Jim KwikFounder, Kwik Brain · Brain Coach

Nick Onken's secret to being creative - Kwik Clips

11 Feb 2021 · 1 min

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1:26

In this brief interview segment, Jim Kwik asks Nick Onken (Speaker B) about the nature of creativity. Onken argues that creativity is not a mysterious innate talent but a process that anyone can engage in. He emphasizes that everyone is creative in some capacity, even if not an artist, because we constantly shape our lives and reality. The core challenge to creative work is overcoming fear, mental blocks, and "resistance," a concept drawn from Steven Pressfield's book The War of Art. Onken suggests that simply showing up and putting pen to paper—daily practice—helps push through resistance and unlock creative output.

I have this idea that we don't have creativity, it's something that we do. It's a process because sometimes 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 do that. Yeah. 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, our lives and our reality and the lives that we want, or 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.
Mm-hmm.
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.