Read Time: 2 Minutes

I have a confession.

For about two years, I checked my ad dashboards the way British people check the weather.

First thing in the morning. Last thing at night. Twice during lunch. Every time the sun disappears behind a cloud or a speck of rain hits the window.

I'd stare at numbers, refresh the page, stare at them again.

Then I'd panic, change something, and start the cycle the next day.

It was exhausting. And it made my ads worse, not better.

These days, I do something different.

I still look at the ad dashboards. I just don't touch anything until I've run a 60-second audit.

Three questions. Honest answers.

If I can't answer all three properly, I close the tab and walk away.

Question 1: What Was I Testing This Week?

Not "how are my ads doing." That's not a question, that's anxiety with a question mark on the end.

I mean a specific test.

A new headline. A different audience. A fresh keyword. A different image.

If I can't name the test, I'm not running ads. I'm gambling.

And gambling on ads is expensive.

Question 2: Has The Ad Had A Fair Chance To Prove Itself?

This is the one most authors fail.

Three days isn't a test. It's a tantrum waiting to happen.

My rule: it's about spend, not days on the calendar.

Facebook, Amazon, BookBub — they all have different thresholds before the numbers actually mean something. But the principle is the same everywhere: not enough spend, not enough data, not enough reason to touch a thing.

If a test hasn't earned the right to a decision yet, I leave it alone.

Question 3: What Does "Winning" Look Like?

This one catches me out more than I care to admit.

You can't know if an ad is working if you haven't decided what working looks like.

A click-through rate above 1%? A cost per result below $0.30? A ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) of 1.5x or higher?

Pick a number. Write it down. Compare against it.

Without a target, every ad looks like a failure when you're in a bad mood and a winner when you're in a good one.

Why This Works

These three questions cost you nothing.

But they save you from the single biggest mistake in advertising: making changes based on emotions rather than data.

Most ads don't fail because the strategy was wrong.

They fail because the author panicked on day three, turned off the test, started a new one, panicked on day three again, and never gave anything time to work.

Sixty seconds of honesty before you touch a thing will save you more money than the budgeting app you bought to stop spending money.

(And yes, I'm aware of the irony.)

Try It This Week

Most of us check our dashboards far more often than we make changes — and that's fine.

The trap is using a daily check-in as an excuse for a daily tweak.

So before you actually change anything, pause.

Ask yourself the three questions.

If you can answer them, go ahead. If you can't, the dashboard can wait until your next optimisation day.

The ads will still be there.

So will the data.

That's all for today. Thank you so much for reading and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

See you next Saturday.

To Your Success
– Matt