Personal productivity for growth marketers

Introduction

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.

Chapters

1

How to set goals and run 12-week sprints

You can train for a half marathon in 12 weeks. You can launch a product, land five clients, or completely redesign a process. But you have to start now. A sprint system that creates urgency and visibility.

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2

How to capture everything without losing it

Ideas, tasks, and commitments appear during meetings, in conversations, while driving. Most of them disappear. One capture habit so nothing falls through and your brain can stop trying to remember.

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3

How to organise tasks and projects so nothing stalls

Most stress comes from not knowing what to work on next. A system where every task has a home, every project has a next action, and you always know what matters.

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4

How to plan a week that actually happens

You start Monday with good intentions and end Friday wondering where the time went. A weekly planning ritual that matches your energy to your priorities so the important work actually happens.

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5

How to protect your focus when everything competes for it

Deep work keeps getting interrupted by Slack, email, and quick questions. Practical steps to design an environment where your best hours go to your most important work.

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6

How to process inboxes without them controlling your day

Professionals spend 28% of their workweek on email. A processing system based on Getting Things Done so you clear your inbox in minutes and respond in order of importance, not arrival.

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7

How to get more out of every meeting

Most meetings are too long because they mix brainstorming and decisions with information sharing. A framework for fewer, shorter, better meetings that actually produce outcomes.

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7

AI tools

AI handles research, drafts, and analysis in minutes instead of hours. The right tools multiply your output without adding headcount or complexity.

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8

How to close your week and improve your system

Every week creates clutter: loose tasks, unanswered messages, and half-finished thoughts. A Friday firebreak ritual to clear the decks, score your progress, and set up next week.

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Personal productivity

tools

Notion

Flexible workspace for docs, wikis, and lightweight databases ideal when you need custom systems without heavy project management overhead.

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per month

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My review

Todoist

Personal task app with quick capture, filters and calm design, great for managing work and habits.

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per month

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Freedom

App and site blocker that helps protect focus time by pausing the noise across devices.

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per month

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Inbox When Ready

Gmail productivity extension that hides your inbox until you choose to check it, reducing distraction and impulse checking.

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€

per month

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SaneBox

AI-powered email management that filters noise and prioritises important messages so your inbox only shows what matters.

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€

per month

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Books

Atomic Habits

James Clear

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Turn habit theory into daily practice for marketers. Simple cues, tiny wins and scorecards that help teams deliver consistently under pressure.

My review

Deep Work

Cal Newport

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A playbook for concentration in modern teams. Set focus blocks, reduce context switching and build a culture that values deep work.

My review

Getting Things Done

David Allen

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Capture, clarify and review without friction. Keep projects moving with weekly reviews and clear next actions.

My review

Essentialism

Greg McKweon

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Rules for choosing fewer, better projects. Protect time, set trade offs and align efforts with clear goals and measures.

My review

Digital Minimalism

Cal Newport

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How to reduce low value tools and feeds. Practical steps to tidy notifications, choose channels and free up time for impact.

My review

Buy back your time

Dan Martell

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A straight guide to reclaiming hours. Define your buyback rate, document tasks and build small systems that pay back every week.

My review

The 4-Hour work week

Tim Ferriss

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A pragmatic look at delegation, automation and lifestyle design. Keep the useful parts, skip the hype, ship more value.

My review

The One Thing

Gary Keller

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A method for ruthless focus. Ask the focusing question, block time and protect momentum on the work that matters most.

My review

Slow productivity

Cal Newport

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A humane approach to output. Plan seasons, protect focus and deliver work that matters at a sustainable pace.

My review

Wiki

Inbox zero

Process email to empty daily by deciding whether to act, defer, delegate, or delete each message rather than leaving unread items as false to-do lists.

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Maker schedule

Protect long uninterrupted blocks for deep work that requires concentration by clustering meetings and separating them from creative and analytical time.

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Time blocking

Schedule focused work sessions in your calendar to protect concentration and ensure important tasks don't get crowded out by meetings and interruptions.

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Braindump

Clear mental clutter by transferring all thoughts, tasks, and ideas onto paper or screen, creating space for focused work.

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Prioritisation

Systematically rank projects and opportunities using objective frameworks, ensuring scarce resources flow to highest-impact work.

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Pareto Principle

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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Deep Work

Block extended time for cognitively demanding tasks requiring sustained focus, maximising valuable output whilst minimising shallow distractions.

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Eisenhower Matrix

Prioritise tasks systematically by sorting them into urgent-important quadrants, focusing effort on high-impact activities.

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Other playbooks

Data & dashboards

Build the dashboards and data pipelines that show your growth engines in one view so you can spot bottlenecks and make decisions in minutes, not meetings.

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Planning & project management

Set up project boards, sprint rhythms, and communication habits that keep growth work on track without endless status meetings or lost context.

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Increase pricing

Raise prices strategically through better packaging, value communication, and positioning so revenue grows without adding customers.

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Increase line items

Develop cross-sell and upsell motions that expand accounts by solving more problems for customers who already trust you.

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Increase contract length

Build retention strategies, success milestones, and renewal processes that keep customers committed for longer periods.

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Improve win rate

Strengthen your closing approach — objection handling, negotiation, and follow-through — so more proposals turn into signed contracts.

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Personal productivity

Introduction

Chapters

1

How to set goals and run 12-week sprints

2

How to capture everything without losing it

3

How to organise tasks and projects so nothing stalls

4

How to plan a week that actually happens

5

How to protect your focus when everything competes for it

6

How to process inboxes without them controlling your day

7

How to get more out of every meeting

7

AI tools

8

How to close your week and improve your system

Personal productivity

tools

Notion

Todoist

Freedom

Inbox When Ready

SaneBox

Books

Atomic Habits

Deep Work

Getting Things Done

Essentialism

Digital Minimalism

Buy back your time

The 4-Hour work week

The One Thing

Slow productivity

Wiki

Inbox zero

Maker schedule

Time blocking

Braindump

Prioritisation

Pareto Principle

Deep Work

Eisenhower Matrix

Related topic

Growth foundation

Other playbooks

Data & dashboards

Planning & project management

Increase pricing

Increase line items

Increase contract length

Improve win rate

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