Books and Documentaries to Motivate and Inspire Creatives (and Everyone Else!)


 This is a companion to my articles "The Role of Creatives in Tumultuous Times"

https://joeymadiastoryteller.blogspot.com/2025/04/the-role-of-creatives-in-tumultuous.html

and "Motivation and Inspiration for Creatives"

https://joeymadiastoryteller.blogspot.com/2025/04/motivation-and-inspiration-for.html

These are my go-tos. They focus, ground, inspire, motivate, and teach me, year after year.

I have gifted copies of all of them over the years to students, mentees, and colleagues.

Books

Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic (inspiration, the nature of genius)

Gay Hendricks, The Big Leap (Your Zone of Genius, Einstein Time)

Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection (Authenticity, Owning your story)

Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers (10,000 hours)

Don Miguel Ruiz, The Four Agreements (Be impeccable with your word, always do your best, don't make assumptions, don't take anything personally)


Caroline Myss, The Language of Archetypes

Dan Millman, The Way of the Peaceful Warrior (the book that set me on my path to Spiritual Storyteller in 1990)

Joe Dispenza, Evolve Your Brain (neuroplasticity, mirror neurons, neurons that fire together wire together)

Documentaries

I Am, written and directed by Tom Shadyac (the mental illness that is greed, cooperation over competition, the power of the heart, and so much more)

Finding Joe, written and directed by Patrick Takaya Solomon (the wisdom of Joseph Campbell)

 

This video has more information on all of these books and documentaries:



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