Understanding Creative Plateaus in Content Creation – Cat Shanu

If you’re in the creative space, you already know this tension: the pressure to create never really shuts off. Content still needs to go out, even when your ideas dry up. So what happens when your mind stalls? How do you get unstuck without forcing it or burning out and still create ideas your audience actually cares about when life is full and inspiration feels miles away?

In this episode, I sit down with Cat Shanu to tackle those questions and help you break free from creative ruts. We dig into what really causes creative blocks, how perfectionism quietly kills momentum, and what to do when inspiration feels out of reach. Cat shares her own pause from creating, and I open up about staying consistent as a CEO, father, and host, even during low-energy seasons.

Whether you’re a content creator, an entrepreneur, or simply trying to build more consistent habits, this episode will help you reconnect with your creative rhythm and move forward with intention.

In this episode, we discuss:

• [00:00:00] Why creators struggle to make content

• [00:01:21] The natural ebb and flow of creativity and why forcing it backfires

• [00:02:33] Finding inspiration by immersing yourself in what moves you

• [00:04:09] Cat’s four-month creative pause and how she reignited her spark

• [00:04:17] Building LinkedIn systems—batching, scheduling, and staying consistent

• [00:06:22] Turning a Beastie Boys Reddit post into content gold

• [00:07:10] How music and ChatGPT fuel momentum when ideas stall

• [00:08:17] Treating each post like a temporary tattoo

• [00:12:52] Using audience engagement to break creative blocks

• [00:13:31] Why creating for one person beats creating for everyone

• [00:14:51] Telling real stories instead of chasing perfection

• [00:19:45] Using simple prompts to generate endless ideas

• [00:22:05] Cat and Billy’s peak creative workflows

• [00:26:12] Matching tasks to energy for better output

• [00:29:29] Creating consistently while leading, parenting, and podcasting

• [00:33:33] Building your catalog of inspiration and learning from top creators

• [00:38:15] Why breaks sharpen creativity and awareness

• [00:45:26] Letting go of perfection and taking small steps forward

Notable Quotes

• [00:42:21] “When stuck, don’t generate, retrieve, go get that information from somewhere else.” – Billy

• [00:12:52] “Treat your post like a temporary tattoo. It’s not a permanent tattoo, it’s a temporary tattoo. Therefore it doesn’t matter.” – Billy

• [00:16:08] “When you think of your community, not as your followers, but as a friend. You can definitely leverage them to just guide you.” – Cat

• [00:24:14] “It’s easier to think of creative ideas than when you focus on the whole big picture.” – Cat

• [00:32:54] “Most people will cancel an appointment they make for themselves, but they’ll always attend appointment they have with somebody else.” – Billy

• [00:49:56] “The only true, perfect thing I can think of is God. And we put this idea in our head that we need to show up as perfection.” – Cat

Cat Shanu

• LinkedIn: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/cat-shanu⁠

• Instagram: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/thefemmeguide/⁠

Billy Samoa Saleebey

• LinkedIn: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/in/billysamoa/⁠

• Email: ⁠⁠billy@podify.com⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠saleebey@gmail.com⁠ ⁠

Insight Out 

• Website: ⁠⁠https://www.insightoutshow.com/