[Transcript starts at 1:52]
Hello, friends. Maestro here. Welcome back to another episode of my favorite podcast. Today's a special episode. Why? Well, you know, we're in the summer shorty series and I have been putting them out on Mondays and Thursdays and they're all short solo episodes. But in light of recent events in Instagram, I even did an episode last Thursday about this and they had all the changes, which my friends have been going on for two years.
This is not new, but everyone's finally up in arms because the Kardashians are up in arms about the fact that static posts aren't being pushed. People are upset. And one of the things I'm seeing is that folks are not creating. They are finding themselves in a place of trying to guess like, well, what do people want?
And, and like video is new and. I don't want to post this. If no one's going to see it, I only want to do it. If people are going to see it, what's the point? And they're not creating. And y'all already know that that just breaks my heart. So I thought, who could I bring on to talk about this? Who's essentially an expert in helping artists and creatives do their work.
The thing. So I reached out, slid into the DMs and my good friend, Rachel Strickland, and I asked her, I was like, Hey, can I send you a voice note? Cause I'm really excited about this. And it's just too good for text. And she was like, but of course. And so I was like, would you please come on and talk to my people and do a.
Guest episode, surprise guest episode on getting out of your own way, creating, because it needs to exist and that whole process of what it's like to be an artist. And she was like, fuck yes, let's do this. And then she signed up for a podcast spot literally the next day. And here we are. We are making it meta.
So for those of you that don't know, Rachel is a performing artist. She's a award winning choreographer. She is, what is the exact phrase here? A development coach to artists and creative entrepreneurs. And honestly, she just helps folks do the goddamn thing. Just get out of their way and do the thing. So without further ado, my good friend.
Please welcome Rachel Strickland. What's up, homie? I am so happy to be here. Thank you so much for that voice note It totally made my day. I Love it. I think this was one of the longest intros I've done but it's warranted for you I'm like, I gotta set this up because this is a big deal, dude Like I am really excited to have you on and I'm really excited to learn from you, to just have you here.
I'm really grateful. So thank you. Thank you. Let's do it. I will, uh, try to be a good host and I'm going to turn it over to you. I mean, you sent the biography in because you're amazing. Uh, but I'm the way that I usually run. This is have you tell us what you want to tell us about you and then I'll bombard you with questions.
How does that sound? That sounds amazing. That's exactly what I was hoping would happen. Perfect. So, your turn. Who are you? Uh, I'm a weirdo is, uh, one of my favorite. It's just true. Um, and I like doing unusual things. Uh, and I like making a living in unusual ways. It's just more fun for me. I tried ways that were more common and I like it.
That didn't really work for me. I was unhappy. I'm like, there's got to be another way to like, do this life thing. And my, my mom's like, sorry, that's what it's like. I'm like, no, I choose to rebel. Uh, and I think that. You know, your, one of your messages, your main messages is like, go for your joy, diversify your joy portfolio.
And that's so real to me because I find joy to be, um, an act of protest almost like it's a rebellion. Like, no, I'm going to be joyful. And what I like to do in my work when I coach other people is. Help them identify what it is they want to do, what it is they want to make. Identify the roadblocks, not so we can focus on them, but just so you're aware of the landscape that you're working in.
And then you can build a map to get to where you want to go. But otherwise you just get all up in your head. And primarily I do do this through, um, my eight week mentorship course called the audacity project, which is so aptly named and I love it. I hold it two to three times a year. I just, I never get tired of it.
I've been doing it five years now. I'd take around 20 artists at a time. And we have group classes and kind of build their promotional materials and in the course of doing that work, there's so many questions that get answered for a creative, uh, that are really difficult to ask yourself. It's just nice to kind of have someone guiding you through the process.
Like what kind of work do you want to be doing? Who do you want to be doing it for? How much? And do you want to be doing this full time or would your life be better if it were a side hustle kind of situation? So that's what I do. Can I back you up a second? Yeah, you said that you told your mom basically I want to make money in a different way I'm gonna be happy and she was like, I love you, but also this is how it is What made you not take no for an answer?
I? have a Stubborn insistence that like no, I am NOT Going to play that game and I remember when I was in college. I was full time college You I had an apartment with my roommate from my first year. I was waitressing at O'Charlie's and teaching ballet to children. And it was like, I had every moment planned out.
Weeks in advance. I had every dollar. I knew exactly where it was going to go. And I was miserable. It was the most unhappy I've ever been in my life. I'm like, there's just gotta be a better way. Turns out there was lots of better ways. I mean, nothing against like waitressing. I was just really bad at it.
I'm a terrible server. Much respect for people that are very good at that job. It's hard. How do you remember it all? I mean, dude, that actually gives me big anxiety when I go to the restaurant and they don't write it down. I'm like, you're not impressing me, sir. You're actually giving me aggressive anxiety.
I don't care that you're kneeling down next to me. That doesn't make me feel any better. Please write down that I don't want sesame seeds on that. Please write it. Seriously, I have an allergy. You need to write it down. Write it, write it down. They just be like, I got it. I'm like, do you have it? There's seven of us here.
I don't think you got it. I'm nervous. I've never had that validated before. So thank you. So bless those people who write it down. I mean, amazing for the people that remember it, but it's like, it actually doesn't impress me. It just gives me anxiety the whole time. Like, ah, so what were some of these ways?
Cause I want to in my mind, whenever I bring someone on, I have a story that I kind of want to tell or that I want to hear about. Uh, and then I obviously a main purpose and things that I want them to teach about and talk about. But I also like to learn things about the person as we're going. And, I feel like, you know, hearing people's backgrounds gives you so much insight into why they do things now and the reason that they do the things that they do now.
So what were some of those things that you, cause you, when I look at your bio, it's like a million things that you've done. What was that journey like? You're like, no, I refuse to accept this status quo. Nothing wrong with it, but it's not for me. What did that journey look like? You said you were waitressing, you were in college, you knew where every dollar was going.
Take us forward a little bit. All right. Uh, so the thing that I wanted in college and immediately after I just wanted to travel with no plan, uh, I had had a taste of it and it could just consumed me because I did a study abroad program in Ireland and, uh, that was only a summer. But I couldn't get enough and so like I, I saved and saved from like my jobs that didn't light me up.
I saved up 2, 000 which to me was a fortune. That's a lot. Yeah. Legit. I bought a one way plane ticket. And I spent the next five months just being a bum and like couch surfing. And, uh, I would go to a hostel and be like, I need a place to stay, but I'm low on funds. They'd be like, can you wash dishes? Like, absolutely.
I can wash those dishes. And I, and I was busking. I started busking in England, just like sit in an alleyway with a coffee cup in front of you and sing, and the only songs I knew were like Enya and Irish ballads, I definitely have a type, and like Disney songs, but like people would give me money and that worked for a while, for like a few months.
Model at an art school, you know, 150 a, well, it was Euro, 150 Euro a week, I'm like, whoa, I can do this forever. Yeah. It felt like wealth. Yeah. There's always a way. Rachel, I'm going to stop you because this ties into, this, I mean, all of it ties into what I want to be, you know, the, the point of today's episode and what I'm hoping people walk away with.
But busking, let's go back to that for a second. The audacity you had to, what is it? What is that thought process of, I hope someone will give me money. I know someone will give me money. I have skill with this. What, what, what is any of that? What surrounds this? It was very terrifying to me. The, I, I'm not a trained singer.
I just like sing in the car and in the shower kind of situation, but I was. I was in the UK, in Glastonbury, and I looked at my bank account and I was like, Oh, shit. It was not good. And I was not very far into what I hoped was going to be many months of traveling. So I just had a very sober moment. And I went to this alleyway and I had a cup cause I just had a coffee and I sat there and I was feeling very sorry for myself.
I'm like, all right, what are we going to do? Are we going to go home and get a job? Are we going to figure out another way? And I was just kind of like in that, you know, sometimes it feels good to feel a little bit sorry for yourself. And that's exactly what I was doing. So I started singing this sad song and someone walked by and put a Euro in my empty coffee cup.
And then it was my second, Oh shit. Of the day. So I just kept going. There was a big echo in the little alleyway. And people had to walk through it to get to these other bits of shops. So, primo location. Didn't even realize what was happening. Uh, but yeah, I was terrified to sing in front of people. But, you know, no one threw a shoe at my head.
So I thought that was successful. And you just, you did this more than one day. Yes. And it's how I lived for a while, maybe two or three months before I got the, like the job modeling at the art school. Rachel, tell me about this. So you went back each day with a plan, with a hope, with the same amount of fear, with less fear, with more confidence.
What does that look like? It's fascinating. It got easier, but it was always, it's always scary to open your mouth and begin singing. Just like for, especially for like introverted people, there's nothing harder than opening your mouth and beginning. And it was always the fear is today the day they're going to throw a shoe at my head.
Someone did yell at me out of a window once in Italian. It's like, gang stop. Ah, all I hear is ah.
But by then I had been doing it so long, it was just like, yeah, okay, I'll go somewhere else. There's lots of streets. That. This is so many. I mean, I'm certain the people listening are like creating the metaphors in their own minds if we're talking about social media and showing up and opening your mouth and subjecting yourself to potential scrutiny and feedback from people.
And then at some point it happens. But you're also like, okay, okay, it happened. I'm going to, I have to keep going and doing this and it is what it is. And I, I will keep moving forward. This is, I had no idea that you did this. This is, why did you stop? Cause because of the modeling job came along or what happened?
I actually went to look for the modeling job because it did get really hard, um, to like, walk. I was in, by the time I ended, I was in Florence, Italy, where I totally ran out of money. So like, all right, I guess we stay here for a while. And I'd walk into the city center, which is like a mile, and like find an alleyway to sit in, see how that went for a while, go somewhere else, and I'm not trained or anything, so my voice would get tired, and uh, it just, it became really hard.
I'm like, okay, this is hard now, I think I've learned what I need to learn, um, I'm sure I could learn more, but I'd like to try something else. Maybe have a little more ease. So that's when I found the thingy the modeling thing the thingy the thingy didn't okay How was that? Um, that was great. It's really painful to stand still I didn't know that like I'm a lifelong dancer.
So I was all cocky about it. I'm like, I'm gonna be great at this It's gonna be amazing by the end of the first day is like three hours of standing still with nothing a break halfway through. I'm like, Oh my God, I want to kill all of these artists. No, no. My knees are broken. Just thinking about that. No, no for me.
Your body goes numb in parts, but it was really rewarding. Um, and it was, it took care of me for the time that I did it. All right. How did you bring in, what did you go to school for? And ultimately like your artistry, how did you bring that into what you did, what you were doing? Oh, that's a good question.
So I came home from my travels and I had made damn sure there was nothing waiting for me. I mean, like my family was there, but no prospects or anything. And I did it that way on purpose because I didn't know how long I was going to be gone. And the reason I went home is because like, this has been amazing.
But I think I'm ready for something else. I still want to travel, but I want to be paid to travel. I want a career. Like, I want something to be driving me other than just, like, following my pants in the wind, which was what I was doing. I went to school for a degree in creative writing and a minor in dance.
The minor was way harder to get, in my opinion. But I'm like, okay, I got nothing to do. What do I want to do? What's the coolest thing I can think of? Like, I saw a clip of Cirque du Soleil when I was a youngster, and I was like, yeah, I'm way too old for that. I was like, 18 at the time. I know, I was like, wait, but like, you were still really young.
Yes, and I just changed my mind when I turned 25. It's like, well, we'll give it a shot in the dark.
I, uh, I worked for my dad at, uh, my dad's a chiropractor in Louisiana and I ran his office and I wrote SEO online, saved up some money, moved to San Francisco and went to the circus center there. Uh, and that was my. That was my intro into the circus arts, which snowballed into performance art and everything else that I've done.
That's how that happened. So if we back it up a second and we talk about your major, uh, with creative writing and dance. Can you talk about a little bit, perhaps, what did you envision yourself? Or maybe you didn't, uh, have a particular like path that you were going to utilize with that. And then second question, yes, I'm being a bad host asking two questions.
So one, potential vision for the major and the minor, and then anything that you learned from that skill set that you took that you kind of bring into the things that you teach now? Um, getting a major in creative writing. Uh, it was kind of an accident. I was an art major at first, but I was like, Oh God, I don't want to do this all the time.
This is like, and I loved writing. It's always the first thing that I ever fell in love with doing. Um, one of the only things I like actually have some talent at, uh, and one of my friends was like, what are you Just be a writer. Like, finish your degree. Get, get a writing degree. Okay. And what I learned from Creative writing was that, uh, one, how to act like you know what you're doing.
I like it. Because so much of a college education, at least in my experience at a liberal arts college, was the Like, the certificate means I can withstand the rigors of a formal education. Yes. Yes. Not necessarily anything else. Uh, a hundred percent. Didn't teach me how to do my taxes or anything. That came way later.
Didn't teach me shit about taxes. Right. I've already forgotten your second question. Second question was, uh, you actually answered both. Was it, you want to relate that to, her first question was, What, like, was the vision in both the major and the minor? And then the second question was, like, lessons that you've learned, and you said it for writing, creative writing.
What about with dance? Did you have a vision with that? You just enjoyed it? And then things you learned that maybe you're utilizing now? It's something, you know, I, I worked with, um, a ballet dancer in San Francisco a few years ago, and I think he was in his late forties, and he said it best. He's like, ballet's just got me by the balls.
It's not gonna let go. And I was like, I know how you feel. Like something just gets inside you and you're like, my life isn't going to be complete without artistic movement. It's just so much a part of me. There was no plan for the future. I was like, someday I'll be a writer. I'll write books. Like, cool.
But that's not really a plan. That's a aspiration more than anything. So as far as like, what did, what did I want to do with my life? I had no idea. I did not know. Like it. Which seems like that has, let me actually phrase it as a question, was that okay for you or did that produce any kind of feelings, this not knowing what you wanted to do?
I preferred it, uh, but I had never experienced the alternative until I realized I wanted to travel. So maybe that's actually really important because once I realized how deeply I wanted to just travel with no plan, that became like the once in future goal. And it was. I have a high propensity for tunnel vision, so it works out once you decide, you're like, this is it.
We're going. So then we have a little background here in terms of like kind of the logistics, the timelines of things. And then you slid in that you had seen Cirque stuff when you were younger, and then you decided when you're 25, like, actually, I'm going to go after this. What was that? What was that decision?
I remember sitting and do it pretty much. I was sitting in my mom's house I'm like, okay. I'm in my mom's house. I don't want to live with my parents. I'm 25 I want to go out into the world, but I need a thing to work towards and Something just swelled up in the back of my head. I was like, remember that really cool thing that made you cry when you saw it the first time?
Like, yeah, but I can't do that. Or maybe that's not true. Maybe I, any, any times like, Oh, I couldn't possibly is a very good opportunity to take a closer look and like, but could you possibly, Oh, I couldn't possibly, but you could actually. You couldn't possibly. That's happened quite a few times. I imagine this is something that comes up a ton with the people that you work with in your line of work and people have an idea or thought and remember that thing or like, that thing that lit me up, but I couldn't actually do it all the time.
What do you usually say to them? Well, I ask them their reasons. Cause first we identify, um, I call them gremlins. That's kind of a word that my mentor Sean Paul McCormick, uh, nailed down like, what are the gremlins? Let's see what we're working with. Let's see what the landscape is that you're operating in.
It's like, usually like, well, I'm too old. It's too saturated. Um, I'm too this, I'm too that, or I'm not enough of this or that like, Oh, all gremlins and they should be acknowledged. Disregarded. Like, thank them for their contribution and invite them to sit in the backseat. Gremlins don't make good co pilots.
They're liars. Essentially like, I wasn't too old. I wasn't too old. Um, I'm still not too old. They're not true. They're just, that's what makes them gremlins. They're just trying to keep you safe and small. And they do a really good job. So that's why getting to know them is like a really important part to me of the process of getting to where you want to go.
What are the gremlins so that we can gently refocus onto the value system. Much better copilot. I love this. You did a reel about this. Like you were acting out the parts and I was like, this is the best. And I want more of these. Like this is phenomenal. So we got step one, we're identifying the gremlins.
Step two, we're kind of redirecting with from a values based Lens. What is the, what is the actuality, what is the reality of people that are going through it? It sounds great in theory, I guess. I'm fully fucking on board with all of this. What is the experience that the people that you're coaching, what do they go through with that?
They just are like, yeah, I'm going to do it. And then I did it and then it's done or what? Yeah, it's often a lot messier than that. You know, sometimes things are really deep in the psychology of a person, you know, so that's what, that's what I'm there for. Like talk through it with them, find out, like follow the rabbit hole, find out where does this belief come from.
And then it's, it's usually really clear that it's not in line with their value system and they don't believe it at all. It's just like conditioning that they've. Taken on to themselves from an outside source. I was like being self loathing is never Natural, no, no toddler thinks anything except I'm the best toddler there's ever been That's our natural state is like self possession But that gets kind of covered up by other things so you just need to like uncover those things and sometimes it's a quick process and And sometimes it's not but it always did you Did you, you've kind of spoken a little bit about it in terms of the beliefs that you held around Cirque and doing, like being too old, but did you face this a lot or is this something that you, have you had to deal with this as much as perhaps you think you've seen other people have to deal with the gremlins?
Yeah, I mean, I, I have a lot of personal experience with gremlins, even when I was still in North Carolina at my mom's house and I called the Circus Center in San Francisco and talked to the receptionist and was like, I want to inquire about learning to be an aerialist and she's like, Okay, I think I'm too old though.
She's like, How old are you? I'm like, I'm 25. And she's like, I started when I was 30. I was like, damn, I called the right receptionist. Exactly, right? Look at that. The universe conspires. It did. Look at that. You get like the, the 20 year old that answers and they're like, ah, yeah, you're right. Yeah. And imposter syndrome is like a major, major gremlin that wears many different faces.
And that's the one I tend to focus on the most just because it's so prevalent. Yes. It's so common. Yes. Yes. What can you share with us about that is like a huge thing that comes up over and over and over again I have many thoughts in it. I also don't really love talking about it But I love having people on that like to address it and this is their thing.
This is their shit I'm passing you the mic. What do you want to say about it? All right The truth about imposter syndrome is that if you google how to get over imposter syndrome You will find the worst Trash available to you on the inner tubes. It's just, there's so much bad advice. Uh, so I like amassed my three favorite bad advices and I have alternatives to all of them.
I love this. Uh, one of them, like, is like positive affirmations. I'm not dogging on positive affirmations. I think they can be a really useful, powerful tool, but consider that since imposter syndrome isn't a natural state, right? It's the result of conditioning, societal conditioning, sometimes hundreds of years, sometimes billions of dollars that have been spent to make sure you feel like shit so that you just remain small, convenient and consuming.
Maybe just saying. I can do whatever I put my mind to isn't going to be robust enough to counteract that. Yeah. Maybe. Uh, yeah. Um, you'll have to give me. Small, convenient, and consuming. I like that. I mean, I don't like that, but it really encapsulates the marketing efforts. Right, well, yeah, and it's true. You can see it happening all around you.
So Like perhaps that's had an effect on us. Of course it has of course it has so instead of positive affirmations Something a little bit more robust to me is to tap into a very robust emotion. And, um, you know, joy is a robust emotion, but a lot of people aren't very in touch with their joy. You know, they're, they're more in touch with their insecurities, with their fears.
Uh, so. An emotion that I think is extremely robust is anger. And I think that anger is a great way to burn through imposter syndrome. Just like, uh, when my mom was like, sorry, honey, that's the way it is. Love you, mama. You're a wonderful mom. Uh, but when she said that, like, I got mad, not at her. It's just like, no.
I am not going to take that lying down. Anger is such a useful tool. And a lot of people, particularly if you're socialized as a girl, um, are taught not to be angry. And that becomes a real roadblock for us. But being able to access your anger since an anger arises when we perceive a violation of our value system.
So anytime you're angry, you're also loving. Like you're being loving towards the thing that you value that lights you up. So anger is a great compass that can point you towards what you truly value. It's also like it's just it's a good fire to burn through the bullshit. I love that. Do you watch the stranger things twice?
I mean, did you did you like cheer from the rooftops when the dude was like tap into anger? Yes, I did Weird dude It's gonna work now Yes, I did.
It's going to work. She's got it. I love this. I love this. Tap into a more robust emotion, which is anger. Love that kind of duality that you introduced there with. That we experience it in response to violation, a violation of our values, which the flip side then is that we're being loving towards our value system and it helps us identify it.
North star. That's phenomenal. I love, I love it. Cause then I was like, once I kind of put that together for myself, like I get to be angry as often as I like, and that was kind of important personally for me. Um, so another piece of terrible advice, uh, that people. give about imposter syndrome is to list out your accomplishments.
And that is actually like, it can be a nice bandaid for a couple of minutes. But again, is it sturdy enough? Uh, to work out for you, because like, let's look at history. Let's take Maya Angelou, one of the most beloved authors of our time, uh, who was, uh, who confessed, like she experienced imposter syndrome and other names that I've read about, uh, Meryl Streep, Judy, Jodie Foster, you know, iconic people.
So if Maya Angelou, who wrote a bajillion books and was widely loved. Can't look at her resume and be like, all right, I've done, I've done some good shit. Then, It's okay that we feel the same way. So as an alternative to listing out your accomplishments to remember how awesome you are, uh, is to seek out rejection and to totally just reframe your relationship with rejection.
And one of my alumni, uh, uh, Marta Brown, she's a circus artist in Las Vegas. And she came up with the idea of a rejection, a punch card. She's like, okay, I'm going to go out, I'm going to get 10 rejections and each rejection, I'm going to punch this card. And when I get 10, I get a massage or get like a nice dinner out at my favorite restaurant or something.
And the magic of it was that like, she would get excited to punch the card. She's like, awesome. I got a rejection. Also. It's, it was like harder than she thought it would be to get to 10 rejections because people started saying yes. And she's like, man, I really wanted that massage, but sure, I'll take the job.
Ah, look at that. This rejection's gonna happen. Yeah. It's gonna happen. But we get to decide. It's like a rejection is really evidence of your love and effort. It's kind of a wonderful thing. You know, writers are famous for the little rejection slips that, well, now they come by email, but just like. Stack them on a nail until they were really thick and then you just beam at pride when you look at them.
Say more about that. It's the signs of your, maybe the word wasn't signs, but your love and your effort. Rejections as a manifestation of that. Because Like beginning is so hard. Like we said, the hardest thing is like opening your mouth and beginning to speak. It's easy to continue to speak like beginning is hard.
So if you, if you suspend your disbelief, you quiet down the gremlins, you focus on your value system and you actually make the effort to apply to an opportunity or to appeal, uh, to some experience that you want to have, that's already a victory because that's the hardest part.
I love this. I love this. So rejection happening has, rejection always has to happen. Second, it doesn't happen. First you have to do something, and then you get the rejection, which means that you've overcome the activation and energy. You've done this, the first step you've done actually the hardest step.
Mm-Hmm. We could celebrate this. We're marking it now with the rejection, but. And if we reframe that, like you said, it is the signs of your, your love and your effort for this thing. That's phenomenal. It's phenomenal, Rachel. It's phenomenal. You should be celebrated for your failures. You're learning something every time.
So it's phenomenal. What else you got? Give me more. Give me a third one. All right. I've got the third piece of, uh, bad advice. And this is actually the worst one is don't compare yourself to other people because it's like literally hard, hardwired. In our brains to do this brain, like you were just talking about this, what a week or two ago, uh, it's like, good luck denying your basic human impulses.
Like, and then you beat yourself up because, Oh, I'm comparing myself again. Of course you are. You're made to do that. You're supposed to be doing that. It's like how you survive. So that's truly on actionable advice. Um, and my A counterpoint to that is to become curious about how you feel about other people, particularly surrounding envy.
I think envy is another very robust feeling that's easy to identify and is a great compass because if you're envious of someone, like get curious about that envy, why, what, what is it that, what experience are they having? What are they allowing themselves? What do they signify that you want for yourself?
Points you right back to the value system. It's like a. Okay. Cool. An awesome built in shortcut. It is so good. I'm writing all these things down. Yay. It's like a good host So anyway, I can give it back to you because i'm like there's a lot of words that are in my head right now That's why I don't like lose where i'm at.
I'll put this back too I Love this and it has a very james olivia inquisitive human flair to it. I absolutely Oh, what an honor. I absolutely love that. Thank you. Love that in my mind. I'm like, I need to make sure that they You That you and James Olivia are in communication, cause y'all get along. Are you, are you already in communication?
I follow them on Instagram, but I, I think I haven't reached out to them and I will correct that cause I didn't actually realize that I hadn't. Uh, amazing. And uh, I am also just going to take it upon myself if you'd like to make a formal connection cause. Y'all are both really dope. I'd be delighted. Yes.
Delighted. The world's going to explode when that happens. I love it. Audacity and disobedience meet and it's going to be great. So yes, yes. So that third one being, get curious about your envy. Love that. Because the envy points back to It points to what you want. Knowing what you want is hard. Like for a lot of people, they get stuck at that, at that step and like, just go for what you want.
But if you don't know what that is. I don't know. It's so true. How do you take a step? Dude, Rachel, it's so, so true. And I love that you brought up before about like being socialized female and the, the The many things that come along with that and the more that I start, you know, speaking about joy and what you want to, what you want to do, living your best life, the more people that I meet that are just like, I've never been asked that question.
I've never had time to actually think about it. I've never been told it's okay to think about it. So I don't know. I have no fucking clue. I didn't see that at the buffet. Right? I was like, ah, ah. What do you say to folks who say that? And they're like, I don't know what I like. I don't know what I want. I don't even know where to start, but I'm coming to you cause I know I want something, but I don't know what, where, how, what, anything.
Yeah. That's one of the like prerequisites to take the audacity project is you have to want, like you have to have desire without desire. I am useless as a coach. Need the desire. So if someone has desire, they can tell me about it. It usually means several different things and that what they really need to do is choose a focus.
And choosing a focus as hard as people don't want to feel like they're boxed in. Like if I choose this, it means I'm not choosing that. Um, it's the same reason that artists don't like talking about their work. Uh, they don't like introducing themselves as a certain thing cause they want the, the option to be considered of all things, uh, which is, you know, true, but it, It doesn't work great.
I know I'm getting off on a little bit of a tangent, but no, no, go, go, go. Cause I'm going to ask it anyway. Go. If you can't talk clearly and like clear clarity, not cleverly clear about what it is that you do, then people can't understand. And so it's kind of like we just have to accept the fact that we cannot control how other people perceive us, but at least communicate clearly what we have to offer so that anyone who could be benefited by us will actually understand what we're talking about.
It's so good. It's so good. It's so, so good. We know we're all connected. We're all saying the same thing. We're applying it to different things, but it's so good. You know, confirmation bias is one of my favorite things and to hear that and hear you speak about it in terms of your audience and the people who you serve.
It was applicable across the board. If we, if we take this episode back to, you know, the original reason and social media and stuff, and that's one of the hugest things we see where people don't want to niche, niche, whatever you want to call it. They don't want to speak clearly about a single thing because they want to consider.
All the things. Or they want people to consider them in relation to all the things. And they're like, but. And then in not being willing to, and I get it. I get it, folks. I'm there too. I was there too. In not wanting to speak about the singular things, be clearly about the singular thing, then they, no one knows what the fuck they're doing.
No. No one can understand it. There's no opportunity for people to understand and like, dig their teeth into it and be like, oh, okay. And then get to dig deeper and see them as more than that thing. But then opportunity never presents itself. So what do you do with that? with these folks. How do you, we're not convincing anyone, but what's the next thing you talk about with them?
Uh, well, if they have like, uh, a variety of, uh, desires and they don't want to, they don't want to choose cause they don't want to focus. Uh, I, I do something with them that I call the game. Here's how you play the game. It's very, very easy. Close your eyes and you imagine that your life is over. It just like ended suddenly and painlessly and you're still aware of your human life and you think to all the things you made to Left unmade the things that you wanted to do didn't do one of those things When you think about it is gonna hurt like someone's stabbed you in the solar plexus with a spear Could you live with yourself if you didn't do that thing?
And that's the thing you should do. I played this game with a roomful of retired women Once they didn't, they didn't appreciate it because I don't know. I was like, it worked for like a couple and they came up and thanked me afterwards. But that's when I realized like I, I talked to creative people. Like, not that retired people aren't creative, they totally are, but that's not why we were gathered in the room together.
Um, so, like, okay, niche, niche. This is, I love, and this ties into your three steps, three things for imposter syndrome, uh, overcoming, addressing imposter syndrome, and that you went after that robust emotion of anger. Because I think that. Close your eyes and you do a drill like that. I think everyone, at least what I thought you were going to say is like, what's the thing that like lights you up or made you so happy?
Or like the thing that you're like, I want that more of that. Go after that. And you're like, no, we're going to have to the robust emotion of hiding the anger, hiding. Yes, that you can feel that, you know, go do that. Fear of regret is a great motivator. That is awesome. It's worked for me, at least, over and over.
I mean, that's the nervous system 101, right? Like we are far more likely to move away from pain than we are to move towards pleasure. They're both drawing factors, absolutely. But if given, they were like, pick, you're like, I'm moving away from pain. I don't want this. I know that. But as opposed to like, Oh, I'll move closer towards joy.
Like, I'm good, actually. I'll just stay here. Yeah. It's pretty okay here. Amazing. So you do, someone's coming in, they are hesitant to focus. You play the game and then what? Usually they get a pretty clear answer for that, but if they let themselves think about it too, I get, like, so many hyper intelligent people that come through my doors, and, uh, they're, like, have, like, amazing computer brains that just attack something and look at it from every angle.
And, yeah, it's like, if we're in a video call, I can see them. And, like, it might have been there, but then you start second guessing it and overthinking like, oh, you're in your head, you're in your head. You're like, so, if you're in your head, where's the other place that you can be to try and get an answer in the body?
Like body wisdom, like the body always knows the truth. Always hanging out with someone that seems legit, totally cool, but you just don't want Mm-hmm, to sit next to them, trust it, it knows, you know, fucking knows why fight it. And embodiment of like, which direction do you wanna move in, can take different forms.
But in general, I tell people that. If you consider a thing and you imagine yourself doing it and like your chest gets really tight and you feel like a shrinking sensation, that's probably a no from your body, but like an expansive sensation or a warmth and an opening in the chest in particular and a sense of relief is a yes.
Not an exact science of course, but usually we can get somewhere. With that, get out of the head. That's so good. So good. So, we stick along, we stick around too long, thinking about it, the gremlins start popping up and we can look to thwart them by getting back into your body. Body knows, the body, the wisdom of the body, 100%.
People still push back after that? Not usually. One of those, one of those two things usually like opens the, you know, the, opens the slide. I was gonna say shoot. I like it. I don't like that. Both work. Yes. Yes. Yes. And this makes sense. In the context of what Rachel's talking about, if someone's coming to you, ideally, especially you've been in the game so long, people, you have a reputation, people are coming to you because they want a specific solution.
They want, ultimately they want to be moved forward with something. So I can't foresee that there would be like this constant pushback. Like at some point they're going to be like, yes, this is, this is the reason I came to you actually was to help me move forward with this and kind of dive into this.
Most of the time and if we were truly are the slides like not getting cleared out like well Here's the situation you get to pick and since Everything is an experiment choose and if you don't like the way the experiment ends up You get to choose something else. This is the end of the day. It's just a choice.
What are we doing here? I love this. Rachel, what happens after we choose? And then we focus, we, or we've chosen, we're going down this path and, because the gremlins always keep coming back in, right? One way or another, These road gumblings or roadblocks, whatever you want to call them, they can pop up. And I, I would love to talk about it in terms of now I'm doing the work.
Now I'm actually creating, I'm building, I'm doing this thing. I have these things coming up. I'm not good enough or suppose no one likes it. Mm hmm. But the flip side, and you kind of spoke about this before, of like, I have this thing in me that just needs to get out, but I'm battling, but suppose no one likes it.
How do you work through that with people, or on that? I appeal to their sense of mortality, again, I guess that's like a common approach of mine. Like the price for not doing it is so much dearer than the price of doing it and getting like crickets. Or, or worse, getting criticized, but also, like, if everybody loves what you're doing, you're probably not taking enough risks.
Uh, I remember in, in college, my dance teacher was like, someone in the audience should hate what you're doing. Like, if everybody loves it, you're not trying, like, you're not taking enough risks. You're playing it safe. Tell me more about that because I hear it a lot and I'm always like, I don't know if I'm fully bought into that, but let me bring an artist on so you can fucking set a straight.
What does that mean? Cause I'm like, that sounds great. Everybody likes it. Like why do they hate it? Or like, what does that mean you're not digging deep enough? Well, I just feel like the more we create and the more reps we Put in the more we begin to trust our instincts and to trust our own interest like I'm gonna make this piece of work because this is fascinating to me and you really start to lean into those things and that's Necessarily going to turn some people off because only very general things are universally appealing Actually, nothing is universally appealing Like, not even daylight.
Some people are nocturnal. Isn't that wild? So, so wild. You'd think we could agree on one thing. But I'm gonna say no. Ah, no. We're not gonna agree. So, if someone, like, strongly hates what you're doing, one, it's more about them than it is about you. But that means you had the courage to go all in and give your vision everything that you could to do something that you found fascinating.
Yeah.
And the focus in creating though is to be, because some people are so fucking contrarian and I hate that. The focus, the focal point, the goal then, kind of like, this is a question, in creating is, More you. It's to lean into this. It's to show up fully. The goal is not to have someone be annoyed. That's like a byproduct.
Correct. Have someone be, you know, hated. It's a byproduct of you showing up in your entirety. Yeah, it's like the same way as you can take rejection and just flip it on its head. You know, like this is actually a symbol of my love and effort where if somebody criticizes your work that can feel terrible, But if you view it as like, I took enough risks that someone disagreed with what I put forward, like that's a victory, something to be celebrated.
Not because they're unhappy, but because you did you. I think it's really important that you point that out, Rachel, because, you know, I think the majority of people in my audience, people that are going to be listening to this, like they're kind people. They are service oriented people. They, you know, want to be like, they're not trying to like stir the pot.
And. Even if you may understand or like think about this refrain, to hear someone say it and articulate it the way that you did and to highlight it as a, um, manifestation, a, a realization of your effort, of your love for this thing and for the thing that you're doing is huge because it's so easy, right?
We're loss of our species. We're so easy for us to lean into that negativity bias and be like, just focusing on that person, the fact that that person didn't like it, or they had an unpleasant experience, right? What it says about us. Kind of ignoring what it says about us and that it shows how much we, our love for this thing, for our values, how committed we are to it, how committed we are to ourselves.
And that's exactly, that's a really cool reframe. That's a really, that is a really fucking cool reframe. It's been so cool speaking about this, right? Whenever I come on, whenever I bring someone on, like I have an idea of. I know why I'm bringing them on. I don't necessarily know how we're going to get to the end point and how the point will come across, but I'm like, it will.
I know that it will. And it's been fascinating to hear. you answer exactly the questions that I had and say, uh, provide frameworks and provide just different ways of looking at it and provide actionable steps for doing the thing. And in the face of Instagram changing and like, I only want to put stuff out, I'm worried no one's going to say anything.
I love that crickets are, and you know, what's even worse, criticism. Like that was actually like, Wow. I was like, wow, that was really clever line there. Write that one down. That was really good. And all of that and leaning into this process, Rachel, if, if I was going to ask you to summarize, uh, you know, you're seeing it as well, right?
You don't seem to care. Uh, you show up however you want to be showing up. But when it comes to creating, when it comes to putting work out there and if you make it specific in this case to. What advice would you give people?
I got caught up in the question and then I lost something vital. Will you repeat the question again for me? Yeah, yeah, I love it, I love it, absolutely. If we take everything that you've learned, we can't even scratch that part because it's, I was going to say everything you've told us thus far, because the answer's already there, but if I, you're going to summarize.
What would you suggest to people when it comes to creating for social media? Because we know people are like, I don't want to do this because I only want to do it if I'm going to get applause or like, why should I do it? No one's going to see it. Or I'm worried I'm going to get crickets or I've been trying, but like, no one's saying anything.
Social media can be a devastating. Destructive role in someone's life. It also can be a source of connection, friendship, money, art, wisdom, and that is our choice to make. You don't have to use it. You really don't. You only have to use it if you want to benefit from it. If you want to benefit from it. Yeah, you have to use it, but you get to decide how you interact with that.
You know, like you said, like curate your, your feed, curate who like gets access to you and how you interact there because that experience is yours to make a choice with. And it's really, it really is deceptively simple to just decide, like I have decided Instagram is going to be where I meet cool people, have fun conversations, and share myself without attachment to the outcome because there's nothing you can do about the outcome.
Like, all you can do is show up and put your stuff out there. And then it's just being stubborn. I love it. Someone's gonna say something contrarian sometimes. How are you going to respond to that? Probably not. I love that. That's my favorite. Probably not. Probably not. That's my favorite. Yes. Yes. And I love what you teach as well, about like, that it's a form, posting is a form of self knowledge.
I just thought that was so brilliant. Like what a thing to point out. The more you share, the more you want to share. And, and you get, you get braver and you experiment with more things and whatever happens on the other side of that, it's going to happen, but it's sharing you, your life, your life has value.
You have value. So good. I got like, I don't know, maybe two more questions and I'll let you go, but I want to tie into what you just said. How does that approach tie into tie in for, I guess you'd say you personally, when you are creating and not fucking Instagram, but like you're putting together. a piece.
How does all of this play in? Is the need for applause there? The desire for applause? Are you able to separate yourself, detach yourself from the outcome or like the audience outcome? What, what is it like for you? Um, I have a pretty thick skin and the reason that I do, I'm, I mean, I'm super squishy sensitive, but also I, I'm very aware Of, uh, the creators need to take possession of the process.
When we first begin to make a piece of work or something, and maybe we get like the next two inches in, and we're like, I got something today, and you want to share it right away, you want to show it to someone, you're excited, you know? then like if you show it to the wrong person and you don't kind of dictate the terms of that interaction, it can throw a big bucket of water on the fire and that's just a real shame.
So knowing when it's time to show up and like ask and also knowing that you get to dictate those terms. Like, uh, I have a triple chat with two of my good friends, Janelle and Kat, and every time we post something, we're like, I'm excited, I just need validation. No critique, please.
Or I don't need you to say anything, I just wanted to share it with you. Like, you, you can dictate those terms.
Shut down, because you didn't reel about this and I thought it was phenomenal. Clearly I stalked you and your gold stuff, but, uh, yeah, you didn't reel about that. And I was like, it's so, so good, the dictate, the. Conditions and ask for what you want. Like that is, and I'm definitely introducing you to James Olivia cause this is like, y'all besties.
Awesome. Bastards. Oh, so, so good. Be delighted. You are squishy, but thick skinned and asking for what you want, setting the parameters and being, you know, tender and gentle with your new creations and knowing where to be going first with it. Cause I've seen this many times. And. There isn't a question asked first and oftentimes it's just a product launched before anything happens and then it doesn't do well and that person is fucking crushed.
There's like a lot of steps that are skipped. It's like I have excitement about this thing and then I'm just going to make it and everyone else is going to have excitement and then they don't and then it doesn't get, you know, no one buys the thing and then it's, it's very, very, very devastating for people.
It's such, such a heartache. Yeah. Yeah, it does. It does happen. It does. So from your creative process, is there anything else in there? That you would like to recommend. Uh, I always remember this parable of like, um, the parable of the jar or something. And it's like a pottery class. I have no idea where this came from.
I apologize to whoever told me this for not crediting you. But the pottery class is divided into two groups. The professor says to group A, at the end of the semester, I want you to make one perfect jar, whatever. And to the other group, he's like, make 100 jars. Which one ends up with the better results? A hundred jars, because you learn so much more.
It feels really personal, especially as an artist, because it's just like, This is my lifeblood out in front of the room. You are rejecting me as a person. You know, like, sometimes people just aren't gonna like your work, or they're not into it at that moment, and the timing's not right, or whatever. That's okay.
Make more work. Make all of the work. And don't pander. That's one thing I really wanted to say. I do not believe in pandering. It drives me crazy. I can't, I cannot support it. I cannot encourage it. And not even because it doesn't work because sometimes it does work and that's even worse. Oh, yeah, that's the worst because then you get that positive reinforcement of that shit and you keep doing it.
You keep doing it and then 10 years have gone by and you're like, man, I wish I knew what would have happened if I had done what I wanted to do.
That, that, that, yes. I feel that one. Cautionary tale on socials that you can see you cause you can visit. It's just like a, such a physical representation of it. And you can see, and you're like, you are so unhappy that you built this massive thing and it's not you and it's not your values and it's not what you care about.
And. Now you're mad at us. You're yelling at your audience. Ouchy. Ouchy dude. That sucks. Don't pander. I love it. Dude, Rachel, uh, before I forget, if the folks want to find you, if they want to apply for Audacity Project, if they, Want to, well, how do they, how do they find you? What are the, what's the contact information?
Give me a moment. I'm super easy to find. Um, my website is Rachel Strickland, creative. com. Um, you can also just type in Rachel Strickland. com cause I own that too. And it goes to the same place. And you can learn about like the different ways of working with me. If you're interested, or if you want to see like my brain creations, um, they're on there too, and I'm on the Instagrams as Rachel Strickland, creative.
It's also my email address. I did that on purpose. Rachel at rachelstricklandcreative. com You actually respond to emails? You're good with email? I love email. God bless you. I don't, you know, I'm a writer, so Before I learned how to talk, I was better at expressing myself with the word. Very Very fair. And, uh, you got a Patreon as well, right?
I do. Patreon. com slash Rachel Strickland Creative. And that is where, the content that I put on Patreon doesn't go anywhere else. Like 99 percent of it, uh, is only on the Patreon. And I, you know, a trigger warning for Nightmare Fodder and TMI. Because I just, uh That's where I can share with no limitations and, uh, I take advantage of that as often as possible.
Thank you for asking. Sounds good. Yeah, dude, thank you for creating. That's fucking awesome. We will of course, and by we, I mean my awesome editor, Courtney, will put all of that in the show notes, folks, so you can check all of the things. I got one more question for you, Rachel, and then I'll let you go. Uh, I ask this for everybody.
Is there anything, and you're welcome to say no, Uh, is there anything that you would like to leave the people with? Anything that you want to reiterate? Anything that you didn't say yet? Anything. My wish for my audacious people, and for all of you, is that you are so in love with what you're doing. It doesn't even matter, like, the critiques come in, the haters come in, haters gonna hate, whatever, but like, you look at it and you're like, this is good.
I love this. I made this. This is fantastic because I made it. And I listened to myself and I was honest. That's, that's my hope, is to be in love with, in love with your work.
It's so good. Ah, I have to bang the desk so you can hear that. The whole reason I put, suspended the mic, but so good. This entire episode, Rachel, so good. You answered the questions and the questions I didn't have and gave us frameworks and gave us steps. And. You know, it's never my goal to, like, spoon feed people or tell them how to interpret something, and so I love the way that you shared everything, and I think that there's something in this episode for everyone, even for folks that were like, oh, I thought I was all good with all this stuff, and like, now I'm even better, and I have words for this, and now I can lean into more robust feelings, and I can be like, 11, like, you know?
This is awesome. That's really cool. I'm like, I feel hella powerful now. That's awesome. Hella powerful. You are. You have these things articulated. This is amazing. Just incredibly grateful for you taking the time. You set this shit up so fast. Like, you've been so generous with your time, generous with your expertise and your experience and just your words and everything.
So thank you. This was awesome. This is a dope episode. Thank you. Thank you so much. This was so much fun. I don't think, like, I didn't even notice an hour had passed by. Just living my best life over here. Thank you for the opportunity. In the cave. You are so, so, so welcome. Fucking good episode. You folks listening, thank you.
We know you could have been doing anything and you chose to listen to us, and for that we are both endlessly grateful. Endlessly appreciative. My ask for today, there she is, is if you like this episode, if you love this episode, if you're picking up what we're putting down, do me a solid and share it with somebody who you think might enjoy it.
That's it. That's all I'm going to ask. All right. Officially wrapping it up. Until next time, friends, Rachel and Maestro out.
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