How To Win Every Week (In 5 Easy Steps)

Want to start the week with clarity and confidence and end with a completed list of top priorities? With the right process and a little discipline, it’s more possible than you might think.

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Transcript

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This is the Marketing Director Daily, and I'm Tim Parkin. Every week is chaotic for most marketing directors, but it doesn't have to be. And recently I shared with my coaching group how to win the week. I think that's the goal. To win the week. That means you start the week off with clarity and confidence and you end it with a completed list of things you did that had a significant impact on the business. So let's dive into that. Let's talk about it today. Because the reality is, if you're like most marketing directors, you are drowning in tasks. You're overwhelmed with the amount of things on your plate, a huge backlog, and an overflowing inbox. And that's a big problem. But it gets worse because on top of that, most marketing directors are stuck in endless meetings. Some marketing directors I've coached even have two-hour meetings. That's a long time to be stuck in a meeting. But despite that, or in spite of that, you might have a number of meetings. Maybe they're short, but you have five, seven, twelve, sixteen a week. It's overwhelming with all the stuff you've got to do and all the meetings you're stuck in. When do you ever have time to actually do the work? And on top of that, you're often fighting the fires, right? Every week. There's a new fire to put out. The CEO or founder has a new idea, something new to chase, that technology broke. There's a problem with the website. And now we need to focus on that. Among the overflowing inbox and all the meetings we've got. It's exhausting being a marketing director, isn't it? Instead of that, we just hope, we wish that we could make progress every day. That every day we could end the day on time and looking back at our list for the day and saying, I did a great job today. I completed the things I set out to complete. And ideally to have some breathing room, right? That every day isn't a marathon, that we're not just constantly running throughout the whole day, that we could take a break, that you could step back and make another cup of coffee, that you could go out and grab something for lunch. You need some breathing room every day to think, to be strategic, and not just to be stuck in the tactical prison. And ideally to be able to set up the ropes. When you go to the airport or any place like that, they have all these ropes set up that guide people on where to go. And as marketing directors, I think we really want that. We need that to say, hey guys, if you want to get marketing to do something, you have to go around this way and down there and around the corner and let people cue up at these ropes. So it's not just getting things done every day and having some breathing room, but it's also having some control, having a queue, stopping the flood of people coming in and asking you, demanding things from you. Gretchen is one of my clients in my coaching group, and when she joined, she was overwhelmed with meetings. And every week was a challenge because of these very things. And inside our coaching group, we have a training called F Your Meetings. The F stands for fix. Don't worry. And she used this training to get rid of a bunch of meetings, to move some meetings, to shorten some meetings, to cut some meetings. And it ended up, she was able to remove 16 meetings every month. Imagine the time she got back. That's at least eight hours every month, if not more, just from removing some meetings. So this is super important. You need the time and space to do the right work. But more importantly, you need that time and space to have the energy, to feel motivated, to think strategically. It's not just about having time and space to do the work, it's also about using that time and space to be strategic. And so I'd love for you to think about this question. How would it feel to start the week with clarity and to end it with an empty list? That may sound impossible right now, but after coaching hundreds of marketing directors, I can guarantee you it is totally doable. It just takes the right framework, consistent approach, and a little bit of discipline and boldness. So let's talk about the five key steps to do that. What does it look like to win the week? If you want to win the week, these are the five things you need to do. The first is to draw a line in the sand. This is so important to set boundaries and to say, here's what I will do this week, and here's what I'm not going to do. The not do part is more important than the do part because often we love to stuff our to-do list filled with things. And we're always overly optimistic about what we will achieve and how much time we'll have. Despite every week there's fires and challenges and meetings, we don't ever account for those when we write our to-do list for the week. And so you have to draw a line in the sand and say, these are the essential things, the minimum that I can actually accomplish. And here are the things I'm definitely not going to do this week. And it's okay to have things in the do-not-do list and to have a lot of things in the do-not-do list. But step one is to draw a line in the sand and be realistic with yourself about what you will actually accomplish. And guess what? It's okay to shoot under here. If you say, I'm only doing two things this week, and on Wednesday you've done those two things, guess what? You can always add more then. So don't worry about getting it right or having too few things you're going to commit to this week. Aim under. And when you meet that, you can always do more. You can always add more. But instead, what we typically do is we aim over, right? We overshoot everything and say, I'm going to do these 12 things this week. I think that's realistic. When it's not. So number one is to draw a line in the sand and be realistic. Be objective with yourself about what that takes. And then you need to block it out on your calendar. I always thought this was out of reach, unrealistic, but blocking things on your calendar is essential. And now my calendar is blocked in such a way that I have the space and time I need to do the right things. So when you block your calendar, you want to think about the categories of work that you do. Maybe you have a time or a day for meetings with your team. You should definitely have a lunch block on there somewhere. Maybe you need a block every day at a certain time to check email or respond to messages. Maybe you need some time on your calendar a couple days to work on campaigns. Think about the categories of things that you do and then block those out as blocks on your calendar. And a block is just a meeting with yourself for a specified amount of time that is marked as busy, so other people can't schedule times with you. And then you need to respect this time, which means when that time comes, you need to do that type of work, focus on that thing. And also it means if someone tries to jump in or push themselves in or schedule a meeting with you during that time, you say, I'm sorry, I'm not available at that time. Sorry, I have a prior commitment. Sorry, I'm busy. Is there a different time that works for us? Blocking it out is key if you want to have the space and time and protect your time. And then the third thing is how do you use that time once you've blocked it? You have to get in the flow. Roller coasters are scary to me. I've had a traumatic experience on a roller coaster. But when you go on a roller coaster, it starts off really slow, right? And then it gets going. And once it gets going, you're not stopping it. And that's what I want for all of you is to get in the flow. And flow, I think, is an acronym, which stands for focus. How do you turn off your phone and block things and close all your tabs? So focus first, then list, make it a list and break down the steps. What are you going to do in this time you've got? O is outcome. What is the outcome? What is done look like? So we know when we're done, and we still know the stuff we're doing is going to get us there. And then W is work. Do the work. So get in flow. And once you get started, don't stop. Don't allow distractions to creep in. Close your door, turn off your phone, close all the tabs. Getting in flow state is key to use the time you've blocked effectively. When you do good work, we come to step four here, which is to show your work. Just like they taught you in school with your mathematics, you have to show your work. Most of the work we do in marketing is invisible to leadership. One, because they don't see it, and two, because they don't understand it. And your job as a marketer is not just to do the work, but it's also to show the work. So we need to show people the work we're doing. Send out an email, post in Slack, tell people the page is updated, the campaign is live, the emails are out, new leads are coming in. Whatever work you've done, share it with your team, with your boss, with leadership. You have to tell people the stuff you're doing. Otherwise, they have no clue. And then finally, number five here is to celebrate every day. As you run across the finish line, nobody is going to applaud for you. They're all busy, they're all distracted, they're all not paying attention. And so you have to celebrate yourself. You have to celebrate your wins and say, today was a good day. I had this thing that was a success. I accomplished that task that's been on my list for a while. And give yourself credit and kudos and celebrate even the small wins. A win is a win, big or small. And if you take time every day to reflect and celebrate your wins, good things happen. You can see the progress you're making. You feel more motivated, and you have more energy to take on the challenges of tomorrow. These are the five steps to win the week. And it's so important to make these your routine. To start by drawing a line in the sand, to block out the time you need and the space you need, to get in flow state as you do the work. Show your work and tell other people and celebrate it yourself and your wins, big or small, every day. If you do these five things, then you will be on your way to winning every week and to ending with a completed to do list. And not only does it feel great, but it also shows everybody else, including leadership, that you are a strategic marketing leader.