courtesy, and reflects the actual conversation as closely as possible. Please forgive any typographical or grammatical errors.

Nancy Norbeck [00:00:06]:
Welcome to Follow Your Curiosity. Ordinary people, extraordinary creativity. Here’s how to get unstuck. I’m your host creativity coach, Nancy Norbeck. Let’s go. When you approach your creative work, do you embrace your weird? Hi. I’m Nancy with this week’s Creative Pep Talk. And, you know, I’ve been thinking about all of the strange kinds of things that we judge ourselves for creatively and how a lot of the time, the things that we think are weird or quirky or unusual, we expect to be off putting to other people. But a lot of the time, that’s really, really not true.

Nancy Norbeck [00:00:46]:
Those things that are unusual and strange about us, a lot of the time, are what make us unique and appealing, and we discount them at our peril. I have seen plenty of interesting art, quirky writing, all sorts of unusual photography. You name it. It’s out there. And what makes it so intriguing is that it comes at what it’s doing from an angle that no one else can. And that’s true for all of us. We all have our own strange things that make us different from everybody else, whether it’s the kind of art that we prefer or the fandom that we’re a part of or something else. Everything about us is an unique combination of factors that make us all different.

Nancy Norbeck [00:01:40]:
And I know that to a degree that’s obvious, but the fact is that a lot of creative folks tend to totally judge themselves based on all of these things and decide that their work is too strange or that they’re too strange, and that gets in their way. And that’s even true when it comes to actually sitting down to do our work. A very long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, when I was an undergrad, I worked as a writing center tutor on campus. We had to go through about a week’s worth of training, and they put us into small groups so that we could get to know each other and get to know how we each approached writing differently. It was such an eye opener for me because I was pretty much, I’m just going to sit down and write, which is about as boring as it gets, but it works. Right? But other people in my group had weird little rituals that they had to go through in order to feel like they were ready to write. One of them had to clean the room, just could not stand having any kind of clutter anywhere because it it distracted them. Now, obviously, that’s the kind of thing where if you take it too far and you have to do a deep clean of your entire house, that’s probably an avoidance tactic.

Nancy Norbeck [00:02:57]:
But if it’s just, I need my space to be this way and it will take me five minutes and I’ll get it done and then I’ll be able to write, that’s not a problem. There was another guy in the group who loved to thumb through cookbooks before he started writing. And, you know, with no expectation of actually sitting down and making the things that he was looking at, I have a feeling that for him, it was the act of imagining all of those things in the cookbook, all of those different ingredients coming together in a particular way, looking at the pictures, all of that. I suspect that it activated his creative brain. And once he had looked through a couple of pages, and it didn’t have to be in great detail, he was good. He was ready to write. The more we judge ourselves about weird little foibles that we think just make us weirdos, which is a very judgmental term that we tend to use a lot, the harder we make it for ourselves to create. So I invite you to let your freak flag fly in whatever way applies to you.

Nancy Norbeck [00:04:04]:
I’m thrilled that I managed to say that without tripping over it. Embrace what makes you different and unique. It is your your distinguishing factor as a creative, as a human being, in any capacity that you participate in. It’s not a bad thing. Embrace it, own it, run with it, and it will serve you well. If this episode resonated with you or if you’re feeling a little bit less than confident in your creative process right now, join me at the spark on Substack as we form a community that supports and celebrates each other’s creative courage. It’s free, and it’s also where I’ll be adding programs for subscribers and listeners. The link is in your podcast app, so sign up today.

Nancy Norbeck [00:04:50]:
See you there, and see you next week. Follow Your Curiosity is produced by me, Nancy Norbeck, with music by Joseph McDade. If you like Follow Your Curiosity, please subscribe, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And don’t forget to tell your friends. It really helps me reach new listeners.

All those little things you think are weird about you? They’re the things that make you unique. That make you stand out. It’s time you embrace your weird instead of running from it. I’ll tell you why in this short episode.

If you’re tired of waiting for “someday”—which is NOT a day of the week—to get unstuck and step toward your creative dream, let’s talk! 

Want more tips? Check out this playlist with all my previous Creative Pep Talks!

Could you leave a review? It’s really easy, and it helps SO much. Thanks!

Join my free creative community, The Spark! We celebrate each other’s creative courage, and I’ll be sharing programs for subscribers and listeners there in the coming months.

Get in Touch

I’d love to hear your feedback, questions, and experience with these ideas! Send me a note at fycuriosity.com, or contact me on Instagram, or Bluesky.

Subscribe!

You can subscribe to Follow Your Curiosity via the handy links at the top of the page for Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, TuneIn, and YouTube. If you enjoyed the episode, don’t forget to tell your friends!

Please note: This is an unedited transcript, provided as a courtesy, and reflects the actual conversation as closely as possible. Please forgive any typographical or grammatical errors.

Nancy Norbeck [00:00:06]:
Welcome to Follow Your Curiosity. Ordinary people, extraordinary creativity. Here’s how to get unstuck. I’m your host creativity coach, Nancy Norbeck. Let’s go. When you approach your creative work, do you embrace your weird? Hi. I’m Nancy with this week’s Creative Pep Talk. And, you know, I’ve been thinking about all of the strange kinds of things that we judge ourselves for creatively and how a lot of the time, the things that we think are weird or quirky or unusual, we expect to be off putting to other people. But a lot of the time, that’s really, really not true.

Nancy Norbeck [00:00:46]:
Those things that are unusual and strange about us, a lot of the time, are what make us unique and appealing, and we discount them at our peril. I have seen plenty of interesting art, quirky writing, all sorts of unusual photography. You name it. It’s out there. And what makes it so intriguing is that it comes at what it’s doing from an angle that no one else can. And that’s true for all of us. We all have our own strange things that make us different from everybody else, whether it’s the kind of art that we prefer or the fandom that we’re a part of or something else. Everything about us is an unique combination of factors that make us all different.

Nancy Norbeck [00:01:40]:
And I know that to a degree that’s obvious, but the fact is that a lot of creative folks tend to totally judge themselves based on all of these things and decide that their work is too strange or that they’re too strange, and that gets in their way. And that’s even true when it comes to actually sitting down to do our work. A very long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, when I was an undergrad, I worked as a writing center tutor on campus. We had to go through about a week’s worth of training, and they put us into small groups so that we could get to know each other and get to know how we each approached writing differently. It was such an eye opener for me because I was pretty much, I’m just going to sit down and write, which is about as boring as it gets, but it works. Right? But other people in my group had weird little rituals that they had to go through in order to feel like they were ready to write. One of them had to clean the room, just could not stand having any kind of clutter anywhere because it it distracted them. Now, obviously, that’s the kind of thing where if you take it too far and you have to do a deep clean of your entire house, that’s probably an avoidance tactic.

Nancy Norbeck [00:02:57]:
But if it’s just, I need my space to be this way and it will take me five minutes and I’ll get it done and then I’ll be able to write, that’s not a problem. There was another guy in the group who loved to thumb through cookbooks before he started writing. And, you know, with no expectation of actually sitting down and making the things that he was looking at, I have a feeling that for him, it was the act of imagining all of those things in the cookbook, all of those different ingredients coming together in a particular way, looking at the pictures, all of that. I suspect that it activated his creative brain. And once he had looked through a couple of pages, and it didn’t have to be in great detail, he was good. He was ready to write. The more we judge ourselves about weird little foibles that we think just make us weirdos, which is a very judgmental term that we tend to use a lot, the harder we make it for ourselves to create. So I invite you to let your freak flag fly in whatever way applies to you.

Nancy Norbeck [00:04:04]:
I’m thrilled that I managed to say that without tripping over it. Embrace what makes you different and unique. It is your your distinguishing factor as a creative, as a human being, in any capacity that you participate in. It’s not a bad thing. Embrace it, own it, run with it, and it will serve you well. If this episode resonated with you or if you’re feeling a little bit less than confident in your creative process right now, join me at the spark on Substack as we form a community that supports and celebrates each other’s creative courage. It’s free, and it’s also where I’ll be adding programs for subscribers and listeners. The link is in your podcast app, so sign up today.

Nancy Norbeck [00:04:50]:
See you there, and see you next week. Follow Your Curiosity is produced by me, Nancy Norbeck, with music by Joseph McDade. If you like Follow Your Curiosity, please subscribe, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And don’t forget to tell your friends. It really helps me reach new listeners.

There’s a pervasive notion out in the world that art requires suffering, that suffering for it makes you more noble…etc. etc. etc.  If you’ve fallen prey to this belief, you can relax: I’m about to tell you why it’s nonsense. Suffering is optional.

If you’re tired of waiting for “someday”—which is NOT a day of the week—to get unstuck and step toward your creative dream, let’s talk! 

Want more tips? Check out this playlist with all my previous Creative Pep Talks!

Could you leave a review? It’s really easy, and it helps SO much. Thanks!

Join my free creative community, The Spark! We celebrate each other’s creative courage, and I’ll be sharing programs for subscribers and listeners there in the coming months.

Get in Touch

I’d love to hear your feedback, questions, and experience with these ideas! Send me a note at fycuriosity.com, or contact me on Instagram, or Bluesky.

Subscribe!

You can subscribe to Follow Your Curiosity via the handy links at the top of the page for Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, TuneIn, and YouTube. If you enjoyed the episode, don’t forget to tell your friends!

Please note: This is an unedited transcript, provided as a courtesy, and reflects the actual conversation as closely as possible. Please forgive any typographical or grammatical errors.

Nancy Norbeck [00:00:06]:
Welcome to Follow Your Curiosity. Ordinary people, extraordinary creativity. Here’s how to get unstuck. I’m your host creativity coach, Nancy Norbeck. Let’s go. Have you suffered enough or maybe even too much? Hi. I am Nancy, and this is this week’s creative pep talk. I want to talk about the whole notion of suffering because so many of us seem to have this weird idea— and I know I blame everything on the Puritans, but I suspect it goes back at least that far—

Nancy Norbeck [00:00:39]:
that suffering is noble somehow that the more you suffer, the better you are, that the better your art is, the better a person you are. Insert your favorite application of suffering here. And I just want to say, I agree with the expression that says pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. Suffering does not make us better. Yeah. We might end up in pain, but the more we suffer about it, the more we may well be putting ourselves there. And in a creative context, there is nothing noble about suffering for your art.

Nancy Norbeck [00:01:17]:
It does not make your art better. It does not make you a better artist. It just means that you suffer a lot. And that seems ridiculous to me. I don’t know where we decided that artists had to suffer, but it’s time that we decide something else. Because quite frankly, the less you suffer for your art, the more you have fun with it. The more art you’re going to create and the better your art will probably be. That does not mean that your art cannot come from places of pain or suffering because lord knows there are plenty of examples of amazing art that came from exactly those places.

Nancy Norbeck [00:01:54]:
That is a valid source for good art. But that doesn’t mean that we have to suffer while we’re creating it or suffer just for the sake of being an artist. Art should be a joy. It should be something that makes our lives better. And in fact, there are plenty of studies that show that it does make our lives better, and I’ll talk about those a different time. So if you are addicted or attached to the notion that we need to suffer in order to create art, that somehow something in our lives needs to be difficult in order for that to happen or to be a real artist, this is me inviting you to think on that again and put that idea down. Because, honestly, if it’s not bringing joy to your life, why on earth would you do it? I sure don’t know. And I’ll bet when you stop to think about it, you’re not so sure either.

Nancy Norbeck [00:02:52]:
So think on that, give it a try, lighten up on yourself a little bit, and see what happens. If this episode resonated with you or if you’re feeling a little bit less than confident in your creative process right now, join me at the spark on Substack as we form a community that supports and celebrates each other’s creative courage. It’s free, and it’s also where I’ll be adding programs for subscribers and listeners. The link is in your podcast app, so sign up today. See you there, and see you next week. Follow Your Curiosity is produced by me, Nancy Norbeck, with music by Joseph McDade. If you like Follow Your Curiosity, please subscribe, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And don’t forget to tell your friends.

Nancy Norbeck [00:03:36]:
It really helps me reach new listeners.

Hamstrung by the notion that you’re not enough? This is the episode for you. I have two reasons why you’re wrong in this short episode.

If you’re tired of feeling like you can’t get out of your own way and want to FINALLY make some progress toward your creative dreams, let’s talk! 

Want more tips? Check out this playlist with all my previous Creative Pep Talks!

Could you leave a review? It’s really easy, and it helps SO much. Thanks!

Join my free creative community, The Spark! We celebrate each other’s creative courage, and I’ll be sharing programs for subscribers and listeners there in the coming months.

Get in Touch

I’d love to hear your feedback, questions, and experience with these ideas! Send me a note at fycuriosity.com, or contact me on Instagram, or Bluesky.

Subscribe!

You can subscribe to Follow Your Curiosity via the handy links at the top of the page for Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, TuneIn, and YouTube. If you enjoyed the episode, don’t forget to tell your friends!

Please note: This is an unedited transcript, provided as a courtesy, and reflects the actual conversation as closely as possible. Please forgive any typographical or grammatical errors.

Nancy Norbeck [00:00:06]:
Welcome to Follow Your Curiosity. Ordinary people, extraordinary creativity. Here’s how to get unstuck. I’m your host creativity coach Nancy Norbeck. Let’s go. Are you good enough? Are you sure? Really? Here’s the answer. Yes. And I’m about to tell you why. Hi, I’m Nancy Norbeck with this week’s creative pep talk.

Nancy Norbeck [00:00:29]:
And I honestly cannot believe that we have gotten to pep talk number 110 without talking about you being good enough, Because being good enough or more to the point, the feeling that we’re not good enough is one of the most massive creative blocks that people face and not just creative—in any part of life. The easiest way to shut ourselves down is with those four words. I’m not good enough. Done. But here’s the thing. You are good enough and here’s why. Number one. What are you trying to be good enough at? You notice this question of, am I good enough? It is not a complete question because we are not specifying at what.

Nancy Norbeck [00:01:22]:
I think that’s a problem. Don’t you? There’s hardly anything else that we would, you know, forget the most important context with in our lives. But when it comes to ourselves and the opportunity to doubt ourselves, we stop short way too early. And we do not say, I am not good enough at this specific thing. And as a result, we tend to take that as a sign that we are just playing not good enough, full stop, in any or every capacity. And that’s just not true. You might not be a great golfer, but you might be a fabulous baseball player, a fabulous parent, a great watercolorist, a fantastic cook. And even if you are not fantastic at all of those things, you are undoubtedly good enough at at least some of them.

Nancy Norbeck [00:02:14]:
But because human beings have a negativity bias built straight into our brains, we don’t think about those things. We don’t give ourselves enough credit for that, which is why I have another episode about giving yourself credit. If you haven’t listened to it, check it out. And so we just wipe the slate of all of those things that we’re actually good at, where we deserve credit, where we have value and worth, which by the way is inherent, even if you truly aren’t good at anything. And we just decide in a blanket moment that we are just not good enough. And it doesn’t matter at what because we are not being specific. So my first question for you is, what are you good at? Where are you absolutely for sure good enough? Take a minute and write that stuff down and hang it somewhere where you will see it. Because we all need antidotes to the negativity bias.

Nancy Norbeck [00:03:14]:
We all do. Without them, it is super easy to forget the places where actually, you know what? I am really good at that, and I am, you know, I’m just fine. I don’t need to doubt myself. Maybe I need to doubt myself at playing Jenga, but I don’t need to doubt myself at being able to cook a great meal. I don’t need to doubt my ability to be a great parent, to hang out with my kids, to make people laugh. Whatever those things are, you deserve credit for those all the time, every single day. So please give it to yourself. Question number two.

Nancy Norbeck [00:03:53]:
I am not good enough compared to whom or to what? Again, this is where this question is a problem. We cut it off too soon, and we miss the nuance. I realize that here in 2025 not everyone is good at nuance, especially on the internet, but that doesn’t mean that nuance isn’t important. It is important to know who exactly we are comparing ourselves with. And I have done a whole pile of videos on TikTok and YouTube recently all about the dangers of comparison and the occasional good side, and I invite you to check those out. I have just created a playlist for them on YouTube, so they are super easy to find. And if I can find a link for them, I’ll put it in this video. But, you know, I’m not good enough compared to, what, Michelangelo? Not many people are Michelangelo.

Nancy Norbeck [00:04:49]:
But maybe sculpting is not your thing. Maybe something else is where you really shine, and the fault is not in you, but in the question. Where we ask it, how we ask it, and the context in which we ask it. So I promise you, you are plenty good enough at something, probably a whole lot of things that you’re not giving yourself credit for. And I just want to remind you that even Michelangelo did not start out as Michelangelo. Michelangelo had to do a lot of really, really, really bad work before he became the Michelangelo that we think of. And so does every other fabulous expert artist, whatever the context is that you can think of that you are probably comparing yourself to. So consider those two questions.

Nancy Norbeck [00:05:43]:
And for the love of all that’s holy, I beg you, make that list. You will feel so much better, and it will put a spring in your step that makes everything else easier, happier, and more possible for you because we don’t have to be good enough at absolutely everything. That is not human, and it’s never gonna happen. But we can give ourselves credit for and appreciate the things where, you know what? I’m really darn good at that. Give that a try. Let me know what happens. See you next time. If this episode resonated with you, or if you’re feeling a little bit less than confident in your creative process right now, join me at The Spark on Substack as we form a community that supports and celebrates each other’s creative courage.

Nancy Norbeck [00:06:30]:
It’s free, and it’s also where I’ll be adding programs for subscribers and listeners. The link is in your podcast app, so sign up today. See you there, and see you next week. Follow Your Curiosity is produced by me, Nancy Norbeck, with music by Joseph McDade. If you like Follow Your Curiosity, please subscribe, rate, and review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And don’t forget to tell your friends. It really helps me reach new listeners.

Elle Jaye supports powerful and resilient working moms who want to put an end to the power struggles with their child, so they become a strong team instead of adversaries. The working moms realize they are women first, and mothering is another job they do. By disrupting this mindset, the women step into their power and resilience as an extension of their values and intent for their children. Elle joins me to talk about how she discovered her creative side in her 20s, how we normalize and pass on relationship and parenting patterns, how we can see adults as atrophied children rather than seeing children as mini adults, and more.

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Episode breakdown:

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00:00 Introduction

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04:24 Childhood curiosity suppressed, later recognized as problem-solving and questioning.

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08:00 Creativity awakens through coloring and relaxing with children.

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12:00 Daughters express creativity differently; family talents traced back generations.

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16:26 Watching movies as family sparks deeper curiosity and connection.

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20:10 Analyzing shows reveals generational patterns, manipulation, and emotional awareness gaps.

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24:39 Parenting styles shaped by media; Cosby Show inspires new possibilities.

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28:27 Realizing art and creativity were present through connection and escapism.

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32:00 Family meetings on TV offered models for healthy communication.

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36:41 Adults repeat childhood patterns unless they intentionally choose to change.

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41:00 Children should not be seen as mini adults; generational shifts.

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46:00 Letting go of control, discovering healthy ways to parent.

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51:00 Play, fun, and creativity help shift negative energy and judgment.

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56:00 Awareness of presence, connecting with nature improves perspective and creativity.

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Want more? Here are handy playlists with all my previous interviews.

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Check out the full show notes (now including transcripts!) at fycuriosity.com, and connect with me and fellow creatives on Substack.

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Please leave a review for this episode—it’s really easy and will only take a minute, and it really helps me reach new listeners. Thanks!

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If you’ve been tearing up when you encounter other people’s art because you’ve lost touch with your own creativity, we should talk.

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In the wild, chaotic world of 2025, we tend to think we have to pay attention to EVERYTHING. Here’s why you might want to challenge that belief and ignore it instead.

Want more tips? Check out this playlist with all my previous Creative Pep Talks!

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Please note: This is an unedited transcript, provided as a courtesy, and reflects the actual conversation as closely as possible. Please forgive any typographical or grammatical errors.

Nancy Norbeck [00:00:06]:
Welcome to Follow Your Curiosity. Ordinary people, extraordinary creativity. Here’s how to get unstuck. I’m your host, creativity coach, Nancy Norbeck. Let’s go. Why don’t you just ignore it? Hi, I’m Nancy with this week’s Creative Pep Talk. And have you ever thought about what things you pay attention to and what things you don’t? It’s an interesting question, but the things that we give pay attention to are things that we give a lot of power to. We also don’t think about that. I was listening to Tosha Silver.

Nancy Norbeck [00:00:42]:
She’s an author recently, and she said there’s a lot of power in ignoring the things that deserve to be ignored. And it really hit me because a lot of us think we have to give our attention to everything. And in some situations we do, but in a lot of situations we don’t. Right? I mean, yes. When you are driving, please pay attention to traffic rules. When you’re with your kids, please pay attention to them. They know if you don’t. But you know, there were a lot of things that come up that don’t deserve our attention.

Nancy Norbeck [00:01:21]:
And it requires discernment on our part to start to figure out which things we can successfully leave by the wayside and which things we don’t have to. But in general, I would say if something is getting in your way and does not require your immediate attention or some sort of preventive attention, you might wanna see if it’s something that you can ignore. Right? If it’s a hot summer day and your air conditioning doesn’t work, you probably need to pay attention to that. But, you know, if it’s an email you got from someone who has annoyed you that doesn’t actually need an immediate response, it’s okay to ignore it, at least temporarily, maybe forever. Depends on what it is. Again, discernment is the key here. And I raised that one because I’m really good at thinking that I have to answer every single stinking email, because if I don’t, I will forget and they will pile up. And maybe that’s true, but maybe it isn’t.

Nancy Norbeck [00:02:34]:
You know, there are a lot of things that pop into your inbox that do not demand your attention right this second. There’s a lot of other stuff that falls into that category too. If you’re at work and your boss gives you something to do, does it have to be done right this second? Is it way, way, way down the priority list? Is it something that needs to happen right now? Maybe it is. But sometimes these are things that you don’t even really need to worry about or that you can ask to have delegated to somebody else so that you can focus on the things that are important. I know some workplaces don’t work that way. I get it, but it’s still worth asking the question to make sure that we are focusing on the things that really need our attention in any given moment. Especially in 2025, this is an attention economy. Do you really need to pay attention to your Instagram’s goal? There’s a difference between needing to and wanting to.

Nancy Norbeck [00:03:40]:
And even if you want to, it might not be something you wanna do as much as something else. Maybe it can be ignored while you go make some art yourself. Just some things to think about. There is power in deserving ignoring the things that deserve to be ignored. With all great respect to Tosha Silver for making that comment and bringing it to my attention. So just think about it. Think about what you really need to give your precious, precious valuable attention to and what you don’t. It might just make a difference in how you approach your life in general and also your creative practice.

Nancy Norbeck [00:04:21]:
Give it a shot. See you next time. If this episode resonated with you, or if you’re feeling a little bit less than confident in your creative process right now, join me at the spark on Substack as we form a community that supports and celebrates each other’s creative courage. It’s free, and it’s also where I’ll be adding programs for subscribers and listeners. The link is in your podcast app, so sign up today. See you there, and see you next week. Follow Your Curiosity is produced by me, Nancy Norbeck, with music by Joseph McDade. If you like Follow Your Curiosity, please subscribe, rate, and review