Entrepreneurship

Idea tournaments

Dean Jackson 2 min read

The biggest lie I believed for years was that I had a time management problem.

I didn’t.

I had a decision problem.

Looking back through my journals, I can see exactly what was happening.

I’d sit down with plenty of time, plenty of opportunity, and plenty of motivation…and then do…nothing.

Not because I was lazy.

Because every project felt equally important.

Entrepreneurial brains are idea generators. We don’t struggle to come up with possibilities—we struggle to eliminate them.

Everything looks like it could work.

Everything feels like it should happen now.

I finally stumbled onto a simple solution. I started creating “elimination tournaments.”

I’d write down eight projects and literally put them into a tournament bracket. Project A versus Project B. Winner moves on. Then the winners compete until there’s only one left.

It sounds ridiculous.

But it worked.

The goal wasn’t to find the perfect choice.

The goal was simply to make a choice.

Because once one project won the tournament, I could stop negotiating with myself and start working.

I’ve learned that momentum is almost always more valuable than certainty.

I’ve learned that momentum is almost always more valuable than certainty.

The hardest part isn’t doing the work.

It’s deciding what the work is.

Once that’s clear, everything else gets much easier.

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