Finding Creativity with Nick Onken & Jim Kwik

Oh, we're live.

We are live.

We are live. We're live and ready to go. I like it.

I like it. Thank you for doing this. This is kind of like role reversal for me because I've had the pleasure of being on on your show.

Yeah, a couple times actually, which has been amazing. People love love hearing what you have to say.

No, I appreciate you. And for those of you who are just joining us, you'll definitely want to share this. I know you're watching this in the private Facebook group with tens of thousands of you there and. You know, or on Zoom, however you're consuming this right now. We're talking about resetting. A lot of people had some turmoil, some difficulty, challenges in 2020.

Yeah.

And we could use like not only a brain reset, but just like a life reset and a reboot. But I want to introduce my good friend Nick Onken, and he's— for to the public, you're like this like celebrity world-class You know, everyone from Usher to Justin Bieber and, and Jim Kwik. You know, you did the photos for our book.

Yeah.

You do it for a lot of amazing thought leaders and experts, you know, so it spans, spans industry. And that's how, you know, we initially met. And you have this incredible show that's for creatives.

Yeah, it's a podcast.

Yeah, I believe the future belongs to the creatives. You know, where jobs are going to machines, or they're being automated, or AI, you know, what's truly limitless is our imagination.

Yeah, I mean, I think creativity is something that's especially now is the innovator's like really skill. Yeah, especially like trying to get jobs or create jobs in the future. It's really, can you think and can you create and can you create new paradigms and new things and new products, you know?

Yeah, or solutions to big you know, problems that's, that's going on in the world.

Yeah.

And so you're one of the most creative souls that I know, you know, even, even that hat that you're wearing, right? Like, you have your own, uh, you just have these incredible creative pursuits.

Yeah.

And when we're talking about reset, you know, creativity, like, let's, let's break this down. You know, I have this idea that we don't have creativity, it's something that we do. It's a, it's a process because sometimes we We could put ourselves in trance by saying, oh, I don't wake up, I don't have creativity today to write or to make music or to, to do that. Yeah, you know, but, um, but what's— let's, let's dive into that, you know. What's— do you have a process, or is this something that is just people are born with, or have you noticed working with clients? And—

Yeah, you know, I think we're all creative in some sort of capacity. We might not all be artists Right. But we're all creative. We're all, you know, if we back it up, we're all creating our lives and our reality and the lives that we want, whether we choose to know that or not or become aware of that. But I think getting up every day, the act of creativity and being creative and putting the pen to the paper, 80% of that is just getting through the fears and the mental blocks and the things that keep us from that. And in the book, I don't know if you've read The War of Art, by Steven Pressfield, but he talks about the resistance. And it is, it's the, the, the I'm not good enough, or the I maybe I'll get to it tomorrow, the procrastination and all these things. And really, I think if you can overcome those and step forward and just put the pen to the paper and get started, that's the first step of creativity.

And do you find, like, in your, your creative pursuits, have they helped you to help have a reset? I mean, have they made it this the challenges that's going on more palatable.

Yeah, I mean, even through this, this whole year, I mean, when I went through this whole space of when quarantine hit in March, I was— I had to like— all my jobs got canceled. Nobody wanted to shoot, obviously. Like, we have to be in, in the same space, so nobody wanted to do photo shoots. And so I thought— and it kind of— and that was when we didn't know what was coming. or what, you know, how things are gonna pan out. I didn't know if I was ever gonna work again.

Mm-hmm.

So part of that was also just practicing simple things like meditation and breathwork and movement and just like working out every day just to get my body equalized and my mind equalized so that I could start practicing other creative endeavors. And it just also gave me the time and the space to really think about Oh, what other things can I create in the world? It doesn't have to be just photography, which is what I've been doing for the last 15 years. You know, I can build my hat business and start creating more of those. So I just spent more time making hats, and eventually people started ordering hats.

Yeah.

And then, you know, I've also played with different mediums like painting and drawing, and I did a hand-drawn— a long time ago, I did a hand-drawn type project, which was a 100-day project on Instagram, and that was kind of the accountability piece of it, to do it every day. And I just chose one quote that I— that it was inspiring to me, and I played with different, like, pens and inks and practiced around and just wrote, you know, whether it was good or not, I still did it.

Yeah.

And for me, that was just a project, and eventually it actually turned into a signature style of handwriting, which I've turned into murals as well, and You know, I've— by now I hand stitch it on the back of hats. I've done— I've utilized it in different graphic design pieces. So sometimes, a lot of times, projects that start just for yourself can end up turning into money down the road, or you can turn it into business. But I think the important thing is to just create from your heart and create for yourself. Yeah, and that's where it starts.

And do you believe everybody has, even if they're not label themselves as an artist, that they have— or they're not trained, you know, doing as, as a painter or a graphic artist, that they could express themselves. I mean, I think we're all here to, you know, part of this journey we're on is to fully express ourselves, you know, in the ways that, you know, we find nourishing to our, our spirits.

Yeah.

You know, and sometimes what quenches, like maybe quells that or squelches it, is other people's expectations, like not being perfect the first time out, making mistakes, failing.

Like, yeah, that's a huge piece of it, and that's a piece of the resistance that we were talking about. But I think, you know, art is an expression.

It's—

it can also be healing too. And I think being able to just, you know, you hear about art therapy, right?

Yeah.

And not— you don't have to be an artist. You can just put a pen to the paper and experiment, take the time to play. without even showing anyone. Just make it for you. And like, it doesn't have to see the light of day, it doesn't have to see Instagram, it doesn't have to see— and nobody has to see it. But you might discover an art that you actually enjoy and that you love, you know, when you actually experiment and play with it. But I think a piece of that is creating the sandbox, right? The space and the time to actually just sit down and put the pen to paper, regardless of anybody seeing it or not, but doing it for yourself. And I think getting that expression out is therapeutic and healing in and of itself. So, you know, especially if you're experiencing anxiety and, and all the pressures of what's going on in the world today, sometimes it's just healing just to like sit there and get into a flow. And whether anybody sees it or not, you can— the flow state really is an actually, it's a healing state of mind, right? You know, you talk about the brain all the time, and getting into that flow state is when you're actually not almost not even thinking. You're just doing and you're playing and you're experimenting. And I think creating that space is really important.

Yeah, I'm curious, everybody who's watching this, you know, in the chats or the comments, how many of you identify as a creator? You know, by show of yeses, how many of you, you know, see yourself as a creator, a creator of your life, of your business, you know, of your, of your career, you know, of whatever you find is more of your, your passions and your, and your purpose? And, um, you and I were talking before We went on camera about sometimes to be more creative, it helps to just block out some of the noise that's out there, especially from like—

Oh, digital. The dopamine is really what it is, right?

Yeah. I mean, if we're going to talk about like, yeah, the biochemistry of creativity, some of the things that people are addicted to.

Yeah, maybe.

How do you—

Well, it's really interesting this summer as things, you know, as we're spending more time at home, my my consumption of just media, social media, actually I kind of try to like tune out the media, but music, books, podcasts, all these different things which are very informative also became, especially being on social media and getting the dopamine likes and all these things. I came across this kid on YouTube and he created this thing called, he talks about this thing called the dopamine detox, which is all the things that give you hits beyond just tech and social media. I mean, social media, obviously getting likes and getting these things is a huge hit of dopamine, makes you feel good, but it's actually just creating this addiction in your mind. And then your mind gets— it's hard to have focused attention, right? I was finding myself having a hard time being focused at what I was creating and getting into those flow states because I'm constantly checking my phone.

Right.

So I did a dopamine detox For 24 hours, basically. I did a couple of them, and that was cutting out— I gotta— if I can remember, it's like your phone, food, you know, food, phone, television, gaming.

Just everything.

All the things, you know. You can basically like journal, you can exercise, you can go for walks, but it's really cutting out all the things that give you this hit of dopamine, even like addictive foods like sugars and things like that.

For how long?

I did it for 24 hours, but I kind of— on Friday night I turned off my phone and then I didn't turn it on till Sunday morning.

Did you—

now I think most people would feel that kind of angst, you know, so they have this— we have Facebook videos, 37 million views, just having like phones on like by your bed or by your dinner table, even if it's face down. Did you feel like— did you feel like that compulsion to—

Oh yeah, I mean, especially for the first Like, well, 8 hours withdrawal. Withdrawal. Yeah, you feel a serious withdrawal. You just like want to check your phone. It's almost like a nervous tic, right? Like it's sitting on the, on the, on the table and you just want to pick it up and look at it, even though you're not even almost looking at it. You just like, it's like this normal movement.

It's like muscle memory. It's just something that we have to— and if you— I know a number of people, our audience saw Social Dilemma.

Oh yeah.

You know, where you have billions of dollars engineering this behavior, and some of the smartest minds in the world keeping you opening those devices.

Yeah, that show was really powerful, and it shows, I mean, it takes you all the way into like the social divide, and like how it's radicalizing people, and it really is, the algorithms are showing you more and more to keep you more addicted, right?

Because the more attention that they get from you, the more money they make, but it's also stealing your attention, And we are in this attention economy that if you're not paying for these devices, then you are their product they're selling to advertisers. Yeah, and you know, it's fine. I mean, it's great to have these devices, allows us to connect and everything. And yet, if technology is a tool for us to use, but technology is using us, yeah, and who becomes the tool, right, in that equation?

Exactly.

So how was it for that 24 hours?

It was definitely the first Probably 5 or 6 hours. It's— you have this like you're jonesing to check your phone, but then after a while you kind of start to get used to it. And then by the next day you're kind of like, oh, this is actually really nice.

You survived it.

You survived it.

Yeah, survive without the phone.

Yeah, they have different degrees of like— if you have a really hard time, if you're really, really addicted, you can give your phone to somebody else and like not let them like change the password on it and do that. But for For me, I just put it in a drawer and I didn't touch it.

I mean, it's interesting because today we're having all these great suggestions from how do you reset, but just taking that, setting these— part of, I think, self-love and self-care is when you say yes to somebody or something, you're not saying no to yourself. And part of self-love and self-care is putting borders and boundaries around the things that you treasure: your time, your heart, your focus, your attention. And then life is what's happening when we're not. looking at our devices. And it's not to say it's bad, it's just to do it consciously. And the ultimate, an incredible reset, would be something like this dopamine detox.

Yeah, dopamine detox.

Okay, like a digital detox for a lot. I mean, you could do other things.

Yeah, you could start out with just a digital detox, but then if you go any further, like the dopamine detox, you think of all the other things that you get dopamine hits from that just take you away from like Contemplation and thinking and thinking about what you're doing in life and your thoughts and all that stuff.

And even if you look at the amount of time we're spending, I mean, if you've ever looked at how much time you're on your phone, usage in certain apps, we don't realize because time just— and you could scroll forever. Literally, there's no stopping ever.

You keep going. And I do it all the time. I still do it every day.

So would you do another detox? Or I mean, what kind of frequency would you—

I probably need to do another one now because I can see I can feel the addiction again. I honestly have like implemented it into my morning practice though for a little bit, so I don't look at my phone for the first probably 45 minutes.

So kind of like people would fast off food and they have the intermittent fast, maybe they're fasting just like for set times.

Yeah.

And then during that time you could reset, which is the theme of, you know, today, and recharge, regroup, you know, refresh. And be creative too. When do people have white space? When they're not—

Yeah, when you have space to think and to meditate and to do different things. I mean, for me, it's like the morning. And, you know, we had our friend Emily who I learned meditation from. And so like when I wake up in the morning now, I don't put— I put my— I actually have a different phone that only has— it controls my timer and that's it. So I can't see messages or anything or Instagram and all that stuff. And I literally, I will go and I meditate for 30 minutes, 30, 40 minutes, and then I'll come in and I'll check my phone. But it's having that 40 minutes or so of silence in the morning just to myself that is a really big reset for me. And the Ziva meditation that we were talking about also helps me reset my state in the morning.

Mm-hmm.

A lot of times I'll wake up in the morning and I'll have like darker thoughts or I have weird dreams and then it's just like a little bit chaotic in my head. And I think that meditation helps me reset so then I can get into my creative space and get into my creative mode.

So the meditation, the breathing you mentioned.

Yeah.

You know, the movement.

Yeah, so I do a little bit of, you know, 5 minutes of like yoga stretch, and then I work out for 20 minutes every morning. And that's kind of like my hour, first hour and a half, you know. And then I have a really good protein smoothie concoction that I make that has really good nutrients in it and that also feeds my brain as well. So when I sit down to start creating and start working, I feel supercharged.

And I love that you go through your routines because I feel like when we shot, we were shooting from morning to nighttime, the sun went down, and you have to have your focus. I mean, it takes energy. To do that, to create the art that you create.

Yeah, it really does. And I, you know, especially in these times, I think having a morning routine that grounds you is really important because like you can get mentally derailed really easily. I mean, especially if you turn on the news and you hear something, you get hijacked. And I think for me, having that meditation time and everything in the morning, I definitely feel a huge, huge difference in in my own creativity through the day and being able to stay creative doing all the different things that I do, whether it's hats, making hats, or photography, or lining up a podcast and doing that.

So yeah, we talk about how some people, if they feel burnt out, maybe it's not because you're doing too much, maybe it's because you're doing too little of the things that make you come alive, that light your creative flame, if you will. And it's just not a matter of Are you creative or not? It's just choosing things that you want to best express yourself, you know, and there's no right or wrong. There's no judgment on any of this. It's just—

Yeah, do it because you love it, you know. And when you love it and you enjoy it, then that lights you up, and then that gets your creative flow flowing in other places as well. And we talked about this a little bit too earlier, is, you know, if you're an artist and you have— you work in one medium, maybe try a different medium. And that'll also kind of take you out of your own creative rut in a certain sense. And like, you apply the same creative skills to a different medium, you learn that medium. And I've been doing that a lot for the last few years. That's how I started making the hats, and I've done these different paintings and drawings. And it just really, um, it helps you get into a different creative flow, which I think is important.

Yeah, I noticed that, you know, part of my process, even with the book, you know, I'll read But it's not just about doing research, you know, getting other people's points of views, which I think can make me more creative. But also writing is a different outlet. You know, when you take a pen or some kind of instrument to put it to paper, yeah, you know, there's a process of manifesting something where you take it, you took a thought, and now it's physically in front of you.

Yeah, yeah. And you can write freely without the editor coming in. That's, I think, from The Artist's Way, where you can take like 5— like, I think it's 3 pages, and you fill 3 pages with words. Doesn't matter what it is, but if you just get it out onto paper, that's the first step. And especially if you're not on the computer, right? Because if you're on paper, you're in a different mindset, you're in a different zone. You're not in the dopamine zone, like hit zone. You're in like pen and paper mode. So I think that's also another good exercise that people can do.

It can be extremely therapeutic. Also as well, taking your thoughts and journaling.

And yeah, very therapeutic, very healing. You know, I think art is therapy. It really is.

I love that. Yeah, I love that. An incredible reset using art and getting a detox to reboot your, your, your, your brain, reboot your, your day.

Absolutely, Nick.

Amazing. How, how can people find out more about you, buddy?

Yeah, I mean, I would say Instagram is probably the primary space, @nickonken, N-I-C-K-O-N-K-E-N. From there you can find everything. I have a photographs Instagram website. I have my hat website or Instagram. So everything just kind of stems from that space.

So what would you recommend as people are— I'm just looking at chats and comments. Any question you have for our audience? Like one question that they could— or advice to take with them?

One question or advice?

Yeah, and like with individuals, like maybe like, do you meditate or do you have a routine? Or that could be questions or something that they maybe could take with them in terms of—

Yeah, I would say think about what your daily routine is that you can own that gets you more in a creative space.

Yeah, to provide those little micro resets. Maybe it's not a big reset your life, you have to end a relationship or choose like a bit different career. Maybe it could be Small little resets add up, like the routines add up to bigger things.

Yeah, yeah. What is that routine for you? The small little things every day that add to the bigger picture.

Amazing. So we are actually going to reset here and we'll be back with you shortly. Nick, brother, thanks for joining us again.

Thanks for having me.

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