FOCUS is a decision and execution system for limited resources. It helps a founder, leader, or team decide what deserves their finite time, attention, energy, and money; accept the cost of that choice; act where progress creates momentum; and repeat the right actions until results compound.
This page defines the key terms used on this site. Each definition stands on its own. For the full explanation of each step, see The FOCUS Method; for common questions, see the FOCUS FAQ.
FOCUS (the method)
FOCUS is a decision and execution system for limited resources, developed by Ilja T. Gull. It works in a fixed sequence: Facts reveal finite resources and reality. Outcome chooses the result that matters most. Constraints and Cost make opportunity cost visible. Upside identifies the highest-leverage action where momentum can begin. System builds habits, creates feedback, sustains repetition and allows progress to compound. In one sentence: Focus is the deliberate allocation of finite resources to the outcome that matters most, accepting the opportunity cost, acting where momentum can build, and repeating the right habits until progress compounds into excellence.
Facts
Step 1 of FOCUS: establish reality, evidence, patterns and finite resources. Key question: what is actually true, and what resources do we have? Tool: the Evidence Check.
Outcome
Step 2 of FOCUS: choose the one result that matters next. Key question: what result matters most now? Tool: the Target Choice.
Constraints and Cost
Step 3 of FOCUS: remove noise and drag, and make opportunity cost explicit. Key question: what will receive less attention, wait or stop because we chose this? Tool: the Cut List.
Upside
Step 4 of FOCUS: find the highest-leverage action and create momentum. Key question: where will focused action create disproportionate and self-reinforcing progress? Tool: the Leverage Path.
System
Step 5 of FOCUS: build habits, feedback, repetition and compounding. Key question: how do we make the right actions automatic and let progress build on itself? Tool: the Operating Rhythm, built around one lead metric.
Opportunity cost
The value of the best alternative you give up by choosing this path. In FOCUS it is made explicit in step 3: every meaningful yes contains a no. If nothing is being deprioritised, nothing has truly been chosen.
Momentum
Progress that makes further progress easier. Step 4 looks for the place where focused action can start a reinforcing cycle.
Habit
A repeated action that turns focus from a decision into a default. Step 5 defines each habit by its cue, action, time and place, minimum version, recognition and the identity it reinforces.
Compounding
What happens when each cycle begins from a higher base: today’s learning improves tomorrow’s decision, today’s system reduces tomorrow’s friction and today’s progress increases tomorrow’s capacity.
Lead metric
The one weekly number that predicts the outcome before the outcome shows up, for example qualified conversations held or proposals sent. In FOCUS the lead metric is the centre of the Operating Rhythm.
Leverage (in FOCUS)
Getting a larger result from energy that is already being spent, by concentrating it on what has already proven to work instead of starting something new. Same drive, more reach.
Leverage by FOCUS
The practice behind the method: a Swiss, private, structured thinking partner for founders and leaders, founded by Ilja T. Gull and operated by Gull Research & Diagnostics in Trüllikon, Switzerland. Website: leveragebyfocus.com.
FOCUS Co-Pilot
How Leverage by FOCUS describes its role: a co-pilot for business and career growth. The client flies the plane; the co-pilot reads the instruments, names the drift early and keeps the course.
Founder-Led FOCUS
The FOCUS path for entrepreneurs and business owners who already have paying customers and want revenue to become more predictable. Working together starts with a short call, followed by a tailored proposal. See Founder-Led FOCUS.
Executive FOCUS
The FOCUS path for senior executives deciding on and executing their next career move. Working together starts with a short call, followed by a tailored proposal. See Executive FOCUS.
FOCUS Check
The free starting point on the homepage. Eight quick steps, about 3 minutes, no email needed. It ends in a personal read: a named pattern, your quick read as the FOCUS lens, a 12-month runway and a FOCUS plan you can download as a PDF. Take the FOCUS Check.
Founder Check and Executive Check
The free, five-minute self-assessment for entrepreneurs and executives. It scores three axes (Direction, Concentration, Leverage & follow-through), maps five areas and names the FOCUS step that deserves attention first. Find your free check.
Revenue Leak Check
A free, eight-minute check for entrepreneurs and business owners that scores seven areas of the sales system (response, offer, qualification, close, pipeline, nurture, existing customers) and names the primary revenue leak.
Quiet Weight Index (QWI)
The foundation underneath FOCUS. Quiet Weight is the less conscious load of limiting beliefs and negative emotions that everyone carries to some degree; it shows when you know what to do and still keep getting in your own way. FOCUS works above the waterline, Quiet Weight below it. Developed since 2012 (first as the Mindset Index, from 2013 the Mental Weight Index, renamed in 2025). QWI Light is a free, four-minute check that maps how heavy nine areas of life feel, from 1 (light) to 10 (heavy). What is Quiet Weight?
FOCUS and F-O-C-U-S
FOCUS is the acronym for the five steps. F-O-C-U-S is the stylised spelling used in the logo. Both refer to the same method.
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