How to be Successful
Four principles for building leverage, developing taste, delegating well, and taking action. Plus four reviews to ensure you're on track.
TL;DR
The Principles (How to Work):
- Focus on leverage - Find the domino that knocks down the rest
- Develop taste - Judgment to know what's worth building
- Know what to delegate - Don't take on other people's responsibilities
- Bias for action - Ship fast, but balance with leverage
The Reviews (Track Progress):
- Zone of Genius - Spend 75%+ in what you're uniquely good at and love
- Energy Audit - Monthly: what drains you vs energizes you?
- Time Audit - Where does time actually go vs where you want it?
- Calendar Cadence - Protect 2-3 days for deep work
The balance: Too much leverage = short-term loss. Too much action = long-term loss. You need both.
Why This Matters
Success isn't about working harder or doing more. It's about:
Part 1 - The Principles: How to work effectively
- Leverage - Find the one thing that makes everything else easier
- Taste - Know what's worth doing in the first place
- Delegation - Keep responsibilities with the right people
- Action - Actually do it instead of planning forever
Part 2 - The Reviews: How to ensure you're on track
- Zone of Genius - Are you doing what you're uniquely good at?
- Energy Audit - What's draining you?
- Time Audit - Where is time actually going?
- Calendar Cadence - Are you protecting deep work time?
The trap: Optimizing for one principle without the others. Pure leverage thinkers never ship. Pure action takers build the wrong things. Great taste without action is just opinions.
Part 1: The Principles
How to work effectively.
Principle 1: Focus on Leverage (The Domino Effect)
What it is: Find the one action that knocks down 10 other dominos. Don't push all 10 dominos manually.
The insight: Most work has low leverage. You push one domino, one thing moves. High leverage work pushes one domino and 10 things fall.
How to find leverage:
- Ask: "If I solve this once, does it solve it forever?"
- Ask: "Does this make 10 other things easier?"
- Ask: "Am I doing this manually when I could automate/systematize it?"
Examples:
| Low Leverage | High Leverage |
|---|---|
| Manually test every deploy | Write automated tests (solve once, works forever) |
| Respond to the same question 20 times | Write documentation (answer once, scales to 1000s) |
| Review every decision personally | Set decision framework (team decides without you) |
| Hire for each role individually | Build hiring process (hire 10x faster next time) |
When leverage matters most:
- Building systems (automation, processes, frameworks)
- Making decisions (set principles once, apply forever)
- Teaching (teach once, scales to everyone)
The trap: Pure leverage thinking = analysis paralysis. You spend 3 months building the "perfect system" instead of shipping. Balance with action.
Principle 2: Develop Taste
What it is: The judgment to know what's worth building. The intuition that tells you if you're going in the right direction.
The insight: Anyone can execute well. Tools and people are increasingly capable. The differentiator is knowing what to build, not how to build it.
Taste is:
- A feeling/emotion/intuition you develop over time
- Knowing when something feels "off" even if you can't articulate why
- The ability to say "this is good" vs "this is great"
- Recognizing what will matter in 6 months vs what's just noise today
How to develop taste:
- Ship and observe - Build things, see what works, feel the difference between good and great
- Study the best - Use products/systems built by people with great taste. Notice what feels right
- Get feedback from reality - Users, revenue, retention tell you if your taste was right
- Reflect on misses - When you build the wrong thing, ask why your intuition failed
Examples of taste:
| No Taste | Great Taste |
|---|---|
| "Let's build every feature users ask for" | "Let's build the one feature that makes 5 requests obsolete" |
| "Make it look like [competitor]" | "This flow feels wrong. Users will get confused here." |
| "We need 10 metrics on the dashboard" | "Show 2 numbers that matter. Hide the rest." |
| "Ship this, it works" | "It works, but it doesn't feel right. Let's simplify." |
Why taste matters:
- Execution is becoming easier (better tools, more capable people)
- Your judgment about what matters is the edge
- You can't outsource the feeling that something is "off"
The trap: Taste without action = opinions. You have great ideas but never ship. Balance with bias for action.
Principle 3: Know What to Delegate (Don't Take the Monkey)
What it is: When someone brings you a problem, don't take responsibility for it. Make them keep it.
The insight: "Monkey on your back" = a task/problem you're now responsible for. When people delegate up to you, they give you their monkeys. Soon you're carrying everyone's monkeys and drowning in work.
The original insight (from HBR):
Every monkey has two characteristics:
- The next move - Someone must do something
- Supervision - Someone must ensure it gets done
When your team member says "We have a problem," the monkey is on their back. If you say "Let me think about it and get back to you," the monkey jumped to your back. Now you owe them the next move.
How monkeys transfer:
| Monkey Stays With Them | Monkey Jumps to You |
|---|---|
| "I'm blocked on X. I'm planning to do Y. Thoughts?" | "I'm blocked on X. What should I do?" |
| "Here are 3 options. I recommend A because [reason]. Can I proceed?" | "What do you think we should do?" |
| "The build is failing. I'm debugging now, will update in 30 min." | "The build is failing. Can you look?" |
The rule: When someone brings you a problem, the monkey should leave the conversation on their back, not yours.
How to manage monkeys (from the original article):
Rule 1: Feed or shoot, but don't starve
- Every monkey must have a next move and timeline
- Either schedule feeding time ("Update me Friday 3pm") or shoot it ("We're not doing this")
- Don't let monkeys starve (no response = monkey dies, person stops coming to you)
Rule 2: The monkey population must be kept below max capacity
- You can only feed so many monkeys
- If you take too many, they all starve
- Better to feed 5 well than starve 20
Rule 3: Monkeys should be fed by appointment
- Schedule time to check on their progress
- Don't let them jump on your back spontaneously
- "Update me Friday at 3pm" not "Come find me when you have updates"
Rule 4: Monkeys should be fed face-to-face or by phone
- Email/Slack makes it too easy for monkeys to jump back to you
- Real-time conversation keeps the monkey with them
How to delegate properly:
- Don't solve their problems - Ask: "What do you think?" not "Here's what to do"
- Make them own next steps - "What's your plan?" not "I'll handle it"
- Set decision frameworks - Give them rules to decide, not decisions
- Let them propose solutions - They bring options, you approve/reject
- Schedule feeding time - "Update me Friday 3pm on progress"
Examples:
Bad (You take the monkey):
Them: "The API is slow. What should we do?"
You: "Let me look at it and get back to you."
Result: Monkey jumped to you. You owe them the next move. They're waiting on you.
Good (Monkey stays with them):
Them: "The API is slow. What should we do?"
You: "What have you tried? What do you think the issue is?"
Them: "I think it's the N+1 query. I can add eager loading."
You: "Sounds right. Try it, measure the impact, update me Friday at 2pm."
Result: Monkey stays with them. You scheduled feeding time. They owe you the next move.
When to take the monkey:
- Only you can do it (CEO signing contracts)
- Catastrophic if they fail (production is down, no time to delegate)
- They lack authority/access (need your approval for budget)
When to leave the monkey:
- They have the skills to solve it
- They need to learn
- You'd be a bottleneck
The trap: Taking monkeys feels productive ("I'm helping!") but kills leverage. You become the superhero doing everything. Your team becomes order-takers waiting for you.
Reference: Who's Got the Monkey? - HBR article on delegation
Principle 4: Bias for Action
What it is: Ship fast. Learn from reality, not theory.
The insight: Most people overthink and undership. Bias for action means defaulting to "let's try it" over "let's think about it."
Reference: Bias Toward Action
How to do it:
- Default to shipping (if reversible, just do it)
- Set short cycles (1 week, not 3 months)
- Learn from users, not meetings
- Ask: "What's the smallest thing we can ship today?"
Examples:
| Analysis Paralysis | Bias for Action |
|---|---|
| "Let's do 3 more user interviews to validate" | "Let's ship an MVP to 10 users and see what happens" |
| "We need to design the perfect architecture" | "Ship with SQLite. Upgrade to Postgres when we hit limits." |
| "Let's think about this for another week" | "Let's try it today. If it fails, we revert tomorrow." |
When to bias for action:
- Decisions are reversible (can undo easily)
- Cost of being wrong is low
- Waiting has no new information (more thinking won't help)
- You're in learning mode (ship to learn, not to perfect)
The trap: Pure action without leverage = hamster wheel. You're busy but not effective. You ship 10 things instead of building the one system that solves 10 problems.
The Balance: Don't Be a Superhero
The problem: You can't optimize for all four at once. Too much of any one principle hurts you.
Too much leverage, not enough action:
- You spend 3 months building the "perfect system"
- Nothing ships, users get nothing
- Short-term loss: No progress, no learning, no revenue
Too much action, not enough leverage:
- You ship fast but keep doing the same work manually
- You're the superhero doing everything yourself
- Long-term loss: You burn out, things don't scale, you're the bottleneck
Too much taste, not enough action:
- Everything feels "not quite right yet"
- You never ship because it's not perfect
- All loss: Great ideas die as opinions
Too much delegation, keeping no monkeys:
- You delegate everything, stay completely hands-off
- Lose context, can't make good decisions
- Loss: Out of touch with reality
How to balance:
| Situation | What to Prioritize |
|---|---|
| Early stage, learning mode | Action > Taste > Leverage (ship fast, learn what works) |
| Found product-market fit | Leverage > Action > Taste (build systems, scale what works) |
| Crowded market, need differentiation | Taste > Action > Leverage (quality over speed) |
| Repetitive work, burning out | Leverage + Delegation > Action (build systems, stop taking monkeys) |
The rhythm:
- Action - Ship something, learn from reality
- Taste - Reflect on what worked, develop intuition
- Leverage - Build systems to make it scalable
- Delegation - Keep monkeys with the right people
- Repeat
Part 2: The Reviews
How to ensure you're on track and investing in the right things.
Zone of Genius: Find Where You Belong
What it is: Four zones that determine where you should spend your time.
The four zones:
| Zone | What It Is | What to Do |
|---|---|---|
| Incompetence | Others do it better than you (fix your car) | Outsource if it doesn't give you joy |
| Competence | You do it fine, but others are as good (clean bathroom) | Outsource if it doesn't give you joy |
| Excellence | You're better than others, but don't love it | Danger zone. Move away from this. |
| Genius | Uniquely good + you love it (time disappears) | Spend 75%+ of your time here |
The danger zone: Zone of Excellence is where people get stuck. You're great at it, so people keep asking you to do it. But you don't love it. This drains you.
The goal: Spend 75%+ of your time in Zone of Genius. This is where you add most value and have most energy.
How to find your Zone of Genius:
You can't see it yourself (time disappears when you're in it). Ask others who interact with you regularly:
- What do I do that you experience as "world-class"?
- What do I do where I appear to be having fun, peace, or joy?
- What do I do that I'm good at but don't appear to enjoy?
- What do I do that I'm not better than others at?
- What do I do that I'm actually worse than others at?
Why this matters: For every activity that feels un-fun to you, there's someone who excels at it and loves it. The key is matching people to their Zone of Genius.
Reference: Zone of Genius - Matt Mochary
Energy Audit: Track What Drains You
What it is: Monthly audit to identify what gives you energy vs drains it.
How to do it:
- Print last 2 weeks of calendar (representative work weeks, not vacation)
- Add activities between meetings (email, Slack, before/after work)
- Go hour-by-hour: Green = gave me energy. Red = drained energy. No neutrals.
- List all red activities and group into buckets (1-1s, recruiting, etc.)
- For each red bucket, decide:
- Outsource it
- Eliminate it
- Make it exquisite (if you must do it)
Goal: 75%+ of time in green (energizing activities). When you hit this, you'll achieve far more in less time.
Example reds and solutions:
| Red Activity | Solution |
|---|---|
| Reviewing every PR | Train 2 people to review, delegate 80% |
| Recruiting phone screens | Hire recruiter to do first screen |
| Expense approvals | Raise approval threshold from $50 to $500 |
| Status update meetings | Replace with async written updates |
Do this monthly until you hit 75%+ green.
Reference: Energy Audit - Matt Mochary
Time Audit: Know Where Time Actually Goes
What it is: Compare perceived time vs actual time vs target time.
How to do it:
Perceived time: Write how you think you spend time
- Example: Source deals 20%, Support portfolio 30%, Internal meetings 25%
Target time: Write how you'd ideally spend time (be brutally honest)
- Example: Source deals 80%, Support portfolio 10%, Internal meetings 2%
Actual time: Print past calendar, add up hour-by-hour where time went
Re-allocate: For over-allocated activities, outsource or eliminate
The trap: Don't just add more time to high-priority work. Time is finite. Focus on eliminating low-priority work. The freed space will naturally fill with what matters.
Example:
| Activity | Perceived | Target | Actual | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Source deals | 20% | 80% | 5% | Protect 3 days/week for this |
| Internal meetings | 25% | 2% | 60% | Cut recurring meetings, move to async |
| Events | 10% | 4% | 20% | Say no to 80% of events |
Reference: Time Audit - Matt Mochary
Calendar Cadence: Protect Deep Work
What it is: Schedule to protect flow state for makers (engineers, designers).
The insight: Makers need long stretches of uninterrupted time. Managers are effective in meetings. Compromise: batch all meetings on specific days.
Ideal 5-day schedule:
- 1 day: Exec Team internal meetings (1-1s, Team Meeting, All Hands)
- 1 day: Department internal meetings
- 1 day: External meetings (recruiting, sales)
- 2-3 days: No meetings (Slack off!)
Benefits:
- Use 1-1s during the day to prep for Team Meeting at end of day
- Get 360-degree view of issues (hear from everyone same day)
- Protect maker time for deep work
Common objection: "Candidates can't interview on our set day."
Response: If you're screening properly, 75% of in-person interviews should result in hire or offer. If lower, fix your phone screen. Losing a few candidates is worth protecting team productivity.
Exceptions:
- Early stage with 1-person departments
- Non-technical departments (Operations, Sales)
How to Apply This
Monthly reviews:
- Zone of Genius: Am I spending 75%+ in my Zone of Genius? If not, what's in Excellence that I need to delegate?
- Energy Audit: Print last 2 weeks. Highlight green/red. Eliminate reds.
- Time Audit: Where did time actually go? What should I eliminate?
- Calendar Cadence: Do I have 2-3 days with no meetings? If not, what recurring meetings should I cut?
Weekly check:
- Leverage: Did I solve something once that used to take daily effort?
- Taste: Did I ship something that felt right and actually worked?
- Delegation: Did someone bring me a monkey? Did I keep it or give it back?
- Action: Did I ship or just plan?
When you feel stuck:
- Stuck planning? Bias for action. Ship the smallest version.
- Stuck doing repetitive work? Build leverage. Automate or systematize.
- Stuck shipping the wrong things? Develop taste. Reflect on what actually mattered.
- Drowning in work? Do Energy Audit. Stop taking monkeys.
Red flags:
- "I'm so busy but nothing's changing" → You need leverage
- "I keep building the wrong things" → You need taste
- "I have great ideas but nothing ships" → You need action
- "I'm exhausted" → Do Energy Audit, find your Zone of Genius
- "Everyone waits on me for decisions" → You're taking too many monkeys
Examples: Putting It Together
Example 1: Building a product feature
Low leverage + No taste + No action:
"Let's have 5 meetings to discuss the perfect approach, then build a complex system that handles every edge case, but never actually ship it."
High leverage + Great taste + Bias for action:
"Users keep asking for X, Y, Z. They all need the same underlying capability. Let's ship the simplest version of that capability in 1 week, see if it solves all three requests, then build the system to make it scalable."
Example 2: Scaling a team
Low leverage + No taste + No action:
"I'll keep doing all the code reviews myself and hiring when I'm overwhelmed."
High leverage + Great taste + Bias for action + Proper delegation:
"I'm reviewing 20 PRs/week. Let me train 2 people to review (leverage). I'll focus reviews on architecture decisions where taste matters most (taste). Ship the training doc this week and start delegating (action). When they come to me with 'Should I approve this PR?', I'll ask 'What do you think?' and make them decide (delegation)."
Example 3: Dealing with tech debt
Low leverage + No action:
"Let's spend 3 months rewriting the entire codebase perfectly."
High leverage + Bias for action:
"This one module causes 80% of bugs. Let's rewrite just that module this week, measure the impact, then decide if we continue."
Why This Matters
The principles work together:
- Leverage without taste = building the wrong systems efficiently
- Taste without action = great opinions, no impact
- Action without leverage = burnout on a hamster wheel
- Delegation without leverage = you're still the bottleneck
The reviews keep you honest:
- Zone of Genius - Are you doing what you're uniquely good at?
- Energy Audit - What's draining you that you should delegate?
- Time Audit - Where is time actually going?
- Calendar Cadence - Are you protecting time for what matters?
Balance all of them. Know when to prioritize which.
References:
- Who's Got the Monkey? - HBR article on delegation
- Energy Audit - Matt Mochary
- Time Audit - Matt Mochary
- Zone of Genius - Matt Mochary
Related:
- General Mental Models - Begin with the end in mind, compound yourself, focus
- Product Mental Models - Build for taste and leverage
- Engineering Mental Models - Build systems that scale (leverage)