We’re told to “just ship it,” but also to “make it great.” Where do you draw the line? When do you prioritize polish, and when do you hit publish?
I had to learn—the way you learn to ride a bicycle: do it over and over, the “principle” of the thing doesn’t help you do the thing—that the tension is a good sign. Now when I feel the tension between quality and consistency I know I’m in the correct place.
This morning, I’m thinking about a rowing metaphor: One oar is quality and the other is consistency. Pull evenly and the boat goes straight-ish. Also, if you try to row too hard, you get exhausted. The best way to make long-term progress is to row these two things, in balance, at a sustainable pace.
Set a recurring date on your calendar to get together. And then stick to it.
Some people might find this tactic a little soulless and formal, the same way that some couples deride the idea of scheduling sex. Yet when your life is ruled by your phone and nothing gets done unless it ends up on a to-do list, booking repeat friend dates is practical—a way to carve out real time not just for errands and work, but also for engaging with the people you love.
I once had a long-running dinner with a few of my cousins and our spouses. We all liked to have dinner in, rather than out… but we couldn’t settle on a strict schedule. So instead, we made sure to start each gathering by having the “when do we next meet” discussion? :) Sure it took time to do that, but it has the advantage that everyone is in the room. We’d end up planning 4 or more weeks out, but it got on the calendar every time. And yes, we stopped because the last time we met up, we didn’t plan the next time.
This is a perennial struggle for me. My ability to imagine things that I’d like to create, vastly and consistently exceeds my ability to actually create.
The standard advice is to narrow one’s focus. Choose one thing to focus on— especially if we’re talking about charging for a product. But even more generally, in podcasting, the standard advice is to choose one thing… one show… one format…
I’ve come to the conclusion that I am not that sort of creative. A while back I stood up a new “home” for myself on the Web at craigconstantine.com and as I was deciding what to put there, this occurred to me:
I create a ton of free, public stuff. Each of my current projects is its own rabbit hole to explore.
After decades of struggle against my own nature, I’ve given up trying to focus on just one thing. Instead, I’ve learned to relax—or at least, to be slightly more relaxed. When the creative energy is flowing, I channel it. And sometimes I simply pause.
That’s how I keep my podcasting sustainable. I create processes and move things along when I feel engaged and motivated. And sometimes I pause.
Many podcasters burn out. What’s a pace that actually works for you? How would your show change if you prioritized sustainability over growth?
Dinner resists optimization. It can be creative, and it can be pleasurable. None of this negates the fact that it is a grind. It will always be a grind. You will always have to think about it, unless you have someone else to think about it for you, and it will always require too much time or too much energy or too much money or some combination of the three. It is unrelenting, in the way that breathing is unrelenting. There is freedom in surrendering to this, that even in this golden age of technological progress, dinner refuses to be solved.
I agree with Sugar. Somewhere along the way I learned that leaning into the mundane parts of meal preparation is actually what I need to do more often. I tend to get very head-down doing and that’s not healthy when it’s protracted hours upon hours. Instead, pre-planning when I’m supposed to stop doing and go work on the meal always results in my spending some meditative time in the ‘ol kitchen. Combined with “simple food, simply prepared”—fresh or raw ingredients, reduced combinations of flavors, smaller quantities, visually interesting—I feel I’m making some progress towards health and mental wellness in one activity.
Remember, motivation isn’t a thing. It isn’t a possession and isn’t static. Motivation is a process. And like any process, it can vary depending on the inputs.
Understanding all of these theories can help you identify which are operating in a certain scenario and how to “hack” them to maximize your motivational energy and get yourself moving in the right direction.
As I’m making plans to begin coaching, motivation has been on my mind. Not just how to motivate myself (to do all the preparatory work) but how to motivate others. The more I learn, the more vistas open before revealing vast lands of further learning.
Why? If I’d asked them, they would probably have said: to reduce distractions and improve focus. Programming a computer is a bit like repairing a very tiny machine with precision tools while looking under a microscope. Quiet and calm help facilitate that process. Programmers may also just prefer the dark.
Hey look, “quiet and calm” has the literal calm of calm technology. Bright, flashing lights are preceded by trigger warnings for a reason. I’ve been cultivating warm-toned lighting, and earth tones, in my working spaces for a long time. I cut my teeth on the Internet with VT-100 terminals, green type on black, cathode ray tubes and “screen burn-in” was a real hazard. These days a lot of my screens have ‘paper-white’ backgrounds with the black text. It’s been nice to watch the world catch up over the last few decades.
Defiance and acceptance come together well in the following principle: There is always a countermove, always an escape or a way through, so there is no reason to get worked up. No one said it would be easy and, of course, the stakes are high, but the path is there for those ready to take it. This is what we’ve got to do. And we know that it’s going to be tough, maybe even scary.
At least a quarter of the messages he receives from readers express one idea—“The world is shit,” as he put it. “That has a sort of range: from people that just see everything is corrupt from a political point of view, to people that just see no value in themselves, in human beings, or in the world.” Cave recognizes that outlook from his “nasty little guy” days—but he fears that nihilism has moved from the punk fringe to the mainstream. The misery in his inbox reflects a culture that is “anti-sacred, secular by nature, unmysterious, unnuanced,” he said. He thinks music and faith offer much-needed medicine, helping to re-enchant reality.
For there is much about which to be enchanted. Certainly a lot of technology things—planes, chemistry, computers, and our endless fascination with building things. But technology is only the obvious target of enchantment, and its allure is finally wearing off. The reality we need to again find enchanting is the outside world. The literal source of our experiences.
In the last year or so, it’s been making the time to just listen to podcasts.
When I started, I went through phases where I was consuming podcasts for particular reasons. Learning about how interviews are done. Learning about narrative structure. Learning what it takes to create highly-produced shows. (And probably more reasons that don’t occur to me now.)
Now, I make the time to listen just for the enjoyment. There are certainly many ways I can improve my podcasting, but I no longer need to be vigorously honing my craft. It can simply evolve at a leisurely pace, freeing me to simply enjoy the audio medium. That seems to feed back into my enjoyment of creating audio.
When looking for similar feedback loops in human interactions, Bateson saw that they didn’t always exist, or operate in the way they should. As a result, he recognized that there were two kinds of systems: ones that relied on feedback to create stability, and others that tended to escalate and create runaway trends.
I will admit this is the first I’ve ever heard of Bateson, and based on Gioia’s article, I seriously considered buying his Steps to an Ecology of Mind. I definitely recommend reading Gioia’s article.
The theory about big decisions is that they require a tremendous amount of thought, and that investing in all these thought results in better decisions. There are many classes of decisions where there is a right move. Deliberate planning around complex issues involving different people with varied goals is essential to making a correct decision.
I say “start walking” not only because that’s the only way to get where you need to be. It’s also the easiest way to begin. Far too often I overthink things when simply taking action would get me what I truly want to know: Will it work?
They had this idea, just one shot in which three very, very unlikely people were seen as NASCAR drivers. And I think they approached Julian Schnabel, Lou Reed, and me. (Laughs) And we were all supposed to be wearing the uniforms and the helmet, walking in slow motion with the heat haze. That would have been fantastic, but all of us couldn’t do it.
I was a junior in high school when Rushdie’s, Satanic Verses was published in 1988. The book was widely mentioned; It wasn’t really discussed, but rather it was just that everyone knew about its existence, and everyone had an opinion about it. Thinking back, I’m sure my opinion was simply a *hunh* and “that’s interesting.” To this day, I’ve not read the book, not for any particular reason but simply because there are way to many books I have reasons to read. The whole thing (back in the 80s) now feels like some sort of mirage: Real, vivid, and important, but in the end it wasn’t a real thing. The mirage was about a real thing, but it wasn’t real.
Remember we employed a visual to help us understand this. We said that the Dream is like a tree in the middle of a sunny meadow. The tree casts a shadow.
I find Pressfield’s metaphor to be striking. The tree in the meadow casts a real shadow. I was struck by the layers in this metaphor: light and darkness, the singular clarity of lone tree in an open space as a symbol of a life’s purpose, the proportional relationship of the larger the tree the larger and darker the shadow, and that one’s ability to avoid or at least escape the shadow is a choice we make.
By extension then, if one attempts to nurture multiple callings, visions or projects, one has multiple big trees. That’s at least a copse of trees whose shadows merge together creating something much more significant to avoid or escape from.
What does redefining success look like after you’ve lost everything?
Podcasting becomes a vehicle for self-discovery, long-form connection, and client engagement.
I’ve talked to a lot of podcasters. I’m able to talk to people for roughly 60 minutes without any interruption. It nourishes my soul, and I love it. That’s the real foundation.
~ Tim Winders (19:18)
This conversation explores the origin and evolution of the long-running podcast, Seek. Go. Create., and its relationship to Tim Winder’s personal and professional journey. Tim describes how the podcast began as a response to a client’s needs, but quickly became a spiritually driven endeavor. He was encouraged to share personal stories, including difficult experiences like financial collapse and homelessness. Over time, the show developed into a platform that not only supports a coaching business but also nourishes a desire for deep, uninterrupted conversations.
This conversation also touches on the structure and process behind maintaining consistency over hundreds of episodes, the relationship between control and creativity, and the integration of podcasting with writing and coaching work. Tim explains how the podcast serves as both an outlet and a tool for building content across platforms like YouTube and LinkedIn. There’s a recurring theme of redefining success, with reflections on audience size, personal growth, and the impact of letting go of expectations.
Takeaways
Passion and discipline in creative work — Staying consistent with a long-form podcast over six years requires both intrinsic motivation and structured systems.
Spiritual foundation and calling — The podcast began with a directive to share personal stories, rooted in a spiritual sense of purpose.
Redefining success — Personal hardship and shifting values led to a reevaluation of what constitutes meaningful achievement.
Homelessness and recovery — A journey from living in a mansion to being homeless influenced the depth and direction of the content.
Audience clarity — Over time, there was a realization that the audience consists of mature, critical thinkers rather than the masses.
Content repurposing — Long-form conversations are mined for short clips and articles to extend reach on platforms like YouTube and Medium.
Use of systems and strategy — The production relies on detailed checklists and project management tools to maintain quality and consistency.
Role of the podcast in coaching — The podcast supports coaching by offering thought leadership and lightly integrated calls to action.
Illusion of control — There is acknowledgment that striving for control causes stress, and much of the journey involves releasing that illusion.
Fiction writing as expression — A novel emerged from the same journey, written to reach men reconsidering the meaning of success.
Contemplation of stopping — The work continues only as long as the speaker feels nourished by the conversations; there’s comfort with the idea of ending when the interest fades.
Branding reflections — While the podcast title “Seek, Go, Create” is occasionally reconsidered for discoverability, it remains due to its deep personal significance and consistent branding.
Resources
SeekGoCreate.com — Tim’s website for the podcast and related content.
While rock climbing (outdoors, on real rocks, at real heights) I was once told that there are three types of fun: Type-1 fun is when something is fun, right now. Type-2 fun is when it’s not fun now, but is nonetheless great because of the experience, stories and learning being gained. …and then there’s Type-3 fun when nope, this is bad, mistakes have been made, and I want out of here.
I wonder if a big part of what draws me to be professional about what I do is that it’s really just Type-2 fun?
We don’t want reactions. We don’t want first impressions. We don’t want knee-jerks. We want considered feedback. Read it over. Read it twice, three times even. Ponder. Sleep on it. Take your time to gather and present your thoughts — just like the person who pitched the original idea took their time to gather and present theirs.
Sure, a little bit of snark. The point stands. It’s so easy to raise the first objection that comes to mind. (As if that hadn’t already been thought of.) What’s harder is to read, reflect, and then put in some actual effort to reply. This level of engagement certainly isn’t necessary in every interaction, but there are many interactions that would be vastly improved by it.
I’m in a continuous over-analysis loop. Some aspects of podcasting are harder than I feel they need to be. I try to imagine ways to make whatever-it-is easier. But it will never be that all of it is easy. Why would I do it, if it was all easy?
I think that’s my over-complication: I spend too much time trying to make things easier.
Do the work. Do more of the work. Do still more of the work.
It’s great to assess one’s work. But I need to not get lost in over-thinking. It’s vanishingly rare (for me, these days) that anything is actually “wrong” with the work. Don’t over think it.
There’s something I believe in greatly: intuition. At one point when I had finished my second year at the American Film Institute,I desperately felt my character as a human being needed a political waking up. I felt that I was too naïve. I ended up doing a Frontline piece on El Salvador that led me to working with Oliver. I wanted something, I was given a sign, and I followed it. That’s what I mean by intuition — and I believe that each step of the way I have gone I have been given these fortunate signs and I’ve been able to see them and to move with them.
People who self-identify as creatives make this point quite often: They are fortunate in opportunities. But the key to their success was in being able to see it, and in having the courage to try.
The pile of unread books we have on our bedside tables is often referred to as a graveyard of good intentions. The list of unread books on our Kindles is more of a black hole of fleeting intentions.
Digital is great for consumption, but consumption is not the only reason for having a book.
Having the books physically take up space in my environment is a key feature of books! My anti-library—the collection of books I’ve not yet read—serves the important purpose of reminding what I don’t yet know. Also, when I have a spare moment the books’ proximity draws me to them; This enables me to affect my future self (albeit only slightly) by setting in sight things that would improve me through their reading.