(And That’s Why Getting Things Done Is Hard)
If you are a founder, there is a good chance you have never really switched your brain off.
You spot problems early. You see opportunities everywhere. You have ideas at inconvenient moments. You care about details other people do not even notice.
You pivot. You take risks. You stay motivated when it makes no sense. You obsess over things most people would ignore.
This is not personality. It is how founders are wired.
And while this wiring is the reason businesses get built, it also creates a very real problem.
Founders are magnets for distraction
Because you are wired to see possibilities, everything can start to feel important.
New ideas. New opportunities. New angles. New things to fix, improve, test, optimise.
It feels productive. It feels like progress. Often, it is neither.
Most founders are not struggling because they lack motivation or work ethic. They are struggling because their attention is being pulled in too many directions at once.
When everything feels urgent, nothing gets the focus it deserves.
Why founders feel busy but not effective
Founders rarely have a lack of tasks. They have a lack of constraint.
Without clear constraints, the week fills itself.
Messages come in. Requests pile up. Admin expands. Other people’s priorities start to dictate how your time is spent. By Friday, you have worked hard but feel oddly dissatisfied.
Not because you did nothing, but because you did not do the right things.
This is where many founders go wrong. They try to fix the problem by adding more tools, more systems, more productivity hacks.
The real fix is simpler.
Getting things done is about choice, not effort
Founders do not need more motivation. They need fewer decisions.
The most effective founders are not the ones doing the most. They are the ones who decide, in advance, where their energy is going to go.
This is why Sunday night matters.
Not because you should plan every minute, but because deciding what matters before the week starts removes decision fatigue when it matters most.
The rule that changes everything: 3 non negotiables
At MY PA, we plan around 3 non negotiables each day.
Not a long to do list. Not a perfect schedule. Just three things that, if they get done, mean the day counts.
This works because it respects how founders actually think and work.
Three is enough to move the business forward. Three is small enough to stay focused. Three creates constraint without killing momentum.
Anything beyond that becomes noise.
How to use the 3 non negotiables properly
This is not about picking three easy wins.
Your non negotiables should be the things that:
Move the business forward
Reduce future stress
Create momentum beyond today
Each morning, your job is simple.
Decide the three things that make the day successful. Then protect them.
Everything else is secondary.
Weekly setup: how founders avoid drifting
Daily non negotiables work best when they are anchored to the week.
Before the week starts, take ten quiet minutes and decide:
What outcomes actually matter this week
What progress would make Friday feel successful
What does not deserve attention right now
From there, break those outcomes into daily non negotiables.
This is not about rigidity. It is about intention.
The discipline founders underestimate
The hardest part of getting things done is not starting.
It's saying no.
No to the new idea that can wait. No to the tweak that feels urgent but is not. No to filling every spare moment with busywork.
Founders often pride themselves on flexibility. Discipline is what makes that flexibility useful.
Getting stuff done without losing your edge
The goal is not to become rigid or robotic.
Founders need creativity, intuition, and adaptability.
But without structure, those strengths turn into distraction.
Structure does not limit founders. It protects them.
It gives your best ideas somewhere to land instead of letting them derail the day.
Final thought
Founders are wired differently.
That wiring is the reason you build things other people never will.
But it also means you need systems that protect your attention, not just your time.
You do not need to do everything.
You need to decide what matters, and do that consistently.
That is how real progress is made.
If you’re wired like a founder, you don’t need more motivation or more ideas.
You need a simple way to decide what matters and protect it from distraction.
That’s why I built MY PA.
I’ve made a free version of the planner available for founders who want to reset their week, decide their daily non negotiables, and stop everything competing for attention.
If Sunday night is when you regroup and get clear, it might be useful.
You’ll find the free planner linked [here]