Unthinkable with Jay Acunzo

In this one-shot, Jay unpacks one of Rocky’s most iconic scenes to better understand how we can approach our own constraints and begin to use them to our advantage.

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Help others find Unthinkable in their favorite podcast player by sharing this link: https://pod.link/jay

SUBSCRIBE TO THE NEWSLETTER:

https://jayacunzo.com/newsletter

Every Friday, I send a new idea, story, or framework for crafting more resonant work to thousands of subscribers, ranging from entrepreneurs, freelancers, and independent creators, to marketers and leaders at brands like Adobe, Red Bull, Shopify, Salesforce, the BBC, Wistia, HubSpot, Drift, ProfitWell, a16z, and the New York Times.

SPONSOR: Riverside

Riverside is the easiest way to record podcasts and videos in studio quality, from anywhere. Record separate audio tracks to avoid the cut-outs, optional video to enhance the show’s experience, and even clip content for sharing elsewhere, all without leaving the platform. Riverside is powerful enough to be used by Marvel, the NY Times, TED, Freakonomics, Indie Hackers, GaryVee, and Guy Raz, but simple enough for thousands of indie creators and new podcasters to use it for their shows.

Learn more and try it free at https://riverside.fm/

CONNECT WITH US ELSEWHERE:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jayacunzo and https://twitter.com/UnthinkableShow

Instagram: https://instagram.com/jacunzo

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/jayacunzo

Email: [email protected]

PRODUCTION:

Creator, host, writer, and editor: Jay Acunzo - https://jayacunzo.com

Producer and researcher: Ilana Nevins - https://www.ilananevins.com

ABOUT THE SHOW:

Unthinkable is a storytelling podcast about creative people who break from conventional thinking to make what matters most. We’re traveling the business world to learn how to create work that resonates — with powerful stories from makers, marketers, and leaders like the CEOs of Zoom and Patreon, execs from Adobe and Disney, and creators like writer Tim Urban, comedian Sarah Cooper, and photographer Chase Jarvis. From artisans to entrepreneurs, writers, designers, podcasters, video creators, and all the weird and wonderful nooks of the working world, we’re meeting inspiring people to learn what we can do to resonate more deeply with the work we create.

Listeners have called the show “This American Life for my work” with stories “as captivating as some of the best, like Malcolm Gladwell and Dan Carlin.”

Thanks for listening and supporting Unthinkable!

What does resonance really mean? In this short episode, we explore the science of resonance and how understanding the definition of the word can help us to focus on making content that matters.

SHARE THE SHOW:

Help others find Unthinkable in their favorite podcast player by sharing this link: https://pod.link/jay

SUBSCRIBE TO THE NEWSLETTER:

https://jayacunzo.com/newsletter

Every Friday, I send a new idea, story, or framework for crafting more resonant work to thousands of subscribers, ranging from entrepreneurs, freelancers, and independent creators, to marketers and leaders at brands like Adobe, Red Bull, Shopify, Salesforce, the BBC, Wistia, HubSpot, Drift, ProfitWell, a16z, and the New York Times.

SPONSOR: THE JUICE

Discover the world's best and brightest thinking and resources for sales and marketing pros on The Juice. They're like the Spotify of B2B, with content playlists and suggestions based on your job title and level. Avoid the endless lead-gen forms, skip all the system-gamers found via Google searches, and browse the most useful and transformative ideas affecting your work, for free.

Learn more at https://thejuicehq.com

CONNECT WITH US ELSEWHERE:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jayacunzo and https://twitter.com/UnthinkableShow

Instagram: https://instagram.com/jacunzo

LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/jayacunzo

Email: [email protected]

PRODUCTION:

Creator, host, writer, and editor: Jay Acunzo - https://jayacunzo.com

Producer and researcher: Ilana Nevins - https://www.ilananevins.com

ABOUT THE SHOW:

Unthinkable is a storytelling podcast about creative people who break from conventional thinking to make what matters most. We’re traveling the business world to learn how to create work that resonates — with powerful stories from makers, marketers, and leaders like the CEOs of Zoom and Patreon, execs from Adobe and Disney, and creators like writer Tim Urban, comedian Sarah Cooper, and photographer Chase Jarvis. From artisans to entrepreneurs, writers, designers, podcasters, video creators, and all the weird and wonderful nooks of the working world, we’re meeting inspiring people to learn what we can do to resonate more deeply with the work we create.

Listeners have called the show “This American Life for my work” with stories “as captivating as some of the best, like Malcolm Gladwell and Dan Carlin.”

Thanks for listening and supporting Unthinkable!

Fundamentally, Unthinkable is a podcast about creativity -- creativity at work, creativity used to enact change, and creativity as a form of practice, improvement, and exploration.

For several years, the show focused on one problem, one source of frustration: our obsession with best practices, and all the problems that causes. So we set out to change how we all see the work. Now, we're embarking on a new adventure -- to change how we see ourselves.

Let's stop acting like experts and start acting like explorers. In fact, that's what we are. Idea explorers. You and me? We're fellow travelers. We know that where we stand right now, the status quo for ourselves as individuals, our teams, our industries, communities, society, where we stand right now, isn't going to do. In the distance we see the mountain peak, but between here and there is a jungle and we have no idea how to get there.

So we're picking up our machetes and we're going to hack through it. We're going to try to reach that mountain peak, swing after swing, episode after episode. That's what creativity is: attempts. Practice. It's just repetition plus reinvention, over time. It's exploration, and we're setting out to find and learn from some inspiring Idea Explorers.

TO SUPPORT THE SHOW & FUND BETTER STORIES...

1. Consider my course on show development:

Learn how to build your initial ideas into a pithy, powerful premise that prompts subscription -- for your podcast or video series.

Learn more about Growable Shows here: https://marketingshowrunners.podia.com/growable-shows-developing-your-ideas-into-an-irresistible-premise-your-audience-loves-shares

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2. Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Playing Favorites:

Get one original idea or story every Friday morning about making what matters most -- to others and yourself. What does it take to be their favorite? Isn't that the goal?

Subscribe here: http://eepurl.com/gWVi_9

Thanks for listening!

Tim Urban writes a blog about ... well ... lots of stuff. Understanding ourselves and our relationship to each other and the world, maybe? From making friends to exploring space, cultural and societal forces to neuroscience breakthroughs ... all packaged as brilliant, entertaining, and sarcastic essays. Tim Urban has written about it all.

But like any exceptional project or career, Tim's is not one that reveals any singular secret to success. In fact, it just might be the millions of "secrets to success" that we're drowning in today which are holding us back in our own projects and careers.

Best practices. Tips and tricks. Cheats and hacks. Gurus and get-rich-quick schemes. Trendy new tactics. Conventional wisdom. These are all just spokes on a wheel. But if we truly want to make what matters, perhaps we're better off escaping that wheel -- or dare I say, we should break the wheel?

(This episode originally aired in 2018. I am re-airing this because it perfectly ties into our new journey to tell the stories of Idea Explorers -- people who made the shift from viewing themselves as experts to viewing themselves as explorers, and where that leads them in their creative work.)

SUPPORT THE SHOW + HELP FUND FUTURE STORIES:

1. Monthly/annual membership group, Make What Matters: makewhatmattersgroup.com

Tiny techniques, creativity concepts, business and buy-in support, and plenty of behind-the-scenes of Unthinkable and other projects.

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2. Subscribe to my weekly newsletter, Playing Favorites: jayacunzo.com/newsletter

One original story and idea for making your audience's favorite things, sent each Friday morning.

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THANKS FOR LISTENING AND SUPPORTING!

Keep making what matters.

-Jay

Your knowledge is finite. Your curiosity is infinite. So why, oh why, do we usually rely more on our existing knowledge than our boundless curiosity? We live in a society that seems to value the ability to have the answers, but the path to making work that matters just might mean admitting, "I don't have the answers, but I'm going to figure this out."

What if we stopped acting like experts and started acting like ... well ... something else?

In this episode, we hear stories from keynote speaker Andrew Davis, bestselling author Shane Snow (Dream Teams, Smartcuts, The Storytelling Edge), and Dr. Jade Wu, sleep psychologist and researcher from Duke University.

NEWSLETTER:

Playing Favorites shares one new story every Friday morning that you can't find anywhere else, focused on creating work that matters. Subscribe at jayacunzo.com/newsletter

MEMBER GROUP:

Make What Matters is where marketers, freelancers, podcasters, writers, and creatives join forces to push themselves and each other to create more elevated work and accelerate their careers. For techniques, connection, collaboration, and inspiration, consider joining at makewhatmattersgroup.com

SPECIAL THANKS TO THOSE INVOLVED IN THIS EPISODE:

Andrew Davis: akadrewdavis.com | twitter.com/DrewDavisHere

Shane Snow: shanesnow.com | twitter.com/shanesnow

Jade Wu, PhD: jadewuphd.com | twitter.com/jadewuphd

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THANKS FOR LISTENING AND SUPPORTING!

Keep making what matters.

-Jay