The Unmistakable Creative Podcast

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The Unmistakable Creative Podcast

Srinivas Rao

1704 episodes

5 days ago

Timeless Practical Wisdom For Living a Meaningful Life

Inspiring stories and practical advice from creatives, entrepreneurs, change-makers, misfits, and rebels to help you become successful on your own terms

Our listeners say, “If TEDTalks met Oprah you’d have the Unmistakable Creative.” Eliminate the feeling of being stuck in your life, blocked in your creativity, and discover higher levels of meaning and purpose in your life and career. Listen to deeply personal, insightful, and thought-provoking stories from the world’s leading thinkers and doers including best-selling authors, artists, peak performance psychologists, happiness researchers, entrepreneurs, startup founders, artists, venture capitalists, and even former bank robbers. Former guests have included Tim Ferriss, Seth Godin, Justine Musk, Scott Adams, Rob Bell, David Heinemeier Hansson, Elle Luna, Jordan Harbinger Brett Mckay, and Simon Sinek.

Join The Unmistakable Collective

The Unmistakable Collective is a monthly membership for writers, bloggers, podcasters, and content creators that gives you access to workshops, AMA's, and accountability from other like-minded peers to help you accomplish any creative goals! Click here to become a member.

Connect with Us On Social

Twitter: @unmistakableceo

Instagram: @unmistkablecreative

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Society & Culture

All content for The Unmistakable Creative Podcast is the property of Srinivas Rao and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

Timeless Practical Wisdom For Living a Meaningful Life

Inspiring stories and practical advice from creatives, entrepreneurs, change-makers, misfits, and rebels to help you become successful on your own terms

Our listeners say, “If TEDTalks met Oprah you’d have the Unmistakable Creative.” Eliminate the feeling of being stuck in your life, blocked in your creativity, and discover higher levels of meaning and purpose in your life and career. Listen to deeply personal, insightful, and thought-provoking stories from the world’s leading thinkers and doers including best-selling authors, artists, peak performance psychologists, happiness researchers, entrepreneurs, startup founders, artists, venture capitalists, and even former bank robbers. Former guests have included Tim Ferriss, Seth Godin, Justine Musk, Scott Adams, Rob Bell, David Heinemeier Hansson, Elle Luna, Jordan Harbinger Brett Mckay, and Simon Sinek.

Join The Unmistakable Collective

The Unmistakable Collective is a monthly membership for writers, bloggers, podcasters, and content creators that gives you access to workshops, AMA's, and accountability from other like-minded peers to help you accomplish any creative goals! Click here to become a member.

Connect with Us On Social

Twitter: @unmistakableceo

Instagram: @unmistkablecreative

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Show more...

Society & Culture

Episodes (20/1704)

The Unmistakable Creative Podcast

Breaking Free from the Plan: How Decision Engineering Can Transform Your Life with Michelle Florendo

Michelle Florendo shares her journey from following the immigrant dream of Stanford, an MBA, and a "good job" to discovering she was miserable and needed to chart her own path. As a decision engineering expert, she reveals the three essential elements of every decision (options, objectives, and information), explains why we confuse decision quality with outcome quality, and shares how embracing uncertainty—not just managing risk—can unlock possibilities we never imagined.

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4 days ago

43 minutes 51 seconds

The Unmistakable Creative Podcast

Justin McRoberts: Mortality, Meaning, and Giving Away Everything You've Got

Justin McRoberts, musician, pastor, and author of "It's What You Make of It," shares how confronting death early in life shaped his approach to creativity and faith. Having attended over 20 funerals by age 25, McRoberts explains why understanding mortality is essential to living fully and why the cultural narrative of imperviousness keeps people from taking creative risks. He explores how opportunities—not rigid plans—defined his multi-hyphenate career, why narrative holds human lives together, and how we're taught that art is something you earn after being responsible to the system. McRoberts makes the case for flipping that script: using your gifts now, taking financial and social risks, and approaching life as something to give away rather than protect. This is a conversation about death, creativity, faith without absolutes, and why your life should be a gift.

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2 weeks ago

48 minutes 13 seconds

The Unmistakable Creative Podcast

Jeff Wald: Navigating the Fourth Industrial Revolution and Why Personal Responsibility Defines the Future of Work

Jeff Wald, author of The End of Jobs and CEO of WorkMarket, examines how robots and AI are creating the fourth industrial revolution—a massive power shift from workers to companies that mirrors past technological upheavals. Drawing from labor history, on-demand platforms, and regulatory battles like California Prop 22, Wald reveals why the lifetime employment contract was always a myth with average job tenure at 5 years in 1960 and 4.2 years today. He introduces the hard tech vs. hard human framework: thriving in automation requires either technical skills like software, AI, and data or human skills that machines cannot replicate such as creativity, empathy, and sales. Wald unpacks how income inequality, personal responsibility, and opportunity gaps threaten societal stability, why unions must reinvent themselves through movements like Fight for 15, and how lifelong learning became non-negotiable when skills now decay within 4-6 years instead of lasting a 30-year career.

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3 weeks ago

51 minutes 27 seconds

The Unmistakable Creative Podcast

Jeff Spencer: The Champion Blueprint and the Eight Inevitable Steps to Peak Performance

Jeff Spencer, former Olympic cyclist and performance coach to Lance Armstrong, Tiger Woods, and Olympic gold medalists, breaks down the precise architecture of champion-level achievement. From losing his father at age 10 to competing in the Munich Olympics to coaching nine Tour de France victories, Jeff reveals the eight sequential steps every prolific performer navigates: prepare, perform, achieve, pause. He explains why most people burn out by chasing every opportunity instead of choosing goals with appropriate return, why rest is not weakness but a competitive advantage, and how to focus on the critical 1-2 percent that must go right rather than everything that could go wrong. This is the operating system of sustained excellence.

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4 weeks ago

42 minutes 41 seconds

The Unmistakable Creative Podcast

Jason Naylor: The Psychology of Color and Why Bright Hues Unlock Positivity, Memory, and Human Connection

Jason Naylor, artist and author of Live Life Colorfully, shares how growing up as the second of seven children in a Mormon family in Salt Lake City shaped his caretaker personality and his eventual escape to New York where he discovered creative liberation. Naylor reveals the symbiotic relationship between color and messaging in his work—the more positive and uplifting his messages became, the more color naturally emerged because he couldn't visualize kindness without bright hues. Drawing from color theory and neuroscience, he explains how yellow triggers hunger, why fast food brands use red and yellow strategically, how bright saturated colors ignite short-term memory while muted colors remain in long-term memory, and why a woman in a red dress commands attention not just culturally but neurologically. Naylor explores how color impacts space design, fashion choices, and personal presence, arguing that the right color is not about inherent qualities but about how confidently you wear it and how it makes you feel.

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1 month ago

49 minutes 27 seconds

The Unmistakable Creative Podcast

Jacob Sager Weinstein: The Memory Palace Method and Why You Cannot Synthesize What You Do Not Remember

Jacob Sager Weinstein, comedy writer for Dennis Miller and author of How to Remember Everything, shares how growing up in privileged Washington DC where the vice president's daughter was in his debate club gave him confidence to walk into any room but delayed his understanding that not everyone has equal access to opportunity until he reached Princeton. Weinstein reveals how writing for Dennis Miller taught him to find the Venn diagram between his voice and another's—a skill that translated perfectly to children's books where kids have the same BS detector for mechanical writing. He makes the case for memory in an information-saturated world: you cannot synthesize facts Google knows, only facts you know, which is why students must memorize foundational knowledge before creating something new. Weinstein introduces the memory palace method for turning hard-to-remember abstract information into easy-to-remember visual locations and explains the curve of forgetting where 75 percent of information vanishes within 24 hours unless you use spaced repetition to stretch retention from days to weeks to permanent memory.

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1 month ago

51 minutes 29 seconds

The Unmistakable Creative Podcast

Hillary Weiss: The Danger of Just Mindset and Why Imitation Is a Trap for Finding Your Golden Thread

Hillary Weiss, brand strategist and positioning coach, reflects on growing up in suburban South Florida where attending the same school for 14 years meant everyone remembered who peed their pants in pre-K yet created lifelong friendships that watched her evolve from emo to punk rock to professional white woman. Weiss challenges the dangerous mindset mantra in entrepreneurship, arguing that privilege and circumstance—like having a home to return to if everything went belly up—allow some people to take risks that others cannot afford. She introduces the elevator framework: going one floor down beneath surface-level statements like I help clients find their voice to uncover the golden thread that makes someone exceptional. Weiss explains why imitation is a reasonable starting point but becomes a trap when entrepreneurs copy successful people's maps without understanding why they do things a certain way, resulting in indistinguishable businesses wearing outfits not made for them. She warns against the Protestant work ethic that led her to six figures by 25 but also total burnout from working seven days a week.

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1 month ago

53 minutes 21 seconds

The Unmistakable Creative Podcast

Gautum Mukunda: The Paradox of Leader Selection and Why Unfiltered Presidents Are a Dangerous Gamble

Gautum Mukunda, Harvard professor and author of Indispensable: When Leaders Really Matter, reveals the paradox at the heart of leadership selection: the more effort you put into picking a leader, the less it matters who you pick. Drawing from decades of presidential history, Mukunda introduces the concept of filtered versus unfiltered leaders—George H.W. Bush represents the filtered ideal with 44 years in government before becoming president, while Barack Obama exemplifies the unfiltered wildcard with only three years in the Senate. Filtered leaders are predictably competent; unfiltered leaders are remarkable for better or worse, usually worse, because there are far more ways to fail than succeed. Mukunda argues that America picks unfiltered presidents half the time, more than any other major democracy, which explains both George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin Roosevelt at moments of crisis and spectacular failures in between. He warns that winning Russian roulette doesn't mean you should keep playing and explores why Indian American identity, immigrant narratives, and cultural preservation matter in an era when the president said his community's success damages America.

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1 month ago

58 minutes 48 seconds

The Unmistakable Creative Podcast

Cal Newport: Why Social Media Is Big Tobacco Not Big Oil and the Steam Whistle Theory of Attention

Cal Newport, computer science professor and author of Digital Minimalism, argues that the better analogy for social media is not big oil that must be broken up because it's vital to society but big tobacco that must be culturally rejected because it's unhealthy and dispensable—people don't care if you tell them to leave Facebook for six months but petroleum deprivation changes lives. Newport reveals Facebook's PR pivot after 2016 when defectors like Sean Parker exposed addiction engineering: Cambridge Analytica let Facebook redirect media attention to fixable privacy and content moderation issues instead of unfixable business-model problems like bleeding users' attention through steam whistle tweets. Drawing from Mark Harmon quitting Twitter and Neil Stephenson's famous essay Why I Am a Bad Correspondent, Newport explains the novelist's dilemma: each tweet is a steam whistle that bleeds energy needed to fuel the boiler for producing lasting work. He dismantles the myth that creators need social media to grow, arguing that people talking about your work on their channels matters infinitely more than you promoting yourself on yours.

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1 month ago

1 hour 6 minutes 33 seconds

The Unmistakable Creative Podcast

Ethan Kross: Mastering Your Inner Voice Before It Masters You

Psychologist and bestselling author Ethan Kross breaks down the science of *chatter*—the internal voice that can either empower or paralyze us. Drawing on decades of research in neuroscience and emotion regulation, Kross explains how introspection, while powerful, can often backfire, leading to rumination, anxiety, and impaired performance.In this conversation, Kross explores how our inner voices are shaped by parents, culture, and adolescence—and how we can take control through deliberate tools and techniques. He unpacks the emotional chaos of teenage years, the benefits of aging on self-regulation, and why older adults tend to be happier. He also discusses the dangers of toxic positivity, the importance of acknowledging negative emotions, and the underrated power of normalization in helping people understand they’re not alone in their struggles.This episode offers a clear, evidence-based roadmap for anyone seeking to calm their inner critic and build a healthier, more productive relationship with their mind.

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1 month ago

55 minutes 6 seconds

The Unmistakable Creative Podcast

Cal Newport: Cognitive Athleticism and Why Elite Performers Protect Their Attention

Computer science professor and bestselling author Cal Newport explains why cognitive fitness matters as much as physical fitness for elite performance. Drawing from his work with NBA teams and hedge fund managers, Newport breaks down the connection between attention control and exceptional achievement. He challenges the myth that social media grows your audience, revealing that craft—not constant self-promotion—drives lasting success. The conversation explores why our social brain can't process text-based connection, the engineering behind platform addiction, and how working backwards from deeply held values creates lasting behavioral change. Newport introduces the concept of "analog social media," explains why privacy debates distract from the real harm of digital overuse, and shares why protecting your cognitive resources from being bled out "one steam whistle tweet at a time" is essential for producing meaningful work.

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1 month ago

1 hour 6 minutes 33 seconds

The Unmistakable Creative Podcast

Eric Barker: The Science of Relationships and Why Playing Well with Others Matters More Than You Think

Eric Barker, bestselling author of Barking Up the Wrong Tree and Plays Well with Others, reveals what decades of social science research says about relationships, friendship, love, and meaning. From his journey through Hollywood screenwriting to the video game industry to running one of the most-read personal development blogs, Eric explains his obsession with translating peer-reviewed research into clear, entertaining, actionable insights. He breaks down why so many questions about happiness and connection have already been answered by science but locked away in ivory towers and how making this knowledge accessible became his life work. This conversation explores the frameworks that govern human connection and why relationship skills might be the ultimate meta-skill.

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1 month ago

1 hour 21 minutes 50 seconds

The Unmistakable Creative Podcast

Brea Starmer: Redefining Work Around Highest and Best Use, Not Hours Logged

Brea Starmer, founder of Lions and Tigers, challenges the outdated workplace model that measures face time over impact. Drawing from her experience as a mother of three running a company during COVID-19, she introduces the concept of "highest and best use"—a real estate framework adapted to human potential that prioritizes outcomes over hours logged. Starmer reveals why 11.5 million workers quit their jobs between April and June 2021 alone, with burnout as the number one driver and women of color disproportionately affected. She unpacks how traditional workplace structures fail parents, especially mothers, who navigate staccato schedules dictated by sick kids, COVID testing, and survival-mode 15-minute work chunks. Through Lions and Tigers' model of flexibility, inclusive culture, and organizational clarity, Starmer demonstrates why companies that center their people's actual needs achieve better collective results—and why the eight-hour workday built for a different era must be dismantled.

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1 month ago

45 minutes 18 seconds

The Unmistakable Creative Podcast

Dylan Beynon: Building Mindbloom and the Science of Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy

Dylan Beynon, founder of Mindbloom, shares the deeply personal story behind building the first at-home ketamine therapy platform. After losing his mother and sister to severe mental illness, Dylan became determined to bring psychedelic medicine into mainstream healthcare. He explains the neuroscience of how ketamine creates neuroplasticity—allowing the brain to rewire itself—and why these treatments are showing 10x better outcomes than SSRIs. From navigating FDA breakthrough therapy designations to dismantling decades of stigma from Nixon-era drug policy, Dylan reveals how Mindbloom is democratizing access to treatments that were once only available in $5,000 in-person clinics.

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1 month ago

54 minutes 9 seconds

The Unmistakable Creative Podcast

Douglass Vigliotti: Wrestling with Conviction and Why Creative Work Demands Uncomfortable Honesty

Douglass Vigliotti, author and creative, explores the tension between doubt and conviction that defines the creative process. Drawing from his parents, his father relentless drive and his mother empathy, Douglass reflects on what it means to pursue creative work when society constantly asks if you want more. This conversation examines the uncomfortable questions creatives must answer about their work, their purpose, and whether they are willing to embrace discomfort in service of something meaningful. From wrestling with exposure to navigating the intersection of art and survival, Douglass offers a candid look at the emotional labor of creating work that matters.

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1 month ago

57 minutes 5 seconds

The Unmistakable Creative Podcast

Donny Jackson: The Internalized Stains of Slavery and Why Empathy Cannot Develop Without Interaction Across Racial Lines

Donny Jackson, poet and psychologist, reflects on growing up as a working-class black kid in Pittsburgh where his father was a postal worker for 35 years and his mother was a nurse's aide—parents who instilled work ethic, integrity, and honor while navigating a world not built for young black children. Jackson traces the roots of American racism to the legacy of slavery where black people started as chattel on unequal footing and never shed that history, creating an internalized stain on both sides of the racial fence. He explains how separate but equal was never true, how tribalism prevents empathy development because it is much harder to oppress someone whose feelings you have taken into account, and why redlining and subtle discrimination in apartment rentals remain part of the disease of living a racialized life. Drawing from Isabel Wilkerson's research, Jackson highlights how FDR-era policies designed to improve American life excluded black people, creating structural racism that takes a toll. He warns that 70 million Trump voters represent at least 70 million reasons to remain fearful even after Biden's election.

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1 month ago

51 minutes 58 seconds

The Unmistakable Creative Podcast

Bjorn Ryan-Gorman: Coming Out as Gay in the Snowboarding World and Reclaiming Masculinity on Your Own Terms

Bjorn Ryan-Gorman, professional snowskater and LGBTQ+ advocate, shares his journey from hiding his sexuality behind aggressive board sports to building a life of authenticity in Portland. Growing up in Montana as a sponsored snow athlete, Ryan-Gorman used snowboarding and skateboarding as outlets for self-hatred and denial, pushing himself to dangerous extremes before hearing a podcast that changed everything. He reveals the complex reactions from family—his mom's unexpected resistance, his dad's surprising embrace, and grandparents who rejected him entirely. Ryan-Gorman explores masculine drag within the bear community, the importance of diverse LGBTQ+ representation beyond stereotypes, and the persistent question that haunts him in rural spaces: Am I safe here? This conversation challenges assumptions about what gay men look like, explores how coming out should be celebrated but not sensationalized, and offers insight into the ongoing struggle of navigating safety, identity, and belonging in America.

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1 month ago

45 minutes 23 seconds

The Unmistakable Creative Podcast

David Epstein: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World

David Epstein, author of Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World, dismantles the myth that early specialization is the only path to excellence. Drawing from research on elite athletes, musicians, and scientists, David reveals how individual variability in learning means there is no one-size-fits-all approach to skill development. He reframes the Tiger Woods and Mozart narratives, showing how their success came from internal drive, not just parental pressure. From his own journey—leaving Sports Illustrated to investigate drug cartels—David demonstrates why sampling periods, lateral thinking, and diverse experiences create more adaptable, innovative problem-solvers than narrow expertise alone.

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1 month ago

51 minutes 45 seconds

The Unmistakable Creative Podcast

Daniel Stillman: The Architecture of Conversations and Why Every Interface Shapes What We Say

Daniel Stillman, author of Good Talk: How to Design Conversations That Matter, reveals how conversations are designed—whether we realize it or not. Drawing from his background in design thinking and facilitation, Daniel breaks down the components of conversational architecture: openings, turns, power dynamics, and interfaces. He explains why physical and digital spaces fundamentally alter what conversations are possible, how to slow down heated exchanges through pacing and tone, and why the most important conversations we design might be the ones we have with ourselves. From boardrooms to Zoom rooms, Daniel shows how small changes to conversational structure can unlock radically different outcomes.

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1 month ago

1 hour 18 minutes 27 seconds

The Unmistakable Creative Podcast

Ayelet Fishbach: The Science of Motivation, Why Fantasies Fail, and Balancing Abstract Goals with Concrete Plans

Ayelet Fishbach, motivation researcher at University of Chicago, dismantles the fantasy-driven approach to New Year's resolutions and goal-setting. Drawing from data spanning multiple years, she reveals that while temporal landmarks like New Year work for initiating goals, only 20% of people still pursue them by November—the difference comes down to whether you're fantasizing or planning. Fishbach explains how fantasies (envisioning yourself already achieving the goal) actually decrease motivation to send job applications or take action, whereas concrete plans ("I will call my connections, work on my resume, here are the steps") drive execution. She introduces the critical balance between "why" questions (abstract purpose that prevents you from giving up) and "how" questions (concrete steps that enable execution), warning that goals become too abstract when they reach "I want to be happy" and too concrete when you lose sight of why you're doing them. The conversation explores Michael Phelps' visualization strategy (preparing for goggles filling with water, not just winning gold) and why optimism without planning is just delusional fantasy masquerading as motivation.

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1 month ago

1 hour 7 minutes 21 seconds