🔥 Stop overthinking, start executing
Simple processes drive big success. Here’s how to execute with clarity.
Success isn’t about having the perfect plan—it’s about executing.
Whether it’s Sam Altman’s simple note-taking process, Eisenhower’s prioritization framework, or balancing SEO and PPC, today’s letter is all about cutting through the noise and taking action.
Let’s dive in.
Today’s agenda:
✍️ How I apply Sam Altman’s note-taking process
⬛ Prioritize like a president (the Eisenhower Matrix)
⚖️ The PPC/SEO balance
💼 Briefly: AI blog posts, GenAI use cases, & audio
⏱️ Up & coming: Networking in 2025
🖊️ The power of a simple process
It’s often said that execution is 90% of success.
If you’re spending too much time in the weeds, waiting for the perfect moment or process, you’re holding yourself back.
Sam Altman’s note-taking method highlights the secret simplicity of his success—a notebook, a pen, and a process.
▶️ Watch my new video to see how Altman’s system works, and how I apply it in my everyday life:
📒 How I use Altman’s process:
The notebook: TWONE A6 Kraft bound spiral notebook
The pen: Uniball One or Muji
The process: Lists, sorting, execution
💡 Subscribe to my YouTube channel for more insights that have helped me achieve wealth while maintaining a strong work-life balance!
🏃 Urgency ≠ importance
Solopreneurs often are pulled in many different directions throughout the day, making it difficult—if not impossible—to get any meaningful work accomplished.
If you struggle with time management and prioritization, you may want to try the Eisenhower Matrix—a simple framework for distinguishing between urgent and important tasks.
🤔 Eisenhower Matrix: How it works
This decision-making tool, inspired by former President Dwight D. Eisenhower and later popularized by Stephen Covey, categorizes tasks into four quadrants:
Urgent & Important (Do Now): Critical tasks that require immediate action
Important, Not Urgent (Schedule It): Strategic, long-term tasks that need planning
Urgent, Not Important (Delegate It): Tasks that are time-sensitive but don’t require personal attention
Neither Urgent nor Important (Eliminate It): Distractions that don’t add value
The Eisenhower Matrix helps with decision fatigue, and makes sure long-term goals don’t fall through the cracks.
💡 Get started by listing out all of your tasks and categorizing them into the four quadrants. HubSpot has a free template you can download.
🚦 Don’t pay for free traffic
Search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) are essential strategies for startup founders looking to drive traffic, generate leads, and build brand awareness—but they require a careful balance to avoid PPC cannibalization.
📉 What is PPC cannibalization?
PPC cannibalization occurs when your PPC campaigns unintentionally compete with high-performing organic listings. This results in brands spending more without gaining additional traffic.
🛑 Signs of PPC cannibalization, via Search Engine Land:
Organic rankings are stable but click-through rates (CTRs) drop
PPC clicks rise but total site traffic remains the same
Organic conversions drop while PPC conversions rise
🙅 How to prevent PPC takeover
Exclude high-ranking organic keywords from PPC
Use exact-match negative keywords to exclude strong SEO performers
Use brand exclusion lists to prevent wasteful PPC spend, and don’t bid on branded terms unless competitors are running ads on your brand name
Don’t pay for traffic you can get for free—PPC should complement, not replace, SEO.
Briefly
🤖 New research from Gartner finds that 27% of CMOs say they have no or limited adoption of genAI on their teams. Reasons include legal and ethical concerns, as well as the cost. Additionally, more than a quarter of CMOs aren’t seeing a benefit from genAI.
✍️ Wondering whether AI-generated blog posts are able to perform as well as their human counterparts? The results are in: Semrush found that both types of blog posts perform similarly in search, but human-written content is more likely to make it to the Top 3 and Top 5 results.
🔝 How are marketing professionals (including CEOs, consultants, and operations managers) using genAI? MartechTribe surveyed 283 people and found the top 50 use cases—including copy production and competitor research.
🎧 Adding audio to blog posts makes them more accessible, but does it help your pages rank higher? Probably not, according to Google—but it’s good for the user so they advise marketers to keep doing it.
📈 ChatGPT has surpassed 400 million weekly active users—and is preparing to launch GPT-4.5 and GPT-5 soon.
Up & Coming
Networking has changed, but the need for authentic, meaningful connections hasn’t.
In the era of remote work and social platforms, balancing technology with a human touch is the key to building relationships that last.
Learn how to navigate digital networking with intention, authenticity, and consistency in this article written by Cara Sloman, CEO and president of Force4.