The Allocation Inversion
Skipping the growth work because you're too busy feels free, but the cost quietly piles up every few months.
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The mechanism
The chart tracks two lines across four quarters of putting off the important work. The red "real cost" line curves upward faster and faster; the dark "felt cost" line stays almost flat along the bottom. The space between them is the raise or better work you passed up without noticing. Being busy hid the bill; it never cancelled it.
Part of Persistence. Infrastructure that keeps growth compounding past founder heroics.