Staying Focused on Strategic Creative Projects

I've managed 5 high-performing product marketing teams at startups and public companies, and there are 2 commonalities I've noticed at each: 1) it's easy for PMMs to get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of tasks on their plates, and 2) teams are rarely recognized for their true effort or impact by upper management. That's why I want to share my prioritization matrix 👇 It’s been a game-changer in how my teams approach projects and focus on what truly drives results. I’m curious—does this framework resonate with your approach to prioritizing tasks? Here's the concept: Rack up the wins by focusing on projects that offer high visibility and impact for lower effort and avoid those that drain your energy and don’t align with company goals. (Note: you could replace visibility with impact on this scale, but it's important that what you're working on is actually on the radar of those in upper management). Here’s how to prioritize: Quick Wins: These are the golden opportunities! High visibility, low difficulty — they bring great returns with minimal effort. Look for ways to get a few of these in your quarter. Strategic Initiatives: Aim for ONE strategic initiative per quarter. These are high-visibility, high-difficulty tasks that are aligned with your long-term goals. Go deep, plan ahead, and focus on the impact. You will be the most proud of these, but you need to be realistic about them. Routine Tasks: You’ve got to keep up with these, but don't let them consume too much of your time. Find a system to manage them efficiently. Avoid: Stay clear of high-difficulty, low-visibility tasks. These projects often don't yield the results you need, and they’re energy-draining. They don't align with your values or long-term success. 💡 Action Step: Review your current or upcoming projects. Classify them into high or low reward, and high or low effort. What projects are you spending too much time on that aren’t worth the effort? Time to realign and focus on what truly matters! #Productivity #TimeManagement #Prioritization #WorkSmart #StrategicFocus #CareerGrowth #Leadership How do you manage your / your team’s workload?

The biggest thing that helped me become a better PMM was carving out time for strategic thinking, no matter how busy I was. Why is this important? -> Tactical work alone won’t advance your career. You need to think far with a strategic vision and have the ability to execute. -> Strategic clarity reduces decision fatigue and eliminates random tasks that don’t lead to real outcomes. -> It helps you identify opportunities to innovate and create net new value for the business. -> Teams naturally follow people who think beyond the immediate. Here’s how I do it (and how you can too): 1️⃣ Block time for deep thinking It’s very hard to focus on strategic work if you are always busy in meetings or putting out fires. So the first step is to make TIME. Dedicate 30–60 minutes daily to uninterrupted, quiet thinking even if it means waking up earlier. I also block Wed and Friday mornings for extended work sessions. Find a time that works with your natural productivity. 2️⃣ Prioritize what to focus on (and not focus on) Strategy also means saying no, or not now. Use my Action/Priority Matrix to identify and focus on high-impact tasks, while deferring, delegating or eliminating the rest. Communicate your priorities to your manager for transparency. Remember part of strategy is also saying no. https://lnkd.in/eDd_PvuN 3️⃣ Create project plans Before jumping into a project, no matter how big or small (even if it’s just creating a piece of content), get into the habit of writing out a project plan, including who, how, what, when, why, KPIs, milestones, and key stakeholders. This forces you to think AHEAD, create a repeatable structure, and helps you easily drive alignment with others. 4️⃣ Review long-term goals often Regularly assess how your day-to-day work aligns with your big-picture vision/strategy. Realignment ensures you’re always working toward meaningful outcomes. I suggest doing a monthly review and then communicating what you’d like to start, stop, and continue, with your manager. This also shows you are proactive. 5️⃣ Talk it out with a thought partner or coach Clarity doesn’t always come on your own. Talking through your ideas with someone who can ask the right questions or challenge your assumptions is invaluable. My clients often come to me with a jumble of (great) thoughts, and we untangle them to pull the thread together and uncover the strategy. — Carving out time for strategic thinking isn’t just about blocking time - it’s about making that time effective by doing the right thing and creating the right system. What would you add? #productmarketing #strategy #career #growth #coaching

My favorite way to handle shiny object syndrome is by steering into that desire to do lots of stuff, not avoid it. For context, I work with clients (mainly execs and entrepreneurs) who want to differentiate their personal platforms — as well as pillar projects like keynotes, podcasts, and more. Recently, I've worked through a lot of shiny object syndrome with clients, encouraging them to focus more on fewer things with greater impact. The way we handle shiny object syndrome is always the same. First, we document their ideas. These things could prove distracting if they actually worked on them, but they’re just as distracting merely thinking about them as they get stuck rattling around their brains each day. So we don't say "NO" to them. We also don't assume we can ignore the ideas naturally. They’ll come back around. So instead, we take a tiny action and document them somewhere for safekeeping. This gives some relief (I can always do them later—they aren’t lost forever) and gives the client a sort of permission to move fwd with more focused work. Next, I also try to reframe the project of focus (say, a podcast) as a place that actually fits a lot of ideas within it, so long as we develop and adhere to an overall premise for the project. This notion comes from my own work and experience grappling with my own shiny object syndrome. When you're creative, you crave diversity of ideas, and you can scratch that itch in 2 ways — bur only 1 is productive IMO: 1. constantly switch between lots of projects, spread yourself thin, and get worse results 2. do fewer projects better, but within those, find ways to routinely add new wrinkles and time-boxed experiments. The second is what I prefer for myself and what I coach clients to try. For instance, I've long wanted to create a show dissecting the signature stories of world-class business storytellers. Where does that idea fit when I have an existing show and other commitments? It would be net-new — and distracting. So instead of a new show, I made it a miniseries running within my show, positioning it to make sense in that show’s broader mission. That's the thing about maker monsters like shiny object syndrome. They can't really be defeated. But you can learn to dance with them.

One thing I’ve really struggled with as an entrepreneur is focus. 🧠 When you're passionate about your field, it’s easy to get distracted by exciting new opportunities. In my early days as an independent consultant, I bounced from project to project, never fully committing the time to see things through. My former coach, Sally Diab Barakat, used to compare me to a squirrel—always chasing new nuts and forgetting where I had buried the old ones. 🐿️ Now, as I enter my third year running TCC, I’ve developed a few strategies that help me stay focused and move forward with intention: 🔹 A structured business plan – Each year, I map out a plan around five key pillars: Business Development, Product Development, Market Eminence, Client Delivery, and Business Operations. Every month, I set goals and KPIs in Notion that align with these pillars, ensuring my team and I stay on track. The key? Being realistic about what’s actually achievable. 🔹 Learning to say no – This has been a game-changer. I’ve had to be honest about what I’m truly good at and where my time is best spent. That means declining meetings and opportunities that might seem interesting but don’t align with my business goals or skill set. 🔹 Listening to my audience – Instead of focusing on what I want to offer, I prioritize what my target customers actually need. In an industry like sustainability—where many still see it as a “nice-to-have” rather than a necessity—this has helped me build more relevant and impactful solutions. While there’s value in experimenting and failing fast, there comes a point where efficiency, structure, and discipline are essential for reaching the next level. 💬 I’d love to hear from others on a similar journey—what’s been your biggest lesson as an entrepreneur? 🚀 If this post resonated with you, follow me for more insights on building a purpose-driven career. Jaskaran Singh Chloe King Paula Jacobson Melissa Saoudy Shereen Abdulla Audrey Fages

In complex times, it’s not just creativity that wins—it’s CREATIVITY x FOCUS. I once worked with a leader who was wildly creative. Every meeting was a brainstorm. Every brainstorm… well, sometimes more of a rabbit hole than an ideation session. Their team had intermittent successes. But as the market tightened and resources thinned, their team stalled. There were simply TOO MANY ideas. And not enough action. Contrast that with an innovation leader I recently coached. She had that same spark—but she anchored it in clarity. Clarity about her strategy. Clarity about her customer. And in turn, clarity about the value her idea could deliver. The result? Speed. Traction. And a team that felt energized, not overwhelmed. Because in complex environments, creativity without focus? It’s like drinking from a firehose. But focus amplifies creativity. It filters. Sharpens. Aligns. And that’s where real magic happens. Focus x Creativity = Velocity + Value Feeling the swirl right now? Try this: —> Get clear on your north star (your customer’s need AND your org’s core strategy). —> Use it to focus your next idea sprint or team brainstorm. —> Then watch creativity turn into meaningful progress—not just motion. What’s one way you stay focused when things get noisy? #innovation #focus #creativity #leadership #jugaad #doingbetterwithless #keynote

They say doubt kills more dreams than failure ever could. You know what else can? Distractions. As a multi-hyphenate juggling several projects - from curating offsites, creating bilingual change curriculums, launching the Future Fit Awards, interviewing #futurefitleaders for the 'pod, delivering fractional change advisor services - staying focused isn't just a choice—it's a necessity. With so many plates spinning, the last thing I can afford is a distraction that sends them crashing to the ground. But let’s be real—distractions are everywhere. Here's my secrets to keeping everything in motion without dropping the ball. ➡ Start with several Micro-Wins Before diving into the big stuff, knock out some quick, easy tasks. It’s like warming up before a workout—it gets the momentum going, and it’s easier to tackle the heavy lifting. ➡ Align your energy peak Know your physiology. For deep, focused work, identify when your brain naturally thrives—whether it’s early evening or late morning—and reserve that time for the deep thinking, strategising, and creative work. ➡ Design your day with themes Thematically diarise your day. Monday mornings might be DND, Tuesday afternoons for hatching new ideas, all-day Wednesday is for relationship building etc. This way, you’re not constantly switching gears, which is one of the biggest productivity killers. I'd love to hear from you - what are your top tips to keep focused when the world around you is a whirlwind? 🚀 #Careers #linkedinnewsaustralia #Productivity

Frankly, it was embarrassing. I was in the lunch line at an inspiring, day-and-a-half-long gathering of colleagues. Talks had been given; ideas were swirling. One of them, whom I'd last seen four months prior, asked me: "What's your biggest takeaway from all this?" "I realize I need to focus more," I said. "Really drill down strategically so I can make more progress." "That's what you said the last time," he replied. Ouch. And of course, he was right. I literally wrote a book about strategic thinking — The Long Game — because it was the medicine I personally needed to take. There are so many exciting things we could be doing. So many opportunities that it physically hurts to turn down. But here’s the truth: The more opportunities you say “yes” to, the more your real priorities get buried. Focus isn’t just a productivity hack. It’s the only way to actually move the needle. Here’s the 3-step filter I’m (re)committing to: 1️⃣ Clarify the one goal that matters most right now ↳ Ask: If I could only accomplish ONE thing this quarter, what would it be? 2️⃣ Audit everything on your plate ↳ Which projects directly support that one goal? ↳ Which are distractions dressed as opportunities? 3️⃣ Cut — even if it hurts ↳ If it doesn’t serve your main goal, it’s a “no” (or a “not now”). It’s not easy. But I’ve seen over and over that when I focus, results come faster than I expect. I’m sharing this as much to hold myself accountable as to encourage you. 📌 If you want more practical, battle-tested strategies for strategic focus and long-term success, I share them weekly in my newsletter: https://lnkd.in/eAtitxcM What’s your biggest focus challenge right now? I’d love to hear in the comments. 👇 Reshare this post to help hold yourself accountable, too!