Is This Painful for You, Too?
Unblocking Your Creativity Hurts
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Thanks for subscribing to Work the Funnel, a newsletter by marketer Chantelle Marcelle that highlights marketing trends and best practices, but occasionally also includes thoughts about career development, mental health, and mom jokes.
In today's issue:
1. Overcoming creative blocks
2. A professional self-care package giveaway
3. Other interesting stuff from around the web
“Sometimes writing is opening up your laptop, looking at a blank page for about 8 hours, feeling sad, and then closing it. That’s still classified as writing.”
-Taika Waititi, Oscar-winning filmmaker
I faced an awful case of Writer's Creator’s Block for the past few months. Previously I advised others to just push through creative constipation. Force yourself to sit down and create.
I never realized how painful that can be.
I couldn’t bring myself to simply work through the lack of energy and motivation that resulted from a combination of factors – starting a new job, witnessing back-to-back global crises, experiencing a personal loss, being a parent, and feeling general brain fog.
So I rested. I did my best to tuck away my guilt and the fear of losing momentum, everything I’d worked so hard and long to build.
Nearly every writer and creator admits to occasionally feeling blocked.
Author of the Game of Thrones series (and documented procrastinator) George R.R. Martin found the increased popularity of his work resulted in conflicting priorities. He regularly faces the choice between a free global trip to somewhere like Dubai for an event versus sitting at his laptop to write in his office. And you can guess which option usually wins.
Here are a few tips that myself, and some famous creators, use to get over a block:
1. Give yourself a break. Make an agreement with yourself to stop creating for a set amount of time. Then truly give yourself permission to relax until that period is over.
2. Pause the creating, but keep consuming. When super popular influencer MrBeast started video creation, he devoted all his free time to watching other videos to learn from their success. Writer William Faulkner recommended the process read - absorb - then write, "like a carpenter who works as an apprentice and studies the master."
3. Set small goals. According to writer Margaret Atwood, "A word after a word after a word is power." Challenge yourself to create on a smaller scale.
4. And don't judge as you flex your creative muscles after a hiatus. Presidential Medal of Freedom-winner Maya Angelou said she overcame lack of inspiration by continuing to write, even if it produced "the most boring and awful stuff." Eventually she would create something she was satisfied with again.
Today I finally feel ready to pick up my pen again.
As a mini celebration, I’ve got a gift package to give away.
I put together a custom package full of goodies that I hand selected (see below). Luckily the kind folks at Drip agreed to help by sponsoring this giveaway, worth over $250.
One of the hottest ecommerce marketing platforms, Drip helps DTC brands build next-level customer relationships through email automation and onsite personalization. Turn online shopping experiences into useful data streams, emails into earnings, and see rocket ship growth for your online business. Check them out here.
So what’s included?
A business book set featuring 2022 NYT business best-seller How the World Really Works by Vaclav Smil and 2022 Amazon marketing best-seller Stories That Stick by Kindra Hall
A subscription to the Calm app, an award-winning meditation, sleep and relaxation tool, available for iOS, Android and desktop
A subscription to the Blinkist app, a premium book summary service helping you digest key insights from thousands of best-sellers and top marketing titles in just 15 minutes. Topics include marketing, business, psychology, and much more
A free 30-day trial for Drip (the usual is only 14 days) plus white glove migration services from another platform
How can you win it?
You've got 2 options if you want me to send you this awesome pack:
Just click here to share a tweet helping me get the word out about this newsletter (feel free to reword the template),
OR comment with a 🔥 emoji on this LinkedIn post.
That’s it! One subscriber will take home the whole thing.
The deadline is this Wednesday, July 20, at 12pm EST. Good luck! And I’ll be back in two weeks, hopefully with more energy and focus.
Other Interesting Things From Around the Web
Lots of documentaries coming out lately about brands behaving badly. This Adweek article, written by one of my favorite marketers, covers Victoria's Secret and their continued misses when it comes to inclusivity.
Elon Musk clearly wants to make sure his eventual biopic stands out amidst the other tech founder stories released lately. Here’s a fascinating look into the lawsuit Twitter filed against Elon after his attempt to pull out (insert Reddit joke here) of the acquisition he started months ago. (My favorite part is when they call him a hypocrite and say he’s trying to “trash the company.” Can't believe this is a real legal doc.)
It seems like marketers aren’t the only ones increasingly opting to freelance or create their own work opportunities outside of traditional 9-5 structures. In this survey, one out of 3 Americans report having a side hustle in addition to their primary job, and a growing number want to start one. Many (46%) look to secure passive income, but a surprisingly large percentage also do it for enjoyment (38%). Less surprising, parents of children under 18 are twice as likely to have a side hustle.
I spoke on a panel last month at the Social Fresh conference in Charlotte, NC, about paid social media advertising trends. It was my first in-person speaking engagement in a long while, but it felt great to meet some awesome folks. Check out the replay of my session and all the rest in this gallery.
That's all I've got for this week.
I'd love to hear any tips you have for overcoming Creator's Block or what you thought of today's newsletter. Just reply to this message and let me know.
Cheers to a great start to your week!
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