Are you an entrepreneur who occasionally walks in the office and thinks “what the hell am I doing today?”

It’s typically not from a lack of work to do. It comes from having too much to do. It’s that feeling of being so overwhelmed that you can’t take the advice of eating the elephant one bite at a time because you don’t know if you should start eating the trunk or the foot first.

That’s where I found myself last week. My operating system was clogged and needed a reset. So I picked Traction back up to remind myself of the EOS – Entrepreneurs Operating System. The EOS really helped me a couple years ago but since then I’ve dropped it. Not on purpose. You know how it goes. You read a good idea. You try it. And even when it works it just gets dropped because, well, life I guess.

So here I am, trying the EOS again which states that an entrepreneur should focus solely on six things:

1. Vision – setting the path for the company.
2. Data – focusing on the real numbers.
3. Process – the mechanics of the company.
4. Traction – setting goals and keeping people focused on them.
5. Issues – solving problems as the come up.
6. People – the most important part of the business.

Specifically this time I was most attracted to the Entrepreneurs score card – a simple one pager updated every day to help me stay focused on the numbers. When I focus on the numbers I see if the processes are working, if the goals are being met and if problems are arising.

I like this book because it’s practical and provides real action items I can take immediately. I suggest it to all entrepreneurs.