Trace repeat interruptions back to their root

A repeat interruption is the same question or fire showing up again and again, week after week, in slightly different clothes. Tracing it back means asking why it keeps happening instead of just handling it calmly each time it shows up.

Founders get good at staying calm under repeated interruptions and mistake that calm for progress. Handling the same fire smoothly ten times is not better than fixing the cause once. It just means you have gotten used to a problem that was never actually solved. I used to pride myself on staying calm through the same interruption over and over, until I realized calm was not the same thing as solved.

Try this today: think of the interruption that has hit you the most this month, and spend a few minutes asking what keeps causing it. Fix that root cause instead of preparing for the next round.