Burn the WTF Pile: How to find Step One of any plan

_{Day 88/100}

Hey—It's Tim. 

Reporting from this time last year.

York, England.
Grey drizzle, cobbled lanes, and my entire life in cardboard boxes.
I was flogging desk lamps on Facebook Marketplace to fund a one-way ticket to Vancouver.

Between suitcase Tetris and HMRC paperwork my content strategy looked like 15 year old Tim’s bedroom floor: ideas everywhere, nothing folded.

For times like this.
When you have to take a step back and figure out your next move.
I’ve got a strategy I fall back on.
Every time.

5 moves. Works for content. Works for anything. Steal it.

0. Why 5 a.m. or bust

I’ve tried afternoon resets.
By 2 p.m. Slack is a carnival and my brain’s a sponge.
So the rule is simple:

1. Decide tonight. Close the laptop by 9.

2. Alarm 04:55.

3. Coffee, desk, silence — souhbiye (Arabic for that hushed dawn vibe).

If the birds aren’t gossiping yet, you’re on time

1. Pull the Plug (24-Hour Digital Blackout)

• Phone to airplane mode.

• Laptop lid down.

• No “quick check” of Ahrefs, Notion, or X.

Why? Quiet equals clarity. You can’t hear the big idea over Slack pings.

2. Brain → Table Dump

Grab a stack of index cards (paper > pixels) and unload:

• Article angles

• Keyword obsessions

• Half-written hooks

• Random shower thoughts (“SEO for pigeons?”)

• literally everything

As long as it takes. One thought per card. Zero filtering..

3/ The Four-Stack Sort (timer: 25 min)

4. Two-Step Roadmap

Kitchen lesson from my chef days: you only ever know two things:

What are you doing now?
What are you doing next?

So:

1. Lay out the North Star cards: Now.

2. Slide one Supporting Cast card above or below.

   1. This is what comes next.

   2. Or what enables the North Star.

3. Snap a photo. That’s today’s playbook. Everything else waits.

Tomorrow you’ll promote a “Next” to “Now” and slide a fresh card underneath.
Infinite momentum, zero overwhelm.

5. The Public Contract

140-character promise in the group chat / Twitter / Slack:

Accountability is cheaper than another espresso.
And twice as potent.

Why do you think I told every one I was doing this for 100 days?

Optional turbo-mode

When deadlines laugh in your face, deploy the 5 White Monsters, 3 All-Nighters, and a Dream protocol: caffeinate, sprint, sleep on the plane. Physicians hate this trick.

Quick menu recap

1. Early-bed / 5 a.m. wake - souhbiye silence.

2. Card dump - brain on the table.

3. Four-stack sort - keep, support, shelve, incinerate.

4. Now / Next roadmap - chef-simple focus.

5. Public contract - skin in the game.

Works for content strategy, product pivots, wedding plans, you name it.
Because clarity at dawn beats chaos at lunch every single time.

✌️ Tim "Sunrise Strategist" Hanson
CMO @Penfriend.ai

Same brain, different platforms: X, Threads, LinkedIn.

P.S. If you bought a £5 desk lamp from a frantic bloke in York last summer - congrats, you indirectly sponsored this newsletter

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