How do you stay organized at work? (Exit Five Newsletter)

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TOGETHER WITH TLDR

📧 Do Newsletter Ads Actually Work For Driving Pipeline?

Plaid had a goal: prove that newsletter ads could actually drive pipeline, not just clicks, not just impressions. Real, measurable revenue.

Instead of dumping budget into noisy channels, they went straight to where their audience already spends time: TLDR’s curated newsletters for tech, fintech, and dev leaders.

The real breakout came with their “Fintech Predictions” campaign. It:

• Brought in 70 leads
• Added $382k in pipeline (for real)
• Delivered a 20.1x ROI, Plaid’s best-performing direct buy to date

Even better, those leads weren’t just net-new. TLDR helped surface upsell opps from existing customers, too.

If you’re looking for demand gen plays that punch above their weight in 2025, this case study is worth the read.

🧠 How Marketers Are Actually Getting Work Done Right Now

Confession: I have always been (or attempted to be) a bit of a productivity nerd. Despite my viral LinkedIn post last week railing on the “post it” brainstorm sessions; I am actually that guy. I love a good post it note. I love a new way to stay organized.

I was an early user of Evernote and still pay for it to keep my notes from 2011-2017. Then there was Wunderlist. And Trello. And Basecamp.

Then I went through a post-it note and notepad phase. Then the email to myself phase. Then the Apple notes phase.

I’ve seriously tried everything. I’ll go through an extreme notebook phase. A let’s try Bullet Journaling phase. I have done them all.

Today the best system (lately, for now, i guess) that is working for me is to literally put them on my calendar and do them at that specific time. Tomorrow. From 11 - 12 PM before lunch, I will sit down and write that copy. Wednesday I have an hour free in the morning; I will work on that feedback for Anna then.

So this got me thinking: I bet the people in our community are like me in some ways and obsess over this stuff too (and sometimes it’s therapeutic to hear from people who are more Type B about this stuff too).

I wanted to know what’s working for other marketers to actually get things done. So I asked the Exit Five community: how do you actually manage your work in 2025?

And this is what they said (I’m hoping you can steal at least 1 or 2 things to be more productive). We thought it would be fun to write about this for you in the newsletter this week, member or not.

Here’s some productivity inspiration for you if you needed it (or maybe you didn't know you needed it until now).

📅 Tip: Block absolutely everything on your calendar

School pickups, drop offs (padded for time to get kids settled with snacks and homework), after school activities. It's all on the work calendar AND a personal shared family calendar.

One marketer keeps a weekly calendar in the kitchen so everyone knows what's happening, who's doing what, and when.

The key? Time blocking for work tasks too. Not just putting "work on campaign" on your to-do list, but actually blocking the time to get it done. Especially if you're managing a team and balancing your own work with meetings and check-ins.

And yes, the email-to-self system is alive and well. Something you think of late at night or first thing in the morning? Email it to yourself so you don’t forget then add it to your calendar later (if it’s still something you’re pumped about).

🎯 Tip: Focus on your top 3 priorities (and actually finish them)

One marketer has tried all the systems over the years (including 7 Habits with the weekly planner).

Their approach now: Monthly priorities, weekly lists, and then focus on signal to noise.

Complete the "Top 3 Priorities in Next 18 Hours" daily, 7/365.

Simple. Focused. Works.

📊 Tip: Excel sheets with color-coded dopamine hits (yes, really)

Here's a wild one: Excel sheets with lists that change colors for a good dopamine hit. And a promise of ice cream if the to-do list is completed.

This marketer tried Notion, Obsidian, Logseq, and quite a few others. Then realized one simple truth: it needs to be on the local hard drive, able to carry on a pen drive if needed, and has to open without hassle even if there's no internet.

They even keep all their written content in a single Excel workbook, adding things they find interesting and sorting by topics and sub-topics.

📔 Tip: Physical planners are making a comeback

I believe it. Analog is so hot right now…

One marketer uses an actual IRL personal planner (a Panda planner) where they list top quarterly priorities then break them down by month, week, day.

The best part? It's for both personal and work goals. This allows them at a glance to understand what days or weeks need more weight at work vs. personal.

It also allows for personal reflection and re-evaluation of priorities, things they're grateful for, etc.

At work, they've used Asana, Trello, Jira, Wrike. They all work. None of them are perfect. Whatever the team has already adopted or is open to trying is probably best.

Random thoughts on a hike? Those go in the Notes app. And sometimes on LinkedIn.

🤖 Tip: Let AI organize your calendar (and your entire life)

One marketer is using Motion to build multiple schedules: one for work, personal, army stuff, podcast stuff.

They create projects where they can dump all tasks for various areas of focus. Each task gets a due date, estimated length to complete, a priority, and a specific schedule to follow.

Motion then organizes the calendar based on those tasks. If someone books them or they don't finish a task, it automatically reorganizes everything.

They plan the week once on Sunday and don't have to think about it again. Just sit down to work and the calendar tells them the next priority task.

This removes a huge mental load while stopping things from slipping through the cracks.

📁 Tip: Ideas live in Notion. Execution lives on your calendar.

One marketer figured out something smart: separate storage from execution. Notion and Google Docs hold ideas and plans. The calendar handles execution – everything with a deadline.

For tasks that don't fit neatly on the calendar (research, thinking, admin), they batch them into themed 90-minute blocks twice a day. It keeps context switching low and helps distinguish between "urgent" and "progress-making."

🧘‍♀️ Pro Tip: Stop separating work and life (manage it all together)

Here's the truth: most people are NOT separating work and personal anymore.

The marketers who feel most in control are managing it all in one place.

One marketer uses iOS Reminders app heavily for non-work things. It's not flashy, but it's quicker and simpler to use on the go. Whenever they think of something they need to do or remember, they put it in and set a date and time reminder, even if it's arbitrary.

Another created a free Monday board for personal stuff after a big fight with their husband about priorities and things they need to get done. Saw a huge improvement in focus and progress in just a few days.

One marketer went old school: pen and paper with little checkboxes on each line. They love ticking them through the day for a dopamine hit. Combining work and personal tasks on the list and time blocking both types of events on the calendar gives them balance that doesn't stress them out when one dwarfs the other.

💡 What This Means for You

There's no perfect system. But here's what’s working for so many other marketers like you right now:

They're not just making lists. They're blocking time.

They're not separating work and life into different systems. They're managing it all together.

They're being realistic about their capacity and focusing on what actually matters.

The tool doesn't matter as much as the discipline to actually use it.

So here's my question for you: What's the productivity hack you swear by that everyone else thinks is weird?

(Seriously, I want to know. The weirder the better. Reply and tell me.)

– Dave

P.S. OK my productivity nerds, tell me - what did we miss here? What would you add? Where do you need help? Reply back.

📺 UPCOMING EVENTS

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📚 LATEST CONTENT

Here's the latest from the Exit Five content library:

• 🎧 Live from my backyard. Thoughts on traveling to NYC, ROI of events, and ramblings from this week.
• 🎧 Beyond Copy: How To Use AI to Build GTM Systems That Scale
• 🎧 Events, AI, and The Future of B2B Buying with Sydney Sloan, CMO at G2
• 📰 How to Lead a High Functioning Marketing Org
• 📰 Marketing Is Broken: Why You’re So Busy and Still Not Getting Anything Done
• 📰 How to Put On a Virtual Event People Actually Want to Attend

✍️ NEW FROM EXIT FIVE

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