In Eli Goldratt's Theory of Constraints, it's crucial to find the "bottleneck."
It's the obstacle inside your business that most restricts the free flow of money through the system.
The core premise: a complex system has many interconnected elements, but to influence it — positively or negatively — it's enough to press on one point. Rarely two.
Henry Ford's assembly line is a classic example: no improvements or investments in the chain after a slow machine can increase the number of finished cars coming out. One holds everyone back.
Why not draw a parallel between TOC and personal development?
At any given moment in life, you find yourself running up against something:
"I'm stuck, and there's no way out."
"So much titanic effort, yet no results."
"It's like I've hit some kind of glass ceiling."
"I don't know what it is, but something keeps getting in my way."
"Just when I get everything back on track, I stumble again. Why?"
Know this: that's your current bottleneck. Your constraint. The biblical stumbling block. The skandalon. The temptation.
It's easy to recognize by its ability to hold your attention captive. It triggers every feeling except indifference — at minimum, embarrassment and curiosity, and often irritation, anxiety, dread, and rage.
You can't simply brush off the bottleneck. It's like a pebble in your shoe, the smell of smoke in your house, or an air-raid siren. Life goes on, of course, but you could hardly call it harmonious.
We'll return to this subject more than once. It's bottomless.
For now, I want to encourage you. Precisely in what currently limits you most, poisons your life, and causes you suffering lies what will open a new chapter in your life.
The Mind doesn't understand this. It's counterintuitive. Another paradox.
Sincerely yours,
-Alexander
As a business therapist, I help tech founders quickly solve dilemmas at the intersection of business and personality, and boost company value as a result.
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