It's October. Which means somewhere in your calendar, "2027 planning" is looming - and the temptation is to open a blank deck and start building.

Don't. Not yet.

Because here's what I've learnt building annual strategies year after year as a marketing leader: the quality of your strategy is decided before you build anything. It's decided in the questions you ask first - and most marketers skip straight past them to the fun bit.

In this episode I'm giving you the five questions I answer every October before a single slide exists: the honest audit (data, not vibes), the business question most marketers never actually ask out loud, the calendar-versus-strategy test, the outside-in check, and the one about what's changed in the world since last year's plan - which, this year, is rather a lot.

Part one of two. Next week: the hardest part of strategy - what you say no to.

And if the deeper skill here - thinking strategically instead of just executing brilliantly - is the thing you're working on this year, that's the heart of The Marketer You Already Are - my course for ambitious marketers. [More here] or head over to emmawindsor.com and you'll see in the nav.

Follow me on LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-windsor29/

For more episodes visit my website : emmawindsor.com

Your inbox owns your mornings. Take them back.

You've heard about my 5:15 alarm. The lemon, ginger and turmeric tea. The cold shower. (Episode 122, if you missed the full tour.)

This episode is not that. Because here's what I've realised since: my routine is not the valuable bit. The system underneath it is - and that system works whether your morning starts at 5:15 or 7:45, whether you love a cold shower or would rather resign.

Today I'm breaking down the six principles that make any morning routine actually work: why your morning really starts on Sunday, the wake-up rule that decides whose terms your day runs on, decision elimination, the transition moment, and the protected first hour - the single highest-leverage productivity move I know.

Then you build your version. Not mine. Yours. There's a free workbook to do exactly that

Click here to download

Or visit emmawindsor.com/ownterms

Follow me on LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-windsor29/

For more episodes visit my website : emmawindsor.com

Most handovers are a task list. And most task lists quietly fail the person relying on them.

This episode is about the four layers a genuinely good handover is actually made of, and the part almost nobody tells you: you rarely need all four. How many you need comes down to one thing, how long you're going to be gone.

By the end you'll know exactly what your operational floor has to contain so nobody's left guessing on day one, how to hand over the people on your team and not just the org chart, how to pass on your judgement so your cover can make your calls without ringing you, and the fourth layer that changes everything the moment a handover runs long. Covering someone for a fortnight needs one layer. Covering a team for months needs three. Handing something over for six months or more, or for good, needs a completely different philosophy, one I got wrong on my first attempt before I built it properly.

That last layer is the real secret sauce: the difference between writing a script someone follows forever, and building a foundation confident enough for them to eventually build past, including past you.

If you've ever written a handover, or you're about to, this is the version nobody hands you.

Follow me on LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-windsor29/

For more episodes visit my website : emmawindsor.com