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Playing With Networking (Weekly Recap 10/11/2025)
When Empty Hands Keep Moving: How Process, Presence, and Proof of Possibility Shape Creative Lives
Matt Zeigler
October 11, 2025
Let's connect some dots from this week's notes...
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Sometimes the most honest creative work happens when we admit we're stuck. This reflection captures that moment of frustration when you want the idea now, organized and articulated, ready to deploy. But creativity doesn't work on demand. It requires ritual, practice, and the willingness to move your hands even when they feel empty. The tension between wanting outcomes and honoring process lives at the heart of every creative practice. This isn't about productivity hacks or efficiency gains. It's about showing up to the work, again and again, trusting that movement matters more than having something to hold.
Quote from the Personal Archive - when the hands are empty but still moving
Creativity is not an outcome, in and of itself. Creativity is the process of working an idea out. It demands the process. Creativity requires ritual. An expression. A feeling, with shape. A shape, with feelings.
We can use AI to summarize, pattern-match, inspire, and assist. That's valuable. But there's one line we cannot cross: outsourcing our feelings. Your gut reactions, your taste, your unique pattern-matching across experiences - these are what make you one of one among 8 billion. AI tools are designed to validate, to keep you engaged, to give you pleasing responses. That becomes dangerous when applied to how you interpret the world. What keeps us human is our flaws, our idiosyncrasies, the messy way our experiences connect in unknowable corners. This isn't about rejecting tools. It's about protecting what makes you irreplaceable.
Quote from the Personal Archive - on staying human in the age of everything
We are one of 8 billion souls on this planet right now, but we are also one of one. If we outsource our gut feelings, if we outsource taste, then there's no humanity left. Keep it soulful. Keep your feelings yours.
At 2,870+ days of daily posting, file corruption hit at the worst possible time. The video wouldn't render. The podcast wouldn't work. Multiple people were counting on content that suddenly couldn't be delivered. This is the worst part of streaks - watching something you've built threaten to break through no fault of your own. But it's also the best part, because streaks force you to find a way. The constraint became the catalyst. The Horror Fest promo that needed to be made anyway became the solution, shot from scratch on a Wednesday morning between client meetings. Streaks teach the difference between commitment and rigidity. They're not about perfection. They're about being present, even when it gets messy. Especially when it gets messy.
Quote from the Personal Archive - when corruption forces creativity
Streaks can work for you or work against you. They can force you to learn the difference between commitment and rigidity - to realize the point isn't perfection, but being present, even when it gets all messy.
The best thing anyone ever did was leave a trail of breadcrumbs out of NEPA. Not instructions - proof of possibility. A touring band at a local café. A weird movie at the video store. Evidence that someone from somewhere else did something cool, which meant maybe you could too. Bobby Keller gets this. For eleven years he's been showing films at NEPA Horror Fest, bringing the outside world in, creating bat signals for creative souls. That's why Cultish Creative is sponsoring this year. Because breadcrumbs matter. Because showing up and doing something cool in your hometown can change someone's entire trajectory. The message "you can do this too" is the most important one anyone receives. If no one's leaving breadcrumbs in your community, maybe it's your turn.
Quote from the Personal Archive - on proof of possibility
Each of those breadcrumbs weren't just instructions. They were proof of possibility. I didn't know what I'd do with that proof. Not exactly at least.
In 1996 at Electric Lady Studios, Common came back from a movie audition completely dejected. Mos Def was there. His friends did what friends do - they started roasting him, mashing up "Umi Says" with "Bills, Bills, Bills" to mock his failed audition with Beyoncé. But Bilal heard something in that mashup. In one take, they captured "Sometimes," a neo-soul classic built entirely from picking on a friend who didn't get the part. Every great creative moment rhymes with this story. Making a small group of friends smile is always present. Nothing great happens in complete isolation. Even the hits start by making a few friends smile. The origin story doesn't diminish the artistry - it reveals how the best work often emerges from the most human moments.
Quote from the Personal Archive - Questlove on how classics get made
Common walks back in through the door... His shoulders are hunched. He's completely dejected. His friends are gathering around asking what happened. Common tells them, "Mos Def was there."
Standing in a nursing home hallway, Uncle Tim announced he'd been "doing a bunch of grannies in there" - meaning he'd been untying granny knots on a seat cushion. Three doors opened. Grandmotherly women poked their heads out. Hearing aids had been cranked up. What followed was exactly what you'd expect: laughter, embarrassment, explanations about surgical knot terminology falling on deaf ears. Of all the things we pass down across generations, an immature sense of humor has to be one of the best. This is what makes us human - not our polish, but our ability to laugh at accidental absurdity, to be 13 years old sometimes regardless of actual age. Content really does create itself sometimes, especially when you're willing to capture the messy, ridiculous, deeply human moments.
Quote from the Personal Archive - when surgical terminology meets cranked hearing aids
"Tim, you realize you just announced somebody was doing a bunch of grannies in there, and every cranked hearing aid in the county just heard you announce it."
Where Else I Showed Up This Week
Justin and I had Katie Stockton back on Excess Returns for a macro chart roundup - she's one of our favorite technical analysts and always brings clarity to what the markets are actually saying versus what everyone's yelling about:
My friend and increasingly frequent collaborator Bogumil Baranowski had a post featured in the Wall Street Journal, so naturally I had to interview him about it. When someone you work with gets picked up by the WSJ, you document that moment:
(If you haven’t read it yet, his post that they featured - and, shoutout to Spencer Jakab too - give it a click: The Expensive Truth About Cheap Investments)
Personal Archive Prompts
What creative process have you been rushing that actually requires you to slow down and trust the movement?
WHAT LINE WON'T YOU CROSS with AI or other tools - where do you protect your humanity?
Who left breadcrumbs for you that proved something was possible?
What streak in your life is teaching you the difference between commitment and rigidity?
When has a constraint or failure forced you to create something better than you originally planned?
WHAT MOMENT OF ACCIDENTAL ABSURDITY made you laugh this week?
Where are YOU leaving breadcrumbs for others - and do you even realize you're doing it?
As always, I did my part, now it's your turn to write some reflections in your own Personal Archive.
(then, be sure to let me know where you're keeping it, I'm in search of the others too)
ps. Claude helped me organize and synthesize these thoughts from the week's posts. If you are curious how I use AI, read this post: Did AI Do That: Personal Rules