Ideas aren't your problem.

AI made it an epidemic.

Leaders already have the problem of way too many ideas, way too many shiny objects. We don't need more ideas. We need better execution. We need better direction.

AI is like having a room of a million billion people with a bunch of great ideas, and that room will tell you every idea you want to work on is awesome. Then you change your mind, and it tells you that one's even better. Discernment has flown out the window.

Velocity requires speed in a specific direction. AI is helping you with the first part, speed, but it is not helping most leaders with direction. You're just going fast in a bunch of different directions.

One inch wide, ten feet deep.

You sell keychains, and some new thing pops up. You read about something online and think, yeah, I should do that. No. You're going one inch deep and ten feet wide. You're doing a bunch of things average.

Go one inch wide and ten feet deep. This is why business models like In-N-Out work so well. Burgers, fries and shakes. Simplicity is leverage.

If you're constantly throwing grenades into your business, everyone around you is going to be fatigued, because you're a ready, fire, aim kind of leader. That's what shiny object syndrome is.

Set a direction for the next 12 months.

Every company can be boiled down to three domains. Growth, which covers sales and marketing. Finance, which covers the dollars. Operations, which covers the engine.

Set one goal for each, for the next 12 months. Not a three-year plan, not a five-year plan. I've done three, five and ten-year planning, and I don't find it valuable, because things change fast. Make the goals clear and objective.

And before that: what is your purpose beyond profit? State it in seven words or less. If you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there.

Put a filter on every idea.

Now every idea has to pass one question: does it move us meaningfully toward one of our big three goals? If it doesn't, it's a shiny object. We're not doing it.

When people bring an idea, they pitch it. Which goal does it move us toward? What's the objective outcome, what will be true and complete when it's done?

The filter can't be you, because that's not scalable. You need a decision filter that keeps people moving in the direction you want them to go, without you babysitting every idea.

Run monthly. Track weekly.

Quarters mean I only get four at-bats all year. So run on monthly cycles. It's just the calendar month, easy to understand. Four weeks happens really fast.

Once an idea is in the cycle, the owner gives an update every week. Is it on course? Is it deviating? At the end of the month there are only two options: executed or failed.

Then you rinse and repeat. You stack up wins and momentum, working on things that actually matter. That's driving outcomes instead of managing tasks.

Run one cycle with a filter.

• Write your purpose beyond profit.Seven words or less.
• Set three goals for the next 12 months.One each for growth, finance and operations.
• Ask one question of every idea.Does it move us meaningfully toward one of the three?
• Pick at least one thing for this month.Give it one owner and an objective outcome.
• Update weekly, close monthly.On course or deviating each week. Executed or failed at month end.

Here's where I sell you something.

I made a tool for this. It's called Unbreakable OS. I built it for myself as a CEO, after being frustrated with other systems. You set your big three, your team pitches ideas, an AI gatekeeper sniffs out the junk, and approved ideas run in monthly cycles with weekly updates. You can also run everything above without it.

If you want to try mine, it's $195 a month for up to 10 people, with 45 days free.

Try Unbreakable OS free ↗

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