Creator's Block comes to you this week with a heavy heart. It's with all the best intentions that we have decided to take a break from producing the podcast. We have loved sharing this experience with you and being able to share the good, the bad, and the ugly with you, but right now it's time for a change.  So what better way to send off CB than with the originator, the queen of content herself, Liz Moorehead. Listen in as we look back at some of our favorite memories and learning experiences through the years and of course one final *secret question time*.

My friend and colleague recently published an article that shared her deeply personal story about experiencing a miscarriage. I was moved. I had goosebumps the entire time I was reading, teared up when she mentioned what it felt like first learning she lost the baby and outwardly shook my head at learning how so many baby-planning apps and websites seemed blind to such a large demographic of women. I personally have not experienced what my friend has. And yet, I was still able to connect with her as a reader and was able to better understand her opinions on app-related UX... all because she shared her personal story. Personal stories draw people in and can be such a powerful tool in marketing. Readers, listeners or viewers can connect with you on a deeper level, building trust and -- ultimately -- a relationship with you and your business. In this week's episode, Marcella and I dive into why and how sharing personal stories can be so powerful.

Even though I've talked about the importance of reading in past episodes, the practice hasn't always been perfect. I find my days are filled with with more meetings than I anticipate each week and can truly only dive into a book over the weekends.  What I've been doing instead, though, is filling the cracks of my days with words. When I find I have 15 minutes in between calls or meetings, I grab a nearby book or pull up Medium articles to find a topic that peaks my interest.  The latest to do so? "What Is Emotional Website Design?" by Abigail Stock In it, she notes that 95% of consumer decisions are made subconsciously. That is a crazy statistic! But, is there a way to still influence buyers even in their subconscious?  Stock goes on to cite Don Norman and his book Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things. "The essential premise is that emotions have a crucial role in the human ability to understand the world and learn new things. In reality, all design is emotional, whether intentional or not; the trick is in shaping the user's emotional response to the benefit of your product or service." The concept is simple -- tapping into consumers' emotions can help position your product or service as the superior choice when buying. In this week's episode, Marcella and I break down how that's possible and why it's so important companies keep this front of mind when redesigning their websites.

New year, new me mantra. That's right. This year it's just the same old me. I'm not doing my usual New Years' resolutions and here's why. 2019 was a rough year for me. I had a lot on my plate and even more pressure that I put on myself. It was hard and most importantly it didn't help my personal growth. So, this year I've decided to give myself a well-deserved break. Not a break in the sense of a gap year or not challenging myself, but a break in being so hard on myself. The first step towards this: 👏 NO 👏 MORE 👏 RESOLUTIONS. With help from an article by Sarah Bedrick (previously of Hubspot Academy), in place of setting lofty, pie in the sky, year-long resolutions I will be working on 30-day challenges.  92% of people fail to achieve their New Years' resolution. Why? Because setting goals like that simply doesn't work for most people. 30-day challenges are a much healthier way of goal setting because they are: More manageable (mentally and physically). They build confidence instead of reducing it. And science says doing something for 30-days is enough time to develop a new routine around it. Join Justine and I as we discuss breaking up with traditional resolutions and kindling a new relationship with 30-day challenges. (And if you're really curious here are our resolutions from last year.)

I feel like I blinked and 2019 is already over. Wasn't I just celebrating getting engaged and enjoying a trip to Mexico? Certainly feels like it... As we're all entering a new decade, it hit me that I'm also entering the second decade of my career. That is crazy to me! The last 10 years have flown by, but have also seemed to linger forever. As a bright-eyed 22 year old, I had so many big goals of everything I wanted to accomplish in the first 10 years of working. For instance, I wanted to be named as one of Forbes' 30 Under 30 and nearly triple my starting salary. (Spoiler alert: I wasn't and I didn't.) I often fell victim to the comparison game and would feel down on myself for not being able to achieve something in the arbitrary time I set for myself. But as the years continued on, I changed jobs, changed roles and -- frankly -- changed priorities. What really defines success in your career? To some, it's money. To others, it's awards and recognition. To me? It's being able to have an impact on others' lives.  Join Marcella and I as we discuss looking inward to determine how we measure success in our careers and why it's so important to do so.

With the impending holiday and the time away from the office that may require I know I am not alone in saying I am feeling stressed out, under water, and *pause for dramatic effect* burnt out. Every morning I wake up and will myself to be as productive as possible just to make it through the day, but turns out this may just be part of the problem. Professor Christine Seifert writes, "A productivity mindset is … problematic when the relentless quest for it results in burnout. Studies show that putting in too many hours is bad for our health, bad for the bottom line, and bad for workplace cultures in general." But our jobs rely on the bottom line. On results. On revenue. So, what can we really do? Join Justine and I as we chat about adopting an anti-productivity mindset and how to implement it.

Marcella and I have found ourselves in the endless round of design revisions on a recent project. I, acting as a project manager, have fallen short in getting to the root of what the client truly needs.  And because of that, Marcella has spent weeks trying to get one particular element "just right." It got me thinking... what could I have done from the start to ensure I knew exactly what to relay to Marcella to update?  I found a recent article that dives into this very topic where the author provided actionable steps to take to make clients feel heard while still maintaining creative integrity. In this week's episode, Marcella and I breakdown the 10 tips and share our own insight, especially on one item that both took us by surprise.

We've covered a lot of different ways on how to re-ignite the creativity flame or find inspiration when the well seems to be dry, but this seems to be one way we have yet to discover. The answer is simple: PLAY!  Designer, Drory Ben-Menachem, was inspired to bring the idea of playing into his routine after watching his young child grow and explore through play. His article "Why We Should Play at Work: Embracing play in our creative field can make us happier and more productive" talks about the benefits the incorporating more fun/creative/exploratory time into our jobs not only for us as happier employees, but in the outcomes those sessions will influence. Join Justine and I, as we delve into what it looks like bring a little more play into all of our days!

At the beginning of October, I created a goal for myself to have more time available for me to read and research business-related articles and books. Why? Because leaders are readers. It should come as no surprise then that I learned this in a book called Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't by Vern Harnish. In it, he talks about how Larry Page, the former CEO of Google, "was asked how he learned to run a company, he responded 'I read a lot.'" And how Marc Cuban reads three hours every day, with the goal to find "just one idea he can use to give him and the over 150 companies in which he's invested an edge in the marketplace." As Harnish wrote, "having a natural curiosity and thirst for learning separates the good from the great in our experience." Now, I'm no Larry Page or Marc Cuban, but that doesn't mean I can't take some of their best practices and apply it to my own day-to-day.  Hence why my Tuesday afternoons have now turned into a dedicated time for me to read. During my time this week, I came across an article by Thomas Oppong titled "To Become More Efficient, Ask Better Questions." I immediately dove in. His approach is intriguing and honestly, not all that difficult. Essentially, you should be asking yourself better questions that can then lead to better and stronger results. Questions like: What specific outcomes do I want more of? Am I working too long or too short of a time for certain tasks? Am I trying to be more effective (i.e., doing the right things) or more efficient (i.e., doing things right)? When do I have the most energy? What 1–3 things would I like to have done (today, this week, this month, this quarter, this year) Each of those questions can help you come to realizations or ideas on how to be more productive and improve your efficiency. In this week's episode, Marcella and I share our opinions on the subject and brainstorm how we can apply these questions to aspects of our days.

Here at IMPACT, we produce a lot of content (and I mean A LOT) so I can't always consume every single thing we do. But the one thing I absolutely cannot miss each week is The Latest. The Latest is our hand-curated marketing-insights newsletter where I know I'm going to get a hit list of the top topics our IMPACTers and marketing community have been discussing throughout the week. So when I saw "Agency Outsourcing Is Broken" as the start of the subject line in one of the newsletters last week, I knew it was going to be good. The article linked was one written by Marcus Sheridan where he talks about why we need to rethink the relationship between client and agency. I. Was. Hooked. (And I wasn't the only one...) What Marcus says in his article is somewhat controversial but ultimately boils down to a single point: "When you own your content creation, you own the soul of your business." All too often, clients think they can outsource ALL of the marketing efforts to an agency and expect to see huge results when the reality is, they themselves need to own a big portion of their own efforts. After all, aren't clients the true experts in their business? Join Marcella and I as we dive into the biggest misconception clients fall victim to when working with agencies and what they can do differently to see the success the need.