Welcome back to The Creative Life Podcast!

Most creators don’t have a talent problem—they have a completion problem.

We are a generation of open tabs, half-written drafts, and "Albatross Projects"—those unfinished works that weigh us down more than the pride of what we’ve actually completed. If you’re starting 2026 with a dozen open loops, you don’t need more goals. You need a blueprint to finish what you’ve already started.

In this episode, I break down why every habit, hour, and "no" in your life must point to one thing. I share the exact system I’m using to "cauterize" my side quests and finally cross the finish line with my new album.

Whether you are a musician, writer, or artist, it’s time to stop the multiplication and start the completion.

What you’ll learn:

• 🎯 The Power of One: Why building an audience follows the work—not the other way around.
• ⚔️ The Binary Filter: How a "Hierarchy of Choice" eliminates the daily negotiation with yourself.
• 🛡️ Cutting the Hydra: Why focus isn't about doing more, but having the courage to do fewer things.
• 🎹 The Hardest First: How to turn creative resistance into a daily ritual that actually moves the needle.
• 🏗️ The Finished Arc: Why completing a project is the only way to find your next self.

Let’s get into it.
Jim

All music in this episode is mine — stream it on Spotify.

Jim Kroft Links:
YouTube | Newsletter | Spotify | Instagram | X

Welcome back to The Creative Life Podcast.

December has a way of turning unfinished work into self-judgment.

Projects stall. Energy drops. And suddenly what you’ve been building all year starts to feel like failure—simply because there isn’t enough time left to finish it.

This episode is about doing the opposite of what society demands right now.

Not forcing a fresh start.
Not pushing through exhaustion.
But learning how to pause without abandoning the work—so you return in January with momentum, not burnout.

I call it The December Reset: a way to forgive yourself, protect what you’ve already built, and store energy for the year ahead—rather than walking into January carrying a backpack full of pressure.

If you’re a creative ending the year tired, unsure, or questioning how far you’ve come, this episode offers a steadier way forward.

What you’ll learn:

• 🕰️ Why projects take longer than we plan—and how accepting the real timeline restores momentum
• 🎒 How December forgiveness becomes fuel for January, instead of dragging burnout forward
• ✋ Why the “fresh start” myth quietly kills good work—and what to do instead
• 🧭 How to close the year without starting again, so continuity stays intact
• 🔥 A simple way to return in January with direction, not pressure

This isn’t about finishing everything.

It’s about staying with what matters—and learning how to continue, rather than quit.

I'm your host Jim Kroft, let's dive in!

All music in this episode is mine — available on Spotify.

📬 Substack - The Creative Life Newsletter https://www.jimkroft.substack

📺 YouTube https://www.youtube.com/jimkroft

🎧 Spotify Music: spoti.fi/4aHoI0Y

📷 Instagram: https://bit.ly/3Scy6S3

🎙️Podcast: https://bit.ly/3OycQVO

Hi guys,

This is an adaptation of a script that I wrote for my YouTube - I thought that the ideas inside it might be really helpful for anyone who is wrestling with themselves, their work or the question of how to get better.

At the moment I am being called massively by my musical heart, and it's opening so many questions, insights and provocations about the next steps of my own creative life.

It means that I am spending far more time practising again, and this single focus - of trying to get better, is reducing my overall time to tailor my "content" for different channels.

However, when I think there is value in something worth sharing - I will share it here - and please forgive instances like this when I haven't adapted precisely for the podcast.

I want to be led first by idea and if something's worth sharing, than by the vagaries of formatting.

If you would like to join me on my YouTube you are most welcome of course!

Big love, Jim
LINKS
📺 YouTube https://www.youtube.com/jimkroft
📬 Substack - The Creative Life Newsletter https://www.jimkroft.substack

🎧 Spotify Music: spoti.fi/4aHoI0Y

📷 Instagram: https://bit.ly/3Scy6S3

🎙️Podcast: https://bit.ly/3OycQVO

“The Creative Life Newsletter” — for people balancing creativity with the demands of work and life.
Written weekly from Berlin.
👉 https://jim-kroft.short.gy/0925A/Jim-Kroft-newsletter
----
Welcome back to The Creative Life Podcast.

In the last couple of episodes, I talked about a period of resistance in my creative life.
Today, I wanted to go deeper. Not to repeat myself — but to make the lessons clearer, more practical, and more usable for anyone facing their own block.

Because resistance isn’t abstract.
It has a message.
It has a direction.
And when you finally stop avoiding it, it becomes the doorway back to your real work.

In this episode, I break down exactly how I moved from being stuck — creatively, emotionally, spiritually — to reconnecting with the centre of my project, rebuilding momentum, and making the big decisions that changed the year.

Whether you’re a musician, writer, or artist trying to find your way back to what matters, this episode gives you a step-by-step you can actually use.

What's Inside:

• 🧭 How resistance shows up when you’ve drifted from your real creative driver
• 🙏 Why surrender, not effort, is often the turning point
• ✍️ How to name the one move you’ve been avoiding — and finally make it
• 🧹 What removing obstacles does for your creative energy
• 🎶 How reconnecting to the habit brings the work alive again

Let’s get into it.

All music in this episode is mine — stream it on Spotify.

Jim Kroft Links:
📬 Substack - The Creative Life Newsletter https://www.jimkroft.substack

📺 YouTube https://www.youtube.com/jimkroft

🎧 Spotify Music: spoti.fi/4aHoI0Y

📷 Instagram: https://bit.ly/3Scy6S3

🎙️Podcast: https://bit.ly/3OycQVO

✉️ The Creative Life Newsletter

The artist’s journey is long. I write a newsletter to help you stay on it 👉 https://jim-kroft.short.gy/0925A/Jim-Kroft-newsletter

___________________

Welcome back to The Creative Life Podcast.

This week I’m sharing the story behind a three-month stretch of deep creative resistance — a period where I thought I was breaking down, only to realise something far more important was breaking out of me.

It’s a personal episode, but a hopeful one. Because what came out of this resistance has given me the clearest sense of direction I’ve had in years.

If you’re a creative who feels dispersed, off-centre, or unable to return to your core work, I think there will be lots of good stuff in here for you.

• 🎯 Why resistance hits hardest when you’ve drifted too far from your centre
• 🎹 How one raw moment at the piano was a gateway back to my own musical heart
• 🧭 How to recognise misalignment before it becomes a full creative stall (especially when dispersed)
• ✂️ Why radical subtraction can help you get back to the core
• 🔄 How to rebuild momentum when you’ve lost the thread of a project

Thanks guys - rating and reviewing (or even better sharing!) so appreciated!
Jim

All music in this episode is my own — stream it on Spotify.
Jim Kroft Links:

📺 YouTube https://www.youtube.com/jimkroft

🎧 Spotify Music: spoti.fi/4aHoI0Y

📷 Instagram: https://bit.ly/3Scy6S3

📬 Substack - The Creative Life Newsletter https://www.jimkroft.substack

✉️ The Creative Life Newsletter

The artist’s journey is long. I write a newsletter to help you stay on it 👉 https://jim-kroft.short.gy/0925A/Jim-Kroft-newsletter

____

🎤 Welcome back to The Creative Life Podcast.

This episode is a counterpart to last week’s — but where that one was raw, unscripted, and full of spontaneous ideas in real-time, this one is more structured and delves deeper into the underlying themes.

It all began with a moment that shook me: walking into my creative space and feeling I had nothing to give.

But that feeling turned out to be a doorway — not into emptiness, but into the deeper truth of why we drift from our creative Self, and how we start finding our way back.

Drawing on ideas from Jung and Joseph Campbell, I explore why a creative block isn’t a dead end but an invitation. An inner signal that something in our life, our work, or our attention needs to change.

If you’re a creative feeling overwhelmed, flooded, or disconnected from the work you love, this episode offers a path back to building up new momentum & a way to reconnect with your centre of meaning:

• 💧 Why we feel “empty” when the real issue is inner flooding
• 🧭 How a single honest sentence can guide you back to the Self
• 🌀 Why blocks are signals of transformation, not failure
• 🔍 How societal + tech pressure seeps into your inner life
• 🔥 Where momentum returns when you rebuild from the core

Thank you for all the support for getting here, guys - here's to Episode 50!
Jim

LINKS

📬 Substack - The Creative Life Newsletter https://www.jimkroft.substack

📺 YouTube https://www.youtube.com/jimkroft

🎧 Spotify Music: spoti.fi/4aHoI0Y

📷 Instagram: https://bit.ly/3Scy6S3

🎙️Podcast: https://bit.ly/3OycQVO

🎙️ The Creative Life
Episode 49: Why We Stop Doing the Thing We Started

This week, I’m exploring one of the hardest parts of creative life — why we stop doing the thing we started. Every project begins with excitement and momentum. Then comes the middle, where time, distraction, and doubt creep in. The work that once flowed starts to feel heavy, and the question becomes how to keep going when the spark fades.

Recorded in one take from my studio in Berlin’s old power station, this episode looks at:

1. why projects lose energy
2. how to find your rhythm again
3. what it really means to finish the work

If you're struggling to finish something you've started, this episode is for you. I know this state very well—not just from the six documentaries and six albums I completed, but from the many projects that fell by the wayside. Today, I share everything I've learned from both sides of the struggle, drawing out the universal lessons for your own creative journey.

As ever thank you for being here,
Jim Kroft

LINKS

📬 Substack - The Creative Life Newsletter https://www.jimkroft.substack

📺 YouTube https://www.youtube.com/jimkroft

🎧 Spotify Music: spoti.fi/4aHoI0Y

📷 Instagram: https://bit.ly/3Scy6S3

🎙️Podcast: https://bit.ly/3OycQVO

📬 Substack - The Creative Life Newsletter

https://www.jimkroft.substack

Welcome back to The Creative Life Podcast

This week’s episode is about the routines we’ve grown too attached to — the ones we built to survive another time in our lives but never thought to question.

I realised mine were no longer serving me. They were built for who I was, not who I’m becoming. So I tore them up and gave up alcohol, not as a test of will, but to serve my creative energy better.

It made me notice something larger. We’ve become strangely comfortable living with fatigue, low moods, and dark thoughts, without ever challenging the lifestyle that goes with them. We accept the symptoms without questioning their cause.

What followed for me was a period of reawakening: better sleep, clearer thoughts, and a renewed excitement for life and work. In this episode, I share what I changed, why I did it, and how breaking old patterns can open space for who you’re meant to become.

This isn’t about productivity. It’s about reclaiming the energy and clarity that make you feel alive.

What you’ll learn:

• 🧭 How to recognise when your routine belongs to a past version of you
• ⚡ Why energy, not time, is the real creative foundation
• 🍷 What giving up alcohol revealed about mood, focus, and clarity
• 🔍 How to challenge habits that quietly dull your potential
• 🔥 Why breaking one pattern can transform your creative life

I'm your host, Jim Kroft, thank you so much for being here
Let's dive in!

📺 YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/jimkroft

🎧 Spotify Music:

spoti.fi/4aHoI0Y

📷 Instagram:

https://bit.ly/3Scy6S3

🎙️Podcast:

https://bit.ly/3OycQVO