The Most Creative Place on Earth

Plus, new, amazing, and tariff-free Canadian creativity

The Creativity Guild is a community of creative explorers looking to reignite our creative sparks. This is the place to reconnect with your creativity, start the projects you’ve always wanted to work on and be the person you’ve always wanted to be.

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I have discovered the ultimate studio for getting creative work done. I can’t wait to share it with you!

This studio is AMAZING.

I’m never interrupted. No texts. No emails. No phone calls. No urgent notifications of any kind.

I’m never distracted. There is no drama going on around me. There is no easy escape to TikTok or Netflix. There is no FOMO.

When I’m in the studio, I get SO MUCH focused, deep creative work done. I can write and write and write with full focus for HOURS. I can create presentations. I can edit video or audio. I can read for an extended time without the desire to see what I’m missing online. I can THINK.

I want to spend more and more of my time in this studio.

What is this magic glorious creative Nirvana of a studio?

Prepare to be highly disappointed.

Umm… it’s an airplane.

Seriously.

After not travelling during and in the aftermath of the pandemic, I have been back on the road a lot in the last few months doing promotion, speaking, and workshops for my book. And what used to be one of my least favourite locations - the inside of an airplane - has now become one of my favourite locations.

Why?

I’m a helpless captive. I can’t go anywhere. I can’t do anything. There’s no one I know to talk to. I mostly deliberately avoid connecting to the in-flight internet so that I can’t be interrupted with urgent requests. I feel like I’m in detention at school and can’t leave until detention is done. Like I’m in a modern-day version of the Breakfast Club, but instead of finding ways to get into trouble, I’m finding ways to get creative. It’s AWESOME.

I would never do this, but sometimes I feel like booking a long flight when I have a big project to work on that needs time and focus. That’s how much I love the airplane.

It’s obviously NOT the airplane that is magic.

The seats are uncomfortable. The food is not great. You’re crammed in like a sardine next to strangers. Half the time, the power doesn’t work. Security, customs, time zone changes…

So why can’t I do this at home? Why can’t I design an environment that mirrors the benefits of an airplane? There are a few factors blocking me.

First, I have a hard time saying no to requests for my time. Also, I am too easily accessible via phone, text, email, or Slack. Another factor: I get restless at home because I am not a captive and there are other (exciting!) things that I could be doing (Groceries! Laundry! Recycling! Emails!). On a plane, there is nothing I can do except watch mediocre movies on the seat-back system.

I am also very susceptible to the urgency and expected reply times to texts, emails, and Slack messages. Notifications, rings, dings, and pings pull me out of focus all the time and send me down distracted, unproductive rabbit holes. On a plane? Nothing.

I live on the West Coast, so by the time I wake up, my inbox is often already filled with new requests for my time and the expectation of a quick response. Being on a plane is an instant get-out-of-jail-free card.

So what am I going to do about this? (Don’t worry, I’m not going to destroy the planet with my carbon footprint so that I can write more Creativity Guild posts…)

This is the initial list of ideas I came up with:

• Build a sensory deprivation chamber in my basement

• Put a small airplane-like seat in a cramped closet and lock myself inside for several hours a day

• Create a fake auto-responder on my email saying that I am on safari in Africa for a month, even though I’m still at home

• Cancel my home internet, cable, Netflix, Spotify, and get a flip phone.

• Move off-grid and go full analog

I eventually rejected those ideas and came up with some that are more realistic:

• Put my computer and phone in airplane mode for a set period of time every morning. I feel like this is actually going to be very tough psychologically for me, but I need to do it.

• Block that same period of time in my calendar for “Deep Work” or “Creative Work” and don’t let myself turn into a spineless people-pleaser and fill it up with meetings because it works for other people’s schedules.

• It might mean getting up earlier than I would like in order to have quiet time in my home.

• Focus on the important and non-urgent projects. In the Eisenhower Matrix, I am trapped by the call of the urgent too often, and yet I yearn for spending more time on the important projects that have zero urgency. Identifying the important things, the things I WANT to do, and prioritizing them is going to be essential.

• I also need to hold myself accountable to this new structure or work environment. Maybe I need to do a Jerry Seinfeld “Streaks Calendar” of some sort?

• I have never done this regularly, but it also might be worth exploring other third-party locations for trying to do focused work. Coffee shops, libraries, or co-working spaces may not be as glorious for distraction-free work as an airplane, but it still might be better than working from a home filled with easy distractions and constant connectivity.

There are also some books I’ve been wanting to read for a long time and it feels like the right time to do dig into them and see what else I can learn.

• Slow Productivity, by Cal Newport

• Daily Rituals: How Artists Work, Mason Currey

What do you think of my airplane studio insight? Am I alone, or are you in the same boat? If you have any ideas or suggestions that have worked for you, I’d love to hear them.

As you may have guessed… this is my current view 😜 ✈️🎨

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Given all the recent tariff related events in the news and being the friendly Canadians we are, we have decided to do a special all-Canadian Community Calendar! Unexpected relationship challenges can be great fodder for creativity, and the continued uncertainty around Canada’s relationship with the United States has already resulted in several amazing projects that are well worth checking out!

Mr. Canada

One of the most innovative and progressive people I know, Michael Tippett, has become a leading force in the world of A.I .Filmmaking, and he’s just launched a perfectly timed YouTube channel called Mr. Canada.

First name, Mister. Last name, Canada. Middle name… also Canada. 💥🇨🇦

Even if you’re not Canadian, this web series will give you a great sense of the current state of A.I. Filmmaking, and I predict that it will blow your mind.

Now You Know B.C.

My friend and top-notch content creator, Bob Kronbauer, has launched a new TV show with CHEK-TV, and it’s only about British Columbia. Bob is a terrific storyteller, and whether you live in B.C. or you’re thinking of visiting, you will learn a lot about this wonderful area of the planet. First episode… SASQUATCH! You can stream the show here.

A Call to Action for Creative Canadians

Canadian news icon, Kevin Newman, and talented journalism leader, Wilf Dinnick, have put out a public call to creative Canadians to help make sure the facts are heard. I like that the second criteria is “Friend of America,” which suggests to me that this project has excellent intentions and isn’t interested in creating further division.

Does this describe you?
A proud Canadian. Friend of America.
Someone who has worked in or is retired from television journalism.
Someone with proven creative juice and a laptop loaded with GFX/edit tools.
Ready to act, but not sure how?
Do you believe the best defence is a moral offense?
Do you have half a day here and there to volunteer for the next 6 months?

If we still have your attention, here's what we're thinking.

As we're seeing around the world, the most potent non-combat weapon is increasingly InfoWar. Our adversaries are using it to soften resistance and make people question truth and facts. We are seeing they can win, even in the United States, yet no one seems to have come up with a defence plan. Our leaders are not protecting the hearts and minds of Canadians, and winning over more Americans. We are becoming a bigger target for misinformation campaigns against our sovereignty.

So we'd like to propose kickstarting a defence.

We are looking for motivated creative Canadians capable of building rapid-response fact- checking on all the bogus information out there. A social media only campaign built for the platforms where misinformation thrives. This is not a partisan endeavor - we only seek to promote truth and verified facts.

So if you're looking to engage, here is the first step.

Send an email here: 2025iamcanadian@gmail.com

A former journalist and historian Jonathan Jackson will be managing our interest and building a database of volunteers. He will need your contacts, any specific skills and areas of interest you can research and write about, your resume and a sense of your time availability. We need reporters, graphic artists, fact-checkers and video editors. We will not share this information with any outside entity.

We aim to eventually pay for the skills you bring. We are already hunting for donors across Canada. If you think you can be a partner in this effort, please DM Kevin directly on LinkedIn.

Thank you for considering this appeal. We hope you feel as we do that its time to fight for Canada in the creative/information space and will share this online to friends in our industry. We'll keep you updated on our progress here.

Wilf Dinnick
https://lnkd.in/gtsQwX4e

Kevin Newman
https://lnkd.in/gt5ub4kj

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Thanks for reading this edition. Let Geoff and I know where your favourite creative locations are. Where do you get your best work done? How do you shut out the outside world so that you can enter a flow state? Any advice to share with us and the Guild community?

Until next time,

Steve

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