The Spreadsheet That Broke a CEO’s Brain

A founder I was speaking with once showed me their productivity system.
Color-coded spreadsheets. 12-tab dashboards. KPI trackers layered like a NASA launch plan.

But their day?
A mess. Constant reactivity. Zero deep work. Always playing catch-up.

The kicker?
They spent more time tracking the work than doing the work.

📊 According to a Harvard study, knowledge workers spend 41% of their time on busywork that feels productive—but isn’t.

Insight:
Metrics don’t fix momentum.
If your systems are prettier than your progress, you’ve got a clarity problem—not a tracking problem.