Finding the Balance: How do I work as a Lazy and Driven Marketer?

Yes, you read it right.

Lazy and Driven, are the exact two words I'd use to describe me as a professional.

After spending 8+ years in marketing, the charm around marketing doesn't work on me anymore. I turned 30 this year, and I am getting lazier by the second.

Sometimes, I just wish I can quit my job, just go to a beach and do nothing but have a bottomless cocktail. But to do that, I need a good amount of capital in my savings account, which alas! I don't have any.

At the same time, my inherent trait of being driven makes me want to do more. That's why I am investing time in this blog. Even though I have an audience of 3, I feel driven to write here (hoping one day this blows up).

So how do I balance the Lazy vs Driven aspect of my professional career?

Let's dive in.

Plan your week ahead

Being lazy has its perk. The one thing being lazy has taught me is to be smart about getting things done with minimal effort.

And that starts with my Sunday evening. On the eve before going back to work. I sit down with my notes and look at things that I did last week. The things that are yet to be completed are added to the list of to-dos for the forthcoming week.

Additionally, I also take a measure of what other things I'll have to tackle this coming week. And that gives structure to:

• High-Priority work - These are tasks that are tied to a strict deadline and have to be done without delays. They take up the first 3 days of my week.
• Meetings - I prefer not to take any meetings on Monday, and if I have to, I do that late in the day, preferably just before getting done for the day – late evenings. My meeting days are Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays.
• Deep work - These are the initial phases of a project, or ideas that I would want to work on and requires a lot of thought processing, brainstorming, research, and more. I block 1-2 hours every day on my calendar to these things and I generally tend to them on Thursdays and Fridays when I have a relatively free to-do list.
• Low-priority work – Low-priority work is generally the tasks that require minimal effort and could be done in a few hours. Here my idea is to automate the task as much as possible and get them done quickly on Mondays or Fridays. This gives me the boost I need to tackle a busy week or end the week on a high note.

Treat work as work.

One of the best pieces of advice I've ever gotten at work has been –

Yash, if you don't work, no one will die. You're not a Doctor, Police or in the army. If your work is late, don't take it too hard. It's okay to slack off at times.

This was my first manager. She told me it was okay that I needed a break and didn't do anything yesterday.

The message was clear and simple:

Treat Work as work.

Work isn't our lives. I understand it's how we survive and it's important but so is our well-being.

That's why when I have lazy days, I don't get as anxious as I used to get before. It's okay I'll bounce back.

Use trackers to deliver things on time with minimal effort

I've never liked tasks, but oh boy I love organizing my work into tasks.

By being able to visualize what work is left over a week, I am able to plan things and carefully decide which days I can push and which days can be taken slow.

I surrender to the fact that I can't work seriously 5 days, 40 hours a week. So I always keep track of my work with a simple to-do list or if I am feeling motivated, it goes into Todoist.

Once I can segregate work as I mentioned above, it gets easy. I tend to focus on getting 80% of things done on my end per week, and only let 20% move into the forthcoming week.

Keep reading and discovering

This is probably the most important thing, keep reading and discovering new marketing tactics in your field.

Sometimes inspiration is the shortcut to getting things done quickly.

When I need to come up with a GTM plan, I look at the best players in the industry and take cues from them to devise a plan while using my knowledge of the basics to stitch the plan together.

Or, when I need to write blogs, landing pages, and other pieces of content, I use ChatGPT strategically to get ideas, structure out my content, and get more context about things where I am clueless.

And, always remember, you have a long way to go!

Knowing that I am just 30, and there is a lot of work to do in my entire remaining lifetime gives me peace.

Maybe today I am unable to get where I wanted to be but that doesn't mean I'll never get there.

I am just a bit slow than others, and I am comfortable. That's how I view my career.

But, ironically I have been able to achieve my goals later than sooner and that's enough.

Maybe becoming a  millionaire might take a while but one day there's a possibility of it coming true. If I keep at it, there are things that can happen.

That's the beauty of life.

One day you're gloomy and the next day your work paid off and here you are celebrating it.

So yeah, if you're lazy it's okay. The drive isn't about being sincere and meticulous about work. It's a trait that's separate from your other habits, and it's alright to be lazy but still want to touch the sky. We all are human beings after all, faulty to a T.