Creativity Unleashed: Shaun Barrowes on Embracing the Blank Page and the Da Vinci Approach

Join Jason Tharp in this inspiring episode of the Beyond Hope Project podcast as he welcomes Shaun Barrowes, a multifaceted talent in music, speaking, and writing. Shaun shares his journey from being an Emmy-nominated artist and Top 30 contestant on American Idol to collaborating with high-profile artists like Janelle Monae, Imagine Dragons, and Jackie Chan. With over 450 million views on YouTube for his song “Being Awesome,” Shaun dives into the power of creativity and how to overcome the fear of the blank page.

Discover Shaun’s unique “Da Vinci Approach,” a method blending creativity and innovation through music, storytelling, and motivational messages. This episode delves into Shaun’s experiences in the music industry, the importance of persistence, and how his global adventures have shaped his creative process.

Shaun also discusses his bestselling young adult fantasy series, “The Paradise Planets,” and how he integrates music and storytelling to create immersive experiences. Whether you’re an aspiring artist, a seasoned creative, or someone looking for a spark of inspiration, this episode offers valuable insights and encouragement to embrace your creative potential.

FOLLOW SHAUN BARROWES:
✩ WEBSITE - https://www.thedavinciapproach.com/education
✩ TIKTOK - https://www.tiktok.com/@shaunbarrowes
✩ INSTAGRAM - https://www.instagram.com/shaunbarrowes/
✩ YOUTUBE - https://youtube.com/@thedavinciapproach

MEET SHAUN BARROWES:

Shaun Barrowes is a multifaceted talent with a rich career in music, speaking, and writing. He is an Emmy-nominated artist known for his song “Army of Kings” and was a Top 30 contestant on Season 7 of American Idol. Shaun has collaborated with high-profile artists like Janelle Monae, Imagine Dragons, and Jackie Chan, and his song “Being Awesome” has garnered over 450 million views on YouTube.

He is also an accomplished author with his bestselling young adult fantasy series, “The Paradise Planets.” Shaun combines his musical and storytelling skills to deliver keynote performances that blend humor, music, and motivational messages, known as the “Da Vinci Approach.” This method focuses on rekindling creativity and innovative problem-solving through a three-step process: building a power playlist, immersing oneself in a subject, and embracing the blank page   .

For more details, you can visit his Da Vinci Approach website.

CONNECT WITH JASON:

✩ Website - https://www.jasontharp.com
✩ BHP - https://www.beyondhopeproject.com
✩ Beyond Hope Project Podcast - https://www.jasontharp.com/podcast
✩ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/wondervillestudios/
✩ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/wondervillestudios
✩ TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@thepowerupproject?_t=8e4jxMT9QFP&_r=1
✩ LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/beyondhopeproject

OFFICIAL SHOP & BOOKSTORE:

📚 https://www.jasontharp.com/shop

MEET JASON:

Hi, I’m Jason!
Ever since I was six, I knew I was born to tell stories. As a best-selling author, illustrator, and sought-after speaker, I've turned my personal battles with grade four brain cancer, obesity, and negative self-talk into fuel for transformation. My keynotes don't just talk—they spark potential, ignite creativity, and build resilience. If you're ready for an engaging experience that challenges the status quo and propels your organization to new heights, let's turn your 'impossible today' into 'possible tomorrow' together!

For more information or to partner with me - https://www.jasontharp.com/bookjason

Transcript

0

I mean that that's like the the one thing I talk about is the power of the blank page the there's always a fear of

0:05

the blank page in the beginning like hey here's a blank canvas or you know blank book manuscript whatever it is you just

0:12

have to start writing something or creating something and everybody's like I don't know where to start where do I start how do I get this thing going and

0:18

you just have to start pushing through the fear because like you said if you do it enough times you'll actually love it

0:23

and the beginning you're afraid of it but then you'll start to Crave it because it's it it scratches that itch

0:29

like I'm saying like it everybody has that creative itch they forgot about it it's like that you that spot in your

0:34

back you just forgot about some goes there and scratches like oh yeah I forgot that was that was like itchy right there yeah

0:41

[Music]

0:50

100% hey guys welcome to the Beyond hope project podcast uh my guest here Sean I

0:56

am so excited to have you on here and discuss uh wherever we're gonna go down this ra I was just telling you that

1:01

we're kind of unstructured here but we uh just like to have a good conversation just to connect and get to learn each

1:08

other so I think it's a great way to have just a human connection live in a moment and uh which will be 100% true

1:14

for us because we have officially not met until just now so it'll be really

1:21

really really interesting to see how it goes I I these sometimes are my favorite uh things to do so um what I want to do

1:28

is stop jump in right away with like kind of telling you what how we Define Hope on our podcast it's a little different you know everybody kind of has

1:34

their own definition of hope I think it's one of those words that kind of fluctuates how people look at it but how

1:39

we particularly um Define it is um is an impact point so it's a point where it shows you a spark it shows you a path to

1:46

something and then you're going to start down that path and eventually what might happen as the same with everybody else

1:51

something's going to happen it's going to fall apart you're going to fail and a lot of people tend to think that they were failures or something went wrong or

1:58

whatever but hope is what will show you the path is still there and show you what you've learned and pick you and

2:04

pick it back up from there so if if you could go back at any point in your time

2:09

your timeline of your life and give yourself some hope with that knowledge of what that would be what would it be

2:15

in like what would you say I mean I think about this actually all the time it's a there's a lot of

2:21

points I mean I would say there's so many of those moments where I'm down and I think that it's All Is Lost there was

2:27

the the the one that was probably the one that stands up in my mind the most I I was signed to Sony records for three

2:33

and a half years so I was in LA and took the the huge risk like the big leap I I

2:39

dropped out of college just drove in my car was planning on living out of my car and I pretty much did for three and a

2:45

half years I couch surfed but I just kind of took all this risk and you my parents were freaking out because I was

2:50

you dropped out of college to join a rock band in La it's every dream and uh

2:56

I'm out there if we get signed to Sony I'm thinking that's our big break and uh you know I'm writing all these songs for

3:01

them to try to get our hit song to get our big break this is right after Lincoln Park just launched and so we

3:07

were trying to be the next Lincoln Park right after them and they they actually rehearsed right next to us for a while

3:14

and so we we all excited for three and a half years thinking this is our big break and then after that that period

3:21

the three and a half years Sony just said we're done you know it's not working out and they let us go and in

3:26

that moment I just thought I wasted my my years I just wasted my early 20s what

3:32

was I doing I should have just stayed in school I thought I was so I was so embarrassed about it I was so down about

3:38

it I just felt like there was nowhere for me to go from there I was 25 I was too old to start all over you know the idea that 25 could

3:46

ever be too old I had that in my mind for some reason and so I I'd love to go back to that point and just say look

3:52

this is actually one of the most pivotal learning points of your life and I mean fortunately I did turn it around pretty

3:57

quickly but it it took that phase probably about I don't know six weeks of me just wallowing in pity and misery

4:05

just to come around and finally say I learned so much from this experience and now I can launch my own career knowing

4:11

what I know now because before that I didn't know anything about the music industry and instead I got a three and a

4:16

half year internship at Sony basically is what that was working with bigname producers and all these things and it it

4:22

really helped me connect all the dots to say you know what I don't need a label I can just do it myself yeah and uh I I

4:28

would just love to go back to myself to myself at that point say this is a great starting point you just learned how to

4:34

launch Now launch you know and that's uh I mean fortunately that's pretty much what I did but I did it in a very

4:40

stressful and an anxious manner right not not easygoing and like oh yeah I've got this now it was more like stressed

4:47

out I gotta make it work yeah yeah man I I can relate to

4:52

that so much it's same but very different I was in children's publishing

4:57

and I you know I was with all the major you know Publishers and stuff like that and I thought the same sort of thing

5:03

like this is it you know I I finally got it all the break everything I wanted and then you know very much the same as you

5:09

is like you realize that like what sometimes what you think you really want is not actually what you want and that

5:15

lesson is a tough one to kind of learn because you're you're at the time it's

5:21

over right it's just like you said you're like oh my God I how am I ever going to reboot this thing and then you

5:26

know somehow you realize like oh wait a minute I did that there I can do this here and it's just they people and I

5:33

think a lot of times people don't realize that when they're in the midst of stuff it's it's just the world's crashing down right I know that you put

5:40

so much in a stock on one thing and if that thing makes or breaks then you make

5:45

or break with it it's just this mindset that uh you know and I know we we play that up with a lot of like reality

5:52

television and things like that they really play that up to make it feel like this is your one shot you know this is all you get and if you if you miss then

5:59

you're done forever exactly right yeah then it's over for

6:05

you like you're just brushed off you know you got your yeah your five minutes yes exactly so you you've been in music

6:12

what your whole life is that is was that a thing that was from when you were a little kid or like where was where did

6:18

music get introduced to you yeah my my family was musical we were like the Von trap family you know we we ran around

6:24

like there were five kids in the family all of us sang and play little violins and whatever else my my mother had a a

6:31

German guitar called a loot because we lived in Germany for a while and my dad was the you know Army and uh so we we'd

6:38

go around with her Loot and the whole family would gather around and sing in at the Baptist Church and the school and

6:45

whatever else you just down the street some community service project some homeless thing whatever it was and we

6:50

were always singing as some group family thing so I was performing since I was three years old you know and so it was

6:57

always been in my blood I I feel like I started my music career when I was 15

7:02

and my piano teacher was the one who encouraged me to start writing music and that was the Catalyst for me as composing uh up until that point had

7:09

always just been like the you know learning the lessons and learning the technique and all that kind of stuff but I always hated playing the notes on the

7:15

page the way they were you know I wanted to play it my way and fortunately I had a piano teacher who recognized that and

7:21

just said I don't think you're a a concert pianist I think you're a a composer and that changed everything for

7:26

me so he he gave me that hope you know that that c Catalyst that spark and from there like I I wrote an album and I

7:33

launched it in high school and all these things so it was just a yeah I I started that the actual career of the albums and

7:40

all that thing when I was 15 16 years old right around there that's cool that's really cool and did was it

7:45

something that you just once you were like once that door opened up was it just like a natural fit for you was it

7:52

did it seem like it was worker it was it just like oh God I can do this and and you go through the typical struggles but did it come more natural than sitting

7:59

down trying to learn somebody else's way of doing things I mean yeah definitely well the

8:04

music definitely felt natural the business side of it was the was the big journey I think because you you always I

8:11

think we always think that you know we're just going to write the hit song and someone's gonna swoop in and take it away you know we're going to create that

8:18

magical thing and uh we'll just be the we're the damils in distress you know and some night and shiny armor is going

8:24

to come in there and take it away and whisk us away you know uh and and so I

8:29

mean that the music's creation side of it was the easy part it was learning how to be a businessman be a marketer be a

8:36

you know a hustler that was the the part that took me years to figure out yeah I I've talked to many like art school

8:43

students and stuff like that where I explain to them like the the business side of what you do because it's so easy

8:50

to have the passion part of it it's so easy to like go like I just want to make stuff and it's like well great you can

8:56

just make stuff but you have to realize that that while you're making there's also people that don't want to take it too and you have to learn the other ugly

9:04

part and it's and it sucks it's it's the it's the part that I know even still I

9:09

hate I hate it and I just kind of tell people like look we gotta get through this ugly stuff before we can have fun you know and I think young people or

9:16

anybody going into artst needs to understand that like you know it's it's one of those things that you can't Short

9:21

change and otherwise you're going to learn the hard way right yeah and and and I I figured out

9:28

there there's there's parts of the ugly stuff that you can make a little bit better through creativity that's one

9:33

thing that I like to talk about is is you can actually be creative with your marketing you can be creative with your business plan you can still do things

9:39

that are like original and something about the originality of it does make it a little more exciting than just

9:45

drudgery of just like I got to just go through the tediousness of this but of course no matter what there's always going to be some drudgery you know you

9:52

just some of those things are just going to require you to email a thousand people in a day yeah do you think that

9:59

that came out of like you know a little bit of that that I I would say like lack

10:04

of fear or drive you know to do it was was your mom like bringing you guys out

10:09

there and playing and all that stuff like that it just became something that that she that she instilled a love for

10:14

it out there that made you want to continue to chase it on those days that you wanted to give up is that yeah the core of it I I I agree yeah I definitely

10:21

believe that that's the case like they're seeing how much it brought people together from the very beginning

10:26

just seeing the magic of music music is a a a unifier and uh I mean as you watch

10:32

the world you know fall apart in division you're like well music needs to you know be more prominent right now and

10:37

there's always that need for the giving side of it so I feel like there's um

10:42

there's a charitable aspect of of performance and music that we always did and you could see right out the gate how

10:48

it helped people right right you know immediately they come up right afterwards and say that made my my day

10:54

my year my you know all these different things that they would say you're like this is what like life is about it's uh

11:01

helping these people in this way using what you have and we had musical

11:06

abilities so no matter what I was always kind of like I'm gonna use this to some capacity you know that's really cool and

11:12

and what what led the things to you doing some of the stuff that was it going I know you did American Idol and

11:19

you did all these other things was it was it something that led to that or was that an opportunity where you felt like

11:25

you know if I do this project then it'll get me out on this stage bigger I mean I

11:31

I I'm asking because that's the same sort of thing I think when you try when I went into keynote speaking it was the same sort of stuff like oh if I do this

11:37

maybe that'll be the and I I think that a lot of people going back to the idea

11:42

of pigeon ho holding yourself into one thing there's there's a million different paths to that thing uh I'm

11:49

just curious of what led you down that that world of of chasing a bigger like

11:54

you know because at the time for sure I mean I I'll admit that like I've lost touch with American because it seems

12:00

like it's just one of those things that's become an evergreen thing but I know when you were on like it was still

12:05

it was still like you know really predominant in the world like what what

12:11

was that experience like for you and did it I mean yeah there were 30 million people watching in America 30 million

12:17

people don't watch anything right now in America right we don't we don't have

12:22

anything like that in 2007 the the nation was watching and it was so funny

12:27

uh I mean in the beginning I was I was established to some degree as a small level singer songwriter and so to be on

12:35

American Idol was a big risk because you know what if I get up there and Simon says you know Simon says you know what

12:40

are you doing here you don't belong in this business go go sell insurance or something you know uh that's all it

12:46

would take in front the 30 million people and it's like that that just breaks me you know yeah so I I had to put it all on the line to to do it but I

12:53

I knew at the same time that like being in front of 30 million people would be such a huge launching point you know and

12:59

it was it really was it helped so much for being on the show but in the yeah the reason why I did it was for sure

13:05

like I I I didn't want to be a karaoke singer I didn't really want to sing cover songs at all and I had to for for

13:12

the show so I had to you know kind of bite my tongue on that just say well I'm just I'm gonna you know play the play

13:17

the you know the game by the rules and do my best with it and use it for what I can and um I mean it was like it yeah it

13:25

was just that that compromise but knowing that it's going to to put me in front of such a huge audience all the

13:31

the big players the I mean every record label exec was looking at these singers to see who they would sign next it was

13:37

uh the easiest way in if you could win that of course and so yeah I mean it was

13:42

definitely a huge boost yeah and was it was the pressure just constantly on in

13:49

that scenario and yeah yeah was I were you guys actually friends behind the

13:54

scenes or was it kind of just more a Cutthroat like you know how did that whole thing work

13:59

you know it was you know it's funny it should have been more Cutthroat you think with a competition with you know

14:05

so much writing on it but we actually were just fellow singers you know and we had so much in common so it was we

14:12

actually were a lot more just friends in the moment we were nervous together we were experiencing it together and uh we

14:18

were actually sad when we saw our friends get cut you know it wasn't like uh we were just in it to win it uh it

14:24

felt like an experience and I mean to to their credit the producers of the show they make it that way so it does feel

14:30

like a camaraderie behind the stage behind the scenes uh at the same time they also ham up the the intensity of it

14:38

by waking you up at 5: in the morning just to wait for seven hours because they know that'll make you more nervous

14:43

you know things like that so they they would play the game they were like you know

14:48

scientifically psychologically engineering this thing from behind the scenes how can we make it more intense

14:54

how can we make it more emotional yeah and you you had mentioned

14:59

a lot of like the before we started here you you've been all over the place with you know you're growing up with your dad

15:05

in the Army and things like that how much of that like how much of that influence of seeing different parts of

15:11

the world like influen you musically and your creativity I mean I think a lot I I feel

15:17

like I I uh it's like accents right you know you I've got a a dialect of you

15:24

know four or five different accents and makes it more of a unique combination it's the same thing with music it's like

15:29

I've got four or five different dialects of music that are com combined and fused together right and it also kind of gives

15:35

me more variety because I don't settle with just one kind of sound you know if I just was born and raised in Utah maybe

15:42

I would go maybe we would have gone into country or something but I don't do country at all instead it's more like

15:48

East Coast was more My Vibe for a long time and then I you know East Coast West Coast because I was in California for

15:53

eight years so I'm a mesh between the two coasts and then uh Alaska is his own kind of thing Alaska was just like I

16:00

would say more rock band grungy kind of vibe you know okay so there's always that The Rock roots of like of Alaska

16:06

versus the the the more the R&B hipop Vibe of the east coast and then the the the Sun and Fun pop of the West Coast

16:13

you know so there's that that mesh of the of the of the genres yeah that's that's that's I love that analogy

16:20

because I I always talk when I go to school visits and I know you do school visits as well so I'd love to talk more about that too but like I always would

16:27

tell kids when I was little I would borrow parts from characters that I liked so I'd like you know borrow maybe

16:34

like Fred Flintstone's eyes and like something from Bugs Bunny and then I would like try to combine them all together to make my own stuff and you

16:40

know growing up in a really small town where I was I didn't have anybody to like instruct me so it was like I was just creating you know and it was all

16:47

out of this world that of things I was exposed to and then you're like now of course I realized I was teaching myself

16:54

how to draw but back then it was just like oh this is just what I do you know and I think that's uh that's a that's a

17:00

pretty cool thing so you know um I I I you know know that you do a lot of

17:06

school visits and things like that and you also have a really unique way of bringing your music part into the visits

17:13

and and with your Keynotes and all these different things like that what what out of that would you say is has been the

17:19

the the most gratifying do you find that you like that best like compared to

17:24

writing music or do you find it to be completely separate um from both of them

17:30

you have two different worlds you're kind of in yeah you know that's that's a good question because I I mean I love

17:36

them both I love the performance aspect of of seeing right out the gate the response uh you don't really get that by

17:43

being in the studio the studio you know when I'm I'm recording it's like my blank canvas and this is where I get to

17:49

stretch my imagination so it's that's such a a release for me too uh I would

17:54

say I always need both I'm never going to be without one or the other I I need to be in front of audiences to see that

18:00

reaction to feel that emotional connection in the moment and and feel

18:05

that you know that chemistry on stage um that is a you know its own high right

18:12

and then being in the studio recording with an orchestra or just composing whatever I want it scratches that itch

18:18

that nothing else scratches you know so I think they're they're both crucial

18:23

components to me yeah I have both you know and do you do you have like stuff

18:29

that you dig into when you're when you're making music or you're write do you write your own lyrics to or is it

18:34

more the music composition part so do you have like some sort of do you find it like as a therapeutic thing for

18:39

yourself do you have stuff that you dig into or is it kind of like through observing the world like what is your inspiration when you're when you're

18:45

coming up with stuff uh yeah I mean I guess it just kind of depends it's it's uh it is a

18:51

little bit of all of the above sometimes it's observation like I I do write a lot when I travel and uh when I'm flying or

18:58

on a train or a plane or you know whatever it is that I actually prefer motion and it helps me to so that is

19:04

more observational me just kind of observing the world and you know kind of taking it in feeling the vibe and then

19:10

writing based on that um I can also do it from like reading a book and immersing myself in that imaginary world

19:17

and then saying okay I'm GNA pull myself out and write what that feels like there's a I used to do that as an

19:22

exercise I would read you know just a whole different kind slew of sci-fi and fantasy books and then I would write a

19:29

theme song to it you know which is why I came up with my idea to end up writing my own musical book you know uh just a

19:36

whole series of of sci-fi musical books that's awesome and but yeah that I think

19:42

the the story element of it is really helpful having like you writing a full story around it saying this is the

19:48

character this is what they're immersed in and then writing the song from that perspective that's uh that's the easiest

19:55

way for me to really write like a true tone uh otherwise just whatever hits me at 3 in the morning when I don't want to

20:01

write hits me in the middle of the night I'm like all right it's just it won't let me sleep I just got to write this

20:06

down yeah and yeah yeah there's those it feels like when you know when you when

20:12

you do any sort of writing or any sort of art making it's you know you're kind of oddly at service to it you know um in

20:20

a weird way because you're you're like I remember the other night I was I was dead asleep and it popped my head and it

20:27

would just it would not go away and I ended up having to send myself an email I'm like all right like fine I you know

20:34

it's it and it's funny because what I think a lot of people that are first off I don't buy that people

20:41

think that they're not creative I think everybody's creative I think that what they what they do is they they push down

20:46

that voice and I think you know guys like us what they've actually we've actually been able to do and is at at a

20:53

young age you learned how to tap into that voice and you learned that that that's pretty unique to you even though

20:59

everybody has it the way you're seeing the world and U when you're right on

21:04

with that I mean and it'll scream at you to pay attention and it's like a little kid going like yo like you better take

21:11

this stuff down because I'm leaving if you don't like and I'm gonna go land on somebody else and they're gonna take it

21:16

and run and you're gonna be like oh my God that was my idea they just took it y yeah yeah right that's exactly a good

21:24

that's a good comparison and I agree everybody is creative I that's actually what I speak on is creativity and how

21:29

we're all born creative and we just suppress that voice most of us stopped listening to it because somebody told us

21:35

our idea was stupid or you know somebody criticized it or we just didn't get the

21:40

response that we wanted and we just felt like oh I guess I'm not good enough at this so we just stopped trying to be creative and uh it's it's a sad thing

21:48

but you're right like the rest of us those it's something like 2% of the world that's that actually is considered

21:53

to be creative like that we consider ourselves creative only 2% of the whole

21:58

the whole world that really is creative and it's because we're in the Arts and that's really what it is is we express it through these other means and and we

22:06

have the uh the allowance to do that you know people are okay with our art because they they like something that we

22:12

created and so therefore we're allowed to you know yeah but real reality everybody's allowed to they just they

22:18

just don't try right yeah they're they're really quick to say I can't do I can't do and I'm like I always like joke

22:24

because I you know you you do I mean I'm assuming you do corporate gigs as well and it's like when you when you're in

22:29

these corporate worlds they'll they'll say like oh I wish I could be creative like that and you're like I wish I could read a spreadsheet like you like it's

22:36

it's like I look at a spreadsheet to me it's another language I'm like nope I'm good I don't even want to look at that

22:41

stuff and you know much like they look at it but it it is what you're exposed to and I think that that's one of the

22:47

things that we talk a lot about on here when I talk to people is just that idea of like what is uncomfortable for you

22:52

right now is going to be crazy comfortable for you if you just try you know and and you know um did any of that

23:01

like play into when you went into the speaking like how what brought you into that speaking World from music to was it

23:08

was it a mean soon in to try to be able to continue to do one or was it just something you felt pulled into doing um

23:15

I I felt pulled for sure there's a message there that was not getting through my music well enough like I was

23:21

always trying to convey both story and messaging through my music which is why

23:26

I went into writing books and speak speak because when I'm actually putting the pen to paper and writing out the

23:33

words or saying them the message is finally getting across that this is what I've been trying to say all along and uh

23:39

that there's something you know validating and vindicating about that uh because all this time I've been beating my head against the wall trying to say

23:46

like here's the song do you not get what I'm saying and they don't get it yeah so I just finally like I finally realize

23:52

you know what I just need to be more direct yeah so now it's just time to say uh things that will inspire them because

23:58

I I always wanted the music to inspire them but they weren't getting the language of it and now I can just say it

24:03

directly and uh tell them that I mean that's like the the one thing I talk about is the power of the blank page the

24:10

there's always a fear of the blank page in the beginning like hey here's a blank canvas or you know blank book manuscript

24:17

whatever it is you just have to start writing something or creating something and everybody's like I don't know where to start where do I start how do I get

24:23

this thing going and you just have to start pushing through the fear because like you said if you do it enough times

24:28

you'll actually love it in the beginning you're afraid of it but then you'll start to Crave it because it's it it

24:33

scratches that itch like I'm saying like it everybody has that creative itch they forgot about it it's like that SC you

24:39

know that spot in your back you just forgot about someone goes there and scratches and like oh yeah I forgot that was that was like itchy right there yeah

24:46

100% And you you have on your website the D Vinci approach as well I wonder if you could like tell me a little bit

24:52

about that I W to I want to hear it and see how much it kind of relates to because automatically I go straight to I

24:58

have an idea of what in my head might be I I want to hear like what your how how you present it and all that good stuff

25:05

like that well I mean I'm you big fan of Leonardo da Vinci I love how he married

25:10

the Arts and the Sciences he he was the one who built the bridge you had Michelangelo Raphael they were all in

25:16

the Arts then you had Sir Isaac Newton and Galileo and all these guys that were just in the Sciences he was he was the

25:21

bridge between them both and I love that the idea of con connecting the right and the left brain and showing that this

25:28

this is a process that allows you to use creativity for everything else not just

25:33

the Arts it's it's expanding your imagination and it through the Arts but

25:38

then applying that to relationships to fixing that dysfunctional relationship or to you know up upleveling your career

25:46

or improving your health or whatever it is you could get creative with literally everything and and creativity in my

25:52

opinion makes everything better I mean if you're going to do a thing might as well do it creatively that's kind of what I what I like to say is if I'm

25:58

going to make breakfast every morning why not get creative with breakfast and actually get good at the culinary arts

26:03

and not just say I'm just going to make you know cereal every day I'm gonna put in the time I might as well make a sule

26:10

and just see what it what it tastes like yeah yeah I might as well try out the German pancakes and see what it tastes like you know get get really good at

26:16

hash browns or whatever it is um so this is the process of the D Vinci approach

26:21

is one you you get you get through your emotions so I I have a process for how to understand your emotions so that you

26:28

can get past them because emotions can weigh us down the heavy Ones Will shackle us down and and prevent us from

26:34

you know really exploring ideas getting past the criticisms and the failures and all those things then you you turn to

26:41

stretching your knowledge of whatever it is you want to be creative about so you go to CH chat GPT you got all these

26:46

resources now you utilize AI for your good and I just go in there and you you just do some research figure figure out

26:52

what books to read and and expand your knowledge and then you turn to the the blank page so with that in mind with the

26:59

emotions out of the way and with your knowledge stretched now you return to the blank page and build that ability as

27:06

if you were a 5-year-old all over again we were creative Geniuses at the age of five and we lost that little by little

27:14

my my my daughter is 5 years old and she has such an imagination and I'm I'm trying to make sure that that that we

27:20

can nurture that and and not let the kids tell her that her her ideas are stupid or her painting is bad or

27:26

whatever it is there's no wrong answer yeah that's that's the idea you can paint and create and whatever else

27:31

anything you want there are no wrong answers and if you do that and you just keep reaching out there and saying like

27:37

this is really weird but I'm just going to try it that stretches your imagination and then you take that

27:42

imagination and you apply it to the knowledge that you now have of this thing that you want to be creative about

27:48

so that's that's the process that I I talk about and I I Workshop it and I teach it and it's a really fun thing but

27:54

yeah yeah no that that's great it's totally like along the lines of like you know thinking like what I always liked

28:00

about looking at lard avent's drawings was it was basically he was like you

28:07

know a kid really I mean he was just kind of going like I wonder what would happen like you know if you look at his

28:12

early ideas for flying machines and stuff like that it's totally something that a kid would make up like oh I'll

28:17

just swirl up a fan or something that will just jump up and down or or you know whatever it's like and there is

28:23

that Fascination in because what I think that a lot of adults adults that I've

28:29

spoken with um talk about with kids it's like how do you keep a kid motivated I was like no you're you got that

28:35

backwards it's the kid will motivate you you're the one stealing the present moment from the kid you know a a kid

28:44

will like and I think that we as adults don't realize that like with kids the

28:50

the power that we that we take from them and I I love when you know I'm in a

28:56

group of like I mean especially you're talking about five-year-olds you know kindergarten first grade kids my one of

29:01

my favorite things and teachers are always kind of like when I do school visits we'll be like oh God here we go is ask them questions like what or not

29:09

ask them what questions they have for me and you know because they don't ask questions they just tell you stuff and

29:15

it's the funniest thing because they because they'll tell you everything it's just like you know I have a cat I have a

29:20

whatever and they'll just go through it and they'll tell you like my dad's name is Jason and he walks around in his underwear and it's like and it's so

29:27

funny because they to them everything in the world is just stuff and it's just all out there to

29:34

discover um it's okay everything's yeah everything's fair game yeah nothing is

29:39

off limits you know they just it's a world to explore yeah and do you layer a

29:44

m a layer of Music in with your when you're doing presenting these things see that's pretty sweet yeah because then

29:50

you're it's even more Pian yeah yeah so it's even more submersive for the the viewer to kind of get sucked into the

29:57

you know I use drawings when I do it I have adults serious adults draw with me you know and the same sort of ideas

30:04

because you're you're trying to get them to forget being an adult you know exact and and to tap back into the pure energy

30:11

that's by the way still alive and well in you it's not it didn't

30:16

disappear you know no really I mean yesterday just last night I spoke to a bunch of really like elderly people

30:22

they're probably like you know gray hairs and white hairs right yeah and a lot of them said like that was the the

30:28

response I got was like you're helping me feel like a little child again yeah you know and it was like you know they

30:33

they were thanking me for that because it was helping them remember the the value of being like a little child and

30:40

seeing the world that way with Wonder and amazement you know and with the Curiosity that's the the biggest thing

30:47

is we just get so beaten down by by The Man by the 8 to five job by the you know

30:53

whatever it is the the responsibilities and everything else and we forget to imagine

30:58

we forget to dream we forget to create and we forget that that's really why

31:03

we're even here yeah 100% I mean we're not here to do a an 8 to five job we're

31:08

here to create yeah that's the measure of intelligence is creation you know

31:14

yeah I think yeah I definitely think people forget the fact that like you know like I always I always joke with my

31:19

my son who's my youngest son who's uh 17 now but we talked in talk other day I

31:25

was you know telling him like you know I love loved baseball as a kid you know and I wanted to be I mean I had dreams

31:32

of growing up to play Major League Baseball and like that and I'm like for five bucks I can go buy a batting token

31:37

and recapture that feeling you know and people like like people get so serious

31:43

as adults that they forget like all of this stuff still exists like you know everything that you're wanting like

31:49

still exists like even if you wanted to play basketball and you feel like you can't go you can go to David Busters and there's those like little basketball

31:55

hoops there like you could buy a Nerf hoop like it's it there's so many ways for us to reconnect to that part of us

32:02

and you know um I just I love that and I love the work that you're doing with in that world because it just it is I agree

32:10

1,00% with you it's it's that's where magic lies you know and people think that it's it's gone and it's not and uh

32:18

so yeah just cudos to you for for going down that trail and showing people the way and and taking all the stuff and and

32:25

being able to do uh you know play music I'm I'm jealous of that my my oldest son

32:30

plays bassoon so he's like super he's super talented he's going to grad school for it but I'm always like I watch him

32:36

play and I'm like oh my God like how do how do you do that you know that's bass is an underrated instrument

32:43

I think it's an amazing instrument there's just never many people who play it but it's but you can play the bassoon

32:48

well it's it's a really cool instrument it's a very cool yeah and most of the time people what what is bassoon I'm like it's that big long with the metal

32:55

thing that goes off and oh yeah I'm like and you kind of go like well you would know it from like you know early cartoons or like circus music that's

33:02

where it's really predominant but it's a really beautiful instrument though like if you really hear somebody knows how to

33:07

play it it's it's like whoa that's a bassoon yeah I know I know it's actually

33:13

and it's it's a calming sound it's not one that's like piercing all day yeah it's it's much better than I mean as

33:19

much as I love the trumpet if you're hearing trumpet all day long it's a blasting instrument you know yeah I will

33:25

definitely say though that the bassoon is extremely loud when your kid is learning how to play it and lots of squeak lots of squeaks lots

33:34

of like oh my God this is so Lou and when you and and you know as well as when you're obsessed with it I mean he

33:39

playing it all the time so it was there was no breaks from it it was like happening you know like okay dude it's

33:45

11 like you know the neighbors don't need to a concert right now you know and you can't go unplugged like a

33:52

guitar with it or anything like that it's like it it's full on

33:57

yeah right so when you went into when you when you went into writing books and

34:03

stuff like that you you talk about science fiction musical like it that is such a unique marriage of things in book

34:12

form how like you know I as you were saying I was trying to think of any any

34:18

Musical that I could think of in young younger books that I could really I can

34:24

kind okay yeah I can what was the jump off point for you how to make that work and you know what I mean I know how I

34:32

work in in the book writing part I'm just curious for you like what what was that thing that you're like okay I'm

34:39

gonna marry these two things and I imagine the first thought I mean that's pretty simple everybody out there could

34:44

think of what the first thought was like how in the heck do I do this but you know yeah I I think that was just the the uh

34:52

the stretching of the imagination because there was no real path for this it was um nobody I I don't know of

34:59

anybody still who's ever done a Sci-Fi musical book series so I I don't know of uh I I've seen like there's a a romance

35:07

book that they they hired Dolly Parton to come and write an album to like that was close or there's the daisy Jones 6

35:14

show that you know book series that was about a rock band where it's more like the music is it's it's more like you

35:20

know biographical um in this case I just uh I just kept stretching my imagination

35:25

as a musician how do I tell my stories and uh and how and still be true to me

35:31

right and not just go completely uh in a different direction and so I wanted to just figure out a way to tie them

35:37

together and so I dived into the I dove into the to the um the science of it the science of sound and Acoustics and I

35:44

started to look at possibilities there like well what if I just learn more about the rules of Science of what what they can do with sound and as I as I

35:51

started to build from that I ended up uh hiring this uh consultant who was a PhD

35:56

in Acoustics and we would just have long conversations about all the fun things you could do with sound and that just

36:02

gave me all these ideas and just kept like uh feeding from that to where I realized this is something I can really

36:08

I can marry naturally where they are in this case they power their wet suits like an Iron Man level suit with sound

36:15

with their voice so they sink to it and they create nuclear fusion on their backs with these little bulbs of nuclear

36:21

fusion called sonoluminescence which is a real thing and it's just like that that was the Catalyst for me like you

36:27

could create new nuclear fusion with sound okay let's do let's run with this that's awesome so now it's like that's

36:33

my power source now so instead of just a frequency the fictionalized version is that's music now it's a you know that's

36:39

more interesting than just a tone yeah and is there a a like a soundtrack the

36:45

kid can listen to or the person can listen to as they're reading the book that's cool that's a cool idea there's

36:51

there's QR codes in the book there's lyrics in the book so you'll see when when the when the character sing

36:56

something to power their suit or do something it'll have the lyrics in there with a QR code that they can just go to

37:02

Spotify go to YouTube whatever and go listen to the song and then uh as far as instrumental the instrumental soundtrack

37:09

the audiobook has that so the audio book is full cast and and the songs pop up in

37:14

there but so was 25 actors we did sound design I mean I I was I had a lot of fun

37:19

with just creating the sound design and then I did a whole a full musical score for 13 hours of this Audi book so you

37:25

can hear the whole thing that way I haven't one thing I do need to still do is is H package that up as its own

37:31

Spotify playlist so you can listen to that while you're reading the book yeah but at least hear it in the audio book

37:36

that's amazing and and for anybody listening we'll make sure that all of those links are available to those books

37:41

in the in the uh show notes and everything too because that's a cool idea man that's a really really cool

37:46

idea um thanks because it I think people out there that you hear all the time and

37:53

I'm sure you get it all the time too like oh I wrote a book you know and I got this idea and how did you do it and how do you write a book and it what you

37:59

just described you know is exactly how you do it and it's when you just hear

38:05

little Sparks and you just write and then you just kind of go with what you know and then you realize that what you

38:11

know is probably wrong and then you just keep evolving it and like it's like clay

38:16

right you kind of mold it and all a sudden it lands and then um once you get it done you you don't think it's good

38:21

enough so you write your next book and you like that and I think everybody thinks because people always I wrote a

38:28

book I how many and they're like well one I'm like write two like it's that's my best advice to you like just yeah

38:34

don't don't write one it's not going to be good like you gota you got to keep going through and and it's really cool

38:40

and and to hear that process um that's amazing that's that's really unique and

38:45

and uh and all that stuff like that and so when you were a kid was it was was

38:51

reading a huge part of your world too like imagine you said you you had five siblings you said where do you in that

38:58

order middle child okay so you were the weird one you go I was the weird one exactly I was the black sheep I was the

39:05

The Loner I had two older brothers and two younger sisters so they paired off I had my books my art pad and I because I

39:12

also sketched back then and yeah I I was just kinds of creative things because I was by myself yeah

39:20

yeah and so when you so if you are oh man we're like I look at at the time

39:26

here we're we're coming close the end but it's actually a good segue because I wanted to Circle back on a question that

39:31

I ask a lot of people is is this idea of if you could duplicate little sea that was

39:39

sitting alone reading these stories making the music doing all and have him

39:44

across the table from you and tell him all the stuff that you've now done as an adult like what do you think his

39:51

reaction would be to those things yeah I think it would be um I

39:58

mean there would be surprise and and uh I think I mean I think he would be very

40:04

uh excited to know that I was able to live adventurous life of pursuing this

40:09

on my own and you know touring the world and doing all these things uh with my

40:15

with these abilities that that I you know he was you know he developed in that time you know like using all those

40:20

things it actually pays off to be creative it pays off to put in the time to draw that picture or or write that

40:28

song Or you know play the piano whatever it is uh it all pays off yeah see if parents were wrong you could move to LA

40:34

and you know live in the van and and make something yourself that's right that's right yeah it was actually the

40:40

best decision I ever made and it was really college would have done nothing for me in that in that setting yeah I I

40:46

really learned everything from La you know that's the thing is uh we always have this this preconceived notion that

40:53

in order to be successful you got to do X Y and Z and that's the only way to do it but really there's there's a a

40:59

billion paths yeah everybody has their own path to it you just have to find your own way yeah we're all cha it seems

41:05

like we're all chasing the same thing we just don't realize that like you don't have to follow somebody else's way it's

41:12

it's we're all going to the same thing which I think ultimately is some sort of whatever happiness is to us right yeah

41:18

and right and people think that oh no I got to go this person's way and this person's way and I think what we end up

41:25

doing especially creative people that I encountered is you get stuck in

41:30

repeating everybody else's stuff that you lose your voice and so cooters to you for like you know not letting like

41:38

something that didn't work out one way be the definition of it and you kind of kept pushing through and I will say that

41:44

that is a theme that I've of of a lot of creatives I've met that have been successful like you were you're doing

41:50

the thing that you want to do was whatever I don't know even know what you call it because I have I have the same

41:55

thing I don't have really a name for it it but it's like you have to do it like there's no there's no I I don't even

42:02

know what to call it it's just like I could try to ignore all I want I could run from it and just when I think I got

42:08

The Perfect hiding spot it's like all a sudden you see these little hands come up behind your be and puts your hands it's like guess who you know it's yeah

42:15

that's right yeah it's like your little your little uh pet yeah or your call whatever you want to call it like it's

42:20

it's that little animal that follows you everywhere yeah it's it's it's something like yeah that you just won't leave you

42:26

alone no matter where you go like you're still here of course I'm still here and I'm bigger than last time and you can

42:32

ignore me all you want but I will keep knocking dude like I'll get bigger and bigger till you

42:39

can't ignore me ever like big imaginary friend or something um yeah I know that

42:45

it's I I yeah I guess you could call it a calling I guess but it's um right it's like a that that beckoning you know

42:52

there there's some kind of beckoning that just says this is the direction you you need to go this is what you need to be doing with your your life and I I

42:59

mean I I kind of wonder if everybody has that and they just stop listening and they keep if you keep saying no enough

43:04

times maybe it does actually go away yeah you know and that's the sad thing is May maybe people just stopped

43:10

listening yeah I think it I think maybe a little bit of it is that you know the Common Thread you and I have I'm an only

43:16

child but I had the same thing I was alone a lot in my books in my sketchbooks and I think that another

43:24

Trend I see is that you know people that are really Ultra creative they they have

43:29

recognized that voice and it became almost like their friend their whole life and it it's just like you kind of

43:35

go like this is this is home you know and you know and it feels it doesn't matter if you're in a crowd of you know

43:41

thousands of people you know like I know I'm sure you have the same thing when you're on a stage in front of a ton of

43:46

people it's like there may be a lot of people out there but I never pay attention to it it to me it's like it's

43:52

a conversation with me and it and it's the hardest thing to explain to people

43:58

but everybody has it and I think there's just a few of us that are able to like tap into that and and we don't realize

44:05

how special that is because we think it's just who we are you know um and

44:11

we'll push it away and we kind oh yeah well whatever that's what I do and yeah and you know uh but no I just wanted to

44:18

like you know praise you for that man I think that that's awesome just continue to do that stuff and um we have a couple

44:25

yeah what what was like what would you say in your world is uh I want I I have to ask this question is like what's the

44:31

one thing that was like that moment that sticks out where you're like that's it right there like that if

44:37

I could capture that feeling in a bottle I always think about meditation I I'll get like and and I'm like boom I got it

44:43

and then as soon as I got it it's like damn how do I go get that again like do you have a moment that you know in your

44:50

career where you're like it just felt like man that's it and then you you're

44:55

always like you feel like you're chasing but you're not really chasing it's just like that it felt whole right there yeah

45:02

everything lines up everything aign all at the same time uh there's definitely those yeah I feel like I have a few of

45:09

those moments and it's usually when I'm uh there's yeah there's a few where like when I was creating my my audiobook for

45:15

example and I heard the orchestra I heard the I was hearing the The Big Brass section playing this low brass

45:22

because I had a I had a low brass section and and a full 50 piece string section and hearing it come together

45:29

with the vocals with the choir with all these pieces it was uh something magical about that like I'm doing all these

45:35

things that's finally coming together you know and same thing with the speaking where I'm on the stage and and

45:41

I'm just in sync with how I'm playing and speaking at the same time there's just moments where I'm like I I could

45:47

just feel the the kinetic energy as I'm connecting with the crowd and they're feeling it too and there's that magical

45:53

moment where you I I call that um I actually invented a word for that because I there's no word that that's

45:58

that exists that's that really that connection but I call it shalour you know when you when I'm singing with

46:03

shalour or when I'm speaking with shalour it's just that moment where it's like we're in the zone together we're in

46:09

that magical moment where we're we're feeling all the the stars align in this moment and everything that I've been

46:14

working for is working right now you know there's a it happens in a lot of

46:20

these live performances when I can relax and I start to get into that Groove and when I'm in the studio where everything

46:26

comes together which doesn't always happen of course it's you know those magical moments but you definitely live

46:31

for the next magical moment yeah that's amazing man that's that's a what a wonderful way to to wrap this up and uh

46:37

you know guys if you know listening anything to uh Circle back on it the

46:43

stuff Sean was saying is just like embrace your shalour right like it's it's like you know you all have this

46:48

stuff this you know that's that's the thing about it it's like we all have it but it and you know it and I think

46:55

that's the other part is that people that say they don't they know they have it but they're ignoring it and so um

47:01

just want to Echo back what Sean was saying like you know embrace your uniqueness and embrace who you are and just go chase it and find those magical

47:07

moments because they're they exist everywhere um but we will make sure that we have all of the the links to all of Sean stuff in the show notes make sure

47:13

you go get that book get the audio book sounds like you need to get grab that thing uh grab hopefully the Spotify

47:20

thing uh what a great I'm gonna definitely go out and get it too because it sounds cool like it it's just I'm I

47:27

want to hear it now you know and all that like say it's book one now like with book two gets better and book three

47:32

gets better but you know it's a it was a good first step I definitely feel proud about the first step yeah you always

47:38

have to break the ice right you always got to like get the first one done and then it always improves yeah it's like very rare it's like you you don't your

47:44

like it's like back in day when CDs it's like your first CD was not always the it was like you had one or two songs but

47:50

then it's like the second one oh my God they're com together you know I guess unless the

47:55

Beatles right that's right magic back to back yeah all right man thank you Sean so

48:02

much guys uh you know I want to just remind you all you know life is difficult being a human is hard but

48:07

you're all doing a great job at it just keep at it and understand that each day presents magic in your day and it's

48:13

matter how you look at it and the perspective you take from it and uh Sean I want to thank you so much for your time and uh hope you have a wonderful

48:19

day yeah thank you

48:24

[Music]

48:36

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