#207 Big Magic - A discussion about the book & creativity

On this episode of Try This at Home, Leslie and Leslyn descend into Big Magic, a book by bestselling author Elizabeth Gilbert! Recommended by both hosts, this book contains countless tip and perspectives to discuss and digest. Big Magic is a story that will stick with you, as it will challenge you to think and examine your own viewpoint on ideas. The fear and courage that comes with the decision to act on an idea is disclosed, as well as, Leslie and Leslyn’s own personal experience in doing so. The hope is that you can relate to many of the points mentioned in today’s episode. Leslie and Leslyn both encourage you, the listener to try this at home by giving Big Magic a read!

In this episode, we discuss…

Show Intro [0:01]

Introductions—Big Magic [0:16]

Start of the Podcast [0:50]

Gilbert’s Vision [1:48]

The Falling in Place of Ideas [4:58]

Simultaneous Invention [7:08]

Deciding Which Ideas to Grow [8:36]

Fear in Decision-Making [10:08]

Not Can’t, CAN. [14:35]

Mini Try This at Home! [18:14]

Creativity [19:20]

Share and Touch Base with Us! [21:15]

Idea of Success [21:35]

Courage of the Act [22:30]

By You [25:08]

Try This at Home! [28:55]

Closing Points [29:38]

Episode Notes:

Elizabeth Gilbert first became a sensation with her book; Eat, Pray, Love that was on NY Times Bestseller list for fifty-seven consecutive weeks! In 2015, Gilbert released Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear. Leslie and Leslyn both loved the book and sent it to their loved ones to read and ponder. In this episode, Leslie and Leslyn share what they loved about Big Magic and the great tips that they took away from the book. They start the discussion with speaking about Elizabeth Gilbert’s vision, or her interpretation of her own ideas. It’s a story that Leslie and Leslyn think will stick with you through Gilbert’s amazing mastery of words.

The foundation of Big Magic is this: all ideas are seen to be out in the open, an idea will come to you or whomever will best bring it to its completion. Leslie explains, if you do not choose to nurture and love that idea, the idea will leave you and go to someone else who will. Leslyn likes to think of this as being like the Gulf Stream that goes around the planet. To Leslyn, these ideas work like an invisible Gulf Stream, that moves around the atmosphere and at random will drop down into your mind. People can relate to this vision in the way that we all experience having an idea that seems to come out of the blue. Leslie continues this by sharing J.K. Rowling’s experience of coming up with the idea for Harry Potter while she was riding a train. J.K. Rowling explains getting this idea as, “it fell into her head”. Leslie sees this idea that Elizabeth Gilbert laid out like the scene in Finding Nemo, when Nemo’s Dad is riding the turtle’s back in the Eastern Australian current.

To understand Big Magic and the vision of the book, it’s important to have a good understanding of Elizabeth Gilbert’s fundamental belief about ideas. Gilbert believes that ideas float around and will be presented to you. If you do not nurture this idea, it will find a home somewhere else. Leslyn explains this in a scenario often seen in the entrepreneur’s world. Ten people will wake up with a similar idea, six of those people will do absolutely nothing about, three will sit back and at least think about the idea, but only one will actually do something with the idea. In Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert gives a real-life personal experience she had with this belief. She speaks about an idea that left her and went to one of her friends who is also an author. Gilbert had developed an idea for a book but had to put this idea away because as life happens, her focus was needed somewhere else. Well over a year goes by before Elizabeth Gilbert is able to focus on this idea again. Gilbert finds out that the idea is gone, no longer residing with her. Elizabeth Gilbert goes to a conference where she talks with another author, Ann Patchett, who describes the project that Gilbert was working on almost exactly. Even more wild about the story, the two authors work out that around the same time that Elizabeth Gilbert had put the project away for later, Ann Patchett had started working on the same idea!

Leslyn explains that this could be like simultaneous invention, which is when two people, that are unrelated, get the same idea around the same time. Leslie points out that this simultaneous invention, happens often in academia and you can easily get “scooped” by another person as the idea’s creator becomes the person who finishes it first. Leslyn, after reading Big Magic, shares she had a whole different sensation about the ideas that would pop into her head. As ideas pop into people’s head all the time, many people will get an idea and think that they couldn’t possibly go through with it. Leslie, as an entrepreneur, at some point decided that one of her ideas was something she could execute and ran with it. Leslie likes to think that falling into that line of work happened to her, not that she chose it. The CEO of Stitch Fix, Katrina Lake, also thinks this way as she didn’t make the decision to have a clothing company, it came to her in a multitude of things and she just followed that current.

Leslyn continues the discussion by sharing a quote from Big Magic, “My fear always made predictively boring decisions.” Leslyn goes on to say that every single person has a creative element in their spirit, but this fear often holds people back from engaging in it. Leslie shares she often talks herself out of her ideas because she experiences fear in not being perfect. Elizabeth Gilbert says that you should only go through with an idea for the love of doing it not because it’s going to be perfect. A good enough novel, that is violently written right now, will always be better than a perfect novel, that is meticulously written never. Leslyn believes that fear and creativity need to both be present in our lives, but fear need to be strapped in the backseat, it cannot be the driver. This idea of perfectionism cannot stop you from doing, as perfect can quickly become the enemy of finishing or even doing something at all.

This fear should not stop you from doing, Leslyn says that you are going to fail some things but that is the first step of seeing growth in something. Leslie shares experiences with her children in feeling the need to be perfect and in the phrase, “I can’t.” Leslie says the kicker with this is: parents never expect their kids to know something out of the gate. Parents expect their kids to fail, make mistakes, and learn. Parents can be very forgiving of these things in their children, but often are not forgiving of their own actions. We do not have that open mentality of allowing ourselves to also fail, learn, and eventually figure it out. The role of failure can play a big role in how creative we are. Leslyn shares another quote from Big Magic, about how it is important for us to forgive ourselves for failure. You have to find it in yourself to say it’s alright to fail. Elizabeth Gilbert sees this as we’re nothing but beginners. Even if you have fifty years of experience in a craft, you are still a beginner and always will be a beginner, as perfectionism, the idea of being simply perfect, never ever can exist. This role of failure can prevent you from doing a lot of things in your life, if you let it. Finding the value in the nuances of success is vital. Leslyn shares that courage comes to play in the idea of success. You must have the courage to fail, but also the courage to succeed in whatever it is you are doing.

Leslie quotes Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic by stating, “One of the oldest and most generous tricks that the universe plays on human beings, is to bury strange jewels within us all, and then standing back to see if we can ever find them.” Leslie finds this to be an interesting way to look at ideas, it’s a very freeing attitude to think that an idea and the capability is already within yourself, you just have to find it. Leslie shares that even in her own company, she feels the immense pressure to be different and to do something that hasn’t been done before. In reality, it seems that almost everything has already been done, so she changed her mentality. If you interpret an idea that you think might have been done, and you do it in your own unique way, it will turn into something different. Leslie and Leslyn further explain this by giving the example of a musician covering a song. A musician covering another musician’s song can give a completely different feel to the same lyrics. This is because completely different creative energies are being placed into the words. We as people, do not have the same experiences, talent, or abilities as someone else. Meaning if we complete an idea, put the energy into that concept, our own version of that thing will emerge. Leslyn emphasizes that this is something that truly should be embraced in life.

This week’s Try This at Home, is to really think about where you experience creativity in your own life. If you are one to hesitate because of fear, think of what you are truly fearing in partaking in that particular action. If you think you are not creative, we hope this episode has shown that we all have the ability to be creative. Creativity is defined so broadly and plays a big contribution to a life well lived! Leslyn and Leslie end this episode encouraging you, the listener, to read Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic.

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Links to Look At:

Elizabeth Gilbert’s Big Magic

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24453082-big-magic

Big Magic Audible Link

https://www.audible.com/ep/title/?asin=B00U0CAEB8&source_code=GO1GBSH09091690EK&device=d&ds_rl=1262685&ds_rl=1263561&cvosrc=ppc.google.big%20magic%20audiobook&cvo_campaign=250472169&cvo_crid=260135447937&Matchtype=e&gclid=CjwKCAjwgbLzBRBsEiwAXVIygL4HJJmxp73afPLTrNyUJW88KrnvKVfWqvWoVLJ7y7xF1QYun1UxAhoClJsQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Finding Nemo’s Turtle Scene

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FNHtNEshk8