Convergence

Mark: And it's weird.

Cause like we talked ages ago about
the whole, like, Church sermon

thing, and it's, it's interesting
how much there is still that

idea in there

that was a big

monologue, sorry.

Brendan: No, uh, you never need
to apologize for the monologue,

This is your podcast too.

On episode nine in, in, in, in, in,
in, in, in the 19 of convergence.

Vegan eggs.

Menstrual cycles.

And the rebirth of morning creative.

It's our Easter special.

Brendan: This isn't going to happen
now, so I think that I can, just

talk about it on the pod and it'll
be just kind of its own funny moment.

, but like, with your advice from last
week, which just totally speaks to my

heart of not worrying about social media.

I had this thought, I figured out.

the thing that I wanted to go
viral over, which actually, it's

kind of funny, because if I was
to make a bunch of content for

social media, then this would fit.

But considering that I really just want
to make my product and hone that and

make something really special and have it
be its own word of mouth and be its own

marketing, then this doesn't really fit.

But if I were to do the whole
social media thing and be posting

about different things about health
all the time and all that kind of

stuff, I, I, I thought of the thing.

That I would, I, I plan to go viral over,
which is that, , chicken eggs are vegan

Mark: Well, in, in a, well,

uh,

Brendan: because,

Mark: You're gonna have to

Brendan: yes, yeah, absolutely.

Mark: I thought I could get there and
then, no, I'm gonna need your help.

Brendan: it's just a chicken period.

Mark: Ah, do we not

get into, Ha ha ha ha ha ha

ha.

Dude.

Brendan: And if, and if eating
a chicken egg is murder, then

so is a woman's monthly cycle.

And so is a man ejaculating into nothing.

Like that, that's, that, that
we're all committing atrocities.

Mark: Both of, yeah, well,
you see, this is the thing.

So one of those is a

sin.

You know, like, so much
of our, so much of our

society is based on, , Catholic
law, , or , Christian law.

, L O, well, I guess you could
say that either way, L O R

E or, L A W.

, law, , Mmm, cuz yes, yes, but
the reason I started laughing

Brendan: Uh huh.

Mark: Is because it, it got me
into a whole, and I'm sorry, like,

if this is upsetting,
but, like a whole Roe V.

Wade thing,

because, I guess, yeah,
I mean, it's un, it's

unfertilized.

Brendan: Uh huh.

Yeah, it's just an

Mark: But then I don't know
that much about chicken

reproduction, they

Brendan: Oh, so Yeah,

they, they just produce, like the
chickens will just make their egg,

just like a monthly cycle, just like a

woman has their menstrual cycle and

Mark: Uh.

Brendan: it, it, it doesn't harm
the, the, so I, I looked up,

like I went to vegansociety.

com and looked up their five are
required for, , all living beings,

should include the freedom from hunger,
thirst, and malnutrition, from pain,

injury, and disease, from discomfort,
from fear and distress, and the freedom

to express their natural behavior.

Sounds pretty great.

A backyard

Mark: By that token,

Brendan: Has all those freedoms.

Mark: by that token is.

She's not vegan, because a cow needs
to be milked, whether you farm it or

Brendan: Yeah.

Yeah.

And we're taking factory
farms out of this equation.

That's not.

what we're talking about.

We're

Mark: that's the and that's
and thus and thus lies the

thing, so yeah,

Brendan: But Yeah.

if you have just a goat or a cow on your
property and they're, they're ranging

around and, and eating and you, you know,
you have a fence up to protect them from

the wild animals, but, uh, but otherwise
they're just like your family pet.

And, and, well, you know, like,
you know, pets are a whole thing

and veganism too, like, they're
not kind of allowed because they're

not, they're not free to go and be.

So that, that's the whole thing.

And there's a, There I did some more
research and, , there's actually a

thing called a vegan, V E G G A N, who
are vegans who eat eggs and, you know,

and then the hardcore vegans are like.

No, you're just an ovo
vegetarian, you know, whatever.

I, and, and I, I know this is all silly.

Mark: There is nothing in this world
that we cannot find a way to make

divisive or to draw divisive lines on.

Fuck everything.

All the way to the fucking moon.

Fuck everything.

Because there is nothing that cannot
draw some kind of I didn't re I

thought vegans were the best people.

Now I know, now there's super vegans.

Now there's power vegans.

And the power vegans are at war
with the super vegans, because

they're not proper vegans.

I can't take it anymore.

I think I opt out.

Brendan: title, title, fuck Everything.

oh my God.

Vegan.

The, the, the, the layers of
vegans and how staunch they are

Mark: The bacon

Brendan: and,

how they, you the infighting.

It's insane, dude.

So I was, I was vegan for seven years
and, I was what they call a junk food

vegan, where I, I ate all the processed
foods, all the things that, you

know, with the way that you find out,

like you do the research to
find out, Oh, Oreos are vegan.

There's no, there's no
animal products in them.

So I can have all the Oreos I
want, you know, that kind of stuff.

And I would, you know, I'd, I'd try
to get, I would kind of try to get

protein and other things as well, but
like, I didn't understand it at all.

I didn't understand.

Like I was like, Oh,

you just need protein.

I didn't understand that.

oh,

there's actually two of the nine
essential amino acids you can

only get from animal protein.

Like, they're essential for your body.

Your body does not produce them.

It cannot convert other things into them.

You need to eat them.

And they only come from animal sources.

And one of those amazing sources is eggs.

And they're, and they're vegan.

So you could be a vegan eating eggs and be
relatively or possibly perfectly healthy.

If you're just eating vegan, super
by the book, and that you cannot

ingest any animal products, you
are not going to have great health.

Like, there's going to
be something missing.

That's my, my

Mark: Mark neither agrees nor disagrees
with the statements of Brendan Hutchins.

Brendan: Yep.

Mark: you helped me make.

So last week we talked
about spiky points of view

and I've written down if you're
getting broadcast advice on how

to stand out you're getting bad
advice, but something that you said.

moment ago made me put ahead of that
stop and I might put a fucking in

here stop fucking making content

Brendan: Haha.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Mark: Make things make things not

Brendan: Mm hmm.

Content's so boring.

Mark: Yep, it's like the vegan junk food.

It's, it's the Oreos.

It's like, sure, they are vegan, but
they're also sort of like, this, I know

it's a bit of a joke, but like, you know,
you take things like American cheese Like

the Twinkie bar, and it's like, there's
some loophole that's like, it's not

technically food, you know what I mean?

Like, it actually doesn't have any
nutritional, any of the things that

could be, it's edible, but
it's not food, you know,

Brendan: That's all processed foods.

Mark: Yeah, that's content.

It's, it's, it's slurry.

It's, it's, yeah, it's, it's,
it's technically edible,

but it's not nutritious.

Brendan: Mm hmm.

Mark: and no one really enjoys if,
and if you enjoy making content,

then maybe you're just not my people.

That's all.

Brendan: exactly my point from
my rant at the beginning of last

episode, is that food, like, the
food industry has been taken over by

people who just make products to sell
that we happen to eat, even though

they have no nutritional value, and
actually negative nutritional value.

I read a, cool book, uh,
speaking of ovulation,

Mark: Another one.

Brendan: this one.

was called woman code and this
will not be a part of God mode.

Mark: Okay.

Brendan: I've been trying to research
a lot of stuff about, polycystic

ovarian syndrome and women's health and
other stuff for some people around me.

And, I tried going down one avenue because
I love fasting and, you know, when you

get, you get a fresh new hammer, you try
to check around to see if everything is

nails or not, out this area is not nails.

Mark: bless you sir.

Brendan: I'm, I'm looking at
other like, okay, well, if this

is not nails, what, what is it?

And so then how do I fix it?

Mark: 10 points for self

awareness.

Brendan: points!

Mark: I miss

that show.

Brendan: back!

Mark: At Midnight.

Brendan: After midnight?

Yeah.

Or, uh, At Midnight?

Yeah.

Yeah, it's, it's, I, I,

it's not Hardwick?

No.

it's,

Mark: Oh, it's, yeah, it is
apparently called After Midnight.

Which is based on at,

Brendan: Yeah.

It was the same format.

Mark: yeah.

So, Taylor

Tomlinson.

Speaking of that, very, very tiny,
quick tangent, but it's worth it.

Um, I'm, I'm tempted to kind of buy a

subscription for,

does it drop out dot TV?

they've got a game show called,

game changes and it keeps popping up.

Like rounds

of it keep popping up on, on
tick tock And I've watched a full

episode of it and it's great.

it's very, it's like admin, not even
sillier and not based on current

Brendan: Oh, that sounds fun.

Mark: I

think you would

like everyone who's, who's on it.

they're not big names
except, Brennan Lee Mulligan.

is a name you might remember.

I

think it's Brennan.

I know it's Brendan

anyway, which is not a name.

Brendan is a name.

Brendan, that's someone
mispronouncing the name

Brendan.

Brendan: Yeah, just dropping, dropping,

it.

Mark: Sorry Brendan, you
seem like a very nice

person, but, you

know, your name's wrong.

I am the, I am the

authority

Brendan: Yeah, I actually, I
kind of like the name Brendan.

it's, it's a bit easier to say.

I, I've, I've struggled to my life
to say my name correctly, actually.

because, Well, I, I pronounce
it B R E N D I N, Brendin,

Mark: Oh sure,

Brendan: Yeah,

which I, that's how I like pronounced,
but it's spelled with an A, and

then, you know, everybody, at
least here, like, especially in

the South, Brandon is very popular.

B R A N D O N and I'd get called that
a lot and for a long time I hated that.

That was just insulting to me.

I was like, that is a
completely different name.

There are two vowel changes.

Mark: this is the Marco Armand snap

to grid problem.

People are like, ah, just close enough.

Brandon.

Fine.

That's a name I know that
that'll, that must be what

he's

Brendan: Yep.

But Brennan always felt closer
and like, kind of just like, oh,

you're just saying my name fast.

That's, that's great.

You don't got time to mess
around with a full name.

Mark: No, we've got stuff to
do, we can't be sticking on Ds.

Title.

Oh God, we're too far deep in the

Brendan: no, I think I, well,
I'll pull this back out.

Woman

code.

Mark: Thank you.

Brendan: I don't actually
have a lot to say about this,

except it was a fantastic, any.

for the lady listening.

Mark: Hello there.

Brendan: I highly recommend this book.

It's really great.

I, I can't speak from experience,
but I would say from the, it's

reputation and from going through
it, wow, spot on great, great advice.

it's got, it's kind of a lot like
God mode in that, but for women

it's got Sure, the diet stuff, but
also kind of self care routines.

And there's a lot about the cycle
and how there's four phases of

the cycle and you really need
different things in different phases.

And you're, you should kind of
live your life differently in

each week, approximately of the

cycle.

Like this week you can
kind of go hard this week.

You need a lot of rest this week
Try to doing yoga this week.

Try doing something new like when you're
gonna schedule yourself for events and

you're filling out an RSVP and Coming up
in the future if it falls in within you

a certain week of your period, then Yeah.

go for it.

If it falls within a different
week, maybe don't RSVP to that one.

Cause You're not
going to feel up to going

Mark: No.

I've heard, similar things,
and in fact I've edited

podcasts that suggest

Brendan: yeah.

So I've heard from a long time that women
famously have a monthly hormone cycle.

I've heard from, for a couple of
years now that Men also have a hormone

cycle and I had tried briefly to
kind of look into it and stuff and

couldn't really find anything about it.

, but it makes sense.

Like we, we, we also have, we're
affected by different things.

Our bodies go through cycles all the time.

And so I've been curious about
it, but I haven't really learned

much about it until very recently.

So, a woman's hormone cycle, they're
overarching, is it arching or arching?

I don't, I don't know.

Mark: I've never been I think
arcing, but I've never been

Brendan: I like saying arching
better than arching, Overarching.

makes more sense.

Like a, an arch is a structure.

I like arc, I like a rainbow.

Mark: Yeah.

Brendan: The overarching, timeline
of, of a woman's cycle is a, is

a around a month, 28 days, ish.

A man's hormone cycle follows the
circadian rhythm and is 24 hours long.

Mark: Oh, hello.

Brendan: kind of a moot

point,

Mark: Yeah.

Brendan: but also it's
kind of really interesting.

this knowledge is going to
feed its way into God mode.

I'm going to talk a little bit about it.

The part of the part of what
I understand is going on.

I still have a lot to learn,
but part of what I understand is

going on is while a man sleeps.

That's when he's producing testosterone.

so when you wake up, you have the most
amount of fresh testosterone to use.

And so that's, that's a good
time to do your workout.

It's a good time to get
outside and move your body.

, that's a good time for work and,
and kind of, productivity stuff.

When you get around 3 PM,
that's, you have a big drop off.

And that's why, There's usually .that.

kind of drained feeling and the
desire to have some coffee or

something to, push your adrenal
gland to produce some adrenaline so

that you can keep going, keeping on.

And then around eight or nine o'clock,
you have a severe drop off where you just

really deplete and you're ready to, your
body knows it is time to just stop, rest,

get to bed.

Mark: Does

Brendan: Click.

so I thought that was really

interesting.

Mark: as you age?

Brendan: Oh, yes.

as you age, apparently, I think that's
every year, you produce about one, 1

percent less testosterone That's, that's,
as I understand it, that has not, that's

not super well researched on my part.

but there are things that can
be done to enhance testosterone.

And I've been, I've been working
on those lately, two, two major

things, that have been working
for me and that I understand are.

universal for men is, working on
that sleep, working on that sleep,

getting good sleep every night and
working out, strength training,

not, not cardio, not, just getting
yourself tired, not, aerobic stuff.

Like that's great for your
cardiovascular system.

If you want to do that, that's, that's a
cool muscle to work on, but I'm talking

about the rest of the muscles, building,
building muscles, doing slow, Oh man,

I've, I've found some interesting tips.

I said, it's really just one tip, for
really working on working your muscles

when you're working out, if you're doing
any like weightlifting, really slow reps,

like taking it, taking, , 10 seconds
to go all the way in one direction.

And then 10 seconds back.

Mark: makes totals.

I mean, I've never

really done it, but it makes total
sense because you're going to be feeling

that all the way through rather than
just, you know, constant curl, curl, curl.

Like, what is that actually

doing?

Whereas if you're constantly
tensing, if you're really,

Brendan: you've got the muscles fully
engaged and you, you're the, the

tissue all the way through is engaged.

Mark: Yeah, that makes

Brendan: Yeah.

And then there's also, I've been working
with a personal trainer and I, I have, I

got a, COVID set of weights, that, that
didn't get used during COVID of course,

but I was like, Oh, these are fun.

but now I'm, now I'm starting to use them
with this zoom trainer and, He has me

doing holds, so I'll, I'll, I'll lift up
and I'll halfway and then I'll hold for

five seconds and then lift up for the
rest of the way and then come down and

hold for five seconds halfway and then
go, and holds will be like kind of moved

around at different points and stuff.

And wow, those, that's really
effective and really, difficult.

it.

gets so, it gets so heavy and hard.

And, and, and so the, the idea, , The,
the optimal way that at least this

company has described for building
muscle and using muscle is that you

want it to be heavy enough and use
the pauses so that you wear yourself

out between two and three minutes.

And when you get to where you cannot lift
it at any more and your, your muscles

are just failing and you stopped between
two and three minutes, that's perfect.

And then you, you rest for the week,
you only do it, you only work out

for 20 minutes, once or twice a week.

And then, oh Yeah, and dude, so I've
been doing this for like a couple months,

and I, am building so much muscle, dude,
like I've, my arms are huge, oh dude,

it's, it's, oh man, it feels so good.

Good.

Ah, Oh, it feels so good.

It feels so good.

Mark: love the fact what's,
what's interesting now is

speaking of the hormonal

cycle that we've got you, uh, the,
beginning of your testosterone arc.

Me at the end of

mine,

Brendan: Oh, that's really funny.

Mark: So it's like, yeah.

And I'm like,

Brendan: Well, that's what, no,
this is like perfect timing for us

still because like, I, I need that.

extra help because I, I'm typically
kind of a bit slower and you're

always like full, full speed.

Like, so we're like almost evenly

matched

here and like, yeah,

Mark: Yeah.

Brendan: oh, that's really funny.

But yeah, the other, the

other thing, um, that I
mentioned just a second ago with.

The importance of, the importance
of sleep for testosterone for

men is, is incredibly important.

And, uh, I've been doing a lot
of work on my sleep lately.

the aforementioned red lens, blue light
blocking glasses have been incredible.

They, they, they help surprisingly.

a lot.

I, I, I use them.

lately I've been using them less
because I've been trying to just

use screens way less at night.

And, and we've been We've done
a whole bunch of things around

the house to minimize blue light.

Like I, I've gone around all the
unnecessary lights and put black, you

know, black electrical tape on them,
on the LEDs, on, on devices that I

still want to see the indication of.

I bought some red transparent tape
that's used for like repairing, uh, car.

I bought some of that from a, uh,
auto store and cut little, little

bits of it and covered up all
the LEDs that I still want to see

the indication of late at night.

But, so I don't want to
block out completely.

As soon as I did that, I did that at night
so I could see where all the LEDs were.

As soon as I did that and covered up all
these, the extra blue light that I didn't

need, I immediately felt the difference.

It was amazing.

Really cool.

It's a super minor difference, and I'm
attuned to it now because I have been

working so hard on reducing blue light
at night, not just, you know, screens

like TVs, computers, uh, phones, and
whatnot, but also blackout curtains

from the street light coming in my
window, not using standard LED bulbs,

but I use like Philips hue bulbs.

And when you're on the red color of
the Philips hue bulb, it actually

turns off the, the blue and other,
other colored chips in there.

It's just the red chip.

, even in my fridge, I bought, I told
you about like a piece of red acrylic

for my, for my computer screen.

I also bought some red acrylic to
go over the lights in my fridge.

So when I opened the fridge
in the morning, it's not

this bright blinding light.

It's a really soft, warm red light.

it really helps.

I feel, I feel tired when I
go to sleep instead of wired.

I feel, I feel, so rested when I wake up
in the morning, which I didn't used to.

For years, I would wake up more
tired than I went to sleep.

Like, I'd wake up and I'd just be
fucking exhausted and not want to get

out of bed and just want to snooze
and then, , Wake up from my snooze

and feel even worse than I did before.

And that is really all gone away.

Now I wake up at 5 AM and I'm
just like, kind of like buzzing.

I'm like, wow, I am ready.

I don't need coffee.

I have it.

I have decaf.

When I want to, not every day.

And it's just like, Hmm, energy.

Oh, that's amazing.

Some advice I have been given for, more
things about light and sleep is that you

should get sun for at least five minutes,
but aim for 15 minutes at sunrise.

And that light doesn't count when
it's coming through your window.

You need to get outside.

and have it directly on you and your skin.

And this is best for,

Mark: I I haven't done this for
ages and I was reading some,

someone was talking about, the

5am club, which I guess is just one
of these, another one of these, like

you're not living your life well enough.

You should get up at five
and live your life better.

And it's like, yeah, cool.

But

like, how, when do you sleep?

And one of the things that I

am a real fan of and I haven't
done it for ages is being

outside at just Maybe just after dawn

um because There is a charge

to the air or I

you know I pick that

up Anyway, I don't know
if everyone does but like

yeah, I pick up a real uh, yeah a real

sort of fizz to the air
There's a freshness.

Yeah, And I really enjoy

being outside with that.

It's just, it's Yeah,

It's like, if you've ever

been camping and you, you
open your tent in the morning

and the Jews there, and you.

And you sort of you feel
that, it's like that's not

because you're camping.

It's because of the time Day, you've
got up and the fact that you know,

the sun's kind of just cresting
and stuff and it's yeah It's a

great feeling and I I to do more of

Speaking of,

sort of finding that meaning, , of,

you know, finding the right

thing.

Um, yeah.

I've been through a whole journey over
the last week or so with morning creative

to catch dear listener up,
two weeks ago, I got into a

whole Thing about, I wanted to rename

the show.

I think you and I had
a private conversation,

uh, about that or two weeks ago.

and I

was, uh, you know, I had conversation
with, with, if you're playing the

drinking game, you can take a drink.

Now, patrons of the, of the show, Anna,
We had a conversation about the naming and

like me trying to find this whole sort of
Thing because it was all spurred along by

like, I feel like things are declining I
feel like there's a drop off in momentum

I think that the people who are listening
to the show are the people who know and

like me and it's not branching out Into
strangers and so there needs I need to

find that thing that's making that would
want That would make complete strangers

curious and want to try an episode
And so the whole thing there was like

sharpening the razor like really getting
it You really clear so that you can look

at this thing and go, I know what I'm

getting.

Cause that hasn't been there.

I went through a whole thing of
like, okay, I need a new name.

Cause it's like this sort
of atomic unit of an idea.

Every, every episode is this atomic
little idea that you can take

away with you and it's 20 minutes.

so over the weekend, I like,
I basically rebranded it in my

head.

To, thinking of it like a morning
show, like a daytime morning show.

that was fine.

And that, that sort of made
sense because it was about.

the thing that I finally got to was,
it was about the intentional time.

spending this time well.

It's about time

well spent.

It's not about the idea.

And this is where I think actually
it would be interesting for

you to check out an episode on

Brendan: m'kay,

Mark: because It's going
to be less like a podcast

Brendan: ooh,

Mark: meditation.

Brendan: dude,

Mark: The sort of pitch
at the moment is meditate.

It's meditations for creative
people who don't have time to

meditate.

Brendan: oh yeah,

Mark: and so it will be kind of slower
and, um, sort of brought down and with

space and with time to
actually sit with an idea.

So there's still every episode,
there's still a thing to

think about, but it's not so

dense and it's not so like.

Take this away.

It's actionable.

It's like, here's a thing for you
to mull over and actually we're

going to breathe and we're going to
think, and it won't be like a fully

guided meditation necessarily, but
it will be in that kind of cadence.

You know, there won't be music and a
bell going and stuff, but it will have

the cadence of we're taking 20 minutes
out and it's you and your creativity and

honoring that and spending time with it.

and here's this, this thing that
you can roll around in your brain

and think about for the
day to help fuel you

up.

And that's kind of the vibe.

And then going with that

so I've been struggling, like, you
know, if we, if we go pure, pure

business here, struggling with the

whole, like, how do we get

people's email addresses
in the modern world?

That's how we do stuff, you know,
because I'm, you know, my thing,

you're, you're trying to build
something that is from one person to

another person.

I, what I'm building,
I, I need an audience.

I'm trying

to build an audience.

I'm going big.

I'm

going from scale.

and that's great, but you also,
you know, if I'm going to build

a business off the back of it,

I need to be in touch with

people So how do I add value in

exchange for people's email addresses?

And the thing that I started to realize
one, one cold Wednesday morning, was Okay.

Morning creative is the right name.

I know what the show is now.

It's this sort of meditative thing.

It's, it's an intentional space.

cause Jeremy ends of the podcast marketing
Academy had used the word sacred space the

day before when, when sort of, because I'd
written this Description and it was okay.

And he was giving it a really good
teardown, like a really good, like,

this isn't making me feel anything here.

This feels a bit generic.

This is a bit mushy.

and he did all this over like a loom video

and it was

excruciating, but

it was also very, very,
very good and very helpful.

Brendan: hmm.

Mm

Mark: fast forward to,

to sort of the end of Wednesday and I'm
like okay, I know, I think I, I think

I feel like I know everything now.

uh, the email strategy is simple.

It's like, well, we've got the morning

creative.

Here's the ideas for you to think about.

And then, I, like, I can't
control when the podcast lands

in your feed, unfortunately.

Uh, I can only do that from the UK.

I can't make you listen to it at a at
a particular time But you know, the,

the, the social contract that
we have is that you listen

to it in the morning and then
For the evening, for your

journaling for, you
know, if you're a bullet

journal person or if you are a
whatever, you know, if you just

have a journal that you write in,

you get an email with a daily prompt

for your journal.

Brendan: hmm.

Mark: So it's something off the back

of what's happened in
the mornings episode.

But it will be, you know, a
provocation or a thought or

something that's a little prompt for
you to think about in your journal.

And if you are a Morning Pages

person, then you can save
'cause it will always appear.

Based on where you are,
it will always be your

evening because I can

do that with email.

so it will always

be your evening.

with that, then you get, so you get the

email and then you can, you know, if
you're a journal person, you can sit

there and you can have a thing and

it's, it's, it's there.

And I even say like in the email, like
some of these will resonate with you.

Some of

them won't, that's Okay, and so if
you're not necessarily an evening journal

person, you can save the email
for the morning and use it for

your morning pages, you know,
if you're a morning pages

person.

and you

know, if you've, you've stuck for

something to, to write in
your morning pages, it's like,

there you go,

there's the thing.

and so for me, it's
like, that's the cycle.

and I know what the product is

off the back of that I

know what, you know, what I'm selling
off the back of all of that now.

Um, which is basically

you take those meditations.

my thinking is they're not
gonna, I'm not gonna have all

my daily episodes on the feed.

I think there will be,

they'll maybe stick around
for, I was thinking 30

days, but I might go longer.

cause there's little value to
like, you're not going to bend.

It would be weird if you binged.

Yeah.

My show,

Brendan: Yeah, yeah

Mark: from

the beginning.

Brendan: Mm hmm,

Mark: so, you know, I'll

cut off the feed,

but

Brendan: for you to reuse content that's

Mark: yes, but, but the

thinking is from a sort of reuse
perspective is taking the meditations.

Which I'll just between you and us call
the meditations, and make those available

because each month of the
stuff I talk about is.

There's a there is a theme for

every month.

That means when, as the library
of content starts to build up,

if we're in,

if the podcast is, is, is in.

like, rest mode, cause It's November
and we're talking about rest.

But you're feeling quite

energized and

quite up for it.

You can have a look through
the archive, which is a paid

thing, like, and just,
the meditations library

basically,

and go, well, I want something on
something that's going to catalyze me,

something that's going to like get me
into, or I'm really focused on growth.

And so here's all the growth
meditations basically.

, and so that comes at a, you know,
a, small monthly, uh, subscription.

And so that's kind of a, that's
kind of a, a, a base thing.

And then there's the community
and stuff and it all feels like

it all kind of ties together

and makes sense.

Brendan: It really does.

I like that.

I like I like all of that.

Mark: with the new description
that I read to my, to read to

Jeremy on our, uh, weekly calls
with the podcast marketing academy.

I just sort of nabbed a couple of minutes
towards the end of the call with everyone

and, and read the, my descriptions
and it, it was Exactly the right

feedback like I'd basically I
won't say nailed it But I I was at

least I would say 90 to 95 percent

there.

Brendan: amazing

Mark: I'm very very pleased I
feel like it was so worth doing

and now having updated the

artwork as well with

people's advice.

Brendan: Oh, that is classy, dude.

I love the new

art

Mark: image

Brendan: and so fitting, and yeah, like,

um, I think it was Danny was saying, like,
it just really looked just, yeah, perfect.

Oh, yeah, I love it.

Mark: Yeah, I've so so monday.

we're gonna come out the traps You Crazy.

And, and, and so we were talking,
I think last week about, uh,

websites and the, ability to go
or the, the utility in kind of

going

custom.

And I knocked this, I knocked this

website

out

last week,

in one night.

Brendan: Of course you did.

Of course you did.

Mark: using code from, you
know, I dunno if you remember

my newsletter, the Big Minute.

Brendan: I do.

Mark: But that was all, like, all that
newsletter, that whole system was, was

my own.

Brendan: Wow.

Mark: because I wanted to make it super

simple.

cause,

Brendan: The idea of

Mark: I mean by that

is,

Brendan: making it simple, but yeah,

Mark: yes, what I mean by, what I
mean by that is, using, like, and I

use MailerLite, and MailerLite is one

of the better ones of
these that I've used.

But they all

suck.

Like they all take too long to actually
just write the email and to write a good

looking email because you're dragging and
dropping and you're copying components.

And then there's

just weird things that happen.

The WYSIWYG interface
doesn't do what you want

and, and all this stuff.

And because it's got a, it's got
to, fit so many different use cases.

There's so many

different options that you've got to
remember, which option is it that I want?

Whereas when you've got your own
custom thing, it's like, well.

I know my newsletter is always going
to have in this order, these things.

And so I can just select them from a
dropdown or even write the code so that

it automatically selects your, you're
going to be writing a newsletter.

So you'll want a daily prompt.

You want an episode to talk about.

And so, and you want a title where
we can infer all of those things

from the content that already exists,
rather than copying and pasting

from one thing to another thing.

And when you're daily,

that kind of stuff saves.

Like, you know, in the long term hours
and hours and hours of unnecessary work.

there are, there are other drawbacks.

There are definitely other
drawbacks from going custom.

There's certain things
that I can't do, but.

It means that from a productivity
standpoint, I'm spending the

maximum amount of time doing the thing.

that I, want to do and much less
of the time duplicating information

and copying It from one box.

to another box.

And so luckily I had
all this code that was

able to piece together from two
or three different projects.

and, and built this website

last night, So I didn't
get a huge amount of

sleep, but.

It's up

and it's there and things
like the daily prompts.

you can just go to morning, creative.

co slash

prompt.

and you'll see today's prompt,

with, you know, the, the question
and a bit more information.

and you

know, you are then
invited to pop your email

address in and you'll
get a new one every day.

the prompts aren't archived.

they are,

but not they're not accessible
to, you know, the public.

and it's all that kind
of stuff that means.

I,

can build a little membership out

of all of this stuff.

Like I had to, basically I had to make

it its own website.

Cause it was going to start
to get really complex.

If it was running on,
you know, hello, stedman.

com like it starts to get a bit unwieldy
then, and so it's like, okay, it's its own

thing.

And then in however many months time

it takes when I'm ready to go,
you can now access a library

of

meditations, for five
pounds a month and they're

here at morning creative.

co

done, you know, and, and I can
automate the process of cutting out the

meditations, even putting stuff in them,
the background, making little videos,

making all the stuff I can automate.

Brendan: Amazing.

Mark: I love transistors so much.

they keep, they have really good ideas.

So transistor is,

is who this podcast is hosted with.

and they are, you know,

the best podcast hosting
company that wasn't podium.

like they were always much bigger than
me, but like in, in, in many ways, I can

sort of see it as like almost a spiritual

successor, because actually
like so many of their ideas,

uh, uh, sponsored to how I think
stuff should be done in terms

of things like, uh, dynamic

ad insertion.

And so.

On a whim, I emailed the support
team and I was like, you know, it'd

be really cool if I could create a

chapter in my, or like have some
kind of metadata or use the API or

something to be able to mark in my

episode where I would want a dynamic ad

to be inserted, rather than have to
upload the episode and then go to the

interface and pick it there.

And then we're like, ah, we don't have
anything for that, but it's a good idea.

Oh, cool.

No, no, I'm not disappointed.

That's fine.

I'll figure it out.

And then like a day later.

Helen, uh, the support person got back
to me was like, Oh yeah, it turns out

if you put a chapter in your mp3 file
with like, and, and write it like this,

we already had the system in place.

So we will use that, and it won't
show up as a chapter or whatever.

And it was like,

and I think, I think I'd like, I
replied with like, I F star star King

love you guys or something.

I was like, I was so blown away.

It's like.

I haven't tested it yet, but um,
it's, it's, yeah, it's there.

And so there's that, and there's a
few other things that just like, I

can automate this with, you know,
with a combination of descript

and a few other things means

that actually putting an episode
out and then being able to just

take that chunk of a, of a,

Of a meditation 'cause I'm, you know,
obviously I've gotta think about

how I'm sharing this stuff online.

well, I, I say I have to, I don't have to.

I've just told myself that I have to.

but there is, there is an option there
for, and I actually, I don't know

if you ever saw this, but I had a
lot of fun in 2021 in the summer of.

I used to have a podcast that
was like podcasting news for

sort of indie podcasters.

and it was made up of lots
of chunks that got assembled.

So I

would record, like, I'd have
all these news headlines.

Brendan: Yeah.

Mark: It was called the pod code briefing.

and, and it was a wonderful piece
of, you know, Like engineering.

I'm really, it was really cool because you
could get a public version of it, which

was like, here's the major headlines.

And anytime a new piece of news would
come in, I would record it because

it was, it was an email newsletter.

And so you'd have that stuff, but I would
also record my scripted version of it.

And that would get uploaded somewhere.

And then

at the end of

Brendan: like customize
your audio, podcast

feed and it would,

Mark: tagged.

Brendan: that was

Mark: so

you could have your own feed.

and so the MP3 was made, was

stitched together based
on all these parts.

Brendan: Just so, it's
such a cool idea and,

amazingly implemented, like, it was
just, I was like wow, like, like,

I get, like, after you describe it,
it's like, oh, I get how you can

take all those pieces and make that
work, but it still felt like magic,

it was

Mark: Oh yeah,

yeah, absolutely.

That's the, that's the beauty
of, of, of the MP3 format.

It's like, wow, this is, you know,

cause dear listener, the,
the, the idea being, there are

certain things in podcasting
that you don't care about.

For, for where you are in your journey.

And so for you to be able to

say, I don't need, like,
I've got all the gear I need.

I don't need you to tell
me about a new microphone.

Cause I'm really happy
with the gear I've got.

So don't tell me about gear.

Tell me about these things.

And you can have your own custom feed
that was just made up of that stuff.

, and the same went with
the newsletter as well.

, and so like, I had a lot of fun with that.

And what I was also doing was
all of those news articles.

Because I was reading them anyway.

And some of that content would
actually never, it might never be used

because there were some articles
where, , I'd already recorded them, but

actually more important news came along.

I didn't include every
single news article.

And so there were some that
would just go by the wayside.

But what I could do, and what I spent a
bit of time doing was making a whole thing

to create.

, and they're actually quite neat.

And I need to see if they, I think
they, they are, they still exist.

somewhere on, on YouTube that could
make vertical YouTube shorts that were

animated and had music in the background
and the audio bit that I'd recorded.

and like the news headline or something.

and it would just automatically
just make that and put it out

into YouTube shorts.

And so there's stuff like that, that I can
play around with again, of taking these

meditations,

Brendan: sure,

Mark: creating a few templates that
are just, I had it in my head of

like, I like the idea of having
some, some sort of pulsating kind of

colors,

I don't know why I said colors
in a weird way, so pulsating

kind of colors that simulate.

a good sort of

breathing rate And so you can listen
to my voice and i'm not necessarily

directing you to breathe in a particular
way But you can see this sort of very

slowly pulsating breathing image And
then it's maybe it's my face in a

little circle or something.

, maybe some text maybe

not but being able to make

that video and just cut
it, out with the water No

effort, you know,

Brendan: that's cool.

Mark: of having the

mad coding

skills and being very
squishy, wanting to do a very

squishy podcast,

Brendan: hmm.

Mark: but also over
here, be able to like, be

really technical about how we actually
make this with, you know, no need

to hire a social media manager,

Brendan: Yeah, for sure.

Mark: you know, to just take that
video, put it into buffer, buffer

takes care of the distribution,

like,

Brendan: Yep.

Mark: that's kind of the

dream.

Brendan: That's amazing.

Wow.

That's all, that's all really,
I'm so happy for you, dude.

That, what, what a cool, um, tumbling
into place of a bunch of things you've

been thinking about and working on.

And, uh, oh, I'm, I'm so excited
to see it come to fruition and

excited to see it on Monday with the
new, the new version is like, and,

oh, I'm, I'm happy for you, man.

Mark: thank you.

I, I hope that it would be something

that, because like, it's less about

making time for the
podcast and it really is

like, I want this to
be an opportunity for,

for you.

Like it is a time where you can

sit for 20 minutes And have a, like

and spend time every day with Godmode.

Even

if, You can't because of the
other demands of the day.

Like,

Brendan: Yeah.

Mark: I don't know if you read, if
you read the description of the show.

Brendan: I'd

love to hear it again.

Mark: yeah.

I was going to say, if you
would permit me, I can,

I can read it to the

listener.

Cause I think it's, um, it's instructive.

yeah, I think, I think you

said something, uh, last week
that kind of really, really

Sort of made me realize, like,

I think this is the right
thing for you as well.

daily life as a creative
minded solopreneur

is noisy.

Your household, personal life,
and your business are all

competing for your attention.

Not to mention keeping healthy,

seeing your friends And, feeding
the algorithm more content.

Brendan: Mm.

Mark: No wonder your big

side project takes a backseat

from time to time.

Brendan: Yeah.

Mark: Instead of waiting until
the working day has zapped

your energy, start your morning

with a warm, friendly dash of

inspiration.

Morning Creative is the daily podcast for

imaginative thinkers And doers
working on their big project.

Each 20 minute

episode mixes prompts, gentle
provocations, and practical actions

you can take today to
further your practice.

Join creative advisor, Mark Stedman,
as he invites you to reignite your

spark and set yourself up for the
day, motivated and energized on the

days you feel like you've got this.

You're right

for every other day

as morning creative.

Brendan: Hell yeah!

I love it.

I love it.

Mark: And so my hope

is that, this becomes not like every other

podcast that's trying to tell
you stuff, but it's really,

it's like how we used to use

podcasts

that we used to.

Like, properly dial them into our day
and make them part of our routine.

And my real hope is that like

you, you, the you, but also
you, the general, , pick a time,

you know, in the morning when

you can just take

a little bit of time.

it's part of your practice
and it's part of what you're

doing as part of your routine.

, and, and that you hold that space.

and, and I get to help
hold it and that just feels

Brendan: It does.

It does, man.

Oh, man.

That's, that's Brilliant.

Mark: And it's weird.

Cause like we talked ages ago about
the whole, like, Church sermon

thing, and it's, it's interesting
how much there is still that

idea in there because, uh, you know, and
it's bow, bow our heads in, in prayer, not

to a God, not to me, not to you, but to

Brendan: Creativity.

Mark: the creativity, the, the,

the particular spark, your particular
relationship with that spark that

that's working for you and keeping that
faith for want of a better word alive.

But now we get to do it through the lens

of.

sort of mindfulness, sort of meditation,
as opposed to an ersatz idea of

prayer.

Um, which I, which feels just
a lot more wholesome and a

lot more easily accessible.

So yeah, I feel like I've sort of
roundabout ended up where I kind of

wanted to be.

But through a slightly

different lens.

Brendan: Mm hmm.

Mark: so it's, yeah.

It feels, feels

good.

Brendan: That's amazing.

Love it.

Well done, Mark.

Good creative work.

Mark: Thank you!

Thank you.

Brendan: You're very welcome.

Wonderful.

Well, as always, correct me if I'm wrong.

Only want good people around
me in this life to lift me up,

show me who I'm meant to be.

Mark: if I say to you, NIETEEN
Does that mean anything to you?

Brendan: uh, the beginning of
it makes me think of Batman.

Uh, 19.

No, I'm sorry.

It doesn't,

Mark: no, it's fine.

, in,

1985, so I was two when this came out.

Brendan: well, it was probably

less than one.

Mark: Paul Hardcastle

had a track called

Nineteen, and it was in the
era of the 80s when, um,

Lots of music was, I think we got
into like big beat, which is where

sort of Norman Cook, Fatboy Slim

started doing stuff, but
there was lots of, there

was um,

an era where it was just, people were,
Using samplers and yes, you had drum

machines, but you will, you were also
taking samples from films and all that,

you know, um, various bits like that.

. And there's a track called 19.

Which, uh, has, uh, an American, like,

journalist.

It's a bit, uh, well, I don't know.

I actually don't

know if it's even Paul Hardcastle.

I'm guessing it's not.

I'm guessing it's clips from something.

And it's about the eighties.

Such a weird, such a

weird, the eighties were a weird time.

Brendan: yeah.

Mark: It's about the
average age of soldier in

the Vietnam war, if I
believe rightly being 19.

, it's a, it's a weird song, but
it was a very, very famous song.

And so the certain era, if you
say no, no, no, no 19, cause it's

all, of course, because it's all
samples, someone's hitting the sample

button several times and you're
just getting, no, no, no, no 19.

Um, like, uh, Shaka Khan.

That's, that's another one.

Anytime anyone says Shaka Khan,
you have to say Shaka Khan.

Brendan: You have to, yeah.

Mark: Does that one that

Brendan: I, I know the reference, but I
don't Like I haven't memorized the song.

Mark: It's a great song.

Actually.

I really like it.

, I feel for you I think or it
might just be called feel for

Brendan: Oh, I think

Mark: by

Brendan: it's like, oh, I feel for you.

Like you

Mark: Oh, I feel for you because
you don't know the song um, Hello

listener, this is episode 19.

Hence this Thing