# RPM - The Founder’s Paradox: 300 Completed Tasks, Zero Progress

> How to stop optimizing for activity and start optimizing for outcomes with RPM — Proven by scaling a division from 0 to 1.000 people in 2 years.

**Published by:** [BuildBetter by BFG](https://paragraph.com/@buildbetter/)
**Published on:** 2026-01-28
**Categories:** founders, productivity, builders, rpm, todo-lists
**URL:** https://paragraph.com/@buildbetter/the-founders-paradox-300-completed-tasks-zero-progress

## Content

A friend of mine told me she fell in love when I explained RPM to her. She also said - you should write about something useful for once, like about this RPM thing. 😁 Well, I don’t know about the “useful for once” part, but I think she was right that this might be useful for some of you. So let’s have a look at why I stopped using ToDo lists.SubscribeI didn’t stop using ToDo lists because I became more disciplined. I stopped because I realised they were the wrong tool for the job - which is progress not task completition. Some time ago, at Merck & Co, I was strategy director helping build a new European innovation centre from zero to 1,000 employees in roughly two years. We also did three startup acquihires at that time. I basically juggled the chaos of a new industry, multiple stakeholders, and changing plans. I lived in a constant storm of priorities, politics, and shifting roadmaps. On paper, it was a dream role. In reality, my days started to feel like this:300+ items on a ToDo listBack-to-back meetings (most of them appearing on calendar while I was asleep)Endless Slack and email pings with “quick questions”I’d leave the office exhausted … and still feel like nothing meaningful moved. Plenty of motion. Not much movement. The breakthrough for me was Tony Robbins’ RPM method which I bumped into during one executive coaching training. Surprisingly, this one seemed and became useful. Once I adopted it, three things happened:My days stopped being driven by other people’s urgencyI knew exactly what “a good day” looked likeI never went back to traditional ToDo listsThis essay is my pitch to you, as a builder or founder:Throw away the ToDo list as your primary operating system. Start using RPM instead. It really is so much betterOr don't throw everything away just yet, but give RPM a try for at least a month and see for yourself. 👀Why ToDo lists quietly kill founder focusIn my early days, I was a productivity junkie. I'd devour any methodology to “manage my time better and get more done!” After all, that's what entrepreneurs do - improve yourself rather than hiring someone to work with you - time is money, etc. bs bs bs bs. Anyway, ToDo list looks harmless. It’s “productive.” It’s what professionals use, right? But look closely. Most ToDo lists have five built-in bugs:1. Everything looks equally important“Update pitch deck” sits next to “call VP back”, “Reply to random DM” and “Book flights.” Your brain doesn’t prioritise by leverage. It prioritises by friction. Especially when it feels overwhelmed. You gravitate to whatever feels easiest to tick off. So much so that you often stop delegating easy tasks to feel at least some accomplishment.2. You optimise for activity, not outcomesThe implicit goal becomes:“How many boxes did I tick today?”And many productivity gurus would applaud you for that. But nobody, especially not founders, gets rewarded for checked boxes. You get rewarded for results:RevenueShippingCustomer outcomesStrategic movesToDO lists don’t know the difference. Not even those with fancy colored priorities.3. There’s no built-in “why” - and that's the biggest problem and difference I found!A task like “work on fundraising” doesn’t tell your brain:Why this matters now?How it connects to survival or growth?What happens if you ignore it?So when stress hits, you default to the urgent - e.g. angry customer, not the important.4. They fragment your attentionA long ToDo list is an invitation to context-switch every 15 minutes. Founders already live in chaos. The last thing you need is a system that encourages more fragmentation. Now, you may not be able to avoid context switching as a founder. Especially early on, but there's way less “WHYs” than there's “ToDos” to chase.5. They hide the storyStartups move forward through narratives and outcomes, not through random actions.“We validated this idea.”“We shipped this version.”“We closed these customers.”“We extended runway by 18 months.”ToDo lists strip away the narrative and leave you with debris. You don’t need a better pen or better app. You need a different questions!ShareRPM in one lineThat's where RPM comes in. RPM stands for Rapid Planning Method. You can think about it like this:Result → Purpose → Massive Action PlanInstead of asking:“What do I need to do today?”You ask three better questions:What result do I want?Why do I want it?What’s the Massive Action Plan that makes it inevitable?It sounds simple. And, after a while, it is. But the shift is violent and painful. You have to think a lot before you start moving. You move from:“I’m busy” → “I’m moving something specific”“I hope this matters” → “I know WHY this matters”“I have 27 tasks” → “I have 1–3 meaningful outcomes”Let’s break it down a bit if this is the first time you hear about it.R = Result: Start with the end stateToDo lists start with tasks. RPM starts with a clear end state. And honestly, early on, that is the hardest part to train your brain for. Bad result:“Work on fundraising.”Good result:“By Friday 5pm, have a tight 12-slide seed deck and a shortlist of 15 relevant funds.”Bad result:“Improve landing page.”Good result:“By tomorrow, have a new landing page draft that clearly explains [X outcome] in 3 scrolls and captures emails at >20% from cold traffic.”At Merck, my days shifted from:“Meet HR, update org chart, talk to vendor, fly to Brussels, speak at a conference, prepare offsite…”to:“By end of today, align on the 3-year mission of the innovation centre with the list of partners and leave with a draft the CIO can sign off on.”Same hours. Completely different centre of gravity and satisfaction levels! Ask yourself:If today were a win, what would actually be true by the end of it?If this week were a win, what would be shipped, signed, or decided?If this quarter were a win, what measurable changes would we see?That’s your Result or outcome.P = Purpose: Attach emotion to the outcomeFounders underestimate how much of their (everyone's) behaviour is emotional, not logical. Once you know the Result, you ask:“Why do I want this? Why does it matter?”Not for a slide. For your brain and nervous system. Purpose turns a line in on a page or in Notion into fuel. It …helps you say no to distractions.gets you through boring, repetitive work.aligns the team around something real.Examples:“I want this deck finished because this round buys us 18–24 months to prove this product deserves to exist.”“I want this landing page live because each day we delay, we lose early adopters we can never get back.”“I want this hiring scorecard because the next hundred hires will either compound our culture or quietly kill it.”When we were building the innovation centre, my real purpose wasn’t “because my boss needs it.” It was:“Because if we do this right, 1,000 people in Europe get to work on meaningful innovation, instead of just being another cog in a pharma giant, and I will have smart colleagues to work with and learn from.”That changes how you show up. Without Purpose, a Result is fragile. With Purpose, it becomes non-negotiable.M = Massive Action Plan: Then you list actionsOnly now do you get to what most people start with: tasks. You don’t random-walk into your calendar. You ask:“What are all the ways I could move this result forward fast?”You:Brain-dump possible actionsHighlight the top 20% that move the needleSequence themBlock time for the first stepsExample: Founder RPM block for fundraising. Result “Have a seed-round deck and pipeline of 20 warm investor conversations within 30 days.” Purpose “So we can buy 18–24 months of runway, pay our team, and run enough experiments to actually find product–market fit instead of dying halfway.” Massive Action Plan (sketch)Clarify story: problem, solution, why nowCollect 10 strongest user stories / proof pointsDraft v1 of a 12-slide deckAsk 2 founder friends for brutal feedbackIterate to v2Build list of 40 target funds & angelsMap who can intro us to whomSchedule 5 “friendly” feedback callsSchedule first 10 proper investor meetingsWrite a one-pager for follow-upsThat’s not a ToDo list. That’s a map that has clear reasons and emotion behind it. And that makes all the difference. You'll see when you try 😉ShareHow to run your startup on RPM - short guideHere’s how I’d plug RPM into your operating system as a founder.1. Use RPM at the quarter levelOnce a quarter, define:3–5 company Results for the next 90 daysA short Purpose paragraph for eachA high-level Massive Action Plan (milestones, not micro-tasks)Examples:Hit $25k MRR with <5% monthly churnShip V2 with [critical feature] live for all usersClose 3 design-partner customers in [specific industry]If a task doesn’t connect to one of these Results, it’s probably overhead.2. Use RPM at the week levelAt the start of the week:Pick 1–3 Results you personally ownWrite Purpose + mini Action Plan for eachBlock time for the first stepsAsk:“If I only moved these 1–3 things forward this week, would it still be a win?”If yes, you’re focused. If no, you’re scattering yourself.3. Use RPM at the day level (optional)This is where ToDo lists die, but it's the level which I found the most difficult because it initially takes time to make your RPM plan. It can become second nature, but it takes time. And you may not be willing or able to spend that time. I started at week level, and when I saw it working it actually kept it at week level and stopped doing daily plans. But should you be tempted to try - this is how you can go about it; Instead of opening your task manager and drowning, you write:Today’s primary Result“By 5pm, have a clear spec for feature X and alignment with dev lead.”Why it matters (Purpose)“This feature unlocks the next 10 paying customers. Everything else is noise until this is unblocked.”Massive Action Plan (3–7 items max)Review user feedback related to X-featureDraft spec v1 in Notion45-minute alignment call with dev leadFinalise spec and assign ownersYes, there are still admin items and small tasks. But they live around your Result, not at the centre of your day.Why RPM fits builders and founders specificallyAs a builder, your life is:AmbiguousNon-linearFull of unknownsConstantly interruptedYou don’t have the luxury of a neat, predictable workflow. You need a mental model that can handle chaos and still produce signal. RPM does that because:It forces strategic thinking daily or weekly You can’t hide behind “busy.” You either have a clear Result or you don’t.It aligns with your long-term identity When you write your Purpose, you’re connecting today’s work to the future you’re trying to build.It reduces cognitive load (main reason why I think it works!) 37 tasks are overwhelming. 1 clear Result with a short plan is manageable.It makes delegation sharp You don’t hand someone “tasks.” You hand them a Result, a Purpose, and a rough path. That’s ownership.It shapes culture Imagine a team where people don’t say “I’m busy,” they say “Here are the 3 Results I’m driving this week and why.”That’s a different company.A plug-and-play RPM templateSteal this for your next big initiative – launch, hire, partnership, fundraising, whatever. 1. RESULTWhat do I want to be true by [date/time]?“By March 31, we have 10 paying customers for our new product at an average of $500 MRR each.” 2. PURPOSEWhy do I want this? Why now? Why does it matter to me, the team, the customer?“Because revenue is the only honest feedback. Ten paying customers tell us this product deserves to exist and give us proof for investors and future hires.” 3. MASSIVE ACTION PLANBrain-dump, then highlight the 20% that matters.Interview 10 ideal users this weekDefine the core promise and pricingBuild v1 landing page + checkoutReach out to 50 warm leadsRun 10 sales callsOnboard first 3 customers manuallyTurn learnings into V2 of the offerRepeat outreach with updated pitchPut this somewhere visible. Run your week from it.The shift from “to-do” to “to-be”Underneath all of this is an identity question. ToDo lists are pretty relics of industrial era. They're for people whose primary job is to process tasks. Founders don’t just process tasks. They shouldn't. Founders design reality for themselves, their team, and their customers. RPM forces you to think like that kind of person:What reality am I trying to create? (Result)Why does that reality matter enough to fight for? (Purpose)What’s the most direct path from here to there? (Massive Action Plan)In the middle of that Merck chaos — zero to a thousand people, three acquihires, constant politics and meeting overwhelm — RPM was the thing that helped me find the signal and keep my head above water. Once I saw the difference, I couldn’t unsee it. I never went back to ToDo lists.What do you say, will you give RPM a try? Let me know, and till next time ... let's BUILD BETTER! BFGSubscribeICYMI: The long standing popular essay framing why distribution is equally important as tech and product. Read here ...You Only Need To Figure Out Two Things: "Innovation & Distribution"BuildBetter by BFGFeb 4, 2024Ride both sides. Why Only Two Things Matter? I talk a lot about the distribution part of the startup/business highway, because that's the part which is ...5 collectedCollectConnect with me: - on Farcaster: https://warpcast.com/bfg - on X: https://twitter.com/aka_BFG - on TG: https://t.me/BrightFutureGuy - and join YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Web3MagicPod I still have a LinkedIn in case you're that old.

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