Take control of your week. Use habits and systems to focus on work that actually moves the needle. Add a quick daily review so important tasks get done without burnout.
At the start of my career, I realised that no matter how strong a team or strategy was, things only moved forward when I had my own systems in place. Being productive wasn’t just about getting things done. It was about becoming someone the team could rely on.
This playbook brings together everything I’ve learned about managing myself as a marketer. It’s not about hustle or long hours. It’s about creating habits and structure that make space for real work, not just busywork.
If you often feel scattered or reactive, this will help you take control of your week. It gives you a practical approach to plan, focus, and follow through so you can show up ready and make meaningful progress every day.
Manage your time like your ad budget— get the highest ROI of your time with these tips
Create a trusted task system so you never forget anything and always know what to work on next.
Handle your email like a pro so it doesn’t constantly interrupt your day or hijack your focus.
Remove distractions and control your digital environment so you can do high-quality, focused work.
Change your approach to meetings so they stop wasting time and start driving progress.
Use a weekly firebreak to close open loops, reflect, and reset so you can start next week clear and focused.
Use what you already have. But if you're starting from scratch or want recommendations, these are the tools I use with clients and personally rely on. Consider this a bonus: helpful if you need it, completely optional if you don't.
App and site blocker that helps protect focus time by pausing the noise across devices.
Email extension that hides your inbox by default so you can send and search without getting pulled into new mail.
All in one workspace for docs, wikis and lightweight databases, ideal for playbooks and knowledge.
Personal task app with quick capture, filters and calm design, great for managing work and habits.
The books that shaped how I think about growth. Read summaries here, then buy what resonates. Learn from the best thinkers in B2B.
Grant Cardone
A filter for action and attitude. Use big goals wisely, pair with systems and avoid noisy busyness.
Dan Martell
A straight guide to reclaiming hours. Define your buyback rate, document tasks and build small systems that pay back every week.
Cal Newport
A humane approach to output. Plan seasons, protect focus and deliver work that matters at a sustainable pace.
Gary Keller
A method for ruthless focus. Ask the focusing question, block time and protect momentum on the work that matters most.
David Allen
Capture, clarify and review without friction. Keep projects moving with weekly reviews and clear next actions.
Greg McKweon
Rules for choosing fewer, better projects. Protect time, set trade offs and align efforts with clear goals and measures.
Cal Newport
How to reduce low value tools and feeds. Practical steps to tidy notifications, choose channels and free up time for impact.
Cal Newport
A playbook for concentration in modern teams. Set focus blocks, reduce context switching and build a culture that values deep work.
James Clear
Turn habit theory into daily practice for marketers. Simple cues, tiny wins and scorecards that help teams deliver consistently under pressure.
Tiago Forte
How to store research, briefs and ideas so you can reuse them later. A calm framework for notes that supports experiments and content.
Key concepts and frameworks explained clearly. Quick reference when you need to understand a term, refresh your knowledge, or share with your team.
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Clear mental clutter by transferring all thoughts, tasks, and ideas onto paper or screen, creating space for focused work.
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Block extended time for cognitively demanding tasks requiring sustained focus, maximising valuable output whilst minimising shallow distractions.
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Prioritise tasks systematically by sorting them into urgent-important quadrants, focusing effort on high-impact activities.
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Focus effort on the 20% of activities that drive 80% of results, systematically eliminating low-yield work to maximise output per hour invested.
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Systematically rank projects and opportunities using objective frameworks, ensuring scarce resources flow to highest-impact work.
Most B2B marketers are either Random Ricks (trying everything) or Specialist Steves (obsessed with one channel). Generalists run tactics without strategy. Specialists hit channel ceilings. But there's a better way.
Tries everything at once. Posts on LinkedIn, runs ads, tweaks the website, chases referrals. Nothing compounds because nothing's consistent. Growth feels chaotic.
Obsessed with one tactic. 'We just need better ads' or 'SEO will fix everything.' Ignores the rest of the system. One strong engine can't carry a broken machine.
Finds the bottleneck. Fixes that first. Then moves to the next weakest link. Builds a system that's predictable, measurable and doesn't need 80-hour weeks.
Learn how she diagnoses bottlenecks, orchestrates the four engines, and drives predictable growth. Choose if you want to read or watch:
Get practical frameworks delivered daily. Seven short emails explain how Sarah diagnoses bottlenecks, orchestrates the four engines, and builds systems that compound.
Free 45-minute video module from the full course. Watch how to diagnose your growth bottleneck and see exactly what the course platform looks like.
Tactical playbooks for every stage of this engine. The playbooks are practical guides for tactical stuff. They complement the (paid) growth framework and help you with the tactics.
Build a go to market plan that aligns your offer, motion and channel, so you stop guessing and start growing with purpose. Map goals, owners and next steps for the next quarter.
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Take control of your week. Use habits and systems to focus on work that actually moves the needle. Add a quick daily review so important tasks get done without burnout.
See playbookHelp your team work better together. Set up shared rituals and tools to remove friction and move faster. Make async the default and know who decides and where work lives.
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Build dashboards that show what matters. Give your team clarity without noise or vanity metrics. Agree definitions and review insights on a simple schedule.
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Use AI for research, briefs and QA. Set prompts and review steps, train the team, and track time saved without risking quality. Focus on cases that strengthen the work.
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Save time and automate repetitive marketing tasks using Zapier, n8n or Make. Move data cleanly and reduce manual effort with small, safe automations that earn back hours.
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Record a course that people finish. Structure, script and film your expertise without wasting months on setup. Use light gear and a repeatable plan that fits your week.
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Working smarter isn’t about squeezing more hours out of already stretched days; it’s the practice of structuring energy, focus, and tools so the right work happens at the right time—then stopping. For B2B marketers buried in ad launches, client calls and inbox noise, that structure is the difference between strategic growth and perpetual catch-up.
At its core, working smarter follows three principles. First, boundary clarity: deep-work blocks and inbox windows are non-negotiable, listed in the calendar like revenue meetings. Second, single-hub execution: tasks, priorities, and notes live in one system, cutting context-switch lag. Third, iterative improvement: habits are run like growth tests—measure, tweak, repeat—so productivity lifts compound exactly like conversion lifts.
Common mistakes that drain output:
1. Inbox autopilot. Starting the day in email lets other people decide your priorities; you spend prime creative energy clearing someone else’s list.
2. Meeting creep. Accepting every invite balloons the calendar and shreds focus. Without a decision-first agenda, 60-minute slots deliver 10-minute value.
3. Tool sprawl. Sticky notes, five apps, and a half-hearted spreadsheet guarantee tasks vanish and mental tabs stay permanently open—attention residue at scale.
A smarter workweek flips that script. Deep work happens before reactive work, meetings earn their slot with clear outcomes, and one personal operating system keeps everything visible. The payoff? Consistent delivery of high-impact projects, stress that drops instead of spikes, and weekends spent recharging rather than catching up.
Want the exact time blocks, task triage rules, and inbox-taming rhythms I teach new hires on day one? Dive into the full playbook above.
