Getting inspired

Distorting time

November 9, 2025

We are all Marty McFLy. Yup, we’re masters of time distortion.

Recently I had a morning-long battle with myself to go for a walk. I was editing and writing and as each ‘pomodoro’ 25 minutes went by I said to myself:

“I’ll walk on the next break”

And of course I never did. I had distorted the time in my head. You can usually catch it in the language:

“That’ll take forever” I thought. Of course I don’t really mean that but the imprecision in my language is what helps me to distort it.

After a few hours my brain began bulging and fuzzing and I knew the walk was no longer a nice to have- it was needed.

So up I get and out I go- air pods in and happily strolling along the road to my favourite power pole. I check no one is looking, then turn around to head back (why do I always find it so embarrassing to do a 180 in public?)

I get back to my desk feeling refreshed and thinking why didn’t I do that hours ago?!

Here’s the crazy part- the from desktop, around pole, to desktop took me nine minutes.

NINE MINUTES!!

In that time it felt like I had visited another dimension, I saw my power pole for goodness sake! It felt like an eternity (there I go again) and the time away completely reset my brain’s ability to keep logging deep work hour.

But it only took me nine minutes.

Note to self, stop arguing with yourself- just go on the walk.

It’s always a good idea.

We remember things we enjoy

October 27, 2025

For something to light an audience up it has to light you up first.

I think the same with my students; If I want them to get excited about something, then by golly I better be excited about it first.

We have to find our way in. It may not be immediately obvious, but there is always a way to bring it to life for you. If actors can do it each night in the same show hundreds of times, then so can you.

In an interview, Andrew Scott mentioned the lines he has no trouble remembering are the ones he has fun saying.

Those flying colourful insults and hilarious punch lines.

Actors never forget those lines.

So to help him learn lines he’s looking for the delight in all of them.

It’s the same with all our work.

Find the pleasure in all of it, plug into it and help others find it for them too.

Muddy vs. Complex

October 26, 2025

When is something detailed and when is it just muddy?

As actors we want complex work. We want layers and intricacy in the characters we portray- this is the stuff that mirrors real life most accurately.

We don’t, however, want things to be muddy.

I’m wondering about the difference.

What makes something muddy, unclear and imprecise? And what makes it complex, layered and intricate?

Real life can look and feel messy- so art should as well, right?

Well I think art is actually different to life. Aaron Sorkin said he’d been criticized for the dialogue he writes as it doesn’t feel ‘authentic’.

He retorted that real life can be boring- we don’t want to watch a couple of guys discuss what pizza they’re going to get.

Art is framed. We show this moment- not that.

Art is crafted. We need to be able to understand it to digest it and be moved by it.

So yes, be muddy. But be clear in your muddiness; certain of the uncertainties.

Don’t let yourself off the hook- are you being lazy or have you orchestrated this?

There is always room for us to ask deeper and find more.

How cool.

Values make things stick

October 20, 2025

How do we make something a priority?

Sheer will power can be great, but might not last.

What really lasts is connecting the desired action to our highest value.

-Want to consistently make time to plan new creative lessons?

-Begin a new habit?

-Push through the initial difficulty of a new venture?

Sure, I can muscle my way through, but I know I’ll burn out quickly if it’s will power alone.

What does it mean to link something to your values?

We have to link in our heads, hearts and bodies that this action equals our highest value.

-The consistent time spent planning lessons is directly connected to the change you want to make in young people. Action – > high value

-The new habit is burned in your brain as an embodiment of your deep desire to always learn new things. Action – > high value

-Sticking to the new venture while you’re really bad at it is connected to the contributions you know you will make to others once you master it. Action – > high value

Don’t be strong. Plug into your values instead.

The missing ingredient

October 16, 2025

I had a really productive day recently.

I seemed to fly through all my tasks, bring creativity and levity to them all- and still have space for socialising.

So today I decided to replicate it. I structured my day the exact same way.

While I got things done, I wasn’t really “flying”, ya know?

And on reflection I realised there was a missing ingredient.

On paper they looked the days looked the same, but I approached the ‘successful’ day with the energy of a kid on Christmas.

Today I came at my day more like a serious businessman who has only grey suits in the cupboard.

Same day, different guy.

I’m thinking about the missing ingredient.

That we can do everything “right”, but still have a vastly different experience if we get the approach wrong.

What’s the secret? Sleep? Movement? The right food? Wearing red shoes?

All of and none of the above- I don’t know.

But the orientation to hunt for it might be enough.

It’s all music

October 15, 2025

When we’re working well together we’re in “harmony.”

When things move us they “strike a chord.”

When they deeply make sense to us they “resonate.”

Things that work perfectly are “singing” and when they’re running smoothly they’re “humming.”

Music is both emotional and systematic. The best things are.

Sure we can do our work- or we can make music.

I know which I choose to play.

Match the energy to the task

October 6, 2025

Recently I gave up coffee.

I know; sad face.

The reason isn’t about coffee so much as the chapter I’m in right now. I’m a naturally excitable person and when you add a strong americano to that at about 10am- well, you get a LOT of positive energy from me.

Being caffeinated creates a certain type of energy in me. It’s great for big ideas, getting the pen going and filling an empty white board. Caffeinated energy plugs me into the visionary mindset; anything is possible, everything it fun and we can do it all.

That’s a great space to be- sometimes.

What I noticed was the chapter I’m in now actually calls for something else.

At the moment my days are solitary. I don’t need to project energy to a room full of 400 kids, or even teach to camera. At the moment my tasks are a cycle of writing, editing, walking or building pages for the website.

These tasks require attention to detail- something that the soaring visionary energy struggles with.

On coffee, I found myself easily caught up with ideas or tasks as they came up while I was trying to get on my quiet calm work.

So I removed it, in favour of an energy source that is more fitted to my rhythm and outputs right now.

So I’m challenging my own belief that all energy is created equal. Just as tasks vary greatly, so too should the energy source we bring to them.

Plugging into passion- Make it true for you

October 2, 2025

What do you do when you feel completely bored by what you have to teach?

If I feel uninspired by something that I kinda have to muster some enthusiasm about, I turn to an old acting trick…

Make it true for you

One of my acting teachers Miranda Harcourt taught us this idea at drama school. If there’s a bit of dialogue, circumstance or situation you’re struggling to bring to life or connect to , she suggests you ‘make it true for you’.

For example, you have the line “My cousin used to play in the back garden”. You could just say the line, but if you don’t feel a connection to it or a little spark of life, neither will the audience.

Miranda had us ‘fill out’ the picture in our head. She’d ask things like ‘what was your back garden like when you were a kid? Can you picture it? Which of your cousins are you talking about? What kinds of clothes do they wear?’

Once you’ve spent some imaginary time with this real person and place, say the line again, inviting those images in as you say them. It’s true for you now and that added depth will be read by the audience. Not consciously maybe, but there is a micro-congruence going on in the actor.

The same thing happens in my brain if I’m faced with learning material that isn’t immediately lighting my world on fire. I ask some ‘make it true for you’ questions:

What have I experienced in my life that this reminds me of?

What is a silly metaphor that helps me understand this?

What is something I am so excited about right now and what are three ways I can connect this to that?

I particularly like the third question because I’m pretty obsessive and week to week there will be something that I’m absolutely taken with- a new actor or film, some gadget or thing I’m learning about. If I can connect it some how to my current obsession I’m home free.

Not everything will inspire us, but we always have the ability to bring ourselves to life.

Micro overcommitments

September 29, 2025

Forcing more out of yourself (in a fun way…)

I have a daily commitment to make a little movie every day and share it. It’s my way of connecting to acting and producing something relating to my craft each day.

There are days when I have zero ideas, or interest in doing it… so one day I thought I’d play a game with my future self.

I created a little skit, and in the title card called it ‘episode 1’.

Did I have an episode 2 or any other storyline in my head?

Absolutely not! BUT, I knew my pedantic brain couldn’t let a an ‘episode 1’ live on it’s own. There HAS to be at least ONE more episode.

I ended up making 20!

It got me thinking; how can we box ourselves into producing results that we want?

What constraints can we apply to ourselves creatively to free us.

One way this has manifested is when I’m teaching.

I’ll sometimes force myself to have more thoughts on something a student says than I immediately have top of mind. The simple way I do that is say out loud:

“Great idea! That makes me think of three things…”

I’m committing to greater outputs in advance of them existing. I don’t even have one thing most of the time.

It’s a fun little game to get more out of myself.

Greatest hits of the generative classroom

September 28, 2025

“What’s funny about this?” The greatest hits of a generative classroom.

The questions we consistently ask ourselves direct our focus.

If we know that to be true – do we really have an excuse to not consciously direct the atmosphere of the environments we lead?

When I’m feeling the least creative, the least generous and the least accommodating of others, the questions in my head all rhyme with each other:

Why is this so hard?

How much longer?

Will they ever get this?

Why am I so bad at this?

You can pretty much guess the limited types of answers these get.

A new question is: “What is the environment I want to create and what are the recurring questions I can ask of myself that will create it?”

Here’s the greatest hits:

“How many smiles can I give? … Or get?!”

“What’s funny or surprising about this?”

“How many ‘a ha’ moments will I create?”

“What will I learn?”

“What breakthroughs will we create together?”

These all presuppose the presence of newness, of joy and learning. They open the door to possibility.

How many generative questions will you create today?

JUSTIN ROGERS

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