Creative Work Hour Podcast Episode 51 explores "Creative Envy"—what it is, how it impacts creativity, and ways to manage it positively. Guests share insights on turning envy into motivation, self-kindness, and embracing personal creative pace.

Greg
00:00 - 00:09
Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Creative Work Hour Podcast. This is episode 51. Can you believe where does the time go? I don't know.

Greg
00:09 - 00:33
But today is May the 10th, 2025. In the room today you've got myself, Greg, we've got Alessandra, we have Melanie, Gray, Ela, Shadows Pub, Bobby B and Devin. Today's question is how do you deal with creative envy when that happens? Alessandro were talking about this just before we came on air.

Alessandra
00:34 - 01:03
Creative envy is one of those things that made me think that my mental health was not what I hoped it was. Because if I would see someone, oh, especially someone that I actually knew, and they seemed to be getting on in life, like they had their stuff together, and they were like a guitarist and doing gigs out somewhere. and they published their play and it was being put on stage in Chicago. I would lose my ever loving mind.

Alessandra
01:04 - 01:14
Not that I thought ill of them. It wasn't a, that's not fair. It's just that I want to play too. I can do some stuff.

Alessandra
01:14 - 01:33
I may be good at other stuff. So it's not like a comparison thing. It's just that I see them living a creative life and I want some of that too. And if I didn't recognize it for what it was, not jealousy, but simple creative Envy.

Alessandra
01:33 - 01:34
How about for you, Greg?

Greg
01:35 - 01:55
Oh my goodness, that's a difficult one to come up with specific examples. You know, sometimes I look at people's creativity and I think, I think of the gentleman's name that was on national television with the painting, right? There's been a movie just come out about him, but he used to make painting look so easy. And I used to think, Oh man, I wish I could paint, you know, but painting is not my, not my skill, right?

Greg
01:55 - 02:20
We all have different talents and different skills and different times. And maybe, you know, it could be, that you are very creative and you're just not, today is not your day or that's not your talent or that's not for you. But we can also learn and we can also teach ourselves and we can also be kind and gentle to ourselves as well. Kindness is a big thing, right?

Greg
02:20 - 02:29
And self-kindness is very important, being gentle with ourselves. How about Melanie? What about you? How do you deal with creative envy?

Melonie
02:29 - 02:58
I don't only have creative envy, I have getting things done envy. And some of it's just, I just sort of give up and say, well, I'm not one of those people who, given certain circumstances, can do all this. And then sometimes it's just I'm able to kind of take some motivation and say, OK, what exactly is the deal here? Is it a question of, you know, what I'm spending my time on, what I'm not spending my time on?

Melonie
02:58 - 03:18
And the other thing is, is this just a habit and sort of a way of thinking, wow, look at all the different people in the bloody world. I mean, in med school, there were people who ran, went to med school, and played an instrument. There were several people like that at a city hospital med school. So there you have it.

Greg
03:18 - 03:19
Wow.

Melonie
03:19 - 03:19
Gray.

Greg
03:20 - 03:21
Ray, how do you deal with creative envy?

Gray
03:22 - 03:47
It's a good question. I mean, the immediate answer is that I just do something. Like, I just start doing something with it and pull out a thing to letter or something like that. But I think what I think I would like, the way I would like to react to it is to recognize that kind of like jealousy, envy is an expression of an unmet need of some kind.

Gray
03:48 - 04:12
Like there's something that is needed there. And so rather than focus on the other person or even my habits, I'm like, what is it that I'm needing? And there's another element to that, which is the question of, do you need this because it's an intrinsic need? something that you feel drawn to that you feel that your embodiment of yourself requires that this be done?

Gray
04:13 - 04:27
Or is it something that's extrinsic where you're like, well, my parents always told me that I should be a writer or something like that. You know, are you trying to impress someone else? And that is another part of the envy. It's like, why am I feeling envy?

Gray
04:27 - 04:46
Is it because I feel like I want to have the attention that that person is getting? or because if I was like that person, then I feel like I would be loved or something like that. I mean, what does the actual, but honestly, usually it's more that I just pull something out and start making shit. So that would be me.

Gray
04:46 - 04:47
Bobby, I think

Bobby. B
04:47 - 05:03
you still have to go, right? Yeah, in general, gosh, everyone's got to have their own set of skills and perspectives. So it doesn't threaten me. as an external force when there is any hint of creative energy.

Bobby. B
05:04 - 05:23
You want people to have what they have and don't have to make them uniquely them. There is an element though that is rough for me. And that's the hint of creative energy as I get through my older years. And that ties back to, I used to be able to do that.

Bobby. B
05:24 - 05:38
Why can't I do that now? And coming to terms with who I am and where I am. That also in, OK, wow, that's exciting. I'd love to take that on, but then take a step back and realize, you know, there's no bandwidth.

Bobby. B
05:38 - 05:48
That plate is full. So what are you going to take off if you even want to even try to put that on your plate now? That's my relationship with creative envy. Thank

Greg
05:48 - 05:53
you, Bobby. Ela, how about you? Creative envy. How do how do you deal with creative envy?

Ela
05:54 - 06:10
I think I try to be aware that we each have our own pace. So my pace might not be your pace. Alessandro and I kind of mentioned it this morning. My time of work and success might be a different person's time where they need a break.

Ela
06:10 - 06:20
Both like month to month, but also within the day. So maybe I work better. I work better morning and night. The middle of the day is usually a wash.

Ela
06:21 - 06:29
But for other people, the middle of the day might be where they hit their stride. And just being aware that it's different and that doesn't mean that one is better than the other.

Greg
06:29 - 06:34
Right. Thank you, Ela. Shadows, how do you deal with creative envy?

Shadows Pub
06:35 - 06:48
I don't know that I actually have to deal with it. I've been sitting here trying to think of when I was envious, but I can't really say that I have been. I do look at other people's creativity, and it's kind of like I appreciate what they're doing. I think they're doing well.

Shadows Pub
06:48 - 06:56
Occasionally, I'll look at it and go, hmm, I haven't tried something like that. Then I decide whether I'm going to try it or not, but that's about as far as it goes.

Greg
06:56 - 07:08
Thank you, Shadow. You're about the least envious person I've ever met, so I can vouch for that, absolutely. Devin, how about yourself? How do you deal with creative envy?

Devin
07:09 - 07:22
Well, I get strong creative envy. And the first thing I usually do when someone causes that reaction in me is I look at my book of wizarding spells and try to turn them into a newt. But that rarely works. Rarely.

Devin
07:23 - 07:53
So what I did last time was I approached the person and I said, hey, I'm just so envious of you and all you're getting done. I just wanted to let you know that, you know, You're kind of inspiring me because I loathe you and this was someone who's a safe person They're like, why don't we do a check-in? How about you and I just kind of check in on this thing that I'm having Doing I have some momentum on right now and you don't like that's great. And that really helped It really helped having the same person I could go in and just you know, say hey I did nothing this week.

Devin
07:54 - 08:07
They're like, well sucks to be you I wrote 5,000 words, you know, it was it Again, a safe level of exchange, but it kept me going. It really did help. More work got done because I had that safe person. So I just sort of walked up to my source of envy and said, get at me.

Greg
08:08 - 08:22
Right. And you know, it might be that just today is just not your day, you know, but you are valued and we all have very much value and you're all loved and you're all needed. We're all loved and all needed and we all have skills. Alessandra, great conversation, right?

Alessandra
08:24 - 09:02
It is, and the whole conversation came out of, we do not just creative work hour every day, but we also do a smaller scaled version of it called Practice Not Perfect. And it started out being just for musicians, but anybody of the crew can come to that and spend their time figuring out what they're doing or what have you. So we were having the morning version of Practice Not Perfect today and Rochelle, who's one of our One of our crew, our creator here, she saw me practicing clarinet and it kind of made her nuts because she has so much going on in her life right now that she wanted to be practicing clarinet.

Alessandra
09:02 - 09:25
And I just, on the inside, I had to laugh because for the last several weeks we would be in practice not perfect and I would look at her over in her little corner with her music stand and her whole setup practicing her clarinet and I would just be like, I'm such a loser. Because I wasn't getting there. Things were out of control.

Alessandra
09:25 - 09:40
And I just love this bit. I'll close and hand it to Greg. I just wanted to read you guys a couple of sentences out of this article that I am reading from the British GQ magazine. And this is written by Adam Badawy.

Alessandra
09:41 - 09:52
This is his editorial letter at the beginning of the magazine. It says, in basketball, most teams have what's called a volume. Shooter. This is the guy that takes the most shots.

Alessandra
09:52 - 10:03
20 or maybe 25 shots a game. The very best. This is like your Curry, your LeBron, your Durant. They hit about 50% of the time.

Alessandra
10:04 - 10:21
They get their shot. But missing half of those shots is not failure. It's math. Not even the most preternaturally gifted and hard-working players in the history of the sport have avoided missing 50% of their shots.

Alessandra
10:21 - 10:29
I love that. Getting in there and taking your shot. Doesn't that sound like Hamilton? I'm not throwing away my shot.

Alessandra
10:30 - 10:54
So, Even in the face of creative envy, that is not a thing to push away. It's a shot to take, because it's vital information. The creative envy is saying, there's something that I need too. I see creativity in this other person's diet, and that looks really good to me.

Alessandra
10:55 - 10:56
And I want some too,

Greg
10:56 - 11:06
Greg. Thank you, Alessandra. Well, it's happened again. You've wasted some perfectly good time listening to the Creative Work Hour podcast when you could have been doing something else.

Greg
11:06 - 11:14
But how about you? How do you deal with creative envy? Let us know. Visit us on creativeworkhour.com and come back next week.

Greg
11:14 - 11:20
If you've got a question that you'd like the team to discuss, let us know that too. Be safe now. Have a good week.