project_log: 022

Yo.

I've redesigned and rebuilt my website 3 times in the past 1.5 years. Each time I convinced myself it was absolutely necessary. Each time it made ZERO impact on my business.

Those rebuilds cost me 3 weeks of full-time work. Each.

That's 9 weeks I could have been working on shit that actually generated revenue. Creating a new product. Landing new clients. Building a marketing system that brings in leads while I sleep.

In opportunity cost, that's over $30K down the drain.

Sound familiar?

I've finally realised that this destructive pattern of constant pivoting is capping my progress. And if you're like me, it's probably capping yours too.

So this week I want to talk about why we avoid the real work (and how I now focus on what matters):

You reach a point in your business where you come across a problem you've never faced before. Something you don’t know how to solve. Something thats stopping you from achieving your goal.

The majority of people (my past self included) avoid attacking the problem head on. The try something, fail, try something again approach. Instead, we retreat to doing something that’s comfortable. Something we know how to do. Something we've done before.

Some examples of this pattern:

- Rebuilding your product rather than talking to customers.
- Creating a new course instead of selling the one you already made.
- Redesigning your website over posting content and doing reach outs.

We retreat to what we know because it feels good. Because it's easy to us. Not because it solves the current problem we are facing.

So how do we avoid falling into this same pattern?

I found this prompt from EP on twitter which has been a game changer. It's designed to call you out on your comfortable bullshit and help you focus on what matters.

(beware this thing is a savage)

Act as my personal strategic advisor with the following context:
- You have an IQ of 180
- You're brutally honest and direct 
- You've built multiple billion-dollar companies
- You have deep expertise in psychology, strategy, and execution
- You care about my success but won't tolerate excuses
- You focus on leverage points that create maximum impact
- You think in systems and root causes, not surface-level fixes

Your mission is to:
- Identify the critical gaps holding me back 
- Design specific action plans to close those gaps
- Push me beyond my comfort zone
- Call out my blind spots and rationalizations 
- Force me to think bigger and bolder
- Hold me accountable to high standards
- Provide specific frameworks and mental models

For each response:
- Start with the hard truth I need to hear
- Follow with specific, actionable steps
- End with a direct challenge or assignment

I drop this prompt into Claude or ChatGPT and give it context on my situation.

For example, I wanted to build a new website for this newsletter to act as a landing page. This task was exciting and super fun, but not the priority or the constraint on the business right now:

The quote: "The value is in what you create, not where it lives" hit pretty hard and completely realigned my focus.

I would have wasted another 3 weeks if it weren't for this exercise.

I've learned that avoiding discomfort and chasing what's easy is just a way to hide from the real constraints in your business. Any opportunity can work when you focus on the actual priorities, not just what feels good.

Here's what I do now when I feel that familiar itch to work on something comfortable:

1. I run my idea through the strategic advisor prompt above. I ask if it's a good idea. Usually it's not.

2. I focus on the real constraint of my business. What's actually holding me back? It's rarely the thing that makes me the most excited.

3. I remind myself that getting bored is part of the game. The longer you stick with something, the more likely it will bear fruit.

The real leverage points in your business are rarely the most exciting tasks. They're usually the uncomfortable conversations, the repetitive marketing efforts, the consistent follow-ups.

AKA the shit that isn't fun, but neccersary.

To recap:

If you feel the urge to work on something comfortable rather than something important, recognise it might be your brain tricking you into staying comfortable rather than addressing the real constraint.

Find a brutal accountability system (like that AI prompt) to call you on your bullshit when you're about to pivot unnecessarily.

Focus on the actual constraint in your business, not just what feels good to work on.

Get comfortable with discomfort. The constraint is usually the thing you most want to avoid. Don't.

Thanks for reading. Keep crushing. Talk soon.

Will

P.S. If you're doing the uncomfortable work but still not seeing results, you might be in a dip. I wrote an article a few weeks ago, sharing my strategies on getting through when nothing seems to work.

You can check it out here: https://over-stimulated.beehiiv.com/p/project-log-019. Hope it helps.

Ballpark is Live on My Site!

(For context, Ballpark is an AI estimation widget I'm building to help freelancers and agencies win more work.)

It feels good to announce that the first public run of Ballpark is live on my website. The goal is to test it in a live environment with real leads to find issues and see where improvements can be made.

If you want to see it live, go here and click "Get an Estimate." Then reply to this email with something you like and something you don't like.

I'm Sunsetting Ballpark Updates from This Newsletter

From next week, there will no longer be weekly updates for Ballpark in this newsletter. These will now be sent to the Ballpark waitlist. You can sign up here: ballpark.ing. I think it's important to keep this newsletter clean and value-packed.

For those of you who let me know you are keen to be first in line, don't worry — I've got a list going. I'll be in touch soon...

Thanks again for all the support. Can't wait to get this into your hands!