Time to tidy up, folks! In our final episode of the "Make Fun a Habit" series, I’m all about the importance of a little creative cleanup—both in our messy studios and in our chaotic minds. We dive into the concept of the "10 Second Tidy," inspired by kids’ shows, and how it can help us organize our thoughts for maximum creative output. Not only does this quirky cleanup reduce stress and boost productivity, but it also gives our motivation a nice little kick in the pants! So grab your favorite beverage, kick back, and join me as we wrap up this celebration of creativity and explore how to put fun back into our artistic lives. Let’s get messy and make some art, people!

Making Fun A Habit Series

30 days to add fun to your creative practice. I will be going through Mike Brennan's Make Fun A Habit workbook and help you make fun a habit. I had the pleasure of interviewing Mike on my other podcast Find A Podcast About and talking about his podcast Creative Chats. This workbook leads you through steps to rekindle the fun in your life and get you into a space where you are your most creative. This is a 30-day book and I will tackle each day as if it were a week and provide insights on how to use his ideas in your creative practice. Each chapter is broken up with a short story, questions to ponder, action items, and tips.

Assignment

Questions

1. What ideas do you have?
2. What are the different categories of your ideas
3. How important are each of your ideas
4. What are the next steps you need to take to make progress on your ideas?
5. What tools and resources can you use to help sort and organize your ideas?
6. How can you make sure that your sorting and organizing system is flexible and sustainable?
7. How can you celebrate your successes as you sort and organize your ideas?

Action Items

1. What are your current goals
2. What ideas do you have for achieving your goals
3. Sort and organize your ideas
4. Prioritize your ideas
5. Take action on your ideas

Tips

1. Set aside time each day to sort and organize your ideas
2. Start small
3. Enlist the help of others
4. Make it fun
5. Reward Yourself

As we close the chapter on our Make Fun a Habit series, this episode is a celebration of creativity, inspiration, and a little bit of messiness! I’m Timothy, your guide through the artistic chaos, and in this final episode, we’re diving into the 30th chapter of Mike Brennan's workbook, featuring the wonderfully whimsical '10 Second Tidy.' Sounds easy, right? But it’s not just about cleaning up our physical spaces; it’s about clearing out the clutter in our minds too! I share my personal anecdotes about juggling parenthood with creativity, and how this simple practice can help us channel our thoughts into tangible projects. Spoiler alert: I’m also gearing up to conquer the watercolor world, which has evaded me for far too long! Let’s talk about how to organize our creative ideas, prioritize what’s important, and maybe even indulge in a little fun while we’re at it. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by your creative pursuits, this episode is a must-listen!

Takeaways:

• The last episode of the Make Fun a Habit series brings a playful twist to organizing your creative thoughts, encouraging a '10 second tidy' approach to decluttering your mind.
• Timothy Kimo Brien emphasizes that reducing stress and boosting productivity can be as simple as cleaning up your mental space, so let's tidy up those ideas!
• In the creative world, motivation can wane, but organizing your thoughts can rev up your drive to tackle projects, making it easier to dive into that next big idea.
• Celebrating small wins is key! Whether it's finishing a project or just sorting through ideas, acknowledging those successes can really boost your mood and keep the creative juices flowing.

Links referenced in this episode:

• findapodcastabout.xyz
• tkbpodcaststudio.com

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Create Art Podcast commentary Everybody clean up. Part of the Make Fun a Habit series. Hello, friend.

This is Timothy Keem o' Brien, your head instigator for Create Art Podcast, where I use my over 30 years of experience in the arts and education world to help you tame your inner critic and create more than you consume. So we have been doing the Make Fun of Habit series for quite a few episodes here, for 30 episodes, and this is our last episode for the series.

Let me tell you a little bit about Make Fun of Habit.

It's a book from Mike Brennan, who is the head guy over at Creative Chats, who I had a opportunity to interview on my other podcast, which is Find a podcast about and what this book is. It's a workbook. It takes you through 30 days, 30 different topics on how to put fun back into your creative practice.

Now, I've gone through that workbook and I've taken each of the chapters and turned them into an episode, and it's been a wild ride. It's been a lot of fun doing that here. And I want to thank, first and foremost Mike Brennan for writing that book and for all the stuff that he does.

He's actually just finished another book and that would be his eighth book, so I am well behind him. I've only got four books out there, he's got eight, but he's got a great podcast. Like I said, it's called Creative Chats.

And he's just, he's out there making sure that all of us creatives have all the stuff that we need. And this book is definitely one that you need to have in your library. And the links for it will be in the show notes there for you.

So don't worry about it. You don't have to write it down or anything like that. If you listen to podcasts like I do, I usually listen to them in the car.

So keep both hands at 10 and 2, folks. So let me go ahead and break down what each chapter has.

So he'll tell us a little story that's related to the topic of the chapter, and then he'll give us questions to think about.

He'll give us tips to actually do, and he'll give us action items, things that, you know, we can go ahead and add into our creative practice, whatever it is, right away. So let's get into this final one, chapter 30. Everybody clean up. So this chapter isn't necessarily about cleaning up your.

Your studio space, which, you know, I'm looking around my studio space and it could use a good dusting and a good vacuuming and a good cleanup. But what Mike tells us is, you know, he's got kids and I've got kids too.

And you know, when it's time to, you know, be done, the last thing that kids want to do is clean up, you know, the toys that they're playing with. And one of the shows that he watched while, you know, he was with his kids was the big comfy couch. And they had a thing called the ten second tidy.

And that's where, you know, one of the lead characters would go ahead and clean up the mess of the day in, in 10 seconds. Obviously it was time lapse and I have twins and they can really make a mess. I have pictures. I'll share them with you some other time.

But you know, when we're thinking about all the things that are going on in our head, why not apply that 10 second tidy to our thoughts? Because we have a lot of ideas that are just wanting to pop out and come to the forefront.

And if we do that 10 second tidy, just cleaning things up and organizing them the way they should be, will be ready for the next time when we, you know, sit down and go ahead and do a creative project. Now here's some of the things that Mike brings to to light here on why it's good to have a 10 second tidy. First off, it reduces stress.

You know, we've got all these thoughts going on in our head. Which one do we go with? And they won't turn off sometimes and it can cause us a lot of stress.

Well, if we're organizing our thoughts and cleaning things up, then that's going to reduce our stress levels. Next thing he talks about is it improves our productivity.

So when we organize all these ideas and all these thoughts, then we can go ahead and figure out, all right, this one I don't have any materials for, so I going to put this one in the back burner. But this one I've got all the materials for and I feel really confident in it. So I can go ahead and tackle this.

You know, I can go ahead and tackle Project B and put Project A in the background so that way I can get something done.

He also talks about how increases our motivation and when we're organizing things and when we, you know, take a take stock of what we have to work with, then, you know, we have no excuse. Let's get the stuff done, let's get these projects out the door so that way we can work on our next project.

And another thing he talks about is how it Saves us time. So if we're. If we don't have all the stuff for Project A, we don't have to worry about it. We can go.

Okay, well, the next time I'm at the art supply store, I'll go get all the stuff for Project A. Obviously, I don't have it here with me right now. So let's go work on Project B and then that way I can get Project B out the door.

And then when I have some free time, go over to the art store, pick up all the stuff I need for Project A, and then, boom, go right back to my studio and work on Project A. The last thing that he talks about on why this 10 second tidy is really good is it. It boosts your mood. You feel like you're accomplishing something.

You know, you feel really good about yourself. It's great to finish a project and to put it out there in the world and say, here you go.

You know, just like with these podcasts, you know, I have a lot of ideas for podcasts. I get my good buddy Kyle Bondo.

He and I would sit around for hours on end and talking about different ideas for podcasts that we could do, but we didn't do them.

We did a couple of them, but for the most part it was just like all these ideas and we're wasting all this time and we're thinking about all this stuff and we're like, yeah, but we didn't do anything. Organize yourself. Take that 10 second tidy, and then that way you'll be able to go, I did this, I did that. Not. I thought about doing this.

I thought about doing that. You actually have done it. Okay, so right now we're gonna go right into the questions and the first question is, what ideas do you have?

Oh, my God, I have so many ideas. Just gonna give you guys a heads up.

I'm gonna be starting a whole new series and it's gonna run for about six months and it should be starting in July, where I'm going to have conversations with people. Not necessarily a straight up interview like I've done in the past, but just conversations with people about different topics.

And it's going to be like I said, run for about six months, two topics a month. That's 12 topics right there. And we're going to keep the episodes kind of short.

But, you know, I may be talking to multiple people on one topic or I might just be doing one topic on my own. So that's my idea. I'm also doing another podcast about my battle with Ms. It's going to be called My Solo Journey with Ms.

I asked my wife to buy me a watercolor set, because if you've listened to the show, you know that anytime I've done a watercolor in the past, it looks like a thing of mud. So I'm challenging myself to actually learn how to do watercolor. So these are just a couple of the ideas that I have.

The next question is, what are the different categories of your ideas? Well, podcasting, you know, still podcasting with about art here on this show, but then changing the format from interviews to conversations.

So that's one category. Another category is starting up a new podcast to deal with my Ms. Diagnosis and what that's going to be. And then a third category is watercolors.

I just want to get in there and see what I can do with that. I've always been, you know, I've had people that do watercolors on the show, so I need to go ahead and do it myself.

All right, next question is, how important are each of your ideas? They're vital. They're vital for me. I've got to do these things. These are things that I really enjoy doing. I really enjoy podcasting.

I'm here with you just about every week. Every week or every other week. And I really enjoy, you know, sharing my ideas about art with you.

So that's why it's important for me to do that and then for the watercolor thing, because I ask you to go out there and try stuff, I need to go out there and do it myself. So watercolor has always been kind of the bane of my existence. So I'm gonna, you know, face that fear and give it a shot.

Next question is, what are the next steps you need to take to make progress on your ideas? Well, I'm already lining up. I'm already lining up conversations. They're not interviews for this next series.

For the other podcasts, I've got it all set up in my podcast media host, and I just need to, you know, start writing out the outline for it and for the watercolors. Well, I just need to go ahead and pick up one of the watercolor papers, the canvases, and start sketching out. Basically, I want to do my backyard.

I just need to go ahead and do that. Next question is, what tools and resources can you use to help sort and organize your ideas? I like project management software.

I've used a couple in the past, and I'm really going to need to, you know, lean back on. Lean on that and go ahead and do that. Just that way I can stay organized with everything that I do.

Next question is, can you make sure that your sorting and organizing system is flexible and sustainable? Well, because with me having ms, things have to be flexible, and I'm a dad of twins, so they have to be flexible as far as sustainable.

Yeah, these, these project management software apps that I've been using in the past, they're very stable, they work really well, they're free. That's what I like them. And so I believe that I can be flexible with it and very stable with it.

If I can't do a conversation with somebody, I, you know, I have it up on my profile because I have ms, I might not be able to, you know, I might have to pull out at the last minute. The last question is, how can you celebrate your success as you sort and organize your ideas? So I think going back to the.

Using the program management software, getting that, getting all the dates and all the timelines set up, that's going to be my first area of success. Then my second area of success is actually doing the work, getting that done.

And then my third area of success will be actually presenting it to the public.

And my fourth is, hey, if I won an award for a podcast or if I get a lot of engagement from you with, you know, the conversations that I'm doing or the other podcasts that I'm doing, or when I have a couple of watercolors to show you to get feedback on that, that's success for me. All right, we're going to switch on over to his action items. And first action item is, you know, what are your current goals?

Make sure you're writing them down, both long term and short term. Another action item is what ideas do you have for achieving your goals? You know, brainstorm those ideas.

The next action item is sort and organize your ideas. See, he's not starting off with the sort and organize your ideas. Just what are your goals? What do you want to do?

And then brainstorm it and then sort those out. And so that way they make sense to you. Maybe they're not logical, but they make sense to you. Next action item is prioritize your ideas.

What can you get done first? What has to be done before you can do anything else? And then the last Action item is take action on your ideas. So that means actually doing the work.

There's no getting around it. It's not going to do itself. You need to do that work.

So some tips that he has that he's going to leave us here with is set aside a specific time each day or week to sort and organize your ideas. Absolutely, absolutely. I remember it wasn't this year, but I think it was last year.

I took like two weeks and planned out the whole year and I had it all set up in my project management software. And that felt great because then I could release that. I wasn't ever wondering, what am I going to do and when am I going to do it.

I knew from week to week to week what I was going to do. Start small is the next tip. You know, we're not trying to do brain surgery here. We're not trying to do the Great Wall of China here. Just start small.

And you know, with the stuff that I'm doing, it's actually small because I've done bigger projects. But now I'm going to have three main projects that I'm going to be working on.

This show, my, my new show that I'm building up, and then some watercolors. So I'm, you know, I'm setting that up as small things for me. They're, they're easy things, but they do need that organization.

Next tip is to enlist the help of others. So I interviewed Tia Sunshine a long time ago and she's a watercolor artist.

So when I'm get ready to start these watercolors and the actual painting aspect of it, oh, you know, I'm going to be emailing the crap out of her and going, hey, listen, how do I do this? Actually, the next tip is make it fun. Well, geez, that's what this book says. Make fun a habit. Make it fun for yourself. Okay.

You know, am I going to paint some mud on some canvases? Absolutely I am. And that's going to be okay. And heck, I'll show you what they look like, you know, when they're, when they're done.

But make it fun for yourself. Make it stuff that you want to do. And then the last thing is reward yourself. So a reward for myself would be to submit my solo Ms.

Journey to the Third Coast Audio Festival in Chicago and then go out there and even if I don't win, go out there, hook up with some old friends and have a good time. That's going to be my reward for that. As far as the watercolors. Go.

Well, my good friend Heather Moon is out there in Rockford, Illinois, which is, you know, 90 miles west of Chicago. I'll go out there and show her my watercolors in person. You know, that'll be a great time.

And you know, a reward for myself already is that I'm going to be doing one, maybe two podcast conferences later on this year. So that's my reward to myself. Okay.

So definitely want to thank Mike Brennan for writing this book and for being on my other show and for doing everything that he does. Mike, this has been a interesting journey. I've really enjoyed it. I read through the book really quick. I was like, wow.

And as soon as I got done with chapter 30 the first time, I was like, this has got to be a series. So this is a project that I have now completed and I feel really good about it. And you know, I've made a good friend in Mike Brennan.

I've been following him on all the socials and I listen to his podcast all the time. So I've made a good friend out of it, A good mentor even, I would say. So first and foremost, thank you, Mike, for everything that you do.

And then I want to thank you for taking a listen to all 30 of these episodes for the Make Fun of Habit series. It's been, it's been a lot of fun doing these and thinking about, thinking about art.

And I would challenge you, go grab the book, run through those 30 days yourself. I mean, yes, you've got the episodes that I've done here, you could just do that.

But I would highly recommend go get the book and go make Fun of Habit for yourself.

Alright, so if you'd like to reach out to me and let me know if you've done the Make Fun of Habit or if you have ideas for the show or if you have critique for the show. I take all, I take everything. Email me timothyreateartpodcast.com I'd love to have you on the show.

The next episode that I do here, I'm going to be explaining the different topics and what I'm going to be doing them for you. So if you want to get involved in that, by all means, shoot me an email and let's get you on the list and let's get you on the schedule. Okay.

A couple of things I want to remind you of. One is I do have that other podcast. It's called Find a Podcast About.

You can find it at findapodcastabout xyz and there I hope you find your next Binge worthy podcast and outsmart the algorithm. Check it out for yourself. It's a great podcast to listen to if you want to hear about other podcasts that I think are binge worthy.

And then I would be remiss if I did not tell you about my business. It is TKB Podcast Studio and that's where I help my clients lead through the noise with quiet professionalism.

But let's make that conversation happen.

You can find my business@tkbpodcaststudio.com and again, you can email me timothy kbpodcaststudio.com all right, that's all I have for you here today. I need to get on with my day.

I know you need to get on with your day, but I hope that you got something out of this organizing those ideas and actually putting them into practice. So go out there, tame that inner critic. Create more than you consume. Go out there, make some art for somebody you love. Yourself.

I'll talk to you next time.