Creating Without Elbow Grease

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“Do the difficult things when they are easy and do the great things when they are small. A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step.” – Lao Tzu

What if “trying” doesn’t have to mean pushing harder?

I’ve been in a flow state often enough to know it exists but not so often to know how to reliably get there. Is it really possible to regularly create — to write, to connect with others, to co-author life in a way that doesn’t leave me sweaty and tired? My guest on this week’s podcast had some insight about finding flow. Even if it falls into the category of easier said than done, it’s the quietness of the approach that makes me think it’s possible

In this Life of Try episode, I talk with author and New York Insight Meditation Center co-founder Joseph Schmidt about The Torchbearer—a collection of short stories born from an unexpectedly effortless creative process. Together we explore the mindset shift from effort to openness: how letting go of the agenda can create space for insight, transformation, and a deeper, more alive way of meeting each moment.

  • Try smarter, not harder: why forcing outcomes can block creativity—and what changes when you partner with the process instead.
  • Mindset shift to “empty hands”: Joseph’s Zen chaplaincy training and the practice of entering a room (or a moment) without an agenda.
  • Personal growth through discovery: how his characters—and we as readers—find the next move by noticing what’s already here.
  • Feeling alive at the edge of the unknown: mindfulness as the place where consciousness meets what happens next.
  • Belonging as a practice: building a bond of belonging by showing up with curiosity, care, and presence.

If you’ve been working hard but feeling flat, this conversation is an invitation to loosen your grip, step back into the present, and discover a more natural flow—one where growth comes from attention, not strain. Listen in for a gentler (and often more powerful) way to create, connect, and keep beginning again.

Here’s great clip of Joseph describing the lesson he learned from a Zen monk about a powerful mindset shift:

This is a great episode if you’re craving a mindset reset, rebuilding your creative confidence, deepening a mindfulness practice, or simply want to feel more awake and engaged in your everyday life.

Here are some ways you can listen and watch this inspiring episode:

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46: The Quiet Transformation That Changes Everything – The Life of Try: Personal growth, one try at a time.

What if “trying” doesn’t have to mean pushing harder?In this episode, host Wynne Leon talks with author and New York Insight Meditation Center co-founder Joseph Schmidt about The Torchbearer—a collection of short stories born from an unexpectedly effortless creative process. Together they explore the mindset shift from effort to openness:how letting go of the agenda can create space for insight, transformation, and a deeper, more alive way of meeting each moment.Try smarter, not harder: why forcing outcomes can block creativity—and what changes when you partner with the process instead.Mindset shift to “empty hands”: Joseph’s Zen chaplaincy training and the practice of entering a room (or a moment) without an agenda.Personal growth through discovery: how his characters—and we as readers—find the next move by noticing what’s already here.Feeling alive at the edge of the unknown: mindfulness as the place where consciousness meets what happens next.Belonging as a practice: building a bond of belonging by showing up with curiosity, care, and presence.If you’ve been working hard but feeling flat, this conversation is an invitation to loosen your grip, step back into the present, and discover a more natural flow—one where growth comes from attention, not strain. Listen in for a gentler (and often more powerful) way to create, connect, and keep beginning again.Perfect for you if:you’re craving a mindset reset, rebuilding your creative confidence, deepening a mindfulness practice, or simply want to feel more awake and engaged in your everyday life.The Life of Try is a personal growth and self‑help podcast about getting unstuck, navigating uncertainty, and choosing to try—even when it’s uncomfortable, inconvenient, or not your idea.Hosted by Wynne Leon, the show explores how realgrowth, reinvention, and discovery often begin not with confidence or clarity—but with a single attempt. Through thoughtful interviews, reflective conversations, and real‑world case studies, each episode examines what it lookslike to keep going when doubt shows up, plans fall apart, or life forces a change you didn’t ask for.This podcast is for anyone who:Feels stuck or uncertain about what's nextIs navigating change, burnout, or reinventionWants to live more intentionally without pretending that growth is easyBelieves (or wants to believe) progress starts by trying – again and againThe Life of Try isn’t about hustle or perfection.It’s about learning as you go, surfacing what matters, and sharing what you discover along the way.If you’re ready to surf the uncertainty, outlast the doubts, and step into your own try‑cycle, you’re in the right place.Links for this episode:Creating Without Elbow Grease transcriptThe Torchbearer: and other Stories of Borderline Redemption by Joseph Schmidt on AmazonJoseph Schmidt bio – New York Insight Meditation Center
  1. 46: The Quiet Transformation That Changes Everything
  2. 45: The Life of Try: Alex Honnold Case Study
  3. How to Share a Reimagined Sci-Fi Trilogy with Dr. Wayne Runde
  4. How to Share Advocacy with Sam Daley-Harris Part 2
  5. What Do You Know To Be True?

Links for this episode:

The Transformation That Changes Everything transcript

The Torchbearer: and other Stories of Borderline Redemption by Joseph Schmidt on Amazon

Joseph Schmidt bio – New York Insight Meditation Center

(featured photo from Pexels)

32 thoughts on “Creating Without Elbow Grease”

  1. An interesting clip, Wynne. It sounds like some version of acceptance of the other, seeing the other, and allowing the energy that is thus created to move the outcome in a way that is satisfying. Thanks for this.

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      1. Yes, Wynne. One of the first things I needed to realize was that if I was working harder than a patient was, we were both in trouble!

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  6. It’s incredible the difference in how it feels to work frantically versus with calm intention. Thanks for the great reminder, Wynne!

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  9. A few years ago I learned to just trust my hands. I saw that they knew what they were doing, even if they hadn’t told my mind yet. Often I’d get an urge to sit down to write or to create art or pottery, and just allowed my hands to be busy and do their thing. Once it was revealed to me what was bring created, I could then get involved more intentionally with it, but I learned to always give the piece the right to lead me, and not the other way around.

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      1. I’ve seen that happen with many people. Overworking something is also a problem of not trusting the outcome. The middle part of a project can look like a hot mess and that’s when people often get discouraged and give up, then feel like a failure.

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  10. What a beautiful conversation, Wynne. “Give everything we have to those that we meet” is a wonderful thought to start the book and to end your chat.

    As I get older, I discover that we’re in a constant state of becoming – and that movement from known into unknown can feel so scary when you’re right at edge. But being mindless of the universe’s signals and intentions – and having that conviction and curiosity to make the leap can be so powerful and rewarding.

    So interesting to think of the universe as a living thing that also seeks recognition from us tiny beings that exist within it. And how we are all seeking to belong and to forge those bonds of belonging.

    It’s been a long day and this was a lovely way to unwind and to be present in the moment.

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  17. I found this phrase, from Joseph in the interview, really worth pondering. “I have this, idea that the universe wants to be recognized.” This makes sense for anyone that feels a spiritual connection to something bigger than themselves. The universe has been around longer than any of us humans, it knows things that we couldn’t possibly imagine. All we have to do is listen…

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