Did you ever feel the aching pain of giving it your all, but you don't seem to move anywhere close to your goals?

Or the feeling of losing the originality of your once-so-great idea after a few months of starting that business or that project?

Because lately I have.

I have been on the creator journey for the last six months (not counting the 12 months before, when I was building another business that I left because it did not match my values), and let me tell you this.

It‘s hard.

I mean, I know what I was signing up for, but I never imagined building a profitable brand/ business to be this nerve-wracking.

However, I‘ve learned two things going through this hell of working nearly all day, which connect to one deep-layered problem I want to share with you in this letter.

First, building something great does not have to be complex. The opposite is the case. The simpler the better, because it means you understand what you are doing from the inside out.

Second, working that much once again showed me that hours put in don‘t equal the outcome you get. It's the hours you spend on the tasks that hold the most value and leverage.

The key to every great business is a simple idea and focused work on the right activities.

It is simple, but it is not easy.

I can say this because I have fallen for this many times.

We think that something must be complex and demanding to be good. We believe that the tiny and shiny things are worth our attention more than the big tasks.

A total misconception you must avoid falling for.

However, sometimes complexity sneaks its way in, and we tend to weave it into our once-simple and great idea without acknowledging it. Our idea becomes more vague by the day until we contemplate and realize that we can‘t put into words what our mission really is anymore.

The results?

You work all day and still get nothing done. You change your logo for the sixth time this month, design too complex funnels that leak right from the start, and draft business ideas without testing them. (Definitely not talking about me here)

It‘s like the island in the deep mists of fog, which once was a shining star in the ocean. Now it‘s hard to spot and to reach.

Our mission is to first keep this island shining by keeping our ideas simple and not blown up by unnecessary complexity. Second, we need a process to identify our values and priorities, the actions that hold the most leverage.

By taking care of these two things, we keep our ideas sharp, our mission shining, and the hours we put in creating leveraged results.

This is how the top 1% operates.

In the following segments of this letter, I will show you how to simplify your mindset and how to spot the tasks that hold the most value in your current life. This way, yo can make the best out of your current situation and avoiding spending time on the wrong things.

Own Your Choices, Own Your Life

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." — Leonardo da Vinci

Most people have no idea what's actually running their lives.

They think they're making independent choices about how they work and what they prioritize, but they're really operating on someone else's operating system—one that values complexity over simplicity and busyness over leverage.

Think about it.

When you fill every hour of your day because "that's what successful people do," whose decision framework is that? When you juggle dozens of commitments because that's what society expects, whose mental model are you following? When you spread yourself thin across countless activities instead of focusing on what truly matters, whose values are driving those choices?

Not yours.

Reactive vs. Proactive Decision Frameworks

There are two ways to make decisions about your work: reactively or proactively.

Reactive decision frameworks work like this:

• You see what others in your field are doing

• You feel pressure to match or exceed their visible effort

• You make decisions based on external appearances

• You take action based on those decisions

• You end up working harder, not smarter

This is how 95% of people operate.

They see the "hustle" posts, the complex systems, the 18-hour days, and they react by doing the same.

Proactive decision frameworks work completely differently:

• You clarify what actually produces results in your specific situation

• You establish principles that maximize leverage, not hours

• You simplify until only the essential remains

• You make decisions based on impact rather than appearance

• You get better results with less exhaustion

Yes, you can build a business so complex that only you can understand it, working 80+ hours weekly to keep it running, but this does not mean your are crushing it. This means soon you are getting crushed.

Especially when you recognize that the people more successful than you work only half as many hours and still outperform you, because they focused only of high-leverage activities.

You see, this isn't just a philosophical problem.

It's the single biggest reason why most entrepreneurs and people in their 20s feel overwhelmed, exhausted, and frustrated despite working harder than ever.

You're running on the hand-me-down operating system installed by hustle culture, reinforced by your peers, and constantly updated by a society that equates busyness with importance.

But let me show you a step-by-step system for rebuilding your work approach from scratch which I named CALM—a four-step system for rebuilding your approach to life, so you can start making choices that prioritize simplicity and leverage rather than complexity and endless effort.

The CALM Framework: Clarity, Amplify, Lighten, Multiply

C - Clarity: The Complexity Audit

You can't simplify what you don't understand. The first step is becoming aware of where unnecessary complexity has crept into your life.

Take 60 minutes of uninterrupted time to audit your current activities and commitments. Write down everything that regularly consumes your time and energy.

For each one, ask yourself:

• Does this directly contribute to my happiness or my most important goals?

• Would I start doing this again if I were rebuilding my life from scratch?

• Does this activity energize me or drain me?

When I did this exercise, I was shocked to discover that over 70% of my daily activities were unnecessary complications that had gradually accumulated.

I had social commitments I dreaded but kept out of obligation. I had hobbies I no longer enjoyed but maintained because I'd always done them. I had relationships that drained me but continued out of habit.

The key is to be brutally honest about what's truly essential.

Most people over-complicate their lives because complexity feels like achievement and importance.

It's not.

Complexity is usually a sign of unclear priorities and I had to learn this the hard way.

What I’ve did was, for each area that's overly complex, write down what the simplest possible version would look like. Not the perfect version—the simplest version that would still bring me joy and progress.

This clarity is your first step toward breaking free from the complexity trap.

A - Amplify: The Leverage Identification Protocol

Once you've identified areas of unnecessary complexity, it's time to find your highest leverage activities—the 20% of activities that create 80% of your happiness and progress.

Take a full week to track and analyze how you spend your time.

For everything you do, ask:

• What would happen if I stopped doing this entirely?

• What would happen if I did 10x more of this?

• Does this activity create compounding benefits over time?

My highest leverage activities turned out to be writing, deep reading, meaningful conversations with close friends, dedicated creative work, and physical exercise.

Not endless social media scrolling, not maintaining superficial connections, not consuming passive entertainment—all things I'd spent countless hours on.

Now, for each area of your life, identify the 1-3 activities that create disproportionate results in happiness, health, relationships, and personal growth. These are your leverage points. Write them down clearly.

For me, it was:

• Reading substantive books for 30 minutes daily

• Having deeper conversations with fewer people

• Spending 90 minutes daily on creative work that challenges me

• Moving my body intentionally for 30 minutes daily

The final part of this step is eliminating or drastically reducing everything else. This isn't about managing low-value activities more efficiently—it's about eliminating them entirely so you can focus exclusively on high-leverage activities.

This is where most people fail.

They identify their high-leverage activities but still try to do everything else too.

True leverage comes from ruthless elimination, not better management of the unnecessary.

L - Lighten: The Simplicity Protocol

A meaningful life is actually made up of hundreds of small, focused actions on the right activities. Simplifying your daily approach is where real power lies.

Institute a mandatory simplicity filter before adding anything new to your life:

• Will this make my life simpler or more complex?

• Can I achieve the same benefit in a simpler way?

• Is this adding unnecessary steps between me and what truly matters?

When I started applying this filter, I realized I was constantly adding complexity out of fear, not necessity.

I was saying yes to commitments because I feared missing out.

I was maintaining relationships because I feared being alone.

I was complicating my schedule because I feared not being productive enough.

Simplicity requires courage. It means trusting that less is actually more.

Next, apply the "one thing" focus to your days.

Each day, identify the one activity that would make everything else easier or unnecessary if completed.

Focus on that above all else.

I used this approach to transform my daily experience. Instead of feeling scattered across dozens of tasks and commitments, I focused intensely on my one high-leverage activity for the day.

My satisfaction and actual progress increased dramatically.

Finally, redesign your environment to reinforce simplicity.

1. Remove unnecessary possessions.

2. Unfollow accounts that don't inspire you.

3. Cancel commitments that don't align with your priorities.

When I simplified my physical and digital environment to just the essential, I found myself making clearer decisions and experiencing more presence in everything I did.

M - Multiply: The Value Compounding System

The true power of simplicity and leverage is how they compound over time, with each focused action building on previous ones to create exponential results in your life.

Start by tracking only what matters—your high-leverage activities and their direct impact on your wellbeing and goals. Stop measuring vanity metrics like busyness that distract from real fulfillment.

I realized I was tracking all the wrong things—how many tasks I completed, how busy I was, how many social events I attended—none of which correlated with actual happiness or meaningful progress.

Now I track just three questions daily:

1. Did I focus on my high-leverage activities?

2. Did I maintain simplicity?

3. Did I feel fully alive?

Next, create a weekly review process focused entirely on simplicity and leverage:

• What did I simplify this week?

• Where did I focus on high-leverage activities?

• Where am I still getting caught in complexity or low-value activities?

This weekly review ensures you don't gradually drift back into complexity and scattered focus.

Finally, develop a quarterly reset where you question everything. Just because something was high-leverage three months ago doesn't mean it still is. Life changes, priorities evolve, and your leverage points shift accordingly.

I use a simple quarterly process to reevaluate every aspect of my life for simplicity and leverage.

• What can be eliminated?

• What can be simplified further?

• What deserves more focus based on actual results in my happiness and progress?

This system ensures your life continues to become simpler and more focused over time, rather than more complex and scattered.

The beauty of the CALM Framework is that it creates freedom through elimination. By consciously choosing simplicity and leverage, you liberate yourself from the unnecessary complexity and endless activities that keep most people trapped in constant busyness with minimal fulfillment.

This isn't about building a perfect life. It's about building a focused life—one that prioritizes what truly matters and eliminates everything else.

Start with just one step today.

Conduct your Complexity Audit or identify your highest leverage activities.

Even this small beginning will start to shift your awareness of how much unnecessary complexity has crept into your life.

Remember: The most meaningful lives aren't the most complex. They're the ones that focus with relentless simplicity on the few things that truly matter. Choose clarity, choose to amplify what works, choose to lighten your load, and choose to multiply what creates real value.

Thats what I am striving towards and you should too, because otherwise we get stuck in endless loops and never get closer to our goals.

— Chris