Boutique Consulting Club - Forcing Action

Having a bias towards action is a requirement for long-term success.

This is key to growing and marketing your business. It's also incredibly helpful when you face difficult decisions and is forced to prioritize. Getting things done quickly matters.

Frank Slootman, the CEO of Snowflake, wrote in his book "Amp It Up" that the question he most frequently asked his team was, “What can we do to make this happen today?” Somehow, people always find a way.

Regina Gerbeaux, CEO coach, jokes that the question she uses with clients is just Slootman's mantra on steroids:

"How can I make this action happen in the next 30 minutes?"

That's an important question for those of you who want to improve your effectiveness, earning more without increasing workload. At any time you get a task you decide it's worth doing (or have previously committed to do), ask yourself the question.

One of the biggest challenges of having a bias towards action is setting your standards ridiculously high. As long as you expect perfection, you will have a fair justification to overthink or delay the action.

In most cases “80% perfect” is enough to generate great outcomes. We can perfect things later once you get some results in the door. But for some consultants, their standards for what they produce are much higher (95%+ or nothing). This bad habit costs you time and money. The fastest path to good results is always getting something done and then iterating it based on real-world feedback.

Take the most important task you've been delaying for weeks, and ask yourself today: "How can I make this happen in the next 30 minutes?"