One of the biggest momentum-killers in any business?
Constant firefighting.
It’s easy to fall into the trap, especially as a founder.
You’re accessible. You’re capable. You’re the final call.
And without realizing it, you train your team to bring everything to you.
That’s what happened to me.
The Symptoms of a Reactive Business
Years ago, I noticed a pattern:
Slack notifications all day
Questions in my DMs and inbox
Problems demanding attention at random times
The result?
I couldn’t build anything meaningful.
I was always reacting. And it was draining my time, energy, and ability to think long-term.
So I made one change.
One Meeting. Ten Hours Saved.
I created a weekly operations meeting with my sister, who runs day-to-day at Allied Medical Training.
I implemented the same structure at Wooden Hill Brewing Company.
Here’s the new rule:
If it’s not urgent, it waits for the meeting.
Simple, right?
But it only works if you define what “urgent” actually means.
Defining Urgency with Three Safeguards
To make the system work, I set clear criteria for what truly qualifies as urgent.
There are only three situations where something should interrupt me immediately:
Loss of revenue or ability to operate? Handle it now.
Safety problem? Handle it now.
True emergency? Handle it now.
Everything else?
It gets parked for our one-hour meeting.
From Weekly to Bi-Weekly
Over time, we realized something even more surprising:
We didn’t even need to meet every week.
Now, we hold a bi-weekly meeting where everything gets addressed:
Decisions
Updates
Bottlenecks
Strategy
All in one focused block.
It’s far more effective than constant back-and-forth throughout the week.
The Unexpected Benefits
Here’s what changed once this rhythm was in place:
My Slack got quieter
My headspace got clearer
My focus came back
And most importantly, my team got better at solving problems without me
Because the meeting time was dedicated and consistent, people knew they’d have a chance to bring things up.
And unless it was truly urgent, they stopped interrupting their own work (and mine) just to “check in.”
Proactively Protect Your Time
I run multiple businesses. I can’t afford to be reactive all day.
This one system helped me shift from reactive mode to proactive leadership.
And it’s one of the simplest and most powerful changes I’ve made as a founder.
If you feel like you’re stuck in constant motion but never making real progress, ask yourself:
👉 What if it could wait for one meeting?
👉 What if you stopped responding to everything in real time?
Create space. Define urgency. Reclaim your time.
You can’t build the future while you’re busy putting out fires.
Cheers,
Sean
P.S.
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