In Episode 29, the crew discusses how different environments impact creativity, sharing personal insights on maintaining creative momentum while traveling. They explore the effects of space on work and engage in a fun rapid-fire question about creating art while walking backwards. Join the conversation and discover how your environment influences your creativity!

Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Creative Work Hour podcast. Today is November the 29th, 2024. In America, it's Black Friday. I'm not sure in your part of the world, but it's a very busy shopping day. We are doing an entry for national podcast post month and today's entry starts with a question and we will just go from there. So how does your environment influence your ability to create? How does your environment influence your ability to create? And I'll go to Alessandra.

Thank you, Greg. Okay, so the environment and the ability to create are a lot of moving parts when 1 is traveling a lot. Because you could have everything all sorted out at home or which home and then you're on the road and you get things sorted out in the first hotel room and you think, oh, I'm doing all right. I'm making good grades. The future's so bright. And then you go to another hotel room and you're like, all right, my Watch hasn't been charged in 3 days. I don't even know where my phone is. I'm using a backup phone and I lost the cord of my computer. So as an architectural designer, I can say a lot about making spaces conducive to creative work, but there is something all tangly and gnarly about when you're moving about. So I'm just going to be curious about that and hope that I get better at it. Really the only thing that's died on the operating table during this particular trip and I think I've made 7 trips during the course of NaPodPoMo, this time around and I think it's just that the Apple Watch is dead but not lost. But I'm looking forward to hearing what everybody else has to say. Thanks.

Thank you, Alessandra. Bobby B, how about you?

As an ADHD guy, yes, the environment means a lot. And one of the greatest gifts I've gotten from this group, and I've come to understand, is that it's okay to walk away when there's just, the maelstrom is just too much. You know, certainly there's times I can bear down, but luckily I've got enough in the fire that I can slip into something else and ease back in when everything is comfortable again.

Thank you, Bobby. And Dr. Timeka, how about yourself?

Well, for me, the environment is very important. I'm one of them. I love simplicity. I love the things that spark joy. So I try to keep a handful of things around me that inhabit both simplicity, just a clean and green space, especially green. Then a few things that sparked your book, something as simple as my favorite pen. And all of those seem to carry me on. Like Alexandra said, you know, if you travel from space to space, those are things I can usually obtain pretty quickly. I can go outside and sit on the ground if I need to, but I still have my favorite book and my favorite pen. And I, for some reason, creativity just stays with me. So the environment plays a huge role in my creativity.

Thank you, Dr. Timeka. Nate, how about yourself?

This is one of those questions that I think is so hard to answer because of how important it is and how integrated we are to our spaces that even when you think it's not your space and you can work anywhere that's a part of your environment. I think environment is everything and headspace and environment are 1 in the same And you don't totally get to control. I mean, obviously, you can see my space here is a little bit of a mess and you know, intentionality
can go a long way. It's one of those things that is so personal and so unique that it can't be overstated. I think the environment is everything.

Thank you, Nate. Of course, wherever we go, we take ourselves with us, don't we? Bobbie, how about you?

Yeah, I'm pretty much in agreement with everyone. Because when I need to really focus on something most likely personal, I like to go to the beach and just write, I'll sit, I'll just be away from everything. And when I'm creating more for work, I have my spaces in my office and my home and I've got my little things that I like, just like what Dr. Tomiko was saying. And it's just, it's like the mood, right? Like the professional mood, personal mood. So we all have our little spaces and ways of doing things, but it's incredibly important.

Absolutely, thank you, Bobbi. Jennifer, how about you? 

I think environment is critical, but not just your physical environment, which is important, especially when you do the kind of work that I do in podcasting, but having your own space where you're the person who designed it and have designed your area is really important, but not just the physicality of it. There's also the online work aspect of it. And I can tell you that when I am in the creative mode of developing things, I like to have kind of like a rough scratch pad and I use tools like Dropbox Paper because it's simple and it's easy and it allows my mind to just create the content and the tech doesn't get in the way. And it's also why I like mind maps because mind maps allow me to create the big picture of the entire project in a really nice flow. And I think that's also important. And in addition to the physical nature of our environment. There's also the online creative aspect of our environment and finding the tools that work for you. The tools that work for me may not work for someone else, and that's perfectly fine. I think it's important just to find what works for you that allows your creative genius to shine.

Thank you, Jennifer. Devin, how about you?

Well, I think that environment is very important. I tell myself that I have to have the right, well, quiet, no sound, and then I have to have the right visual cues, but I can't have any distracting visual cues, and the temperature has to be perfect. I tell myself all those things that they must exist before I get creative, but then on a few occasions when I've been forced to create no matter what on a deadline, I find that once I push past that, I created just fine and everything worked out. So I'm not sure if all those beliefs are true, but on a regular day, if you ask me what I have to be creative, Yes, I've got to have that environment, just so. 

Thank you, Devin. And Ken, how about you?

I guess I would say that your inner space or environment creates your outer space and environment. And then in turn the outer space and environment creates your inner space environment. Or another way of saying it is your belief systems create reality and reality creates your belief systems.

Right, absolutely. 

Well, we have a little bit of time left, so here's one just for fun, rapid fire round. 

How would creating art change if we had to do it while walking backwards? 
How would creating art change if we had to do it while walking backwards? 
Alessandra?

It would be ugly! You have to get out of your own way, literally. I love that. I love that, Greg. That's great. Yeah.

Bobby B?

Boy, the visual of moonwalking while doing art is pretty scary.

Dr. Timeka?

I share the same sentiments as Bobby. I couldn't imagine what the art would look like. If it would exist at all, I would be turning back to see what's behind me.

Let's see where you just came from, right? Yeah. 

Bobbie W?

I agree with everyone, yeah, I can't imagine it.

Jennifer, how about you?

I think about audio art, that audio is art, so I think I could describe it pretty well.

Devin?

I actually thought about this recently because Alessandro and I have been taking trains everywhere and sometimes your seat is facing forward and sometimes it's facing backward and I thought well if you're creating something while you're facing backwards, you're seeing everything that has already happened. Everything you're seeing is history. And so your entire context is historical because that's already gone past as opposed to if you're facing forward and you're always looking at the future and seeing what's coming at you. So I think if you're reading while walking backwards you would have a historical perspective.

I could see a movie or a book in there somewhere as well. Absolutely. 

Ken, how about you?

Running the Forrest Gump movie backwards while listening to my Led Zeppelin records backwards. Right.

Yeah. I've heard about things like that, but it's happened again. 

You've wasted a perfectly few good minutes listening to the Creative Work Hour podcast when you could have been doing something different but you chose not to!

Come back again tomorrow we'll be here, but let us know how the environment influences your ability to create?
What about walking backwards creating art? 

Thanks again and come back tomorrow.