The Hamster Wheel
Startups die from indigestion, not starvation.
It's easy to fill a calendar. Meeting about social strategy. Meeting about logo tweaks. Meeting about the new office snacks.
This is Activity. It feels good because "things are happening." But activity is a drug. It masks the anxiety of the real work you are avoiding.
Progress is different. Progress is uncomfortable. Progress is binary. Did the acquisition cost go down? Did the conversion rate go up? Did revenue increase?
The 80/20 of Growth
Pareto's Principle is brutal in startups. 80% of your growth will come from 20% of your actions.
Activity is doing the 80% because it's safe. Progress is identifying the 20% and doing *only* that.
Examples:
- Activity: Redesigning business cards.
- Progress: Calling 50 churned customers to ask why they left.
- Activity: Tweaking ad copy color.
- Progress: Completely changing the offer structure.
Ruthless Elimination
The best way to switch from activity to progress is subtraction.
Look at your to-do list. Cross out anything that doesn't directly impact your One Metric That Matters (OMTM). It hurts, but it's necessary.
If you don't respect your own time, the market definitely won't.