Read time: 3 min.

I have a confession to make.

I am, and have always been, a bit of a productivity freak. If something can be done faster, simpler, or better, I want to know about it.

I've read the books, tested the apps, and spent countless hours building "the perfect system."

But here's the embarrassing truth:

For a long time, all that optimization was just a distraction. I was making the wrong things more efficient. Spending weeks fine-tuning processes that shouldn't have existed in the first place.

It's like spending hours organizing a garage full of stuff you were going to throw away anyway.

This mistake cost me time, energy, and momentum. And I see every person fall into it at some point.

So I built a simple 3-step framework to make sure I never fall for it again.

It's based on one core question: What is the most direct path to the most valuable outcome?

Here's how it works.

Step 1: Find what actually matters

Before you optimize anything, you need to know what the real goal is.

Most people skip this step. They inherit a process or copy what they see working elsewhere, then spend months making it "better."

But you can't improve something that's fundamentally wrong.

Ask yourself: What's the actual outcome this needs to create?

For me, this meant admitting my intake process was just friction. The real goal? Make clients feel understood and confident I could help solve their problem.

Everything else was noise.

Step 2: Cut everything else

Now comes the hard part.

Strip away everything that doesn't directly serve that core goal.

This will feel wrong. Like you're cutting corners. Like you're being lazy.

You're not. You're removing friction.

Ask yourself: What's the simplest way to go from A to B?

Then delete any meeting, step, or feature that isn't absolutely necessary.

I went from a multi-page intake form to three questions. From automated email sequences to one personal message. From multiple discovery calls to a single focused conversation.

Did it feel too simple? Yes.

Did it work better? Also yes.

Step 3: Optimize

You've stripped it down to what delivers.

Now you make it deliver better.

Ask yourself: What part of this feels clunky every single time?

Fix that. Collect feedback after each repetition. Make one small improvement at a time. Use automation for the mechanical parts so you can stay human where it counts.

It's a different game entirely.

Final confession

I still catch myself doing this. Building complexity when simplicity would win. Optimizing things that don't matter.

But now I have a framework to snap me out of it.

The next time you feel that urge to "make it better," pause. Ask yourself: does this even need to exist? If yes, what's the simplest version? Only then do you improve it.

Just last week I started building a new content system before asking if I even needed one. (I didn't.)

The framework keeps me honest.

Hope it does the same for you.

Much love,

— Martijn

P.S. The hardest part of this process? Admitting that the system you spent weeks building needs to go. I've deleted more "optimization" work than I've kept. But every time I do, my business gets simpler, clients get better results, and I get more time back. Turns out simple wins.