The Creative Life Show

David Nichtern is a Emmy-winning songwriter and composer, serial entrepreneur, and one of the world's leading teachers of Buddhism. So what does it really mean to bring together creative spark, practical business-building and a profound spiritual practice? And what do you do when you have to choose one at a time? David Nichtern joins me to answer some of those questions, and we also get to meditation - how *do* you fit it in? - starting vs completing things, harmony and dissonance, and the power of habits to create focus. This is a wonderful, inspiring conversation from a man who has spent his lifetime teaching and inspiring others to fulfil their spiritual, financial and creative goals. Click to view: show page on Awesound

'I took myself right out of this life and started again - basically putting myself back together'.What do you do when your brilliant life goes off the rails? Kay Hutchison had the high-powered TV career and the lifestyle to match, when she realised it was all wrong. Kay launched into a journey of personal discovery that went from from sound-baths to yoga, writing to silent retreats, as well as facing some difficult truths about her past. One result was writing her first book, while another was setting up her own small publishing and media business where she can be 'herself' rather than return to the corporate world that was her home for so long. This is a great listen if you ever feel that life is running you, and that you need some kind of a change.I've worked with so many bright, creative people who've found themselves trapped in a corner that they never expected. The way out for you may not be yoga, voodoo or writing, but you'll come away believing that deep within you is a creative power that you can use to get your life back on track, and more determined to go and find it. Click to view: show page on Awesound

From the outside, Marianne Cantwell looks like a classic 'laptop lifestyle' entrepreneur, travelling the world with her business. But it's her much less common approach of embracing empathy, sensitivity and an inner voice that has made her the founder of a loyal and enthusiastic tribe - Free Range Humans - a sought-after speaker and bestselling author.Marianne shares the story of how, after her first book was a huge, unexpected success, she expected to find herself thrilled and energised. But she found herself sinking into brain fog and apathy, with nothing to say and nothing to write. She talks about the journey to rediscover herself, to recognise 'depression' for what it was, and how it transformed her business and lifeMarianne is - like me - an ENFP and HSP, highly sensitive person. That means we have sensory systems that take in a huge amount, whether in our environment or other people's emotions, but need to manage our energy with care and mindfulness. We have a terrific conversation about what this has meant for Marianne, and in particular, during a bout of depression.We also talk about the joy of being HSP, how we handle big events, enthusiasm, collaborative working, and Marianne's 'work-arounds': finding a way of doing something that isn't the usual, but brings so many more rewards.Click to view: show page on Awesound

21 years ago Harriet Kelsall was making jewellery on the side of her day job in IT. Today she's founder of her highly successful bespoke jewellery company (where she still finds time to design), as well as in-demand creative business mentor and Chairman of the British National Association of Jewellers. She's been a driving force behind Fairtrade gold, and is the author of an award-winning book on How To Start A Creative Business. I adored talking to Harriet. She's fun, bright and endlessly positive. She's also dyslexic, which, she says has been a big advantage in her journey. We talk about: * The early days of her company (and why her first ring had a rabbit on it), and how she found a niche which no-one else was in. * The most important question to ask if you want to launch or grow your creative business * How dyslexia has given her a huge advantage in her life and business * Finding a vision that's inspiring and realistic * Harriet's ‘embarrassing' writing process (my tip: I suspect a lot of creatives will relate to this!) and her unorthodox route to getting her book published. Sign up for updates for every episode at joannapieters.com Click to view: show page on Awesound

Judy Apps is a successful consultant and writer, helping people to communicate, and I wasn't expecting her story of years of what felt like failure and lack of direction. She tells the tale of her early career studying opera, and how an audition in Italy sent everything off the rails. We explore how nothing in your life is ever wasted - and how the directions you thought you'd given up on can provide the threads for you to weave something more magical and effective than you ever thought possible. As creatives, we HAVE to be able to communicate with people around us to get our work known. But the very idea can fill us with horror. Judy dispels myths about networking, meeting people, and shares how we can communicate more authentically and effectively. Click to view: show page on Awesound

This is for you if you have way more interests, skills and things you want to do that the rest of the world can really get their head round. Waqās Ahmed spent five years researching extraordinary people to write The Polymath, a book that flies the flag for living a life of multiple areas of skill and interest.Being a polymath, he says, may be the single best way to personal fulfillment. What's more, in a world of AI, the ability to see and join links between apparently unrelated fields will become ever more important. Waqās shares his own journey of turning his career upside down, rejecting the traditional job he'd found himself in to follow his passion for painting. That in turn opened up opportunities that took him around the world as a political journalist, art curator and now book author. Find the full transcript at creativelifeshow.comClick to view: show page on Awesound

Can you really become an award-winning, million-selling novelist without a publisher or an agent? Yes! Mel Sherratt tells me how she went from redundancy to selling over a million copies of her novels, and building the life that she'd dreamt of since childhood. But we also talk about what happens when your success isn't quite lined up with what you TRULY want to do. I wasn't expecting Mel to tell me what she did about what she REALLY wants to write about - and why she's finally got the confidence to go for it. Click to view: show page on Awesound

If there's one thing that stops creative people releasing their full talents, it's anxiety.When anxiety takes over, you say NO to things. You stop having great ideas. You don't do the things that allow other people to experience your work. Anxiety isn't easy to cure - but one of the best things to do is find ways around it. That's exactly what my guest Matthew Barley has done. An anxious child, teenager and adult, he's become one of Britain's leading solo musicians, in demand around the world for his boundary-less, innovative, generous collaborations. We talk about: * The time 16 doctors told him his career was over * The flash of insight that turned his life around from his lowest point* The one thing that Matthew *isn't* afraid of, even when everything else is terrifying * Why he was the shortest-serving principal cellist in the history of the London Symphony Orchestra * The biggest lesson he took from The Beatles, that's allowed him to continue to develop his work in ever-new directions Click to view: show page on Awesound

The Times called Alan Rosenthal 'one of Britain's top foodies' for his food columns and recipe books, his brand Stewed! and his work developing food and restaurants for big UK companies. Alan joins Joanna Pieters to talk about creating a life in food that isn't about being either in an office or a fine-dining kitchen, and about what makes his own life either rewarding or frustrating. He also shares how the sudden shock of losing his father took him away from his own creativity, and how it's taken several years to have the courage and the commitment to follow his passion again. Click to view: show page on Awesound

When Kathryn Nicolai decided to launch a podcast Nothing Much Happens: Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups, she didn't plan much fuss or fanfare. After all, she was a yoga teacher, not a writer. Since she was a small child, she'd told herself bedtime stories to get to sleep, and that's what she was sharing with other people to help them doze off. 'A little creative project, that's all', she thought.13 episodes later, it had been listened to over a million times. That's an extraordinary number for any new podcast, never mind a little indie one from someone with very little public profile.There are some terrific lessons in our conversation. Kathryn's just launching her second series of Nothing Much Happens, and we talk about how she's approached it. We get into exactly how she writes and records, and how she's gone from almost no social media presence to having a community of fans who can't get enough. We also talk about Kathryn's journey of discovering herself as a writer, and how it's already become central to her daily life.She recalls: "My brother sent me a text a couple of weeks after I launched and he said, why does your voice make me cry? And I said, I don't know, but I cry when I read them sometimes. And it's just that feeling of being in that really open, vulnerable emotional space that just opens the floodgates for me."I learn about aphantasia for the first time, which Kathryn has: a condition where she doesn't visualise pictures in her head. We talk about how she brings the senses and emotions in her stories so powerfully to life, in tales where, literally, nothing else much happens.Whether you've got a niggling dream you'd like to bring to life, have an urge to launch a podcast yourself, or just want to know that anything really is possible, this is such a great listen.Find out more at creativelifeshow.com. Click to view: show page on Awesound

How do you create when the world seems to be full of destruction and pain? How do you keep going when there are so many distractions? Today I talk to the wonderful Anna Kunnecke about the stories we tell ourselves and how we can turn them to our benefit.We talk about showing up 'as a grown-up' even when we just want to hide. We also contemplate the challenge of finding time for our dream when we have a life full of other demands. How should we prioritise our creative work when we have clients who need us, sick kids, bills to be paid, and a million injustices are calling us? How do we create beauty in our lives, no matter what else is happening?Anna's approach is human, vulnerable and full of both pain and joy. But it's also full of practical ideas and ways of turning our stories and our lives round in small, practical, joyful ways.Click to view: show page on Awesound

Newsweek named him as one of 15 people who make America great and he was Obama's first appointment to the National Council of the Arts. Yet Aaron Dworkin was just a violin undergraduate with no money or connections when he had the idea for The Sphinx Organisation, to transform representation in classical music. He talks about how hundreds of rejections never dented his determination, and the piece of mail that changed everything. You'll be fired up and inspired by:* Why music practice was the the perfect preparation for taking on a huge, challenging project* The huge role that mentors play in his life, and how he finds them* The significance of partnerships rather than sponsors (and this is SO valuable, not matter what you want to launch)* How to get people to give you money (“Who has more money than the president of the World Bank?”)* Performance poetry and his latest science fiction novelWe also talk about how he keeps his outsider position and uses it to keep challenging and making change. Feeling powerless? This is a great listen if you're not sure how to get heard for something that REALLY matters to you.Click to view: show page on Awesound

Marsha Shandur was living as she'd dreamed of for nearly 15 years: a job as a successful radio DJ, a life full of live gigs and music, on the brink of the big time. But there was something missing. (Whisper it: she was getting bored).So she took off. She moved continent, with no plan and no job. And that's how she started her journey that's led to her business as a much-loved storytelling coach, in demand by private clients and events to help them build trust and connection, and make it FUN.Marsha and I have have a blast talking about:* The beginnings of True Stories Live (with just 3 people in the audience) and her brand YesYesMarsha* The difference between your zone of excellence and your zone of genius - and how to find yours.* Why talented creative people get stuck: finding themselves doing highly competitive jobs that should be fun, but aren't - and what Marsha did to get out of it* The SINGLE biggest mistake that most people make telling their stories (and this is so easy to change in your own)* How to to get started with a story that's compelling, relevant and fun, even if you're feeling as interesting as a white bread sandwich, or as overwhelmed as a kitten in a wool-basketMarsha is SUCH fun, and full of practical, useful tips on how to make your story work for you, to get you the creative life you really want.Click to view: show page on Awesound

Monica Michelle had a thriving, six-figure photography business which she loved. She adored the families, the kids, the women who she did boudoir photos for, as well as the events and the travel she was in demand for.She'd had to give on a career as a dancer, but that was ok. But now, her body started going wrong. Gradually she had to start reducing what she did, as every part of her became weaker and more painful.Then, the diagnosis. And a period of deep introspection and wondering what on earth to do with the energy and creativity that had always driven her.If you're expecting a sad episode, don't! Monica is joyously positive, and the host of a fast-growing and successful podcast, an author and illustrator. This is a brilliant lesson in how to reinvent yourself, and find new outlets for your creativity, no matter what life throws at you.Click to view: show page on Awesound

Senior ad man, and CEO of one of Britain's leading design companies, or bestselling author and photographer? Roger Mavity is both, and joins me to debunk some creativity myths, mischief making in the toilets (literally), and taking no nonsense from clients. (Ever tempted to take on work from a client who's not respecting you? Listen now!)Roger demonstrates brilliantly the different sides that creative people can have, simultaneously. Maverick or master, productive or procrastinating? All of it, together.Click to view: show page on Awesound

Mia Michaels, multiple Emmy-winning choreographer is best known for her appearances as judge and choreographer on So You Think You Can Dance and the Broadway show Neverland, and she's worked all round the world with stars from Madonna to Prince. She joins me to talk about the greatest creative challenge she's ever faced: now. Instead of climbing the next mountain with guts and determination, as she always has done, she's pausing, listening and waiting to what's ready to be born. We also talk about the importance of fear, the 'vortex of craziness' that uncertainty brings, and what brought her to write her first book: 'a guide for exceptional, excellent misfits'. Click to view: show page on Awesound

'A writer who is not writing is a danger to herself', says Michaela Chung. She's the creator of the hugely popular website IntrovertSpring, author of two books and in-demand expert on how to thrive as an introvert. She joins Joanna Pieters to talk about her own creative and writing life. Michaela shares how a creative crisis led to growing her website from 5 thousand visitors per month to 19 thousand, in just 30 days. It's a process she still repeats every time she feels blocked, bored or frustrated - which, she says, still happens regularly. We also talk about the overlap between introversion and creativity, balancing our inner artist with our inner manager, and what happens when we stop feeding the 'writing dogs' inside us. Get the full notes at creativelifeshow.com Click to view: show page on Awesound

Sophie Sabbage lived and breathed books as a child: they healed her and made sense of her life. And yet it took decades and the diganosis of a terminal illness that made her finally sit down and write. The result was The Cancer Whisperer, a bestselling book that was translated into 11 languages and transformed her life. And yet there was another book waiting: one that she'd promised her teacher and mentor to write as he was dying, ten years before. Lifeshocks is 'her greatest creative work', and yet she had to overcome myriad deep-seated fears that stopped her writing. This is a great listen if you've ever felt intimidated by what you want to create, felt that you're somehow not good enough, or simply felt that you haven't yet found what you're called to create. Find the full show notes and The Creative's Distraction Buster at creativelifeshow.comClick to view: show page on Awesound

Darren Henley doesn't much care for how things were done 'before' - he wants to know what people want now. He was journalist-turned-manager of a controversial, immensely popular classical music radio station, and now spends at least half his time touring England visiting arts, culture, libraries, in big cities and tiny rural communities.As chief executive of the Arts Council of England, Darren Henley oversees hundreds of millions of pounds going into culture each year. He's also a vocal campaigner for the power of creativity to shape our world from education to loneliness. Somehow he also finds time to write: with over 30 books to his name, his latest has just been published (and we talk about how he manages to fit it all in).I met Darren in his office, a room full of books and sunlight, but no desk. That stands instead in a corner of the open-plan office outside - even here he's all about connecting with people.We could have talked for hours about the importance of creativity in our world, but I wanted to find out a few things. In particular, how do you write over 30 books when you've already got a more-than-full-time job?We also talk about the power of books for impact and credibility. If you've been thinking you've got a book in you, then here's some good motivation as to why it's a great thing to do.Click to view: show page on Awesound

One day in her 20s, Carrie Brummer picked up her paint brush in her sister's basement, with the knowledge it might be the last time. Facing an operation that could take her sight, and possibly her life, she immersed herself into creating two self-portraits. 'I just felt free', she recalls.It was when they were selected for a national tour that she began to reflect on what had been holding her back until that point: perfectionism, a sense of 'should', or, as she says, 'a really loud inner critic'. She talks about how it led to everything changing: she started to travel, to explore, to do the things she wanted to rather than being the 'good girl' she'd always been.Carrie went on to create the online art school and community Artist Strong, where she teaches and supports thousands of artists. Unlike so many online communities, Artist Strong is extraordinary in how supportive it is, and how free of self-promotion. Carrie's driving principle remains to help artists discover their own voice, rather than showing them what they should be doing.I've been a lurker in the Artist Strong community for some time now, and I'm always in awe of how Carrie combines sensitive and encouraging feedback with building a tremendously strong community. I found her, even more than I'd expected, thoughtful, caring and deeply self-aware.Click to view: show page on Awesound