Interview with Justin Johnson

Brush with Creativity

Episode Three

Interview with Justin Johnson - Motivator, Coach, Creator, Musician and more!

Welcome to A Brush with Creativity. I'm your host, Tobin Pilotte, and I'm joined with my co -host, Jeff Siblic. Join us tonight as we take you on a captivating exploration of the diverse landscape of the imagination. For tonight's exploration, we've got a special guest on the show. Here at Brush with Creativity, we enjoy giving creatives a voice to express how they engage with their creativity from a wide variety of experiences and belief systems.

Tonight's guest, Justin Johnson, is a friend of the show. He's also a musician and a motivational life coach. Justin has a profoundly spiritual view of his creativity that we're going to explore with him. The creative work that Justin puts out into the world is helping people in all walks of life. If you're a creative person who wants to explore how you can leverage your creativity to improve the lives of others, Justin will surely give you some inspiration. So sit back, enjoy the vibes, and be inspired.

Where to find Justin Johnson:

YouTube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCfdn-TAWnMyb5fnOIERJH6Q

TikTok: https://vm.tiktok.com/TTPdA2GvoA/

www.tiktok.com/@jaejohnson111

LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/justin-johnson-915a1ab9 (http://linkedin.com/in/justin-johnson-915a1ab9)

Instagram: https://instagram.com/intangiblemotivation?r=nametag (https://instagram.com/intangiblemotivation?r=nametag)

Transcript:

Brush with creativity is back with Jeff Syblik and myself. This is going to be a little bit different show than we normally have, though. We've got a we've got a guest. Yes. Tell us about our guest this week, Jeff. Sure. This is Justin Johnson. He is a life coach and a social media creator. He is one of my favorite friends off of LinkedIn. How are you, Justin? I'm good, man. All is well.

Grateful to be here, man. Happy day, right? Blessing every day. Absolutely. Yes. And Justin was really great. When my mom was going through what she was going through, you know, with the cancer and everything, he was like, he was such a great support for me. So I think this is such a wonderful opportunity to kind of give back. So thank you so much for that, Justin. Yeah, for sure, man.

Do you like Justin or Jay better? Either or man, it doesn't really matter. I'll answer to whatever man. As long as it's not late for dinner, right? Right. So Justin, how long have you been on social media? I saw like two years. Has it been a lot longer than that? Yeah, I would say since really since COVID is really when I really started really getting out there and intangible motivation was created.

I got to check some of those videos out, especially the ones where you were uplifting your daughters. That was really, really, really nice touch. Yeah. Awesome. Awesome, man. Yeah. Thank you. I definitely appreciate it, man. I know I always try to use my gift or just my ideas and transform that into being something that could inspire somebody. So, you know, I feel like anything that we do, a lot of people, you know, they don't really own who they are.

And I feel that by me being able to say, what is it that you do and take that, right? That creativity in your imagination and shape it to, you know, what's unique to me. And I always try to find a way to try to be positive and, you know, help everybody out as like you've mentioned earlier, you know, you know, it was nothing for me. I don't look at it as, you know, I was look at it as, you know, true strength is, you know, helping others now. And they are in their moment, right? And we all.

Tobin K Pilotte (04:13.006)

for our moments in life, you know, and some people that may not have dealt with something traumatic, you know, we are gonna experience something, it's life, that's just what it is. But I feel like true strength is helping others when they are down and that's just who I am. So I'll find any way to try to, you know, bring that out, man, any light that I can bring out, that's just what I do. That's so important to have that mindset. And that's one of those magnetism type things that kind of,

draws people to you, even online that I see on LinkedIn. I just see that authentic self. So that's really neat. So I just want to let you know that, yeah, we see that loud and clear. Do you feel the same way, Tobin? Absolutely. Absolutely. I think one of the things that we've been talking about for many, many episodes now is what in your creative self really motivates and inspires you. And what is

you know, what does it mean to kind of tap into your creativity, your gift and, and, and put it out there into the world. And I think one of the things that you, that you hit on early was, you know, it's out there for other people, right? And, you know, you're really, you're really putting your creative gift out there for other people to see. Tell us a little bit about yourself and, and, and kind of a little bit about your creative process. Man, I'm really just a simple human being, just a.

very passionate person, man, that, you know, just loves to put out kindness into this world and just try to help others. There's so much darkness going on. I mean, we see it all over the news every time you turn on the news. I mean, there's something going on and, and you just see it. And for me, it's just, I, I try to, I aspire to inspire this world, right? Bring that love to inspire the world for people all over this world, right? Just be that light, right? And just be that more star, you know,

or be that the lighthouse, you know, for everybody guiding them. So that's pretty much what, who I am. And then for my, just the creative process for me, I would say, you know, I'm still in that outlining phase where I'm still trying to bring everything home and trying to understand, okay, because I'm always adjusting and readjusting, right? And so it's like, okay, I have this idea.

Tobin K Pilotte (06:38.318)

we can have this idea, but at the same time, you don't want to limit yourself, right to say, Okay, well, I have this idea. But wait a minute, let's not be so quick to act like what else can we do here? Right? How else can we go? So I never want to say, Hey, so it's all about me just adjusting and readjusting, taking those ideas down. Okay, I got this idea, whether it's poetry, whether it's a message or some sort. It's okay, if I do a couple of lines here, and I may do a seriously make a whole paragraph and then

next thing I know, like, oh, I don't like that. Let me go back and just, you know, I want to be able to make sure that, you know, during that process that I'm being as creative as possible, but also make sure that there's a message that you take away from it. Yeah, absolutely. I think you kind of hit on some things there, especially about that perfectionism that we all battle as creatives. You know,

especially like when I'm doing a LinkedIn post or something, I just want to tweak it, tweak it, tweak it. And then sometimes before, you know, it's like three, four hours have gone by and I'm still tweaking. Yeah. That's true. I mean, that's kind of, I really, really feel like that's what it takes though. Sometimes, you know, we got to let that go sometimes and just, I feel like going with the flow because you can sit there, like you said, three to four hours, but then it's like, all right, let me just allow it to be, this came to me, this message came to me. So let me just, if it,

If it touches one person, if it helps one person, if it reaches one or two, that's good enough for me. That's how my approach is really. That's beautiful. Yeah, definitely. And I've felt that for a long time as a teacher, as a former teacher, it's just a matter of finding that one person that when you do something, it actually feels of benefit to them. Absolutely. So.

What gets you up in the morning? Cause you're up at two in the morning working out. What gets you up in the morning? I gotta say something here. Jeff told me that and I thought, so I'm a design director. I have a bunch of designers I've worked with over the years. Most of them are half my age. So, when they hear the old man gets up at four in the morning every day, they're just, their minds are blown. And then,

Tobin K Pilotte (08:53.934)

I hear that you get up at 2 a .m. every day. Is this for real? Yeah, this is serious, man. I get up. I feel like here's my my, you know, whole, I guess, ideology on that is one. One is my desire to become better. Right. It's the discipline. And, you know, I believe highly in self mastery. So I'm committed to that. And, you know, the next thing is the reasons why, because, you know, I get up, I work out, I journal and I meditate, I pray and I feel like.

while the world is sleeping, the world that time is just for me because as soon as you get up, right, there's gonna be emails, maybe text messages from the next day and it's like, okay, you gotta go get it, you gotta go get it. There's so many demands. You haven't taken time for yourself. So I look at it as, okay, what have you done for yourself before you've given your energy and your time to this world? And I'm like, okay, those are those little micro wins that I call it. And it's like, okay,

All right, I conquered this. I've done this for myself. Okay, now, no matter how much the day goes, I can go back and say, hey, you know what, we got up there too. And we hit the gym, we meditated, we worked out, you know, and just kind of invested into ourselves. That's kind of like my thought behind all of that. I love that. I can relate to that so much. I've always called it the quiet time of the day. I've done it since I was in the army, but you know, I think, you know, raising six kids over the years.

it's been the same kind of thing. You know, it's, it's, that's your time when the whole world's asleep, when the whole family's asleep, when you can, when you can be at one with, with God, be at one with your creative spirit. I do a lot of sketch journaling myself. So I'm right there with you. I know what that's like. I got to get in the gym in the morning. That's the one thing that's where you got me beat. It just takes it, man. It's just like 1 % changes, man. I mean, like I said, and then don't beat yourself up. It's just, if you know it's there and you want it,

you know, I feel like, you know, most of us, and I'm not knocking anybody, but I look at it as, you know, most of us, we chase that wealth, right? And we also chase, you know, like whatever the demands are of life. But at the same token, I feel that, you know, if we invest into ourselves, into our health, right, that's the new wealth. That's to me, right? And so, I mean, ultimately, and I'm not trying to shame anybody, but it was just a thing that I've gotten to, you know, over the years, you know, that I've been doing this for a long, long time, but.

Tobin K Pilotte (11:18.222)

You know, I just something that I kept there. And I think the discipline was there. The discipline is there. And then I just always look for ways. Like if my mind says we can't do something or somebody tells me I can't, I'm like, okay, let's all right, fine. And I battle with myself, right? Because it's us versus us. We're the competition with ourselves. Very good. People look at it as I got to be the greatest or we're in competition with this person and it's all fun. But in reality, I'm in competition with myself. Yes. Yes, absolutely.

When I look at your videos, when you, and I watched those, tell me a little bit about just like, where do you get the inspiration? You know, so you, here I'm watching a video of you at some particular point in time, you sat down and you recorded that. Did you record that off the cuff? Was there a process that went into that? What, where was the source of the inspiration that you had for that?

I would say my source is, you know, there's always this burning. I like to call it, and I like to be graphic visually, is there's this fire, this flame that's burning inside of me. And no matter how much I, you know, I want to give up, there's times, I don't know if you guys experienced that, especially as creep, you know, in your creative process or just, you know, you feel like, man, it's just not happening and you just want to give up. And there's times where you're like, you know what, I'm telling you, there's times that I seriously,

you know, didn't want to do anything anymore with intangible motivation because I just was going through so many things. But then it was just, like I said, this, this flame that's inside of me that no matter if this wind or this hurricane or this storm coming through it, never wanted to die out. So that's that, that burning desire, you know, keeps me inspired to go make these, these videos, right? Of motivation. I look at it as,

Honestly, I've had a buddy of mine that took his life on social media. A buddy of mine that another daughter, his daughter took her life due to bullying in school. Oh, sorry. Where I was like, you know, hey, look, I can sit here and I can quit. I can sit here and I can stop. I can sit here and I can complain about what's going on in this world or be the solution or I can at least help. I can at least get out and use what God has given me.

Tobin K Pilotte (13:39.822)

to, you know, like I said, you know, our unique, our creativity, right, letting it flow our imagination, but you know, shaping it to where it's yours, right. And then, okay, I have something to give, we're all unique, we all got this gift. Let me share this with the world. And if this can touch somebody by me just being me and saves somebody, that's what keeps me going. And it's like, there are moments, man, I'm telling you, like, even when I first started these videos, you know, I mean, Jeff, you know, about it, it's like,

When I first started these videos, dude, you know, I didn't want to do it. I was, I was my own worst enemy. I was like making fun of myself or thinking what other people were thinking like, dude, you sounded stupid. Oh my God, let's go delete it. Let's stop this. No, who do you think you are? Go out here and put out this message. Who are you? Gotcha. And so it just, that keeps me going and keeps me inspired. Cause it's like, there's something telling me no, but then there's a great force, that flame inside of me that keeps me going. Wow. I like that. I like that visual.

Yeah. So when you see that flame inside of you, is it like a certain color? Polka dot? No, sorry. Is it like blue or orange? It's a real red and orange. I see it as a red, orange, and for some reason, and I don't know, I'm a real poetic person, but I see this candle or this torch that's there and the flame just never goes away and it keeps me up and it, you know, it's.

Because there are times, like I told you guys, I didn't want to do it. There's times I was like, man, I wasn't seeing the results. I wasn't seeing things that I wanted. And then it was just like, you get frustrated, right? It's just no matter what, even though I said I didn't want to, it's like, okay, here we go again. Here's another thought. Here's another video. Here's another idea. Here's another poem. And it's like, I guess let's go do this. So it's just that flame never lets me stop. That's, I feel like that's to make that positive change that we need in the save lives.

Yeah, that's amazing. That is amazing. Yeah, absolutely. What I think one of the things you were talking about with regards to frustration that comes to my mind is that when I think about frustration in my life, there's two ways to think about it for me. There's the way to think about frustration being something that's an impediment to my getting to where I want to be. But then,

Tobin K Pilotte (16:03.086)

I think a lot of times in meditation, where I feel like the spirit of God is kind of guiding me in my particular life is that where I'm most frustrated is where I'm most being called to be and act. Yeah, it's terrifying though, really, if you think about it. If you look at your life and you think about the things that are the most frustrating to you and then you were to think about like,

maybe that's where God's calling me to the greatest amount of action, right? As a creative person, especially when I'm creatively frustrated with something, then I go, oh, but that's where I'm being called to. That's really scary because it would be so much easier to just say, I'm not gonna do that. That's too hard. That's too hard. It's too hard to do a nine foot wide painting. Like.

I'll just do something small. Pretty simple. Yeah, a little thumbnail. Yeah, that's funny that you say that. So there was this, I know it was very crazy to me. I remember, I'll never forget it. I remember like it was yesterday. I was in the gym and I was, I remember exactly what song, but I listened to a lot of, I'm a loving guy. I love, you know, loving music.

And something I started crying out of nowhere. And it was it was insane. I was literally bawling and and I felt like God said to me, I want you to write this poem. And it was about hunger. And literally, I literally wrote a poem called The World is Hungry. And that's also on my YouTube as well. But funny about it is, and I'm serious, it was submitted to feed the hungry.

foundation. And it was accepted as one of their one of their poems that they're going to be using to advertise. So it was actually crazy that that's wonderful. I created the poem and they wanted it. I didn't believe it. I just was doing what was in my heart. Right now, you know, despite their beliefs, whatever they believe in, you know, I just felt this strong conviction that said, hey, you need to do this.

Tobin K Pilotte (18:28.558)

And then I literally said, okay. And I sat down and it just flowed. Like, I mean, I didn't, I almost like there was no readjustments and I'll stop. And it was just bleeding out of my, out of my mind, out of my heart. And I was just like, okay, cool. We're doing this. Oh, wow. The world is hungry. So I just tie into what you were saying is just, you know, you can look at it. It's like, you know what? No, I don't want to do that. You don't want to listen to that voice. You don't want to listen to your heart. And it's like, no, I want to, but that's not right. You know,

And so I just followed my intuition and just went with it. Yes, that's amazing. That's a beautiful thing. Jeff and I have talked a lot about on previous episodes that we've recorded where we've talked about the creative process and for different artists and creative people throughout history, going all the way back into antiquity, right? Where that voice comes from. And we've talked a lot about what different beliefs and ideas of what that voice was.

I think both