From: alexhormozi
Most people struggle to achieve significant growth because they prioritize the wrong tasks and spread their efforts too thin [00:00:00]. Growth is often counter-intuitive [00:00:28]. The key to accelerated progress lies in extreme focus and commitment to the single most impactful problem [00:00:27].
The “Tree” Analogy for Business Growth
Imagine your business as a tree, where its height represents your revenue [00:00:30]. Often, businesses develop “offshoots”—B+ problems like adding to an email sequence or adjusting a workflow [00:00:49]. Resources (time, effort, money) that could be driving the main trunk upward are diverted to these side branches [00:01:00]. While solving these minor issues might make you feel productive, the overall revenue remains stagnant [00:01:07].
To achieve vertical growth, these offshoots must be “pruned” [00:01:44]. By cutting them off, all resources are channeled directly into the main trunk, allowing the business to grow consistently and stay focused on the single most impactful driver of revenue [00:01:17]. It’s not about the number of tasks finished, but the amount of growth each task generates [00:01:33].
The “A+ Problem” vs. “B+ Problems”
Most people tend to tackle B-level or C-level problems on their to-do lists [00:10:02]. These are often quick wins that provide a fast dopamine hit, making you feel good because you know how to solve them [00:02:32]. However, this often leaves the single most important “A+ problem” untouched [00:02:17].
The A+ problem is typically:
- Hairier and more complex [00:02:40].
- Involves more variables [00:02:42].
- Requires deeper analysis and iteration [00:02:44].
- Its solution would often render other tasks irrelevant by comparison [00:02:26].
By doing the easier problems, you waste time on solutions that become irrelevant once the main problem is solved [00:07:14].
The Theory of Constraints
The entire concept of focused growth is based on the Theory of Constraints [00:07:23]. This theory posits that every business has one primary bottleneck or “constraint” limiting its growth [00:07:26]. Once this constraint is identified and solved, a new constraint will emerge, leading to a continuous cycle of improvement [00:07:33].
Frank Slutman, a three-time IPO entrepreneur, advocates for focusing every company on only one objective [00:06:29]. He argues that having multiple objectives dilutes focus [00:06:37].
Strategy as Prioritization
Effective strategy involves prioritizing limited resources against unlimited opportunities [00:08:07]. There are countless ways to grow a business, from running ads to optimizing sales conversions [00:08:18]. However, there is typically one action that can accelerate growth more significantly than all others combined [00:08:32]. Excellent strategists excel at identifying this single most impactful lever [00:08:41].
The “Wheel” Analogy for Effort
Many people focus on making a small wheel spin faster, symbolizing doing more tasks quickly [00:09:20]. However, a better approach is to identify the “big wheel”—the one significant action that, with a single “revolution,” achieves more progress than ten revolutions of the smaller wheel [00:09:36]. This shifts the focus from speed of execution to the magnitude of impact from chosen tasks [00:09:09].
Implementing Focus and Commitment
To drive significant change and solve the A+ problems, leaders must actively steer their teams toward focus and commitment.
1. Set the Agenda and Remove Blame
When tackling a major business problem, it’s crucial to set the agenda upfront, stating that no one will be blamed for past issues [00:03:41]. This creates a safe environment where team members feel comfortable discussing the root causes of problems without fear of reprimand [00:03:48].
2. Increase Meeting Frequency
If something is the business’s top priority, the meeting cadence should reflect its urgency [00:11:31]. Moving from weekly to daily or even twice-daily meetings communicates the increased importance and creates faster feedback loops [00:11:20].
3. Eliminate Non-Priority Tasks
Once a priority is set, everything else must be eliminated [00:11:46]. This means explicitly telling team members that their current tasks are less important than the new priority and that it’s “okay” for other “fires” to burn temporarily [00:11:58]. The leader must bear the responsibility for these trade-offs [00:04:40].
4. Ramp Up Communication Frequency
Beyond formal meetings, in-between communication must increase [00:12:13]. Frequent check-ins (e.g., hourly) reinforce urgency and keep everyone aligned [00:12:20].
5. Make Progress Visible and Incentivize
To sustain momentum, make winning obvious, clear, and publicly present [00:12:42]. This can be through dashboards, progress markers, or thermometers that show progress to the entire team [00:12:46]. Additionally, placing a “pot of gold” at the end of the rainbow—a reward for achieving the goal—can further motivate the team by showing them “what’s in it for them” [00:13:02].
Defining Commitment as Elimination of Alternatives
“Commitment is the elimination of Alternatives” [00:01:49].
This means actively removing other options so that the only path left is to pursue the committed goal [00:14:15]. In business, this translates to eliminating everything that is not the defined priority [00:14:24].
A 4-Step Process for Leaders
To teach and implement this process with a team:
- Prioritize: Identify the single most important thing that, if done, would have the greatest impact [00:14:42].
- Create Urgency: Set deadlines and frequent meeting cadences for this priority [00:14:49].
- Eliminate Alternatives: Explicitly remove other tasks from team members’ plates, ensuring they can focus solely on the priority [00:15:00].
- Solve and Reassess: Once the priority is solved, reassess the business landscape and identify the next single most important thing [00:15:13]. This iterative process of prioritization, urgency, elimination, and reassessment drives continuous growth [00:15:29].
Case Studies in Focused Problem Solving
Paid Ads Team Pixel Issue
A portfolio company’s paid ads team struggled with pixel tracking issues for three weeks because everyone was distracted by other tasks like funnels and follow-up sequences [00:04:50]. The leader clarified that if the pixel wasn’t tracking correctly, none of the conversion optimization efforts would matter [00:05:04]. The team was instructed to ignore all other problems, even unsightly landing pages, and focus solely on fixing the pixel [00:05:31]. Meetings were scheduled for the end of the day to ensure urgency, and team members were told to cancel other meetings [00:15:59]. This focus ensured the critical problem was resolved quickly [00:05:51].
Show-Up Rate Issue
Another portfolio company faced a low show-up rate for its sales events [00:18:18]. Improving this rate to industry standard would increase revenue by 35% and triple profit [00:18:40]. Recognizing this as the highest-return activity, the entire company was given one priority: increase the show-up rate [00:19:08]. Despite minor issues arising in other departments, the collective focus on this single metric led to significant growth [00:19:21].
Avoiding “Half-Built Bridges”
Many businesses fail to achieve substantial results because they have a “graveyard of half-built bridges” [00:17:40]. They start numerous initiatives but never fully complete any, thus never getting resources across the “river” into their bank account [00:17:50]. This lack of completion is a primary way businesses lose money [00:18:09].
Understanding the “Unknown” of A+ Problems
A+ problems are often “soaked in the unknown”—you don’t know where to start, what to do, or how they will end [00:20:26]. This uncertainty makes them daunting, leading individuals to prefer easier tasks [00:20:54].
“How do you eat an elephant? You eat it one bite at a time” [00:21:16].
Solving A+ problems requires “pulling the thread”—taking the first step, even without knowing the subsequent ones [00:21:22]. Each step clarifies the next, guiding you through the unknown [00:21:28].
Information Transparency
To foster faster communication and alignment within a team, leaders should increase information transparency across the company [00:21:51]. Sharing financials, conversion rates, and profit margins ensures everyone has the same context to understand business priorities [00:22:02]. The fear of sharing too much information is often irrational, as large public companies operate effectively with full transparency [00:22:11]. More transparency empowers more people to help solve problems [00:22:44].
Managing Team Workload
When setting new priorities, it’s essential for leaders to review their team members’ current agendas [00:23:05]. This helps identify old tasks that might still be occupying their attention or have become irrelevant [00:23:13]. Providing clear direction by explicitly stating which tasks to drop, table, or defer reduces anxiety and ensures focus on the true priority [00:23:31]. This also creates opportunities for timely positive reinforcement as tasks are completed [00:23:48].