Iâm Allison Stadd, jazz drummer, CMO, and highly caffeinated mom of two, writing about how to lead with more creativity inside corporate life. Think HBR meets Rolling Stone.
Opening Note:
The full OffBeat playlist
đȘ© Tiny game alert! Every edition of The OffBeat includes at least one hidden song lyric. Catch it, reply, and Iâll call you out in the next issue.
I assure you: I did not wake up one day and decide to add more to my plate.
I have a high-octane full-time role at a high-growth e-commerce business. Two little kids. A spouse Iâm deeply partnered with and committed to prioritizing. Plus a full, invested community life (neighbors, mentees, school commitments, friendships).
But Iâve always had excess creative energy. Itâs constantly off-gassing.
My laptop and phone are teeming with docs and notes of business ideas and creative project concepts from the past 20 years.
If I donât give all that energy somewhere to go, it leaks into distraction.
Writing this weekly newsletter gives it a clean container.
Instead of half-thinking about a newsletter idea during a budget meeting or drafting sentences in my head during a 1-1, I channel that energy purposely into the time and space Iâve devoted to this project (I include my routine below).
Paradoxically, the more disciplined I am about my creative outlet, the more focused I am in my CMO seat.
This newsletter is not a side project born of boredom. It is a pressure valve. And a sharpening stone.
So hereâs how I make it work.
How I Do It
1. I treat it like a practice, not a hobby.
Hobbies are optional. Practices are part of identity.
They shape who you are, not just how you spend your spare hours.
So therefore, I never wait for time. I make time.
I put newsletter writing and editing on the calendar and protect it the way I would a leadership offsite or a board meeting prep block. I set goals and make commitments to myself for the newsletter just like I do for my job.
2. I draw clear lines.
During the week, I donât write. I capture ideas, phrases, half-formed frameworks in an iPhone Note when they pop up.
Then I close the app and become fully CMO.
When itâs time to actually write (more on that below), I have raw material waiting for me.
The separation keeps both roles high-quality. Work time is work. Writing time is writing.
3. I let the roles feed each other.
I think of my full-time CMO job like a laboratory.
Since I write about working and leading better, every hiring decision, every team dynamic, every messy win becomes material.
Writing forces me to synthesize what Iâm seeing in real time. And that synthesis makes me so much better at my CMO job: clearer communicator, more intentional leader, less reactive emotional processor.
4. I treat my energy like itâs my inventory.
You canât operate at scale and create on the side if youâre depleted.
Sleep matters. Boundaries matter. Saying no matters. Itâs why I spend so much effort on clearing brain fog.
I think about my creative output as an energy game, not a time game. This makes it feel less impossible to balance it all.
An important note: my full-time job always takes precedence. I owe that to the business, and to my own integrity. So I plan my creative output with that hierarchy in mind. Launches, board meetings, and team needs will always outrank a newsletter priority.
How I Schedule It
MondayâFriday
I capture post ideas as they pop up in a running iPhone Note, in under 30 seconds.
Saturday afternoon (coffee shop deep work while my older sonâs at drop-off art class) | creation day
Choose 2â3 ideas
Draft a new newsletter
Sunday afternoon (my two kidsâ naptime/quiet time) | refinement & amplification day
Polish Saturdayâs draft
Write and schedule 3 LinkedIn posts pulled from the same theme
Thatâs it. One day to generate. One day to refine and distribute. A consistent publishing schedule. Zero late night writing, no last-minute scrambling.
I try to have 3 weekly newsletters scheduled out at a time, so I always have a buffer in case work, travel, or kid logistics derail things.
The result: I get to scratch my creative itch and show up fully for the full-time job I love.
What You Can Take From This
You obviously donât need a newsletter. Or a podcast. Or a public platform at all.
But if you have energy thatâs constantly generating ideas, ignoring it, in my experience, turns into restlessness.
First, give it a container.
It might be ceramics. Songwriting. Community gardening. Angel investing. Writing just for yourself.
Build small, repeatable rituals (see my routine above) instead of waiting for some huge life redesign.
Second, let your worlds inform each other.
Your day job gives you raw material. Your creative practice gives you perspective.
You do NOT have to choose between being practical and being creative.
In my experience, the two reinforce each other. And when you integrate them instead of separating them, you end up better at both.
đ„ HIT IT:
Open your calendar right now and block 30 minutes this week labeled âCreative Practice,â then decide exactly what that time is for before you close this tab.
And if you have any more questions on how I make this work, hit reply or comment below. Iâm happy to share.
Have a great week,
Allison
đ Hang out with me me on LinkedIn for more music-inflected takes on leadership and marketing
this was so helpful and very manageable, THANK YOU!
So relatable Allison!! I always have this extra creative energy as well. I love how your have outlined your flow in detail. Seeding the idea of another post how you integrate your music commitments as well đ
Lots of love from fellow PolyPath mom đ§Ąđ§Ąđ§Ą