The Level #115

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Welcome to The Level — where founders build $30K+ MRR businesses that actually give them options.

This week: The 3-filter test that reveals which commitments are stealing your freedom (plus the Notion template to fix it).

Quick question: Is your business giving you freedom or taking it away?

Most founders pause here. Because they already know the answer.

I was recently featured in Girlboss alongside founders who are done pretending that "busy" equals "successful." They asked me about my biggest resolution for the year:

"Treat my calendar more like a cash flow report. If it doesn't align with peace, profit, or purpose... it doesn't belong."

→ Read the full piece here

What I love about this feature is that it's not about hustle or hacks. It's about structure. The unsexy foundation that actually creates freedom.

That's what today's newsletter is about.

Expert Insight of the Week

Peter Drucker once said, "The goal is not to be busy. The goal is to be effective."

Most founders have this backwards.

They fill their calendars with what seems urgent, then wonder why they never have time for what's actually important.

Here's what I see happen all the time:

Founders escape corporate only to build a different kind of cage. They're working just as hard, sometimes harder, but now they're doing it without the safety net.

Your calendar either reflects your priorities or reveals you don't have any.

And the hard truth? A business that demands your constant presence isn't actually giving you freedom—it's just a different kind of trap.

The shift isn't about working less.

It's about designing a business that supports your life instead of consuming it.

This Week’s Shift: My 3 Filter Test

Your business is either giving you freedom or taking it away.

The difference? Your calendar.

Most founders treat their calendar emotionally, saying yes because they "should," or because it feels important, or because they don't want to disappoint someone.

I want you to treat it structurally instead.

Every commitment on your calendar should pass at least two of these three filters:

🧘 PEACE: Does this protect your cognitive bandwidth? Or does it create invisible recovery time you're not accounting for?

💰 PROFIT: Is this directly tied to revenue, retention, or asset creation? Or is it performative busyness?

🎯 PURPOSE: Does this move your mission forward in a measurable way? Or is it legacy-neutral?

If it doesn't pass two filters, it doesn't belong.

I learned this lesson the hard way. At 25, a health collapse forced me to rebuild my business within severe constraint. I had to produce the same outcomes in a fraction of the time.

That season permanently changed how I think about capacity.

Constraint sharpens clarity. You don't need a bigger calendar. You need a cleaner one.

Why This Matters

The Data Behind The Problem

Most founders think they know where their time goes.

The research tells a different story.

Harvard Business Review found that executives consistently overestimate the time they spend on strategic activities by 40-50%. They believe they're spending their days on high-value CEO work when the majority of their time is actually consumed by operational tasks and reactive firefighting.

The same study revealed that the average executive spends:

• Only 21% of time on strategic thinking and planning
• 54% on operational and administrative tasks
• 25% on reactive problem-solving

In other words: Less than a quarter of executive time goes to the work that actually grows the business.

Here's what this looks like in practice:
You're stuck in proposal churn.
Fielding custom requests.
Manually stitching together revenue every month.
The revenue rollercoaster becomes normal.

The cost isn't just financial. It's cognitive load. Stalled innovation. The quiet erosion of creative energy.

This isn't a motivation problem. It's a structural problem. And structural problems don't fix themselves.

→ Your Next Move

Before you can fix your calendar, you need to see what's actually happening.

→ Download the Freedom Audit Template

Track your time for 7 days using the 3-filter system. The template will automatically categorize your work and show you what's stealing your freedom.

Then, with your data in hand, do this:

1. Circle anything that drains you but doesn't clearly generate revenue or strategic leverage
2. Highlight anything that directly builds recurring revenue or durable assets
3. Ask: Where am I confusing visibility with value?
4. Identify one commitment to eliminate or redesign within 7 days

Then ask the harder question:

If my calendar reflects my business model, what is it telling me?

Hit reply and tell me what you discovered. I read every response, and next week I'll share the most common patterns I'm seeing from founders who completed the audit.

To building something that finally feels solid,

 - Amanda

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