Count how many things route through you

Spend one day writing down every single decision, question, or approval that lands on your desk, no matter how small. At the end of the day, count them. That number is a rough measure of how much of the business currently runs through one person: you.

Most founders are shocked by the number once they actually count it, because most of these moments feel too small to notice individually. Added together across a week, they explain exactly why the days feel full and the business still feels stuck. I ran this tally on myself once, and the total by the end of the day was higher than I expected, made up almost entirely of things too small to notice one at a time.

Try this today: keep a simple tally today of everything that requires your input, no matter how minor. Look at the list tonight and circle anything that clearly did not need to be yours to decide.