Stop Making Content. Start Creating with 6 Levels of Creative Energy | The Aligned Creative Podcast

Think about that. You're, you're doing— you're making art because you love to make art. So make that the priority. We're not using our art to fit in anywhere. We're making art and making everything in the universe fit around it. And welcome to The Aligned Creative, where we sit at the intersection between passion and purpose, and the aim is to strengthen the connection between inner alignment and outer expression. My name is C.L. Palmer, aka CZ Pie Gang. I am your host, a multi-passionate creative artist, and a whole bunch of other things you will get to know in the near future. So today on the podcast, we're going to talk about these 6 levels of creative energy, and I'm going to show you how to do some energy accounting so you know exactly what's in alignment with what you really want to do and what you are just obligated to do. But before we get into that, this is one of the first episodes, and I need to at least explain a little bit about what this podcast is about. And on top of that, give you a reason to stay around. For the duration of this episode. Again, my name is C.L. Palmer, and first and foremost, one of the pillars of this show is gratitude. So I want to give you some gratitude for giving this podcast a chance, spending some time with me, and having some open ears and an open mind and be ready to receive some value because you could have watched or did anything else. But you say, you know what, this sounds like something that may be for me. Let me check it out. So just for giving me this time, I appreciate it. Now, the purpose of this podcast is to help you strengthen that inner alignment connection with outer expression. And that comes from the book that I wrote that shares the same name as this podcast, The Aligned Creative. And the whole premise of the book is to focus in and make a priority that internal alignment is the most important thing in your creative process. We want to see you make the dopest, most creative thing possible, but we can't do that if your focus is geared toward fitting into the algorithm, fitting into a commerce box, or fitting into what's popping right now. We don't want to do that because you need to make art for art's sake. And I think because we live in this society where everything is being commoditized, that we have to remember that the art comes first. That art comes from our imagination, which comes from our inner child, which comes from a very spiritual place. And if you don't have alignment with your purpose, what you really want to be doing with your time in your life, think about that. You're, you're doing, you're making art because you love to make art. So make that the priority. We're not using our art to fit in anywhere. We're making art and making everything in the universe fit around it. You make that algorithm fit around your art. You make the commerce fit around your art. It's not the other way around, because that's when you start messing with your energy. You start messing with your life force and you begin to not like everything about life. And because I'm somebody who has spent over 15 years working with creatives, making podcasts, doing videography, writing skits, I done did a little bit of everything. I work with creatives and I've ended up giving advice about blocks, about which way to go about things. And because I'm someone with a high pattern recognition. I noticed that a lot of times we're going through the same things, and usually it's in different ways, but it's, it's usually back to some core reasons. So that's why I wrote the book. I wanted everybody to know that you're not alone with what you're going through. And before you start drowning in the way that the world thinks you should create art, You need to consider how it is that you want to make art and do everything else around that. Make that your number one priority. So now that you know a little bit about the podcast and why we're here, I talked a little bit about energy in that, and I want this episode to really focus in on the the differences between what it is that you love to do and what you're obligated to do. And even when it's a good idea to do something that you are obligated to do. So one of the things that I developed while writing the book is the 6 levels of creative energy, and it goes from lowest to highest, where 1 is the lowest and 6 is the highest. And I'm going to run through them. But if you really want to get a good breakdown,. You can download the free vision filter tool and you'll be able to see these 6 levels in detail. And I'll also put it in the show notes. Now, so the thing about the 6 levels of creative energy is it's not limited to creating a piece of art. This is the 6 levels of creating the life that you want. You can use these 6 levels to describe any obligation, any task, hobby, place you want to go, person you want to kick it with. These 6 levels apply to all of it because you're creating an experience for your life. So that's why it's creative energy. But you got to remember, creativity does not mean just art. It means creating your experience. It means creating the life that you want to live. So So let's get into it. I'm going to run through it real fast and then I'm going to talk about a few things that are related to it. So level 1 is draining. These are things that don't make you feel good at all and they make you tired as soon as you start doing them. Showing up somewhere that you don't want to be around, being around a lot of people that don't really fit your vibe or things like that. Most of the stuff that you do when you go to a job that you really don't like. But level 2 is the obligatory. These are things that you are obligated to do, whether that be because of your connection, whether that be because you are getting paid to do it. But nonetheless, these things don't feed you more energy. They take more than anything. Level 3 is functional. This is the level where you are okay with doing it, but it is not your favorite thing to do. It is not the thing that you would rather be doing than anything else, but you know it's a part of the life. This is like things that you might need to do with your kids or things that you do with your family that's not the most favoritest thing to do, but nonetheless, you just like, this has purpose. Level 4 is neutral-positive. This is where you can get some things that have a feel-good, but it may not be it's not going to make you drop everything. So this is like, for me, something that's neutral positive is like writing a blog because it's something that I would like to do. I like to write, but the process of writing a blog is a tad bit draining. But because it's from a creative place, I still will engage in doing the thing and I will get through it because I feel pretty good once I get done, but doing it, it's not like the best. Level 5 is energizing. These are things that are high up on your list that really connect to you on a deeper level, where when somebody mentions doing something or going somewhere, you get pretty jazzed up. You'll kind of go out your way to do the thing. You will spend a little extra money to participate in the thing., but you wouldn't spend that much money because level 6, which is radiant, is where you don't really care how much it costs. You will do anything to participate in this activity, to go to this place, to be around these people. Level 6 is everything that you're truly passionate about, the things that you don't need to be paid for. For me, this is making music. I don't care how many people listen to my music when I'm making it. I feel my most radiant. I feel most alive when I'm in front of a microphone rapping, when I'm putting a song together. Nothing is more exhilarating in my life than making music. I don't care how much the studio time costs. I don't care how much, how far I need to go so I can get to said producer or how much those beats cost. It doesn't matter because I want to do the thing. And that's what you got to realize when you get to level 6. Like, notice, knowing what things are at level 6 are the things that really give your spirit life. Okay. If you want to learn more about the 6 levels of energy, check out the free vision filter tool, which helps you make decisions about things that you want to do in life. Now I have 2 versions. I have the light version, which asks you 4 questions.. And then I have the Notion version, which goes into a little bit more of an in-depth thing, which allows you to have a scorecard about something that you're considering doing. This is like taking on a project, a job, maybe moving to a new city. Use the, the vision filter on Notion for that. I'll leave the link in the show notes so you can check that out. Now that I've explained the 6 levels of creative energy, the thing that I want to talk about next is how some of these things really feel and how it's applied to your life. So, so because I take the act of being creative, because I take the act of making art and enjoying life as one of my top priorities, everything doesn't have to be work. Everything doesn't have to be monetized. Everything doesn't have to have an end goal or whatever. Sometimes you just do things because they feel good. It's like, why do you do anything? It's like, because it feels good. It's just the vibe, you know? I actually saw somebody talk about this on TikTok, and she was talking to artists who do paintings, and she said you got to know the different type of buyer personas because you have some people that do buy off emotion, they buy off the story. But then you have some people who just buy because it fits the room. Because it's just a vibe. It's sometimes you're just like, this really fits the aesthetic of my room. This fits the energy of my room. And they'll just buy the painting because it fits. It's just a vibe. And so that's— that tells you that the way energy moves around with something is different with— it's different for different people because I put so much emphasis on energy and how something makes me feel. I tend to be a little counterculture to some of the things you may hear. You know, you might jump on Instagram and TikTok and shawty be talking about, you know, you need to just post that content every single day. You just show up and just keep doing it. You know, you got something that you like to do for fun? Well, just record it because people would love to see you doing it. You doing it anyway, you might as well just record it. And I'm like, no, cuz sometimes I just do the stuff cuz I want to. Perfect example, I love to cook, okay? I thought about doing some content around me cooking, but the problem is once you start to make something you do for fun a production, it has now become work. Now I have to get my camera angles together, now I have to get my lighting correct, now I need to get my sound right, now I need to do the prep so people can actually see my entire process. Sometimes I'm just hungry, I just want to eat. Sometimes I just like to be in the moment and just feel the creativity flow from when I'm preparing a meal. I don't want to make every part of my life into content, and I think we have to realize that because we are trying to bring all of these different sides. We want to appear to be 3D characters on the internet, on social media. We, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to have all these different moments so it becomes content. And one of the things that I came across, and I actually had this discussion with one of my clients, and she was talking about some of the things that she likes to do for fun or some of the things that she was doing, and she couldn't figure out what she doing them because she wanted to make the content, or was she doing it because it was something that she actually enjoyed? But because of the burden of making content weighed so heavy into attending the event, it didn't really occur to her whether or not this was something that she really wanted to do in the first place. You might put yourself in that position. Now it's different once you decide to get some help. Now somebody's gonna come in and do all the setup for me. They're gonna, you know, set up my camera, set up my lights, get all my ingredients together. All I gotta do is show up and start talking. Now we talking a little different. Now we talking about, you know, maybe I can make cooking into some content. Is somebody going to edit this video for me? Because I'm already editing my own videos. So that's just more work. You got to understand that everything is not for consumption, for content. You have things that you do in your life for fun, and that's just it. You don't need to go anywhere past that. Once you realize that you're doing something because the algorithm says you should do it, because it sounds like a good idea, because someone else is doing it, because there may be a benefit that people like this type of content and you may be able to get a brand deal, you've already lost. Like, how fast are you going to burn out from doing that content? How fast are you going to want to quit everything because you're not really having fun anymore? That's why it's so important to understand the things that energize you and why they energize you in the first place. You gotta understand the alignment in the things that you are doing so it comes through when you are making content about something. One of the things that I'm, one of the things that I always say, and I'm gonna say this a lot of times throughout this podcast, which is we make content for connection first, then conversion. A lot of times you see people, they start to make content out of conversions. Because they're working a lot on the front end, on their hooks and the graphics and the transitions, and they're doing all of this stuff. But is the message even resonating? Like, I got a post right now that probably has under 200 views, but it's got like 10 comments, 12 shares, and like 20 saves. So obviously that didn't convert well, but it connected. That message, that tone, the thing that I was saying in that video really got to people on a human level. And that's what you got to understand. You have to make things with the energy that you want to connect with. If the purpose of what you're doing is not to connect, not to express, not to inspire, then you're already losing your energy from the jump. So just think about that next time somebody tells you Just start recording it and make it into content. Do you want to do the work or do you just want to have fun? Either way, you're in a judgment-free zone and you can choose whatever adventure you want to have around here because we want alignment first. We want things to feel good. And then that's when we start stepping into outer expression and start thinking about all of these other things that are possible when you start to get more proficient with your process. All right, so that's all I want to say for this episode. I'm going to be doing a few more of these quick episodes, getting a few points out so y'all could just get back to your life and get some, get some quick value and get out there and start creating. So again, my name is CL Palmer. Y'all can hit me up, CL Palmer at musicpro.com or at CZ Pod Gang on any platform. Make sure you follow the show, subscribe, rate, and review. Do all of that good stuff. Show some love. Share this episode with somebody that you think might could use it. And with all that being said, y'all stay blessed. Peace.