March 7, 2025
Story [#33]

Why you’re not getting results.

Or a minute of Systems.

We all have goals we strive for.

But not everyone manages to reach them.

For entrepreneurs, this is even more critical—your success depends on achieving your goals.

But distractions are everywhere—clients, family, unexpected issues.

You end up constantly putting out fires, and your plans either get postponed or forgotten altogether.

Many goals require time and multiple steps to reach.

Things go wrong, obstacles pile up, and suddenly, the goal feels impossible.

You map everything out in detail, yet the goal remains out of reach, still sitting on the horizon.

Frustrating, right?

I’ve been there.

Even now, with years of experience, I still procrastinate on certain tasks.

The truth is, most tasks and projects rarely stay on schedule or within budget.

Especially when you're dealing with something new and unfamiliar.

There are plenty of methods for setting and achieving goals.

Let’s go over a few.

The Wheel of Life

The wheel consists of eight key areas of life.

By rating your satisfaction in each, you get a visual snapshot of your overall balance.

Personally, I don’t use this tool much—it’s not great for setting or achieving goals.

But it does help you step back and see the bigger picture.

The SMART System

SMART is a framework for setting clear, achievable, and measurable goals:

  • Specific – What exactly do you want to achieve?
  • Measurable – How will you track progress and know when you've succeeded?
  • Achievable – Do you have the necessary resources and skills?
  • Relevant – Why is this goal important right now?
  • Time-bound – What’s the deadline?

This is a solid tool, widely used in project management.

Highly recommended.

It works best for well-defined, short-term goals.

The Goal Tree

The goal tree helps break objectives into smaller, structured sub-goals.

This is the method I personally use the most—both in business and personal planning.

It’s especially helpful for visual thinkers, as it allows you to see progress and engage with your goals consistently.

The Goal Pyramid

This method structures goals into different levels:

  1. Lifetime Goals – The big-picture vision.
  2. 10-Year Goals – Major milestones.
  3. 5-Year Goals – Key stepping stones.
  4. 1-Year Goals – Concrete actions for the near future.

It’s a solid approach for strategic planning, but it lacks flexibility in day-to-day execution.

The Key: A System

No matter which method you choose, the most important thing is to make it part of a system.

Without regular action, your plans will stay buried in Google Docs, to-do lists, or planners.

Dreaming isn’t enough—you have to take action.

Find what works for you and start systematically working toward your goals.

Disclaimer.

Every business has its nuances, and every founder has their unique context and resources. Whether or not my advice applies depends on your situation, experience, and needs. But one thing is universal—use your brain.

Think about how to apply the advice in your context before acting.

Your way.

Mind Mapping in Notion

Notion is my go-to tool for content management, planning, research, and knowledge storage.

The only downside?

It doesn’t have a built-in Mind Map feature.

A workaround is using toggles to create a structured outline that mimics a Mind Map, but I didn’t find it very practical.

I found a decent alternative that integrates with Notion—Mindmap.so.

It has some bugs, but for organizing existing Notion data, it can be quite handy.

Before moving to Notion, I relied on MindMeister—a well-designed tool with great features and an intuitive interface.

Miro is another option, but for my specific tasks, it felt unnecessarily complex.

And one more thing.

A quick video I made on the topic. Might be useful.
When things get tough,
I always remind myself:
giving up won’t make it any better.

You can’t defeat someone who never gives up.

From the journal of Nyx Thorne.
That’s all for today. See you next week.
- Eugene

Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

1.  Reply or DM me — and I’ll help.

That’s where I offer the Ops-On-Demand™ Sprint to founders who are ready to step out of daily chaos.

2. Founder Resources (free)​

My ebook Business Black Box Unpacked, the 5‑Day Ops Setup email course, and mini tools to simplify your operations.
→ Explore Founder Resources​​

3. Private Strategy Call (premium)​

A 60-minute 1:1 session for founders ready to fix operational bottlenecks.
You’ll leave with a clear diagnosis, practical system improvements, and specific ideas for automation, delegation, and simplification.
→ Book a Strategy Call

Join the “most offbeat” Businessletter on entrepreneurship.

And get free eBook Business Black Box Unpacked on business processes and systems.
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
Autjor avatar

Hi, I’m Eugene.

Strategist, operator, and product builder helping founders escape operational chaos and build businesses that work without them.

Over the past 20+ years, I’ve grown an international agency from one-person freelance to a multimillion-dollar business. I’ve led teams, scaled systems, burned out, rebuilt, and learned (the hard way) what it really takes to run a business that doesn’t consume your life.
Today, I work with small business owners and independent founders who’ve outgrown hustle advice and need practical structure.

I help them make sense of complexity, design simple systems, and create the kind of business they actually want to run.

More Stories

Story [#63]
October 3, 2025

The founder’s favorite illusion

Story [#62]
September 26, 2025

Stop outsourcing chaos

Story [#61]
September 19, 2025

The storm every founder faces

Story [#59]
September 5, 2025

Don’t hire until your system is ready

Story [#58]
August 29, 2025

No structure? Say goodbye to growth

Story [#57]
August 22, 2025

The Myth of the Always-On Founder

Story [#56]
August 15, 2025

Growth isn’t the goal. Resilience is.

Story [#55]
August 8, 2025

Why smaller teams feel bigger

RECENT ISSUES OF

Founder Stories

October 10, 2025

Fire the old you. Become the founder you needed.

Or minute of choosing meaning over momentum

We’re all brilliant five years too late. After the mess. After the “how did I miss that?” review. After the quiet, private admission that the signs were obvious and we were too distracted to act.
October 3, 2025

The founder’s favorite illusion

Or minute of teaching tasks to swim without a shore

Most founders tell me they have a **process** problem. Deadlines slip. Handoffs get lost. Work stalls between “who was supposed to do that?” and “I thought you had it.” They assume the fix is more SOPs. Another checklist. A prettier flowchart. So they delegate a task, write a quick instruction, and call it “systematizing.” It never holds.
September 26, 2025

Stop outsourcing chaos

Or minute of mistaking abdication for delegation

Every founder I know has dreamed of freedom. Freedom from sales calls. Freedom from endless admin. Freedom from being the only one who knows how things really work. So you start hiring. A VA for operations. A marketing agency for growth. Maybe a sales rep to finally get clients off your back. And yet, somehow, nothing changes.

Join the “most offbeat” Businessletter on business, systems and freedom.

And get free eBook Business Black Box Unpacked on business processes and systems.
Thank you!
Didn’t get the email?
Make sure to check your spam folder.
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.