The Liberation of Limitation

“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”

Confucius

The trouble with doing lots of things is that you have to think about lots of things.

And the more things you have to think about, the harder it becomes to think clearly and objectively.

Companies often waste a lot of time doing things because they feel they should.

I once worked with a small law firm that was drowning in complexity.?

They were running several marketing initiatives, changing their service offering every month and constantly pursuing new & shiny objects.?

It was chaos.?

And the team were increasingly disillusioned.?

So we simplified things.

We doubled down on a single marketing channel.

Improved the performance of the sales team by adding some structure and incentives

And grew the business by 65% in 9 months.?

It’s hard to resist the lure of complexity.

It can fuel the ego.

It can make us feel like we’re doing superior work.

Or, simply working harder.

But more inputs don’t always translate into more outputs.?

A study by McKinsey found that executives who focused their attention on fewer initiatives were more likely to outperform competitors.

Those who spread themselves too thin often ended up with stagnant or declining growth.

Unfortunately, most of the things we do are largely ineffective.

The key is being able to identify what is and isn’t working.

Recognising inefficiency and choosing to reallocate attention/ budget towards things that impact the bottom line is leverage 101.?

The Power of Constraints

There’s a reason why some of the best art, music, and literature often emerge from restriction.

A great example of this is Dr. Seuss’ Green Eggs and Ham.

The book was written as a challenge to use only 50 different words, yet it became one of the best-selling children's books of all time.

Limitations force clarity. They strip away the fluff and make you focus on what truly matters.

And if you have fewer things to focus on, you improve performance faster.

If you plan to run a marathon and? hope to achieve a personal best, chances are you won't split your week doing bodybuilding.

Two completely different disciplines with different training regimes.

It’s the same in business.?

If you limit your time and energy to a handful of high-impact activities, you get significantly better at them.

Not sure what your high-value activities are??

Try this mental exercise to sharpen your focus:

Imagine a gun to your head.

You must grow your business by 20% in the next three months.

But you can only focus on ONE activity.

What would it be?

Why would you choose it?

And what activities would you immediately stop to focus on the life or death situation ahead of you?

When the stakes are high and the options are limited, distractions disappear.

Suddenly, you’re not bogged down by trivial tasks or shiny objects.

You’re locked in on the thing that moves the needle.

The Freedom of Focus

By embracing limitation, you often gain liberation.

You no longer have to juggle a dozen different things.

You get to say no.

And you do what it takes to give yourself the best shot at winning.

As Steve Jobs famously put it: “Focus is about saying no.”

If you feel overwhelmed but not getting the results you want.?

Spend a moment thinking about what you could say no to.?

It might be the most liberating thing you do today!

Thank you for reading,

- Chris

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