One of the keys to stress-free productivity is transferring all of those critical thoughts from your head to someplace else on a regular basis. Because the human brain can only think one thought at a time, it becomes overwhelming to keep them bouncing around all day long.

I’m always been an avid note taker. I typically fill a couple pages per day with conversations I have with colleagues, important tasks (with that ever so satisfying box I swiftly check when I complete one), and with key dates that I need to make note of.

The problem I’ve always had with my notebooks is that they are painful to revisit. It is time consuming to find something more than a day ago and I end up rewriting the same information over and over again.

Then I discovered the Bullet Journal a few months ago and it completely changed how I take notes.

The genius behind it is the structure and brevity.

The structure can be set up with the following sections.

• Index
• Future Log
• Monthly Log
• Daily Log

Next, you “rapid log,” according to creator Ryder Carroll. As shown below, you start by creating tasks with dots, notes with dashes, and events with circles. You’re then able to complete or migrate each item in short order as you go about your day. An “X” over the dot means you completed it. You can indicate you’ve moved the task forward with a “>” over the dot. Strike through the whole task if you’ve decided it’s no longer worth your time.

It works with any notebook but they do sell an official Bullet Journal for $20.

Once you get comfortable with the system, you can start to customize it to your needs. For example, I add my tasks as they come up through the week to my “weekly log” instead of a “daily log,” enabling me to pick and choose the tasks that I expected, or switch focus to new high priority tasks come up.

Watch this video on YouTube if you want to give it a shot.

If you’re a thriving marketing leader, chances are one of your beliefs in life is to never stop learning. You’re probably always keeping yourself up-to-date on the latest blogs, books, and magazines. You read about business, leadership, productivity, negotiation, marketing, social media, etc. I’d like to recommend the following books to add to your reading list.

The New Rules of Lead Generation by David T. Scott

Learn from a corporate marketer who has been there. The New Rules of Lead Generation intelligently outlines the best practices and strategies for developing your system of lead generation. Integrate the 7 most successful lead-generation tactics and you’ll be set.Click here to read the first chapter for free

Purple Cow by Seth Godin

Marketers sometimes struggle with differentiating their products or services from the competition. Seth Godin, in the The Purple Cow, describes the importance of creating and delivering an exceptional product that is “remarkable.” Targeting the right customers and prospects is key to building the momentum you’ll need to capture the masses. Learn how to position your brand and build a loyal follow base in this easy read book.Click here to read the first chapter for free

The Thank You Economy by Gary Vaynerchuk

The best companies and brands that are rising to the top have a special focus on the customer experience and delivering great service. Gary Vaynerchuk identifies some of the best and pin-points what they’ve done to achieve their success. This book is a strong advocate for using social media to scale your 1-on-1 interactions with customers and creating a relationship with them.Click here to read the first chapter for free

The Lean Startup by Eric Ries

Whether you’re in a small startup or a large corporation, the principles of The Lean Startup can help you achieve product innovation and growth. Many companies struggle with developing new products because they don’t create a continually process for testing and receiving customer feedback. By closing the loop, delivering a product faster, and focusing the right measurements then one could achieve great success through this model.Click here to read some of the methodology on the book

Duct Tape Marketing by John Jantsch

Some great back-to-basics marketing strategies for small or large companies with a tight budget. Partly focused on strategy and stories and much about culture, this book provides a great perspective from a highly experienced marketer. Duct Tape Marketing starts with truly knowing your customer, giving them the simple solution they need, and building marketing into your company’s DNA.Click here to read some free content on the Duct Tape Marketing blog

Leadership and Self-Deception by The Arbinger Institute

This is a must-read leadership book for every level of an organization. It is written as a parable that walks through the majority of “people problems” that occur in the workplace. Without these common problems, a person and organization and focus on results that matter.Click here to read excerpts from the book

What Got You Here Won’t Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith

Successful people are the hardest to convince that they need to change because they are, well successful. Marshall Goldsmith, through his great experience coaching executives, has developed a killer list of behavior traits that hold people back from achieving even more success. Whether you’re a new manager or a rising CEO, following these “20 habits that hold you back from the top” might be your answer to achieving your goals.Click here to learn more about this book and others on the author’s website

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni

This book is a leadership fable about a young CEO who is thrown into a technology company and has to win the hearts and respect of her fellow executives. It’s an easy read with a built-in model for how to overcome universal team dysfunctions. The five steps from bottom to top are: absence of trust, fear of conflict, lack of commitment, avoidance of accountability, and inattention to results.Click here to learn more about this book and download the Five Dysfunctions model.

Entreleadership by Dave Ramsey

If you’re looking for a rock solid playbook on how to build your culture, team, and processes from a reputable financial advisory, then look no further than Dave Ramsey’s book Entreleadership. He walks through the trials and tribulations of starting his business from the ground up. Great insight on how to manage people and how to let them leave when necessary.Click here to listen to the Entreleadership podcasts

Made to Stick by Chip Heath & Dan Heath

This is a great and easy read if you’re looking to understand the best way to get your ideas adopted. What are the characteristics of ideas that seem to have a life of their own? Chip and Dan Heath develop a framework based on the great ideas of the past. Does your idea explore the framework: Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credential, Emotional, Story.Click here to read the first chapter for free

The Little Black Book of Innovation by Scott D. Anthony

Innovation can be a complex topic because of the range of thinking and mass of information out there. It’s become a popular topic because of the impact it can have on companies and markets. The Little Black Book of Innovation does a fantastic job of simplifying the subject by summarizing the experts throughout history. This 28-day guidebook provides insight into innovation and how anyone can begin to master it.Click here to download a free excerpt

Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi

If you’re looking for a book on networking, then look no farther than Never Eat Alone. Keith Ferrazzi provides his rich life story of how he put developing relationships first and foremost. By taking the time to actually add value to other people’s lives, while expecting nothing in return ironically provides you with an abundance of opportunity. Learn how the great leaders and politicians instantly create an intimate and genuine relationship through this insightful book.Click here to learn more about the book on the author’s website

The Start-up of You by Reid Hoffman & Ben Casnocha

The Start-up of You encourages readers to look at their own careers and networks from an entrepreneurial perspective. It teaches how to differentiate oneself and leverage connections to get results. This book provides great insight into building real relationships that allow everyone to get ahead.Click here to download the executive summary

Getting Things Done by Stuart Diamond

Not many people stop and ask themselves “Am I spending my precious time wisely?” Even after acknowledging that the answer to that question is “No,” many don’t have a different solution. Getting Things Done (GTD) is a great book for increasing anyone’s productivity. This book and system offers a proven system to manage the tasks that can sometime overwhelm the day.Click here to request free articles and handouts

The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss

If you’ve ever wondered how you can be more productive and take control of your life then this book is for you. Timothy Ferris is a comedic and informative entrepreneur who tells the story of how he automated his online business and manages it remotely from dozens of countries around the world. This is a great resource for tools and solutions that will help you remain focused on setting your goals and empowering you to accomplish them.Click here to read some of the content from his free blog

Getting More by Stuart Diamond

Getting more out of your life isn’t about getting everything you’ve ever wanted, and neither does it mean that anyone else gets less. Stuart Diamond teaches you specifically how to use invisible negotiation tips to get more from companies you buy from, your kids/family members, or your employer. This book is about expanding the pie and coming to a mutual arrangement. This is not your typical “win win” negotiation book.Click here to learn more about the book on the author’s website

I am honored to have won the Power 30 Under 30 Award for Business in Chicago! Thanks Apex Society and Porsche! Read NW Herald article and Chicago Business Journal article.

Marketing professional added to prestigious list of 30 young professionals under 30 in Chicago.

Cody Ward, 29, a marketing leader, consultant, entrepreneur, blogger, and social media enthusiast living in the greater Chicago area was named to Chicago’s 1^st Annual Power 30 Under 30™ list. The award was presented by the Apex Society, an international young professionals organization, in conjunction with Porsche Cars of North America.

Ward has worked to help Fortune 500 companies and start-up businesses alike create and launch their B2B or B2C marketing campaigns. By combining technical solutions with modern marketing strategy, Ward has developed a track record for executing digital marketing campaigns that deliver strong ROI.

Ward strives to give back to his community through contributing his time and skills to various non-profit organizations including Dignified Dining, which fights hunger in the community and Guardian Angel Community Services, a domestic violence shelter.

The Power 30 Under 30™ Awards honors thirty outstanding individuals under the age of thirty from Chicago that have achieved extraordinary success. Young leaders are recognized from the following categories: 1) Arts, Entertainment, & Media 2) Business 3) Community Service 4) Politics 5) Science & Technology 6) Sports.

Ward was selected as a winner in “Business” with other award recipients at a ceremony and reception hosted by the Apex Society and sponsored by Porsche Cars of North America on Thursday July 21st, 2016.

The Apex Society is an international young professionals club (by invitation only) founded in 2000 that fosters a sense of community through positive business, personal, and educational relationships for its members. The Apex Society’s members are the brightest and most accomplished young professionals around the world. The organization also creates opportunities for its members to give back to the community, especially community organizations whose mission is to build the next generation of overachievers.

Website: http://www.power30under30.com

Guy Kawasaki once again shows his entrepreneurial genius with his latest book The Art of the Start 2.0 - The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything.

I was fortunate enough to get a pre-released copy of the book and was excited to see the changes from his original version. Guy named the book 2.0, and rightfully so, as it is 64% longer than the original version and packed with ideas.

The Art of the Start 2.0 walks you through the critical steps of: Launching, Leading, Bootstrapping, Fund-raising, Building a Team, Evangelizing, Socializing, Rainmaking, Partnering, and Enduring.

Guy’s stated goal with this book is “to make entrepreneurship easier for you.” I believe he’s done just that but don’t be fooled into thinking he does all the thinking for you. He puts you to work with this book and challenges you to apply the material to your own idea/start-up.

Much like a workbook, Guy stops to provides exercises throughout each chapter and pushes you answer important questions. Therefore, I believe each person will take away a personalized and unique experience with the content.

If you’re starting something new or an entrepreneur at heart, this book is well worth the investment.

The Art of the Start 2.0 is available on Amazon now.

One of the most misleading but commonly held beliefs is being “busy” means that you’re being productive and accomplishing a lot. The problem is that the busy work for most people isn’t focused on the things that need to be done. It’s just that, busy work.

People get into a mindset that these things have to be done and there is no other way. Therefore, they get consumed by the same tasks over and over and because they are endless, the day is over and it’s time to check-out. The next day begins a new cycle of non-productivity.

Busy but non-productive tasks include:

• Checking emails
• Making/returning phone calls
• Holding meetings
• Reading the news & blogs
• Reading/updating social media

Wait a second.You’re telling me that I can’t check my email? I can’t make phone calls? How will I stay informed without the news? If we don’t hold meetings, we’ll never be on the same page. Social media is the future. I have to stay current or I’ll get left behind.

If you’re still with me, then let me explain what I mean by labeling these tasks as non-productive. You’re probably having some of the responses above, so hang in there.

These tasks are non-productive because they are endless and time consuming. They don’t accomplish anything and are administrative by nature. The problem isn’t in the task itself, but the amount of time dedicated to it.

Let’s take email as an example. If you’re like me, you can probably get through 200+ emails in less than 15 minutes, if you have to. You’ve done it before. You have your pre-defined rules of how you’ll respond and you make quick decisions when you first get in in the morning or after a long vacation.

Delete. Delete. Archive. Spam folder. Save. Reply. Forward. Delete. Delete. Unsubscribe. Save. Archive. Delete.

You get the point.

So why is it that it takes hours, multiple hours, every day to check half that number of emails? I believe it’s because you’re accepting email as an interruption and stopping something productive to respond. You’re focused on accomplishing something, just about to have a breakthrough, and *ding* (or pop-up). It’s from your boss, colleague, or Grandma. You stop what you’re doing and respond.

Although it just takes you a minute or two, you’ve just broken concentration and focus. You’ve stopped in the middle of what you were doing and diverted your attention. It now takes you more time to get re-focused and back to where you were. You finally get there and *ding*. I think you see where I’m going.

Although email is the example, it applies to all of the non-productive tasks on the list above.

So what do you do? You have to stay connected with people in order to do your job. This is true. But you can control it and schedule times where it’s appropriate.

Solution: Remove the interruptions and you will be more productive.

I just finished the 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss, a masterful book on automating your work so that you can “join the new rich” and “design a great life style”. This is on my recommended reading list. In the book Timothy Ferriss outlines some great rules to follow. I’ve evolved them slightly but have to give him full credit as this book has taken my view of productivity to an entirely new level.

Follow these Rules:

• Only check emails a few times per day.  That’s right. Close outlook, log off the internet, or turn off the cell phone. Do whatever you have to and stop the “You’ve got mail!” messages. It’s not helping. Tim Ferriss suggests that you only check your email twice. Once at 10AM (that’s right, not right away in the morning) and once at 4pm. He goes as far as to outsource this process entirely, but you can read the book to learn more about that in his book.
• Minimize your time on the phone. Schedule this one too and limit to a few times per day. Have a voice-mail message that clearly states when you will return phone calls. Be consistent and put off returning calls unless urgent. Have an emergency phone where people can reach you. Be brief and to the point if they call this number. If you only have one primary line, let the calls to go voice-mail and then return them later. The point is not to interrupt what you’re doing. Finish it before going on to your next important thing.
• Keep meetings brief or stay out of them completely. The 4-Hour Workweek suggests that you ask for a meeting agenda before every meeting and decline if you find it irrelevant. Good advice. In my opinion, in order to be more productive you need to separate your “work time”. If you’re in meetings, you’re likely not accomplishing many of your other tasks. Especially if it isn’t your meeting. Keep them to a minimum and certainly don’t make them an hour. If you can accomplish it in 30 minutes, schedule it for that time and make it a “hard-stop”. Extended meetings mess up the rest of your schedule. Another great tip by HBR is to keep everyone standing. No sitting.
• Stop “keeping yourself updated” with news and blogs. Although it’s extremely important to stay up-to-date on the constantly and quickly evolving new economy, don’t get consumed by trying to keep up with it. Your blogs and newspapers aren’t going anywhere and if you don’t read about the latest tip first thing in the morning, you’ll be okay. Limit yourself this guilty pleasure. Don’t spend more that 10 minutes at a time consuming new information. Schedule it and use it as a reward for accomplishing your most important task of the day.
• Stay off social media. I’m a huge advocate for social media. I know it’s here to stay and essential for building relationships with customers and building a business. However, updating your Facebook status and retweeting all of your followers is NOT productive. If you could spend 1 hour creating something of value or accomplishing something that hasn’t been done at your company before or managing your Twitter account, I’m hoping this article encourages you to choose the former. Like the previous bullet, schedule this and use it as a “reward”. Social media does not count as a most important task of the day. Choose something else.

To summarize, keep yourself focused on what you need and should accomplish. Stop being consumed by the end-less tasks that make you appear busy. If you’re constantly checking email, reading online, or updating social media then chances are you’re going home tired. You’re always going to be busy if you follow this pattern. Break it today and take control of your productivity.

Originally developed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower, promoted by Stephen Covey’s top-selling book 7 Habits of Highly Effective people, and echoed in Dave Ramsey’s book Entreleadership, are four areas on which people spend their time.

The answers can be determined by asking two questions about a particular task.

1) Is it important?

2) Is it urgent?

This concept can also be diagrammed into a four quadrant square focusing on the factors importance and urgency.

Most people spend their time focused on the two right quadrants URGENT & IMPORTANT and URGENT & NOT IMPORTANT. The reason being that the urgency grabs our attention even if the task at hand is known to be unimportant. We logically wouldn’t waste time on a task that we deem not worth our time, but because of Parkinson’s Law the fact that it is urgent increases (in appearance) its importance.

What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important - President Dwight D. Eisenhower

I’d like to focus on one quadrant in particular. The often neglected but most useful of the four quadrants is the NOT URGENT & IMPORTANT. These items are the things we haven’t checked off on our To Do lists in the last 12 months, yet we keep putting them on there. These items are the core discussion of our team meetings, yet action is never taken. We know they need to get done but often we are so busy that they keep getting pushed below all of our fire drills. The NOT URGENT & IMPORTANT quadrant is essential because it’s what we know will be good for our organization or team in the long run.

This quadrant will move the needle.

This quadrant will improve you product.

This quadrant will make you a star.

Make Time for the Not Urgent

1) Schedule it.

Carve out 1 hour out of your week to focus on the NOT URGENT & IMPORTANT. Don’t let anyone interrupt this time. Go offline if need be. Use this time to turn off the water hose on all those fire drills. Ask yourself, “What have I been neglecting that I know needs to get done?” Make a priority list and take action on some of those items.

2) Take time from the URGENT & NOT IMPORTANT quadrant.

By asking if your spending your time in the best way you’ll start to identify those tasks that come up with intensity but aren’t accomplishing anything. These are the fire drills that keep coming up with no long term solution. These are the tasks that occur because of lack of planning. These are the opposite of thoughtful and carefully constructed ideas. Identify them and divert your focus onto something more important.

3) Pick up the slack and get your hands dirty.

The NOT URGENT & IMPORTANT tasks/projects are often the things that nobody else wants to do because of their complexity, time consumption, or difficulty. Step up and accomplish something your colleagues aren’t willing to do and you’ll instantly shine. Differentiate yourself as someone who goes the extra mile and always asks “Why are we doing this?”

If you’re looking to be more productive then it’s helpful to understand exactly how multitasking affects your brain. According to a recent infographic by OnlineUniversities.com, your brain “wasn’t designed to handle the amount information it is currently processing.”

In an age where 695,000 Facebook status updates, 1,500 blog posts, and 168 million emails are sent every 60 seconds, it remains difficult to focus and keep from multitasking. It pays however to limit your tasks to a maximum two at a time. According to the infographic:

When the brain is faced with two tasks, the medial prefrontal cortex divides into so that each half can focus on one task. The anterior-most part of the frontal lobes enables the switch between two goals. When a third task comes into play, it’s too much for the brain to handle at once. Consequently, accuracy drops considerable.

Some more interesting stats from the infographic:

• 50% of Firefox Users have 2.38 tabs open on average.
• 25% of Firefox Users have 3.59 tabs open on average.
• People with email opened switched tabs 37 times over those without email, who opened at 18 times.
• The average computer user checks 40 websites a day.
• The average computer user switches programs 36 times an hour, or every two minutes!
• Media consumed in the year 1960 per person was 5 hours. That number has jumped to 12 hours per day.

Here are some tips from the infographic that can help you combat stress and digital information overload:

• Set only a few times per day to check email. Send messages in batches
• Schedule time to check your social networking sites.
• Subscribe to RSS feeds so you can read your blogs all at once and in one place.
• Turn off the tech when with  family and friends.
• Take a break from technology after hours.

Measure your time on a task to minimize your multitasking and reduce your stress:

This “Digital Stress and Your Brain” infographic, combined with the more scary side-effect of sitting down all day, caused me to think deeply about breaks. I’m often so involved in what I want to accomplish that day that I spend too much time hammering through tasks without getting up. I know I need to stand up, drink water, and recharge but often forget.

A small Jquery tool I created that anyone is free to try, take, or modify is a countdown timer in the browser. The timer counts down from 30 minutes and then pops up an alert window saying “times up!” The idea is to stand up, drink some water, and take a short break. You can modify the time to anything you want by changing the query string.

Example: http://codyward.com/countdown/?time=14:52

Click the image below to open the countdown timer.

View the infographic below:

Via: OnlineUniversities.com

All marketers, or entrepreneurs for that matter, obtain unique experiences and perspectives that drive them forward in their careers. Some focus on performance, others leadership, others networking, or an infinite combination of strategies to better themselves in the workplace and set up for the success of future initiatives.

In the interest of camaraderie, sharing among a common profession, or just the belief that learning together will make us all better, I’ve put together my top 15 list of actions to take to become successful. Many of these ideas have come from personal experiences, work colleagues ideas, mentors’ advice, and distinguished authors. Hopefully you will find value in some of them and adopt them into your own career.

1. Embrace life-long learning. Read.
2. Do the grunt-work for long enough and well enough that you can teach it to others. By understanding it at ground-level, you’ll be able to lead them to where you want them to go.
3. Develop mentors or at least a circle of people advocating for you and giving you advice. Consult them on all major decisions and develop a relationship that encourages them to challenge your decisions. Read Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi for his ideas on networking.
4. Never let your own lack of planning/execution turn into another person’s “fire drill”.
5. Be aware of your communication style, your body language, and how you’re presenting yourself. Use the power of 3 (organize your ideas into 3 points at a time) to communicate your message effectively when speaking or presenting.
6. Spend 70% of your time on tasks/projects that are important but haven’t been assigned to you yet. Read the The 4-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss on ideas on personal automation and productivity.
7. Become a generalist. Don’t be afraid to be dangerous on a wide variety of topics. The world needs people who piece things together at a high level.
8. Never look back and wonder “what if?”
9. Never ask a question you can’t answer yourself with a bit of a research or trial and error.
10. Learn to tell stories of both successes and failures. Read Made to Stick by Chip Heath & Dan Heath for how to organize your ideas in a simple framework.
11. Keep focused on the best you can possibly do, recognize when opportunities arise, and have the courage to take chances. Maximize positive opportunities and minimize random events (Black Swans) by reading The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.
12. Demonstrate your passion outside of your work and school time.
13. Lead by asking questions. Get others to arrive at the destination instead of forcing them to agree with you. Your ideas will be much better received if the group comes up with it together.
14. Invest your time, energy, and resources into the things that matter most in your life first, and then to others that show results. Read Clayton M. Christensen’s Harvard Business Review article “How Will You Measure Your Life?”
15. Challenge the status quo and always go back to “Why are we doing it this way?”

Bonus tip: Turn yourself into a thought leader in your field. You don’t have to become the expert know-it-all, you just need to be part of the conversation. Emulating the successful in marketing today, I created a blog PuzzleMarketer.com and have used it as a platform to launch my ideas and experience. I also use it as a medium to give back, to say thank you to those who’ve made a difference in my life, and to meet more outstanding people in the future. I encourage every young professional to start writing; sharing thoughts and giving 10x more than you expect to receive.

As a young leader I’ve been observing how others treat their peers and subordinates. In fact, before I was a leader I was already identifying how I would and would not lead, when I had people to follow me. Influenced by both those I looked up to and established authors, I started to write down what type of leadership style I would embody.

First off, borrowed from John Maxwell’s The 360 Degree Leader book, I firmly believe that a leader is a servant. If you’re at the top, your job is to help those below you do a better job, or as John Maxwell puts it “add value”. If you’re at the bottom, your job is to help those above you do their jobs better. If you’re in the middle, well, you’re helping above, below, and just as importantly across. Let’s also not forget that he advocates you leading yourself before any other leading takes place.

Studying some other great books and interviewing those I deemed as “good leaders”, I’ve been define and refining my own style. Below are the latest elements that I continuously refer to that define my leadership style.

• Be firm in your decisions/actions but not overbearing.
• Seek a genuine deeper human connection.
• Be a servant of the individual or group.
• Be candid and always open to feedback/direction.
• Be confident with the group’s vision and path.
• Give all credit to the team or individual contributors. Or never take credit without acknowledging the help of others.
• Provide gratitude always when deserved.
• Encourage innovation and creativity by not judging an idea as “right” or “wrong” in the moment.
• Encourage success but allow team members to fail, thereby learning from their mistakes.
• Lead by asking questions that allow the group to arrive at a the same destination together.
• Reward genuinely to positive responses and based on achievement of an even scale.
• Always be encouraging, motivating, and goal focused.

What’s yours?

Some more great leadership books:

The Leadership Challenge by James M. Kouzes and  Barry Z. Posner

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni

Also, another great resource if you’re looking to learn from the latest leadership concepts is G5Leadership.com. They offer ever expanding on-demand recordings of authors and popular thought leaders on leadership topics.

At any given time, you can choose from an infinite amount of ways to spend your time and marketing dollars. Marketers, and people in general, get caught up in always trying to accomplish more and more. What they end up doing in most cases is spreading themselves too thin.

Multitasking isn’t productive when you split your focus between goals or objectives. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket, but take the time to optimize. Whether it’s traditional marketing, digital marketing, viral marketing, guerrilla marketing, or social marketing, concentrate on only the top performing channels and remove the rest.

It comes from saying no to 1,000 things to make sure we don’t get on the wrong track or try to do too much. We’re always thinking about new markets we could enter, but it’s only by saying no that you can concentrate on the things that are really important. - Steve Jobs

I’ve seen many cases where companies will keep themselves busy launching campaign after campaign. It amazes me sometimes that they don’t take the time to stop, say “no” to new ones, and rework what’s already there.

Sometimes your best results can be right under your nose.