Danny Gregory (@DannyGregory) is an advertising veteran who has worked across just about medium of creativity, including writing, design, photography, and teaching. He’s published several books including his latest, Shut Your Monkey.
In this conversation, we examine the topics of the book which include self-doubt, anxiety, distraction, and other mindset struggles faced by creative pros.
Shut Your Monkey by Danny Gregory
Keep you with Danny on his website or his blog. Shut Your Monkey is now available for order.
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- Download The Busy Creator Podcast, Episode 82 (MP3, 55:39, 40.4 MB)
- Download The Busy Creator Podcast, Episode 82 (OGG, 55:39, 30.1 MB)
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Show Notes & Links
- According to his website, Danny is an artist/author/creative director/blogger/teacher/speaker
- Danny’s new book, Shut Your Monkey
- Sketchbook Skool
- Danny has worked in Hanoi and Doha to build creativity schools
- Danny has blogged for 12 or 13 years, published his first book 14 years ago
- In advertising, Danny has been a CD, ECD, and CCO
“Advertising is weaponised art.”
—Prescott Perez-Fox
“Advertising agencies no longer have cornered the market on creating advertising.”
—Danny Gregory
- Absolut Vodka Ads
- Budweiser Frogs
- Wazuuuuup
“A single tweet can have much more impact (than advertising).”
—Danny Gregory
- The Dress
- Jen Briney, who runs Congressional Dish podcast
- Media dollars that Donald Trump has “earned”
Paid vs. “Earned” Media Spend
- Mad Men
- Conan O’Brien used to write for The Simpsons (video discussion with alumni writers)
“The core of social media is authenticity.”
—Danny Gregory
- Charlie Sheen
- No Brown M&Ms!
- Flow, and obstacles to achieving it
- Gollum
Gollum
“Creativity plays a far bigger role in our everyday than it did in the past.”
—Danny Gregory
- Hardwiring Happiness by Rick Hanson on Amazon and on Audible
- The War of Art by Steven Pressfield on Amazon and on Audible
- The Icarus Deception by Seth Godin on Amazon and on Audible
“Creativity is inherently about change, risk, uncertainty.”
—Danny Gregory
- Thomas Edison found “10,000 ways that won’t work” to make a lightbulb.
“When a great idea appears it's going to stand up and sing.”
—Danny Gregory
- Shut Your Monkey originated from a blog post, and evolved into a series of posts, then a talk.
- Show Your Work by Austin Kleon on Amazon
- Radical Careering by Sally Hogshead on Amazon
- Number 17 (now 8 and a half)
- Rachel Willey, graphic designer
- Whitney Museum
- The Met
- The HOW Conference
- Kaizen – continuous incremental improvements as opposed to a “win”
“You don't come up with your life's work and then stop working”
—Danny Gregory
- DannyGregorysBlog.com
- Forthcoming Shut Your Monkey Weekly podcast, featuring “Monkey Tales”
- Danny Gregory on Twitter
- Danny Gregory on Facebook
- Danny Gregory on Instagram
- Danny Gregory on YouTube
Tools
Techniques
- Understand what your “monkey” is saying, before anything else
- Don’t argue with the monkey when he speaks in extremes
- Acknowledge the risks we’ve taken, the work we’ve accomplished
- Use your phone or a notebook to jot notes into Evernote
- Take “book ideas” and break them out into blog posts; return the prose as potential section.
- Leave big tasks unfinished so you have a place to resume the next day
Habits
- Be available to work all the time (be a honeybee)
- Defend yourself against other peoples’ monkeys
- Constantly feed on the raw materials that will become a good idea
- Move around the house to vary your working space
- Post consistently on your blog, 5 days a week at 7:00 am
- Tackle creative problems first thing in the morning
- Visit the library, take out books
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Join the Discussion
Add your experiences in the Comments section below.
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