This is a contributed post.
Certain mornings, I look at my to-do list, and I laugh. Not because it’s witty (although I include things like “Make tea save the day” now and again for motivational purposes), but because it looks more like a peek into my mind than a schedule. Between “email Charlotte back” and “review ad spend,” there’s something curiously personal going on. The manner in which I write my lists, disorganized, color-coded, and emotional, says a great deal about my marketing sensibilities and a great deal less than any formal strategy document ever did.
Source: https://www.pexels.com/photo/black-pen-on-a-ripped-notebook-6029140/
Table of Contents
The Things I Avoid Reveal To Me What I Value
If there’s something on your list for weeks, then you don’t care quite as much as you say. For me, what always sticks around is the analytics report. I know I need to do it. But I’ll get to rewriting a caption or fine-tuning copy long before I dig out another spreadsheet. Which says something: I prioritize emotional connection over data. My marketing reflects this. I’m concerned with how something feels rather than how it performs immediately. Strategy isn’t what you prioritize; it’s what you avoid.
Micro-Steps Reveal A Human-First Mindset
You can get an idea of how precise some of my lists are. “Open Canva.” “Add brand font.” “Export the version without the weird spacing.” Ridiculous but on purpose. That’s how I prevent overwhelm from happening. I break things down into tiny, logical steps that make sense to me. Ironically enough, this is how I work with clients. I never assume they know all the jargon or what technology says. I break things down. I translate. I say why we’re doing something before we do it. A huge part of my inner playbook is to make it make sense to humans, not to marketers.
How I Organize Reflects How I Present
Other people use apps. Other people use digital Kanban. Me? I write in a notebook. Colour-coded mess. Random Post-it flags and arrows to other pages. A mess, but my mess. And it works. The tone of the whole thing, playful, visual, and a little bit scuffed, ends up being reflected in how I do business. I don’t over-tweak. I don’t do corporate. I’d rather work with someone who’s okay with the true, imperfect version of things. That’s branding, in a sense. Even if you’re working with a high-polish website design agency, the most compelling brands remain true to themselves rather than perfect.
Tone Counts Even In A Reminder
There’s a difference between “Sort the newsletter” and “Write a note that makes folks feel seen.” You can probably guess which one tops my list. The language in which I lay out tasks reflects what’s most important to me: connection, emotion, and experience. My inner strategy isn’t about funneling folks down. Are they in a funnel?! But getting them closer with language that feels like me.
It Isn’t A List; It Is A Mirror
Your to-do list isn’t a brain dump. It’s a condensed version of your business values. The way you organize it, what you prioritize, and the tone you have everything say how you think about work, about people, and about purpose. Next time you jot one down, take a minute and read between the lines. You may find your strategy has been right in front of you.
