🔺 If you’re doing a lot but not seeing results, here’s what helps me: instead of trying everything at once, I look for the one main thing that’s blocking progress — and focus only on fixing that. This gives the biggest impact.

Here are 2 common situations when people feel stuck:

✔You don’t know what to focus on — so nothing works

Example: beginners in analytics looking for a job often feel lost. Thoughts jump around: "Should I learn another tool? Maybe I just need more experience?" This panic leads to even more confusion.

But if you calmly break things down, you often find the real issue: their resume is weak (as an example). No replies because it’s too general. Once the resume clearly shows value — people start getting interviews.

✔You focus on what’s comfortable — not on what’s important

Example: beginner entrepreneurs with a background in coding or analytics struggle to make sales. The real reason: no one is visiting their website (as an example).

Instead of doing marketing to get their first 1,000 users, developers keep improving the product, and analysts keep polishing data tracking. But if no one sees the product, none of that matters.

Progress🔺 begins when you find and remove the main obstacle — not when you do everything or stick to what’s familiar.

This idea comes from the book The Goal by Eliyahu Goldratt. The main character, Alex, has 90 days to save his factory. A mentor teaches him to look for the biggest constraint and remove it first. Even though the book is about manufacturing, the principle works in any area.

Main point: In any system, there’s one bottleneck that limits results. It can be internal (like a process or team) or external (like the market or resources). Until you remove that one thing — other efforts don’t really help.

Recently, I noticed that my project is bringing some results — but not the ones I was aiming for. I’ve raised my goals lately, but I’m still not reaching them. So, I decided to apply this theory.

What I did:

1. I set aside time to deeply analyze my data. The numbers suggested the problem was in the product or how it’s presented — but not everything is clear from data alone.

2. I explained the situation in detail to ChatGPT — my doubts, what’s going on, and shared the data. I asked it to help me find the main constraint using this theory.

3. ChatGPT gave a few ideas. After a couple of follow-up questions, I found the main issue.

3. Now I’m focused on fixing that one thing.

4. After it’s solved, I’ll move to the next bottleneck — which is also part of the theory.

How is this different from just setting priorities?

Priority lists are often based on feelings. The Theory of Constraints gives you clear focus — where to act for the biggest effect.

Of course, it’s not perfect. But it works well when:

— You have limited resources — which is almost always (time, money, attention)
— You need fast results
— Your project or team isn’t performing, even though “everything is being done”

No theory is magic — but this one helps you see your situation in a new way⭐.