My Method for Burnout-Proof Marketing 🙇🏻♀️
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Hello Reader, This week, a consulting client of mine asked me a great question that's had me thinking for days. "How do I choose what marketing to do each week?" Listen, I'm not a productivity expert (in fact, I despise the concept of productivity; statistically we humans are exceedingly productive and squeezing more out of us in service of more productivity is simply bad for the world), but I've got a lot of years' experience juggling competing interests and haven't given up yet! Here's how I recommend handling this very real challenge. Step 1: First, get clear on what your different projects are. I recommend sorting them into a matrix that looks like this: I encourage you to focus on the activities and projects that live in the top line of the matrix. Sometimes things in the bottom are important, even though they may not have a huge impact (e.g. our migration to a new CRM was a heavy lift that in the immediate term is also relatively low impact, but it removed me from a tech system that wasn't values-aligned, so it was still worth doing). Step 2: Assign 3-5 projects to this quarter. Or, if you prefer to work on a monthly basis, just pick one. I really, really want you to be both restrained and strategic about this. Almost everyone I work with has too big of to-do list, I want you to be able to actually get this stuff done! The other projects will be three next quarter. Step 3: Assign each of these projects that you choose to one of the following categories:
Personally, I like to have a mix of each. Seeing results from quick wins, such as "Update my three most popular blog posts and submit them to Google Search Console" keeps me motivated because I can see the results usually in a few days. Big picture work, such as planning a new program keeps my eyes on the future, which is also motivating since it's fun to imagine what's going to happen a year or two from now. Fun or experimental tasks are just that! We can get a bit of data, see how things worked, create a space for some playtime in work when we intentionally add that into the mix. Step 4: Set aside non-negotiable time each week to work on these projects. Seriously put it in your calendar. If you're a daily habit person, pick a time and block your calendar for as little as 30 minutes every single day. No one can encroach on that time, no clients, no one. I'm a weekly habit person so I have blocks on Mondays and Wednesdays to work on my internal projects. Again, no one can get on my calendar. Step 5: Initially, pick the thing you're most excited about and work on it during your block. I really want to encourage you to start with the most fun thing. Perhaps this sin't strategic, but it is motivating! I don't know about you, but if a project seems fun, it feels less like work, especially if I'm working on something outside of my comfort zone. When you get into the swing of things, you can make other choices, but seriously, start with the fun. Here's the other thing: Sometimes doing the thing doesn't mean sitting behind the computer. (Remember, productivity culture is the bad guy here.) Perhaps it's getting out in nature and decompressing your brain and dictating some notes for a newsletter or a blog post. Step 6: When you've done the thing, resist the urge to do more! We hate burnout around here, and the best way to combat that is by not taking on too much. So, when you finish those scheduled times, walk away, don't add more. Seriously. Regularly marketing or business development over the course of a year or more will have such a greater cumulative impact than pushing through to check every future task off your list to get imaginary bonus points. Each month or quarter, tweak and review. Maybe something you thought would be a tough, but high impact project actually wasn't too bad—that's data you can use when setting priorities in the future. Perhaps you assigned yourself too much or need some support, this is all information you can act upon! If this doesn't quite work for your unique brain, take this as inspiration and adjust it to work for you—this is simply a framework, not marching orders. Hopefully, however you use this guidance it'll help burnout-proof your marketing too. Onward & upward, Sarah |