I like to joke that I am lazy.
Not lazy in the sense that I’m a couch zombie. What I mean is that I am intentional and selective about where I spend my energy. I'm far more willing to put in the work when I believe it’ll create momentum and move my business and personal goals forward. When something feels “extra”, I don't waste my time.
I didn’t start my career this way.
Earlier on, I tried to do everything. I said yes too often and constantly chased new ideas. I added projects, goals, initiatives, and tools, all with good intentions. On paper, it looked productive, but in reality, progress dragged like a bag of bricks.
When something was not working, my instinct was always the same. Add something new on top of what already existed. That instinct is common and it feels responsible. Adding feels like you are taking action and making progress.
Over time, it became clear that this approach was the problem.
Doing more didn’t create momentum, it diluted it. The more I added, the harder it became to focus on what actually mattered.
That lesson shows up every year as we reset, plan, and set new annual goals. The instinct to add feels like the right move, but it’s often the exact reason progress feels harder than it should.
Doing less isn’t about lowering standards. It’s about creating focus. Focus is what creates momentum.
Why Doing More Creates Operational Drag in Growing Businesses
When something feels broken in a business, adding activity is the most natural response.
New initiatives give the illusion of control. New goals create a sense of urgency. And new tools make it feel like progress is happening, even when outcomes don’t change.
The problem is that addition without subtraction rarely works.
A more effective rule is - before adding anything new, remove something old.
Intentional leaders default to subtraction. They create space first, then decide what deserves that space. If there is no room for a new priority to fit, it’ll never deliver the results you were hoping for anyway.
Being lazy here isn’t avoidance, it’s discipline.
So, when I joke that I’m being “lazy”, what I’m really saying is that I want my effort directed toward the few decisions and actions that actually move me forward.
How Focusing on One Constraint Creates Business Momentum
Most leaders don’t fail because they lack ambition. They fail because they try to improve everything at once.
Intentional leaders do the opposite. They protect one constraint.
At any given time, there is usually one thing that matters most in a business. One priority that deserves a disproportionate amount of attention. When everything is treated as important, nothing gets the focus it needs to compound.
Protecting one constraint forces trade-offs. It requires saying no to good ideas so the right one can win. It creates clarity for teams and speeds up decision making because there is a clear answer to the question of what matters most right now.
This is not about ignoring other important work. It’s about sequencing it. The goal is to solve the right problem first, not everything at once.
We saw this clearly with a direct to consumer clothing brand we worked with. They were launching a huge number of new styles and product lines every quarter, spreading design, marketing, and leadership attention thin. Sales stalled because no product had enough focus to break through.
When they treated their product line as the constraint and reduced it to the core winners, everything changed. Design schedules finally stayed on plan. Marketing became more effective and customers experienced less decision fatigue. Revenue increased while COGS decreased!
Progress came from focus.
Why Operational Routines Beat Heroic Effort as You Scale
Businesses that scale well tend to look boring from the outside.
They are not constantly reinventing themselves. They are not chasing every new idea. They are not reacting to every distraction.
They are focused.
They choose a small number of priorities and commit to them over time. They build routines that support execution. They protect their time and energy so the most important work actually gets done.
Intentional leaders favor routine over heroic effort.
They do not rely on bursts of intensity or last-minute pushes with 18-hour days. They design simple, repeatable actions that require less willpower and produce more consistent results. Slow and steady wins the race!
Heroic effort burns people out. Intentional routines compound.
How to Approach Annual Planning with Focus and Discipline
Annual planning is where good intentions usually fall apart.
Planning sessions turn into long lists of initiatives. Departments leave the room with more priorities than they can realistically execute. Leaders feel overly optimistic early in the year and frustrated by mid-year when the same problems resurface.
Intentional planning flips the order.
Stop comes first.
Keep comes second.
Start comes last.
Before deciding what to add, you need to get honest about the previous year.
What actually worked
Not what sounded good in theory. Not what you hoped would work. What produced real results.
What didn’t work
What drained energy. What created friction. What never gained traction.
What should be kept
Which routines, habits, and priorities quietly created progress and stability.
Only after that reflection does it make sense to decide what to start.
This is where strong operational discipline creates leverage. A Fractional COO helps teams cut through noise, identify what truly matters, and create focus across people, strategy, execution, and cash. The goal is not to add more complexity. The goal is to simplify the business so it can scale.
A Simpler Operating Model for 2026
As you think about 2026, resist the urge to do more.
Instead, aim to be lazier… in a good way.
Be lazier about chasing every new idea.
Be lazier about reacting to every distraction.
Be lazier about working on things that do not meaningfully move the business forward.
Protect your constraints. Default to subtraction. Build routines that do not rely on constant effort.
If you want a more structured way to approach this, I wrote a detailed guide on annual planning that walks through how to assess what worked, what did not, and how to set priorities that actually stick. You can read it here.
Real progress does not come from intensity alone. It comes from clarity, focus, and consistency.
Less busy work.
More momentum.
