Episode 59: How Do You Decide What to Work On Next?
Creative Work Hour
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Show Notes
Creative Work Hour Podcast – Episode 59
Title: How Do You Decide What to Work On Next?
Recorded: July 12, 2025, at ClarinetFest, Texas
Episode Summary
Today’s episode dives into the heart of creative decision-making: How do you choose your next project? The crew shares personal stories, struggles, and philosophies on following inspiration, balancing practical needs, and finishing what you start. Recorded live while Alessandra and Rochelle are attending ClarinetFest, the conversation is lively, honest, and full of relatable moments for any creative.
Bonus: After recording, Devin entertained everyone with “Screw You, We’re From Texas.”
Watch the performance on YouTube
Crew This Week
- Alessandra
- Greg
- Devin
- Rochelle
- Nate
- Bobby B
- Shadows Pub
- Michael J
Key Takeaways & Quotes
Alessandra
“Sometimes the most creative thing you can do is take care of yourself.”
She emphasizes the importance of recognizing what you need in the moment—whether that’s doing focused creative work or simply pausing for self-care.
Greg
“Creativity has seasons—sometimes I’m ready for a big project, sometimes it’s just scribbling on scrap paper.”
He introduces the concept of creative seasons and micro-seasons, encouraging listeners to honor their current capacity and mental load.
Rochelle
“There’s a spectrum—from what your creative muse wants to what just needs doing.”
Rochelle talks about weighing honest needs and instincts against practical demands, pausing to listen to that “little voice” that guides her next step.
Devin
“Sometimes a new idea grabs me, puts a hood over my head, and drags me off to the next project.”
Devin describes being led by unpredictable inspiration—sometimes in the middle of another project!
Nate
“The pondering and considering far exceeds what actually gets built in real life.”
Nate reflects on how much creative time is invisible—spent mulling over ideas before anything tangible emerges.
Michael J
“I noodle. I dabble. I follow my curiosity and the seasons change.”
Michael talks about balancing internal curiosity with external deadlines, sometimes finding himself stuck in indecision or over-choice.
Shadows Pub
“I throw all my possibles in the air and work on whatever lands on my nose and gets my attention.”
Shadows Pub’s playful system is all about letting attention and instinct guide the way.
Bobby B
“I’m great at starting, horrible at finishing.”
Bobby highlights the challenge of completion versus creation, using walks and bike rides as creativity time but also needing structure to finish things.
Noteworthy Observations
- Many participants acknowledge the ebb and flow of motivation and inspiration.
- Several mention the struggle between following new ideas and finishing existing projects.
- The idea of “creative privilege”—the ability to choose what to work on—is discussed.
- New potential podcast topic: How do creatives decide which unfinished projects deserve completion?
How do you decide what creative project to work on next?
Share your process with us at creativeworkhour.com, or suggest a topic you’d like us to discuss!
And don’t forget to subscribe for next week’s episode.
SUBSCRIBE
Episode Chapters
Show Notes
Creative Work Hour Podcast – Episode 59
Title: How Do You Decide What to Work On Next?
Recorded: July 12, 2025, at ClarinetFest, Texas
Episode Summary
Today’s episode dives into the heart of creative decision-making: How do you choose your next project? The crew shares personal stories, struggles, and philosophies on following inspiration, balancing practical needs, and finishing what you start. Recorded live while Alessandra and Rochelle are attending ClarinetFest, the conversation is lively, honest, and full of relatable moments for any creative.
Bonus: After recording, Devin entertained everyone with “Screw You, We’re From Texas.”
Watch the performance on YouTube
Crew This Week
- Alessandra
- Greg
- Devin
- Rochelle
- Nate
- Bobby B
- Shadows Pub
- Michael J
Key Takeaways & Quotes
Alessandra
“Sometimes the most creative thing you can do is take care of yourself.”
She emphasizes the importance of recognizing what you need in the moment—whether that’s doing focused creative work or simply pausing for self-care.
Greg
“Creativity has seasons—sometimes I’m ready for a big project, sometimes it’s just scribbling on scrap paper.”
He introduces the concept of creative seasons and micro-seasons, encouraging listeners to honor their current capacity and mental load.
Rochelle
“There’s a spectrum—from what your creative muse wants to what just needs doing.”
Rochelle talks about weighing honest needs and instincts against practical demands, pausing to listen to that “little voice” that guides her next step.
Devin
“Sometimes a new idea grabs me, puts a hood over my head, and drags me off to the next project.”
Devin describes being led by unpredictable inspiration—sometimes in the middle of another project!
Nate
“The pondering and considering far exceeds what actually gets built in real life.”
Nate reflects on how much creative time is invisible—spent mulling over ideas before anything tangible emerges.
Michael J
“I noodle. I dabble. I follow my curiosity and the seasons change.”
Michael talks about balancing internal curiosity with external deadlines, sometimes finding himself stuck in indecision or over-choice.
Shadows Pub
“I throw all my possibles in the air and work on whatever lands on my nose and gets my attention.”
Shadows Pub’s playful system is all about letting attention and instinct guide the way.
Bobby B
“I’m great at starting, horrible at finishing.”
Bobby highlights the challenge of completion versus creation, using walks and bike rides as creativity time but also needing structure to finish things.
Noteworthy Observations
- Many participants acknowledge the ebb and flow of motivation and inspiration.
- Several mention the struggle between following new ideas and finishing existing projects.
- The idea of “creative privilege”—the ability to choose what to work on—is discussed.
- New potential podcast topic: How do creatives decide which unfinished projects deserve completion?
How do you decide what creative project to work on next?
Share your process with us at creativeworkhour.com, or suggest a topic you’d like us to discuss!
And don’t forget to subscribe for next week’s episode.
In Episode 59, recorded live from ClarinetFest in Texas, the Creative Work Hour crew tackles the question: How do you decide what to work on next? Each member shares their unique approach—from following inspiration and honoring creative seasons, to balancing unfinished projects and self-care. Full of relatable stories, laughter, and honest insights, this episode is a must-listen for anyone navigating the ups and downs of creative life.
How do you decide what to work on next? Share your process or suggest a future topic at creativeworkhour.com. Don’t forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode!
Episode 59 Transcript
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Greg
00:00 - 00:35
Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Creative Work Hour podcast. Today is July the 12th, 2025 and we're on episode 59 and we're talking about creativity and how you decide what to work on. In the room today you've got myself, Greg, we've got Alessandra, we have Rochelle, Devon, Nate, Michael J, Shadows Pub and Bobby B. With that, the question for today is when it comes to your creativity, how do you decide what you're going to work on next?
Greg
00:35 - 00:43
And Alessandra, we were talking right before we started to record and you had given a couple of good examples of that. What was one of those examples?
Alessandra
00:43 - 01:17
Yeah, so one example is sometimes the most creative thing that you can do is take care of yourself. It could be, and in creative work hour we always start the top of the hour by, we just kind of go through the room and each person takes a turn on saying what they intend to work on during that given creative work hour. And sometimes you just need to take care of yourself during that time. But other times, like now, Rochelle and I are actually sharing a tile in Zoom, which is the tool that we use to record our podcasts so that we can see each other.
Alessandra
01:17 - 01:35
It is our recording studio. And we're here for Clarinet Fest. And Clarinet Fest is the largest international grouping that gathers together for clarinetists of all kinds, composers, performers, arrangers, AV people, clarinet makers. the whole thing.
Alessandra
01:50 - 02:08
I'm home and the creative work is that I need to take care of myself or work a little bit on the poem. We've just come off doing two days of speaking engagements here at Clarinet Fest. Rochelle was on Thursday and I was yesterday. And today we have a couple of concerts that we're playing.
Alessandra
02:09 - 02:24
So it's, everything is, is bebopping, but it all comes down to what do you do creatively? one hour at a time, whether you are off on your own, in a big, big group, or right here on Creative Work Hour.
Greg
02:24 - 02:33
Thanks, Alessandra. Yeah, that's interesting. You said what you're going to work on one hour at a time. And I was thinking about creativity being like seasons.
Greg
02:33 - 02:43
What season are you in? What's the season for the creativity? But you know, seasons is four seasons in a year, right? And they last three months at a time.
Greg
02:43 - 03:06
But We also could have micro seasons and a micro season might be an hour, might be a day, a week, a month, a day, a weekday. And I think for me, it's what will my wearable lend itself to me doing? What mental load can I take? Can I take on a project where I'm going to write a thousand word blog post?
Greg
03:06 - 03:24
I'm going to write a book, I'm going to paint a picture, or maybe I'm just going to write a few words on a scrap of paper. Am I in a season or a micro-season? Rochelle, you had given up some good examples earlier as well, because we were on the pre-call with us. When it comes to your creativity, how do you decide what you're going to work on next?
Greg
03:24 - 03:25
And can you give us an example?
Rochelle
03:26 - 03:51
Thanks, Greg. Such a good question, because to me it's a spectrum. From the creative muse, you know, what wants doing, what's worth doing, and then the other side of it is almost like the work that pays the bills, or cutting the grass, what needs doing. So in the middle, what I want to do, I sit and pause.
Rochelle
03:53 - 04:20
And being really honest and with awareness, listen to that still little voice that says, okay, there's that spectrum, but what is the valuation or weight? What really needs done in this moment in this hour? And I think that honesty sometimes is you got to cut the grass and sometimes it is. I need to work on my talk for clarinet fest.
Rochelle
04:20 - 04:23
So the still little voice comes and helps me. I
Greg
04:23 - 04:27
think y'all need to check your creative privilege. Getting to choose what you do next. I don't get to choose what I do next. I have very violent
Devin
04:49 - 05:03
Muses, they just come for me. And I don't know when. I could be in the middle of one creative project, and one comes and grabs me, puts a hood over my head, and drags me into my next creative project. And then there I am, doing the next creative project that I had no idea I was going to be doing.
Devin
05:04 - 05:12
But that's just how it works. Some squirrel runs in front of me, something catches my attention, and I'm off in an entirely different vector. So that's how
Greg
05:12 - 05:22
my creative process works. Right, that's when you need a good alibi. Nate, how about yourself? When it comes to your creativity, how do you decide what you're going to work on next?
Greg
05:22 - 05:22
What are your thoughts?
Nate
05:22 - 05:54
I might be restating a little bit of both what Rochelle and what Devin have just said, but to me, it's what is resonating. I am following the thread of whatever it is. And some of that is like, OK, what do I need for my own sanity? And some of it is like, okay, what is a thing that the world might be incrementally better, funnier, more at peace if it existed?
Nate
05:55 - 06:23
And to me, creativity is a very internal process. sit and ponder and consider like the ratio of sitting and pondering and considering internally like far out see exceeds the like thing that gets built in real life. But then I feel even stronger about the thing that gets built in real life because I have sat and lived with it for so long. So maybe it's the age of the thing that I'm sitting in.
Nate
06:23 - 06:29
It's like a fine wine, an idea eventually percolates like a cup of coffee or a fine wine.
Greg
06:30 - 06:40
The age of a thing, is that like the age of Aquarius? There's a song called The Age of Aquarius. I don't know why I thought of that but... Right, Michael, how about yourself?
Greg
06:41 - 06:44
When it comes to your creativity, how do you decide what you're going to work on next?
Michael
06:45 - 06:59
I like to noodle. I like to just dabble in things and things tend to then have seasons, I suppose. Yeah, everything that was just said resonated for me. The seasons, the changing, following the curiosity, the muse.
Michael
07:00 - 07:12
I guess there's also external things. I don't know. There's a recent call for, you know, submissions for like a local museum or a local place where they show these immersive films. And that spoke to me a lot.
Michael
07:12 - 07:55
So then that creates, I guess, a bit of internal energy to then create something for that external deadline. But generally, these days, I just noodle about and get curious about things and follow my curiosity. But maybe that's just the season of curiosity and then sometimes I'll grab onto one thing and then do it every single week for a whole year and then maybe get burned out at the end and say screw that I'm done with that thing I'm never doing that again and then try to find something else and then go feels like you're stuck in a quicksand swamp or you're you're just in a in a toy store and you just you just can't decide and you just picking everything off the shelves and but i guess it's just depends
Michael
07:55 - 07:57
on the on the season yeah
Greg
07:58 - 08:18
you forgot to mention that often times it will involve a croissant right but that's that's a very important part of creativity i learned from michael is to wake up and smell the croissant. But yeah, I digress. Shadows pub, when it comes to creativity, when it comes to your creativity, how do you decide what you're going to work on next? Do you have a system or thoughts on that?
Shadows Pub
08:19 - 08:26
Well, if it's not something that I need to get done, I take the possibles and I throw them up in the air and whatever lands in my nose is what gets my attention.
Greg
08:27 - 08:34
Now, does that depend on which nostril that it lands in or double barrel or how does that, how does that work?
Shadows Pub
08:35 - 08:37
I never tilt my head back that far.
Greg
08:38 - 08:38
When
Shadows Pub
08:38 - 08:41
something connects with your nose, you notice it. Okay.
Greg
08:43 - 08:47
And you know what? When you know, you know, right? And shadows know. Okay, nevermind.
Greg
08:47 - 08:50
Exactly. See what I did? Now, okay. Okay, nevermind.
Greg
08:50 - 08:57
You guys are no fun. Bobby B, how about yourself? When it comes to your creativity, how would you decide what you're going to work on next? Do you have any thoughts on that?
Bobby. B
08:58 - 09:24
I am a creator fronting guy that is horrible at finishing. So to me, I compartmentalize my creativity for those time gaps I have in my day, like if I'm out on a walk or a bike ride. and I'll record things constantly that my crazy little brain comes up with. But I have to say focused on completion, which of course involves creativity as well.
Bobby. B
09:24 - 09:43
It's taking those wild and crazy guy thoughts and putting them together and seeing if there's any value. But yeah, otherwise I'll just sit there and brainstorm and create forever and you know and never finish. So I have to parent myself in that regard.
Greg
09:49 - 09:54
croissants and all kinds of things. And
Alessandra
09:54 - 10:32
it's and it's true. And you know, and just like in seasons, you know, there's the ebb and flow of the thing like, like this week, it was, you know, I feel like I've been running around with my with my hair on fire going toward the creative things that that needed to be done as deliverables. And so one of the, one of the podcast topics that I would love for us to explore is how do we take stock of what's already been in the works and finish it or so that it can be delivered out into the world.
Alessandra
10:33 - 11:06
Like, I don't know about y'all, but I've got, man, I got tabs open back to when Jimmy Hoffa went missing. I don't even know how to explain that. So, you know, maybe we can talk about how do we, I think it would be a good flip to this topic of if we're saying, if this question is, how do we know what creative thing to work on now or next? Flip it and explore the topic of how do we know how to find which things that wants to be finished and delivered to the world?
Alessandra
11:06 - 11:18
That could be a scary topic. Yeah. So what are you thinking about this after hearing Rochelle and Nate, Michael, Dev and Bobby in Shadows? What are you thinking, Greg?
Greg
11:18 - 11:33
You know, I'm thinking that play is very important in all of your creative endeavors and to incorporate play into whatever you do, even if that's just watching a YouTube video about having an alibi. I'll share that in the show notes. But is it that time again?
Alessandra
11:34 - 11:36
I'm thinking it's that time. What time is that, Greg?
Greg
11:36 - 11:50
It's that time again. You've wasted some perfectly good time listening to the Creative Work Hour podcast when you could have been doing something else. But what about you? When it comes to your creativity, how do you decide what you're going to work on next?
Greg
11:51 - 12:03
Let us know. You can visit us at creativeworkhour.com. And if you have a question or a subject that you would like the crew to discuss, let us know that as well, and we'll do our best. In the meantime, come back next week, and we'll be here again.
