While depressed people are not literally in a different world, they are in a different state of consciousness.
~ Cecily Whiteley, from Depression is more than low mood – it’s a change of consciousness
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Which then leads to the question: How does one change one’s consciousness. In the moment. Right when everything feels hopeless.
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Nature and artificial, entirety and piece, universality and uniqueness, the past and the present. Architects are tormented by the constant conflict of these dualistic propositions! The deeper and more intense the tension is, the more dynamic the creation becomes. That is why architects must continue thinking.
~ Tadao Ando, from Tadao Ando – The Talks
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Of course, not just architects must continue thinking. I find so much more value within things (for example, a conversation) when I hold up pairs of opposites as Ando suggests. Each pair suggests a dimension for consideration, and it’s easier than just staring into the original thing looking for the interesting parts.
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There’s no correct answer to this question. The only important thing is that each of us takes the time to find our own answer. This is not a “set it and forget it” situation: You have to reconsider this question periodically too.
Yesterday I was talking with a podcaster who is in the middle of a significant pivot of their show. Why the pivot? It wasn’t working for them any more.
I’ve pivoted shows, started new shows, intentionally stopped publishing episodes of a show, and completely deleted shows from existence. Each time because there was a clear sign (often a sign I’d been in denial about) that the show was no longer working for me.
That’s what you have to figure out for yourself.
I did 1,400 episodes of Little Box of Quotes as a daily show. I had specific things I was practicing. When creating new episodes became a thing I started avoiding, I stopped. A year later, I’m thinking of resuming publishing the show, but my reasons for publishing it are now completely different.
I’ve tried two different show-formats for the Open + Curious podcast. Now in 2025, I’m scheduling guests for its 3rd season which will be in my signature style of conversation.
The Movers Mindset podcast hasn’t been the same format since day one. There’s been a bunch of experiments within that show. As I have new ideas, and new questions about what can a recorded conversation be, that’s where I’ve done most of my experimentation.
Even Podtalk has changed over time. What began as “the companion podcast to the Podcaster Community” (conversations with the community’s members) expanded to conversations with any independent podcast creator.
As I said: There’s no one, correct answer for everyone. There isn’t even one, correct answer for each of us!
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The truth is the heroism of your childhood entertainments was not true valor. It was theater.
~ David Foster Wallace
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No one gets everything right in their first few episodes (or even after 100 episodes). Looking back, what’s something you used to do—or believe—that you’ve completely changed your mind about?
~ Asked by the LLM(1)
By far my biggest mistake was chasing perfection.
It’s subtle when simply improving as one does more work, tips over into chasing perfection. Improvement is fine, but it’s not the reason why I’m making podcasts. I first had to figure out my reasons for podcasting, then it became easier to see when an improvement was fine, and when an improvement was an unnecessary detour. (Perfection, after all, can be hiding from the actual work.)
For me, an example of chasing perfection went like this…
In my initial recorded conversations, I first paid-per-minute for a human-done transcription. (It was 2017.) Then I printed the entire transcript. Then I reviewed the audio with the transcript as a guide, enabling me to keep track of the larger themes and story-arc in each conversation. Then I was annotating the transcript for various editing possibilities. Finally, I passed the editing off to another person (a paid, team member) that I was working with to create the show. Today, of course, this can all be done much quicker and with little (if any) actual cost.
Eventually, I realized that for what I’m trying to accomplish there’s no need to edit. So all that getting better editing, or doing it for less cost, turns out to be the wrong thing for me to be doing. Chasing improvement was hiding. Chasing perfection was an error.
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(1) I’m working with an LLM instance which has access to everything I’ve written about podcasting, and all the episodes I’ve published. It prompts me by asking me these questions.
In summary – I believe you should be publishing something to the web, maybe an esoteric spreadsheet, perhaps an open source javascript library, a deep dive into semantic analysis of your favorite author? Who knows? Publish, but keep it weird and humble.
~ Tom Critchlow, from An alternative to the bullshit industrial complex
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It’s probably confirmation bias, but I definitely agree with this sentiment. The internet enables an endless array of things. For me it’s mostly about me being enabled to share what I’m creating. Weird? Definitely. Humble? …uh, okay okay still working on that.
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Create clear boundaries and transitions throughout your day so you can focus on one thing at a time.
~ Brett & Kate McKay, from Mise en Place: The Chef’s Secret to a More Productive and Organized Life
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This point about presence is one I’ve not seen made before about ‘mise en place.’ I’ve always focused on the preparation part, and how that then makes it possible to do great work (under press, amidst chaos, etc.) The idea that you can set yourself up for being present is quite enticing.
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Writing is essentially donkey work, manual labor of the mind. What makes it bearable are those moments (which sometimes can last for weeks, months) when the book takes over, takes on a life of its own, goes off in unexpected directions.
~ John Gregory Dunne
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There’s a lot of conventional wisdom in podcasting—things like “You have to publish weekly” or “Shorter episodes are better.” But not all common advice applies to everyone. What’s something you’ve found doesn’t actually work or that people should rethink?
~ Asked by the LLM(1)
Don’t go alone.
I don’t think people do well trying to do their podcast entirely by themselves. I think this is really a point about creating art in general.
Yes, one definitely should do the work for the work’s sake. (What is referred to as autotelic.) Yes, don’t depend on external motivation and reward. But it is not easy to do that entirely alone.
The easy way is to find others who share your passion. You don’t need to directly collaborate on your work. But you absolutely will be happier if you have others who speak your jargon, do the thing, and face the same struggles.
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(1) I’m working with an LLM instance which has access to everything I’ve written about podcasting, and all the episodes I’ve published. It prompts me by asking me these questions.
Being quiet and slowly building mastery and expertise doesn’t pay off much at first. So many creatives must make a calculation: Do I want the short term, could-go-viral-at-any-second thrill of being a vocal expert in my field? Or am I more content playing the long game? More people are incentivized to choose the former — and it’s getting crowded in here.
~ Sean Blanda, from The Creative World’s Bullshit Industrial Complex
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This is closely related to the bit the other day from Offerman. In fact, it’s closely related to anyone’s journey of self-discovery. It is directly related, and critically important, for creatives to understand the trap of the idea of there being a possible short-term payoff. There is no short-term payoff. It exists, in the same sense that car accidents exist: Yes, but we don’t hope for that. We don’t set out trying for that.
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