There’s a particular kind of overwhelm that only founders experience.
I used to think it was laziness or lack of ideas but over the years I realised the problem was the paradox of choice.
When you have too many options, suddenly everything feels important.
What I found was that when I was chasing too many proverbial rabbits, aka tasks and projects, every single one of them seemed to have a very strong reason and strategic imperative.
Before I knew it I was juggling a ton of different projects and doing a pretty awful job at all of them.
Lots of movement, very little traction.
Over time, the business started to feel heavy because I was faced with WAY too many options.
I was doing too many right-ish things at once (and not doing a single thing really well).
Ultimately I believe it makes sense to develop a 'binary' mindset toward projects. If it's not a "Hell Yeah" then it's a "No".
Most founders don’t need more information.
They need clarity.
Clarity that creates priority… and priority that creates momentum.
Clarity is a forcing mechanism that way.
When everything feels important, I ask one question:
“If this were the only thing I improved in the next 90 days, would the business clearly be better off?”
And I set the bar pretty high.
It can't just be a 'nice to have' better, it has to be insanely better.
In other words, it has to be a hell yeah.
And if it's not a "hell yeah", then it's a "no".
This filter does two powerful things:
You don’t need to do more.
You need to choose what gets to matter right now, and let the rest be temporarily unimportant.
That’s leadership.
I remember Seth Godin telling me in one of our conversations that leadership is about being able to say no.
And as I write these words, I understand exactly what he meant.
And if you’re reading this thinking, “I know I need to choose… I just can’t see clearly enough to choose well,” ...
... that’s completely normal.
It’s also exactly why we focus so much on clarity in our work.
Once you have clarity, the next step becomes obvious.
And once the next step is obvious, your business gets lighter.
Ciao for now,
Ash