I’ve spent the past few weeks considering what I wanted to write next. We’ve noticed that linkedin inbound is by far our most reliable sales strategy. So I wanted to write something that our ICP, hoteliers, would like to read.

At the same time, I felt it had to be something I had expertise in and could add value to hoteliers. I also did not want to write a sales pitch.

When I read a post from YC alum and current visiting partner, Jason Freedman, I got a nudge.

I decided that I’ll just write what I care about and am proud to publish.

It’s at least a whole lot more entertaining than typical Linkedin AI slop.

So here’s my first go at it.

The more time closes in on demo day, the more pressure and stress I feel on maximizing every hour of my time. I’m comfortable saying that I work very hard – everyone in the batch does.

Yet, despite sometimes working 20 hours straight, I don’t feel like I get much done.

Just yesterday I recapped what I had done after 16 hours of work, and I could basically summarize it in: booking flights and hotels for our upcoming conferences, finding new conferences to attend, and answering emails.

I don’t know if it’s incorporating a lot of llms in my workflow and being given the ability to perform five tasks at once has limited my ability to focus on one; or that I have more small things to do than ever or that I feel an impulse to answer all the sales emails and linkedin dms I receive as I know how it is on the other side, but time is just running away.

I don’t think the case is unique for me or startup founders. I can imagine the same is true for Hotel GMs (who I know get hundreds of emails per day and have tons of other things to do) and for people in other roles.

What I do think is the case, is that the more freedom you have and the more power you have to act on it, the easier it is to get distracted and fill your day with small tasks. I’ve found this to be especially true when LLMs have given individuals so much power.

You now feel like you can accomplish anything you want in your day and, as a result, I suspect, you end up chasing lots of small things that you’d ignore otherwise.

What I think sets brilliant people apart – no matter the field – is the ability to focus on the two or three things they must do that day and ruthlessly and consistently execute on them, sometimes even ignoring the other tasks.

I think we’ve all seen this in some sense. Whether in school, at work, in sports or something else. I myself can recall dozens of times I’ve seen classmates who I felt spent less time on school finish twice as much work as I did.

In most cases, I don’t think it’s because that person is smarter or has some secret knowledge I lack, but because they don’t spend time reading unnecessary instructions in course literature or doing practice sessions with friends. They know from the get-go what they should do to get good output and pursue.

This is equally applicable to startups and to others – their job or main pursuit.

I suspect that this will become even more important for me, Zaplar, and everyone else as AI gives us more power to “feel” like we’re (able to) doing those 2-3 things while chasing the small things simultaneously, when in reality we’re just diluting our time.

That said, those who can instead leverage models to accomplish even more within these 2-3 focus points will be able to reach a depth far better than they would’ve otherwise.