Weekly 40 Hour Kit by Fabiano Abreu Ott

The journey of growing your business without grinding 24/7.

40 Hour Kit: Strategic Underachievement

(Here for the subject line? Find it in the ⚖️ Balance Hack section)

Hey Reader,

one of the most profound memories from my time at Google was when the senior leader of our international team showed vulnerability. In front of the whole team. Showing real emotions and sharing honest thoughts about feeling overwhelmed during a busy period. That day I realized that great leadership doesn't have to mean wearing a mask all the time.

Curious how you would feel sharing vulnerability with your team? Hit reply and let me know.

And now, let's get into your weekly 40 Hour Kit:

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💡 Entrepreneurial Insight

It takes 10 years to build a meaningful company. Stop trying to rush a decade of work into a 6-month sprint.

Based on insights shared by Guillaume Moubeche (bootstrapped founder of Lemlist - a $45M ARR business)

⚖️ Balance Hack

Pick 2-3 areas of your business where you will actively choose to be bad for the next quarter.
For example:

• Let the 24-hour email reply window slide to 72 hours.
• Ignore your growth on Social Media entirely.
• Miss every networking event.

Giving yourself permission to fail in certain areas allows you to focus all your energy on the things that really move the needle for your business.

Inspired by the concept of 'Strategic Underachievement' by best-selling author Oliver Burkeman in 'Four Thousand Weeks'.

🚀 Challenge

The 5-Minute Automation Test: Identify and test one automation use case for your most annoying bottleneck.

1. Identify: Pick the one repetitive, copy-paste, or research-heavy task that eats up 1-2 hours of your day (e.g. qualifying leads, formatting data, reviewing profiles).
2. The Core Logic: What is the single most crucial decision you make during that task?
3. The Test: Copy the raw data for just one specific instance (e.g. one lead's LinkedIn bio). Paste it into Gemini, ChatGPT or Claude with the exact instructions you use in your head to process it.

Goal: If the AI model can successfully perform that single, core task accurately, you have proven the concept to build the actual automation.

Based on how we used to architect AI use cases for startups during my time at Google. Check out the full guideline here.

✨ Recommendation

Jason Fried, co-founder of 37signals (for 27+ years), best-selling author and bootstrapping legend shared 7 recommendations for founders who are building a sustainable, independent business:

1. Build for yourself first.​
   Solve your own problems so you never have to guess what your customers actually need.
2. Your Real Competition is Your Costs.​
   You aren’t primarily competing against other companies. You are competing against the cost of staying in business.
3. Avoid "Playing Entrepreneur".​
   Stop obsessing over the shiny objects and start focusing on the actual substance of your work.
4. Keep your team lean.​
   Hire only when it hurts. Small teams move faster and communicate with far more clarity.
5. Know your 'Enough'.​
   Define a sustainable level of success so you don’t fall into the trap of chasing growth for growth’s sake.
6. Plan Day-by-Day.​
   Treat long-term plans as fantasies. Focus on making the best possible decisions for tomorrow.
7. Stay Close to your Customers.​
   Never lose the insight of how your product is really used.

Based on an interview with Jason Fried on the David Senra Show.

❓ Question for you to ask another Entrepreneur

What is the one decision you already know you have to make, but you are pretending you don't know the answer?

Have a nice & productive week!

Best,

Fabiano

Grow together with other founders to €1M in revenue - without sacrificing your lifestyle.

​Join the Priority List for the 40 Hour Entrepreneur Club.​

​Read past 40 Hour Kits here.