We were lucky to catch up with Adam Greenfield recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Adam, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
I admit, I came to resilience late in life. It wasn’t something I always had or even thought I had until at least my mid to late 30’s (I’m 49 now). The problem with resiliency is you have to struggle to know you’re resilient. And struggle I did. Whether it was as a child, a teenager, or an adult, struggle was just part of everyday life. That, then, bleeds into behaviors and mindsets and before you know it, you’re depressed, on the wrong path in life, losing jobs and money, and pushing middle age without clear direction or even any sense of hope.
Well, at least I was. I had hints of being resilient, like when I completed college while working full-time in my late 20s. But these were few and far between. Surely there were others but at the time, I really hadn’t proven myself to myself. Not yet.
And so I made my last stand in life, decided to give it one last push before I closed the curtains, and moved to San Diego from Iowa with $500, no job, two cats, and a car full of whatever belongings I could fit in there. (Trust me, not a lot can fit in a 2001 Saturn.) I dug into the one passion I’d had since childhood, writing stories and poetry. I joined a writers group, I attended and performed at poetry readings, and eventually created and hosted my own poetry readings. In 2015 my first ever book, Regarding the Monkey, a collection of poetry, was published by Puna Press, a small, independent press. I even became a regional editor for the San Diego Poetry Annual.
My life is drastically different from April 15th, 2008, the day I arrived in San Diego. I’ve fought through corporate jobs, layoffs, financial scares that you just don’t want while living in one of the most expensive cities in the country. Don’t even get me started on lost loves and pets. But I knew I couldn’t move back to Iowa or Maryland. I just couldn’t. I was miserable most of the time in those places, and struggling- ahem, learning resiliency in San Diego was the only way for me. It worked, too. I now have enough behind me to know that when times are tough and I feel hopeless, I am strong enough to come out the other side. Perhaps not entirely unscathed but I’ll make it through, and surely even be a better person for it.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
You know, when people ask, “So, what do you do?” I always reply, “I’m an author and podcast producer.” And that answer is so satisfying to me because these two professions I care about deeply. Writing is something I’ve done since I was a child and writing stories was and still is the only thing I want to do all day, every day. When I get mired in ruts where I don’t write for a few days, I can physically feel it and I get very, very grumpy. Writing is my caffeine or sugar fix.
In 2013 I dove into podcasting and have since made a career out of it. I have clients and invoices and independent contractor status and I make estimated tax payments. It’s a whole thing, and I love it. Writing will always be my true love but podcasting is a perfect second love.
It seems a lot of where we look just tells us the world is on fire. And perhaps it is. But that’s why I write and make podcasts. I’ve found a comforting respite from the storm with stories and podcasts. If I can provide any sense of relief to anyone with my writing or podcasts- even just one person- that’s an uplifting connection that can’t be matched. We all could use more of that in our lives.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
The one quality I’ve had my entire life and can say without any ego that I’m very proud of is my creativity. And this can be within the arts or even just finding a new path towards a goal when one ends unexpectedly. Every day, it seems, I have a new idea for a new creative project that I don’t have time for. So I write it down and hope there’ll be time later. Sometimes there is, most of the time there isn’t. But the list is there. There are also some project ideas that won’t let me sleep so I have to get creative with my time and fit the new project in so I can rest at night.
That creativity sorta bleeds into another area or quality that is just as important, which is the desire to never stop learning. With minimal help in the beginning, I taught myself how to read at three years old. It was pretty much go-time after that when it came to reading and absorbing knowledge. The drive to never stop learning was also a big part of how I created my podcasting career. With no prior schooling or knowledge of how to record audio (let alone how sound even worked) I took an audio class at a community college and became a student at YouTube University (not a real college) where there are countless videos on how to do, well, anything. Ten years later, I make a living with audio simply because I wanted to learn a new thing.
The third quality to have, which may be the most important one of all, is humility. Failure is part of the learning process and you should also (gasp!) celebrate failure. It’s an opportunity to learn something new (see: Quality #2 above) about not just what you failed to accomplish but, more importantly, about yourself. Humility in these moments is valuable. It reminds you that you’re still growing your knowledge base and to not be so hard on yourself when you fail. Humility is the hand that reaches down when you’re on the ground, helps you up to your feet, then sets you back on your way.
What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?
Time and the lack thereof. I wear multiple hats so I’m always involved in some sort of project or event. For the longest time I was only able to make incremental progress on everything, while other things I mightily wanted to do and finish never seemed to get done. I finally decided to implement some sort of time management plan. Sure, I could just cut some things out but I really enjoy all the things I’m doing. It’d be like cutting off an appendage.
These days, I dedicate full weeks to one particular creative avenue. One week I’ll spend each day getting as much writing in and finishing up writing projects. The following week I spend the days doing podcast work. I then alternate back and forth, each week getting as much done as I can before the switch to the other creative passion.
Is it working? So far, yeah, it is. I’ve found when I’m writing, I’m not as worried about all the podcast work I need to do because I’ve already done it, and vice versa. I’m completing projects, finishing stories and poetry, and in an unintended result I’m very happy about, I’m getting a little more rest at night because of the lack of anxiety of all that’s on my plate.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://thewrittenscene.transistor.fm/
- Instagram: @thewrittenscenepodcast / @Adam92102
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuTI3fxg6lBgvv6jCfHatEuRhlkjGfyKL
Image Credits
Killian Whitelock
Chad Hartgrave (book cover)
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
