The Autonomous Creative

About The Autonomous Creative

What does it take to become a successful writer or artist? Go behind the scenes with amazing professional creatives in a wide variety of fields to find out what, exactly, it took for them to be able to quit the day job and build a creative career fully committed to the work they're most passionate about. As a creative yourself, you know that whenever two artists or writers get together, inevitably the conversation turns to, “No, but seriously, how do you do it?” This show is that conversation. And you’re invited.

Publisher

Jessica Abel

Category

arts · business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

30 Sept 2021

Latest episode

28 Sept 2025

Latest episodes

38 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   28 Sept 2025

   How to build a self-sustaining creative practice without forced-march “productivity” culture (with Matt Griffin and Shelley Evans).mp3

   “My goal isn’t to win the hours. I want to be present.” — Shelley Evans When a “good career” starts to feel like a bad relationship, walking away is just the start. After you escape the grind, you realize the grind is YOU, and the work has just begun. Shelley and Matt share how crisis-mode and productivity hacks kept them reactive—and what changed when they chose a self‑sustaining creative practice over the fool’s gold of trying to do it all, all at once. In this open, honest discussion, we look at why mainstream productivity culture fails creative people—and what actually works instead. Shelley describes realizing her Hollywood career was akin to an “abusive spouse”. After she chose to step away to write her novel, her biggest achievement wasn’t logging more hours, it was moving from punishing deadlines to presence, using “marbles in a jar” to measure engaged time and pulling the Creative Focus Workshop “ripcord” to recenter herself when she got off track. Matt shares how 100-hour weeks in tech and spinning in endless “preparation” felt productive but in fact kept him from writing. When he (finally!) chose a single project, he created steadiness and progress he could trust. We talk about “finish and ship” as the foundation of art as communication, why the Motion AI calendar that postponed lunch until April is the clearest sign yet that productivity hacking is a dead end, and how short, ten‑minute sessions beat perfectionism because you discover better questions once you’re in motion. If you’re stuck in reactive mode, or drowning in “optimizing,” this conversation gives you simple, human practices to return to your work and keep going. Why “crisis‑competence” isn’t a creative practice The exact moment Shelley realized the Hollywood grind was “an abusive spouse,” How “marbles in a jar” beats self‑punishment when you’re stuck When to pull the ripcord and return to Creative Focus “Finish and ship” as the completion of an act of creative communication The fine line between useful tooling/worldbuilding and sophisticated procrastination “I teach productivity, but I hate ‘productivity’” — e.g. the Motion AI calendar that tried to schedule lunch in April. The value of ten‑minute sessions over painstaking perfection Your Next Step If you’re ready to swap punishment for presence with your creative work, and actually finish, watch the free Creative Engine workshop. Master the 4 simple steps to finishing your dream creative projects (https://www.autonomouscreative.com/engine-live)! Guests Shelley Evans is a screenwriter and teacher (Harvard Extension School) whose credits include ABC, CBS, Showtime, USA, Hallmark, and Lifetime. She’s now focused on her novel and on building a sustainable, presence‑based creative practice. Matt Griffin is a writer, adjunct professor (NYU IDM/ITP), conference producer (NarraScope 2025), consultant, 3D printing and biofabrication expert (MakerBot/Ultimaker). He’s currently writing an interactive novel for Choice of Games. Links and resources The Creative Focus Workshop (CFW) (https://www.autonomouscreative.com/creative-focus-workshop) The Creative Engine class: 4 Simple Steps to Finish Your Dream Creative Projects (Live Oct 9; replay after) (https://www.autonomouscreative.com/engine-live) Choice of Games (https://www.choiceofgames.com/)

2. 

   29 Jul 2025

   From designer to course creator (without a huge audience): Marie Poulin's journey to Notion Mastery

   What happens when you follow your curiosity down an unexpected rabbit hole…and it leads to massive business success? Marie Poulin started as a freelance designer, but her obsession with systems thinking and digital organization evolved into something much bigger. In this candid conversation, she reveals how a side project teaching Notion exploded into a thriving business, and the hard choices and major pivots it took to get there. For anyone who's ever wondered if their niche fascination could become their whole career, this is a must-listen episode. More from the episode The lucky break that taught Marie everything about running a creative business “Just because you can doesn't mean you should”: How Marie learned to stop being everything to everyone “What have I done?”: How Marie navigated the shock of transitioning from client work to course creation The unexpected way Marie still leans on the Ideal Week calendar that went viral in 2017 The super-simple “living room strategy” Marie used to sell her course before she built a thing The surprising connection Marie makes between permaculture and business systems The hidden danger of building a business around someone else's software (and Marie's clever strategy to future-proof her work) Why being multi-passionate can be a superpower—if you know how to harness it About Marie Poulin Marie Poulin is a designer, systems thinker, and co-founder of Oki Doki. She's the creator of Notion Mastery, a course and community that helps entrepreneurs and small teams build sustainable, customized systems for work and life. Through her work, Marie helps people rethink how they work, from workflow to knowledge management, focusing on building more human and neurodivergent-friendly ways of organizing digital lives. Connect with Marie Poulin Find Marie on Blue Sky @MariePoulin YouTube: @mariepoulin Website: notionmastery.com (http://notionmastery.com/) Company website: weareokidoki.com (http://weareokidoki.com/)

3. 

   9 Jan 2025

   4 Simple Steps to Finish Your Ambitious Creative Project

   Here's a taste of what we cover: The four essential phases every creative project must go through How to work with your strengths, not against them How to decode your "Resistance Language" to outsmart creative blocks The overlooked strategy that beats willpower every time Finally finish the projects that will build your dreams, not just clutter your to-do list. I also open doors to the Creative Focus Workshop (https://www.autonomouscreative.com/cfw-2025-01)…for the last time until late NOVEMBER, and with a hefty discount and extra bonuses! Click here to watch the workshop live! (https://www.autonomouscreative.com/creative-engine-replay)

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

15,064

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

25 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

10 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 44 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

38

Social presence

0

YouTube

76

Engagement

51