Hi Reader! 👋 ​
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Ever notice that December barely feels like a month — at least, when it comes to getting stuff accomplished?
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We roll right out of Thanksgiving season into holiday party season, shopping season, it's-too-dark-to-feel-motivated season, and then the holidays themselves.
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But as we wrap up 2024, I'm focused on two big things:
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One — reflecting on all I learned and achieved over the last year, which was a TON.
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Two — preparing a lot of behind-the-scenes projects to ensure 2025 starts off with a bang.
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You might notice some of these in the content and links I share below. And you'll definitely be seeing and hearing even more over the next month.
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Can't wait to hear what you think...

Here's one of the keys to success when it comes to making progress quickly:
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Don’t over-think things.
Don’t under-think things.
​Optimally-think things.​
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​In the business world, we looooooove to over-think ideas.​
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This is often part of a CYA strategy (google it), because it helps leaders protect themselves from blame or negative consequences. We can’t fail if we just keep talking about it!
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And this comes at the expense of speed, efficiency, and decision-making clarity. Overthinking takes forever, grinds momentum down, and is rarely effective at avoiding future mistakes. It’s slowness, disguised as “being smart.”
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​In the world of workshops, we loooooove to under-think ideas. We put a lot of ideas on the wall — and quickly get excited about things that turn out to be shallow solutions, lack needed perspectives, have fatal flaws, or be filled with details that still need sweating.
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I believe we should optimal-think ideas. Not too reckless. Not too overwhelming.
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When I run High-ROI Off-Sites and Solution Sprints with leadership teams, a key phase we go through is “optimal-thinking.” It’s a structured process during which the group analyzes, evaluates, and pressure-tests the ideas that have strongest potential.
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The process ensures we don’t skip anything important — or miss out on important feedback. But it also ensures that discussions don’t drag on needlessly.
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This empowers the team to be confident, quickly — so they can make real progress, instead of entering a death spiral of endless discussions and devil’s advocates.
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As Napoleon Bonaparte said, “Take time to deliberate, but when the time for action has arrived, stop thinking and go in.”
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A few favorite social posts:

​Eight Reasons Your Leadership Off-Site Underwhelmed​

​Slow Down To Speed Up​

​6 Ugly Truths About Making Big Things Happen Quickly​

​7 Harsh Realities About Creativity at Work​
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Moving Fast = More Fun

Last month, I watched a company completely overhaul one of their flagship offerings — delivering substantially more value to their customers, resulting in a more engaged and motivated customer base, which will lead to reduced churn and increased revenue.
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​And they did it in one week.
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​Okay, let’s be fair — there were some executional and follow-up details that required a few additional weeks.
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But it was seriously impressive to watch a group move with a focus, energy, and speed that I've rarely experienced in corporate settings.
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And what they ultimately made happen is engaging and fun and innovative and so so smart on so so many levels.
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Their overhaul was all around a single offering — but the way they implemented it resulted in at least 20 instances of additional delight for their customers. It’s easy to see how this is going to generate big-time revenue for them.
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Any company would be jealous of what they accomplished.
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And 85% of the work and 100% of the strategic thinking and decisions were accomplished in that first, single week.
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Which means the team is already reaping the rewards of this initiative — and they’re already onto other important projects.
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This initiative didn’t become “one more thing” to add to their already-overflowing project list.
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It didn’t result in a series of frustrating meetings that would have dragged on for months (or years?) while progress slowed, frustration rose, and morale withered.
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By slowing down for just one week and focusing on this one important High-ROI challenge, they were able to move faster.
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And the team’s energy at the office right now is electric. “Buzzing” is a completely fitting word. I’ve even heard tales of high-fives from managers who aren’t the high-fiving type. (If you knew this group, you’d know that’s a big deal.)
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Here’s the weird thing — this renewed energy is palpable on projects that have NOTHING TO DO with the updated project. Things feel POSSIBLE now.
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Roadblocks on those other projects kind of just… evaporated. Collaboration across the board feels easier and more natural. Things are clicking in ways they didn’t click before.
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The team focused on solving ONE THING, but everything else got better.
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It might be tempting to dismiss their success as a fluke, or luck, or say, “yeah but my company doesn’t work like that.”
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Except it isn’t the company that’s special.
It’s not the people that are special.
(Okay, not entirely true. All people at all companies are special.)
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It’s the process they used.
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It’s called a Strategic Solution Sprint.
Or sometimes I like to call it a “High-ROI Off-Site.”
(Even if they aren't always technically off-site.)
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It’s a facilitated workshop approach for leadership teams that helps them tackle big challenges in hours, not months.
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I've spent a lot of time in off-sites, and a lot of time running them for previous companies I worked for. They were always interesting and energizing — but too often we ended up with walls of brilliant ideas on sticky notes, and not enough decisions or clarity. This process solves that. (and it's STILL interesting, fun, and energizing.)
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If your team has been considering an off-site, we should talk — and I’ll share how you can make it even more powerful and productive.
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Or, if your team has a big challenge or project that needs to be solved quickly, we should talk — and I’ll show you how this could be game-changing for you.
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It’s a well-oiled, robust, and fun approach — but what’s most impressive is the amazing things teams achieve with it.
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Let's crush this,
-Tim-​
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Let's Lightbulb - Founder / CEO / Crusher of Soulcrushers

Let's Lightbulb specializes in Strategic Solution Sprints and High-ROI Off-Sites for leadership teams. We help teams create solutions and action plans for their biggest challenges in hours, not months. And have a lot of fun doing it.
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The bulk of our business comes from referrals. Know anyone that would find this valuable?

Every week in this newsletter, I share tips on how to reduce the stuff that makes our work not-fun, and increase the stuff that makes work fun.
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Thanks for reading, and please share with friends and colleagues that might like it — because we need more fun people in the world.