Progress or Park™: The Founder’s Shortcut to Clarity

Entrepreneurship is often sold to us as freedom. The freedom to build something meaningful, to call the shots, to shape our own future. Yet anyone who has actually lived inside it knows that freedom comes with a cost. The sheer volume of ideas, opportunities, and “you should” advice that comes your way can feel less like liberation and more like drowning.

I’ve sat with founders who are overwhelmed not because they don’t have enough opportunities, but because they have too many. They’re paralysed by indecision, pulled in a dozen different directions, with nothing truly moving forward. I’ve also lived it myself. There was a time when my notebooks were bursting with ideas, my inbox was clogged with half-started conversations, and my energy was spread so thin that nothing really stuck.

That’s when I realised something crucial: not everything deserves my time, but everything deserves a decision.

Clarity begins when you decide: progress it, or park it. No maybes. Photo Credit: Wambam Photography

The problem with “maybe”

We live in a culture of hedging our bets. When an idea comes along, we say, “maybe I’ll come back to it later.” When an opportunity lands, we say, “let me sit with it.” The intention is good - we don’t want to miss out. But the truth is that “maybe” is where good ideas go to die.

“Maybe” creates clutter. It keeps our heads full, our to-do lists endless, and our energy scattered. And the bigger the dream you’re chasing, the more dangerous that clutter becomes. You can’t build momentum when half your mental space is taken up by indecision.

Definitely not Maybe!

My turning point

For me, the shift came when I noticed a pattern in my own work. Every time I made a clear decision, to either move forward with an idea or consciously set it aside - I felt lighter. My focus sharpened. I had more energy for the work that actually mattered.

This wasn’t about ruthless efficiency. It was about clarity. The relief of knowing: this moves now, that waits until later. It sounds simple, but the impact was profound.

That realisation gave birth to something I now call Progress or Park™.

What is Progress or Park™?

At its simplest, Progress or Park™ is a decision-making philosophy. Every idea, opportunity, or strategy belongs in one of two places:

• Progress it - commit to moving it forward.

• Park it - set it aside intentionally, without guilt.

That’s it. No “maybes.” No half-done projects sitting around draining your energy. Just a clear choice: progress or park.

It’s deceptively simple, but it changes everything.

The Progress or Park™ method. No limbo, no wasted energy.

Why it matters

I work with purpose-driven founders - people who aren’t building businesses just to make money, but to create impact, shift narratives, or open doors for others. These are people with big visions and even bigger to-do lists. And what I’ve seen, time and again, is that lack of clarity is one of the biggest barriers to growth.

You can have all the talent, passion, and ambition in the world, but if you’re stuck in indecision, you’ll never move at the pace your vision requires. Progress or Park™ cuts through that noise.

It forces you to make a decision in service of momentum. And momentum is the single most underrated ingredient in entrepreneurship. Small, consistent steps in the right direction compound into extraordinary results.

A Personal Example

When I left my corporate career and stepped fully into my consultancy, I was brimming with ideas. I wanted to build a podcast, write a book, launch workshops, run events, partner with organisations, and create digital products. All at once.

You can probably guess how that went. Nothing had the chance to breathe.

That’s when I applied Progress or Park™. I asked myself: what actually needs to move right now? What aligns with both my purpose and my immediate capacity? The answer was clear: focus on consultancy and client work first. Progress that. Park the rest - not abandoned, just parked.

That decision gave me back focus. It didn’t kill my other ideas; it gave them space to wait until I could give them the energy they deserved. And when the time came to launch new things, I was able to do it with far more clarity and success.

Progress or Park™ in practice

The beauty of this philosophy is that it scales. It’s not just about founders making big strategic decisions. It works at every level:

• In your inbox: Do I reply and progress this conversation, or do I park it?

• In your content: Do I share this idea now, or do I park it for a future series?

• In your partnerships: Do I move forward with this collaboration, or park it because the timing isn’t right?

Each choice clears space. Each choice builds momentum.

The bigger picture

Progress or Park™ isn’t just a productivity hack. It’s part of a bigger philosophy that underpins all my work. I call it the No Shortcuts approach: success isn’t about doing everything, and it certainly isn’t about rushing. It’s about doing the right things, with intention and consistency.

When you strip away the noise, when you release the guilt of saying “not now,” you discover that clarity is the most powerful growth strategy you can have.

A living philosophy

I’m not sharing this today to give away a neat, packaged framework. Progress or Park™ is still evolving. It’s becoming a core part of how I work with founders, and in time I’ll share more about the ways I use it. But for now, I want to plant a seed. A different way of thinking about decision-making. A challenge to stop living in the land of “maybe” and start making choices that serve your vision.

An invitation

So here’s my question to you:

What’s one thing in your world right now that you need to either progress or park?

Progress or Park™ isn’t just a method. It’s a mindset. And once you adopt it, you’ll be surprised at how much lighter, sharper, and more purposeful your work becomes.

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