When Knowing Isn't Enough
Most creatives I work with know exactly what they need to do. They know they need to set boundaries. They know they should say no more often. They know their work has value and they should charge accordingly. They know. And yet.
There’s this gap between knowing and doing that becomes its own kind of paralysis. And here’s what I’ve noticed: the same people who can solve complex problems for their clients in a matter of days will spend years stuck in their own narrative, using that same strategic brilliance to prototype every possible disaster scenario. Perfect precision. Wrong direction.
I just rejoined Graphic Support Group—this time as a regular contributor. James Chae and Drew Litowitz invited me back not for another one-off conversation, but for an ongoing collaboration. Which means we get to sit with these tensions over time.
This first episode sets the tone.
We talked about the mental Figma file most creatives maintain. The one filled with worst-case scenarios, crafted with the same care they’d bring to any client project. We talked about boulders and capitalism and obligations. About suspicion (James admitted he was initially wary of working with me—good). About spiraling (Drew’s word).
But mostly we talked about that gap. The one between knowing what you need to do and actually being able to move.
Here’s what I’ve learned about that gap:
It’s not about motivation. It’s not about discipline. It’s about energy.
When you’re spending your creative energy designing disaster scenarios—mapping out every way things could go wrong, every person who might be disappointed, every possible failure—there’s nothing left for forward movement. You’ve allocated all your resources to threat assessment.
This is where creatives get especially stuck. Because you’re good at this kind of thinking. You can hold multiple scenarios in your head simultaneously. You can anticipate problems before they happen. These are professional assets when applied to client work.
But when turned inward? They become the very thing keeping you paralyzed.
The work isn’t about adding more information or getting clearer on what you should do. You already know. The work is about redirecting that energy. About taking all that strategic capacity and aiming it somewhere that actually serves you.
That’s what I mean by “conservation of energy.” Not physics. Not productivity hacks. Just: where is your energy actually going? And what would change if you redirected it?
Most of my clients experience a shift within the first 30 minutes of working together. Not because I gave them new information, but because they finally had space to articulate what they already knew and redirect their energy accordingly.
My job isn’t to give you advice. It’s to create space for you to articulate what you already know but haven’t been able to say out loud.
That’s what this conversation reflects. It’s messy. It’s honest. It doesn’t wrap up neatly. But it gets somewhere real.
This is the first of many. If you’ve ever felt stuck despite being good at what you do—if you’ve ever known exactly what you need to do but couldn’t do it—listen to this.
Listen here:
For podcast listeners: I’m offering free 30-minute discovery calls. No pitch. Just space.
Link on the episode page
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