Jenn VillaWith social distancing being the temporary “new normal,” our Inbound Marketing team has some extra time outside of work on their hands. But that’s okay! We love any chance to let our minds wander. True to the true Impulse Creative spirit, our employees have been leveraging the downtime to learn.
Our Inbound crew connected on an inspiring Zoom call to discuss the great stuff they’re consuming, specifically, things that have left a big impact. We thought the content was just too good not to share!
Here are a few books, podcasts, and other pieces of content that are helping our Inbounders grow this April. We hope these thought-provoking tidbits will influence you too!
PODCAST: The School of Greatness
This highly-acclaimed podcast gets downloaded over 4 million times per month on iTunes. Four million! Maybe it’s host Lewis Howes’s diversity— ranging from interviews with game-changers in entrepreneurship, health, athletics, mindset, and relationships— or the big-names he welcomes as guests. You won’t know until you listen, our Inbound Evangelist, George, says.
“It talks about how people have these ideas and how they achieve them,” he shares, “Or, how they've overcome something in their past or their business struggles. It's kind of business/personal. I love hearing people's stories.”
Listen to The School of Greatness Podcast.
BOOK: Feeling Good
This ‘mood therapy’ book introduces people to cognitive-behavioral psychology principles straight from the mind of a vastly recognized psychiatrist, David D. Burns, M.D.
“It’s packed with practical exercises for working through cognitive distortions, or errors in our way of thinking,” according to our Content Marketer, Jenn (and the author of this post, who’s awkwardly writing in third-person! 😂).
“It’s a how-to guide for transforming feelings of anxiety, guilt, pessimism, etc. into more positive reactions. It really transformed my way of thinking and coping with my problems.”
Purchase Feeling Good on Amazon.
ARTICLE: SEOs Talk COVID-19 Search Disruption
With the global coronavirus pandemic at large, businesses are doing all they can to cope with the financial impact. As marketers, we’re laser-focused on its disruption to our clients’ online assets. In this Search Engine Land article, a panel of SEO experts teamed up to discuss possible changes in Google's algorithm as a result of COVID-19.
“I thought it was interesting to have a round table kind of approach,” our Director of Inbound, Juli, shared. “It's good for all of us to recognize that things are changing right now, and just keep an eye out.”
“Something might be working really well because it's time for it to work really well (right now), but it can also be working really well because there's some other ripple effect,” like blogs about time-sensitive topics, which are trending on search engines today, but will likely lose traction in a few months. Check out these insights and more!
Check out expert advice on handling COVID-19 SEO here.
BOOK: Joyful
Ingrid Fetell Lee believes that the key to happiness lies in our surroundings. Drawing on insights from neuroscience and psychology, she discusses how our environment can help foster a more joyful life.
“I care so much about my environment and energy itself,” our Inbound Marketer, Carissa, explains, “and I feel energy from people... I thought it was crazy that this unexplainable feeling that I've had for a really long time is something someone finally talked about.”
“It hits on themes like lushness, multiplicity, variety, freedom, harmony, play, surprise, transcendence, magic, celebration, renewal, etc.,” she shares. Facilitate an uplifting environment at home during this period of isolation with this awesome book!
EXERCISE: Gratitude Journaling
Gratitude journaling involves the practice of reflecting on things you are grateful for. Many will insist on the value of putting it down on paper to truly conceptualize your thankfulness.
Our CEO, Remington, couldn’t agree more and decided to generate his own content for self-growth this month— and continually moving forward. He sits down every night to write down three things that he’s grateful for and does the same first thing after he wakes up. He says it really helps him to reflect on what matters most, like his wife and children.
He advises to commit and just do it! “Action is going to delineate and define your success and who you are,” he asserts, “so sit down and do it every day; it takes 30 seconds!”
Just “inject it into your process,” he encourages. “The journal is on my nightstand. It’s the last thing I write in before I go to bed and is the first thing I write in before I do anything.” Do yourself a favor and stick a notebook somewhere you can’t miss!
PODCAST: The Armchair Expert
The Armchair Expert is actor Dax Shepard’s podcast, and on this particular episode, he invites American businessman, author, and professor Chris Voss to a casual chat on the couch.
Our Director of Inbound, Juli, recommends tuning in for this engaging talk, where Voss shares a personal story about his time as a hostage negotiator. He discusses what drove him to law enforcement and the benefits of de-escalation, the power of saying no, the concept of bending reality, and ways in which we can win negotiations in our daily lives.
Tune into The Armchair Expert’s Chris Voss episode.
BOOK: The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership
Don’t we all want to be more conscious, self-aware people? In this captivating read, three authors collaborate to distill what it means to be a conscious leader into 15 core commitments.
One concept that our Content Marketer, Jenn, wanted to share was the idea of keeping your agreements, something the authors referred to as ‘impeccable’ agreements. “Impeccable is not a word that we really use a lot so it can be confusing or misinterpreted,” Jenn shares, “but at its core, it means to be faultless.”
What does it mean to be faultless in your promises? “Be very clear and specific when you say you're going to do something for someone and what that means... and make sure that everyone involved is fully committed to making the agreement.” These are just a few tips they discuss in the book for not breaking the trust of those you work with. You’ll just have to pick it up for yourself to learn more.
Purchase The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership on Amazon.
VIDEO GAME: Starcraft
That’s right, we said video game. Our Inbound Marketer, Chris, spends time with his infant son every Saturday morning watching competitive Starcraft— which he said has a surprising influence!
“It has this incredible amount of statistical analysis that you can make at any given point,” Chris explains, “how people allocate their resources, the outcome that they have, and how they make that outcome work over their competitor,” just to name a few.
“It makes me really excited because it helps me think in more of a ‘multi-tasking’ way. The whole thing is just a giant system of efficiency; it really has a strategy to it. What can I do now, plan ahead for in the future, and then loop around and knock out later? It's just a 12-minute long computer game that crunches all of that together.”
Watch Chris’s all-time favorite Starcraft match. (Just make sure you keep the sound down; it plays pretty loud!)
BOOK: The Big Leap
We all have a voice in our head that holds us back, and in this New York Times bestseller, Gay Hendrick’s unmasks a few of those fears. The author demonstrates how to go beyond your internal limits and build a new set of habits to take your life to the next level.
Our Inbound Evangelist, George, recommends downloading it as an audiobook for a good listen. “It is absolutely amazing at making you look at your own limiting beliefs and aggressively attack!” he shares, “you’ll ask why you think the way you think and step out of that to become the best version of yourself possible.”
Purchase The Big Leap on Amazon.
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