What Has to Go Right
Advance the critical one or two actions before solving everything else
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 96%
What Has to Go Right is a rolling critical-path rule. Instead of perfecting every part of a plan or reacting emotionally under pressure, identify the one or two things that everything else currently depends on. Prepare and rehearse those actions, then execute them as designed even when fear appears. Their completion changes the situation and reveals the next dependencies, so prioritization is repeated rather than frozen at the start. The method reduces overwhelm without pretending secondary work is permanently irrelevant. It also protects the decisive moment from gut-driven reversion to behaviours that have failed before. The useful question is not what could possibly be improved, but what must succeed now for the rest of the work to move forward.
Origin
Jeff Spencer described this as the simple execution question champions repeatedly ask before and during high-pressure performance.
Core principles
- 01A small number of dependencies usually control immediate progress
- 02Perfect preparation is less useful than critical-path clarity
- 03Completing the current dependency reveals the next one
- 04Fear should not override rehearsed execution
How to run it
- 1
Define immediate progress
Describe the concrete movement the project or performance needs next. Keep the horizon close enough to act on now.
Pro tip Use an observable result rather than a general intention.
Watch out A distant final goal is too broad to expose the immediate dependency.
- 2
Find the critical few
Identify the one or two things that everything else currently depends on. Set aside improvements that do not control the next movement.
Pro tip Ask what failure would prevent all downstream progress.
Watch out Do not expand the answer into a disguised full task list.
- 3
Rehearse execution
Simulate the critical actions before the real moment so that confidence comes from demonstrated readiness. Anticipate fear without requiring it to disappear.
Pro tip Practise the exact sequence and pacing you intend to use.
Watch out Unrehearsed confidence can collapse under pressure.
- 4
Execute without emotional deviation
Carry out the rehearsed critical actions rather than changing everything when fear rises. Treat fear as compatible with correct performance.
Pro tip Return attention to the named dependencies.
Watch out Gut reactions often restore the same behaviour that failed previously.
- 5
Reveal the next dependency
After the critical actions complete, inspect the new reality and identify what must go right next. Repeat the cycle until the objective is complete.
Pro tip Reprioritize from evidence created by the last execution.
Watch out Do not assume the original priority order survives contact with reality.
In the wild
A team has dozens of unfinished launch tasks, but payment acceptance and one successful customer delivery block every meaningful test. They rehearse the purchase and fulfilment flow, complete those two dependencies, and run a live transaction. That result reveals onboarding clarity as the next constraint.
→ The launch advances through verified dependencies instead of broad last-minute activity.
Common mistakes
Trying to make everything perfect
Perfection spreads attention across possibilities instead of protecting the dependencies that control progress.
Changing the plan at the decisive moment
Fear can trigger a return to familiar actions even when rehearsal established a better execution path.
Is it for you?
Best for
It is best for consequential projects or performance moments with many competing demands.
Not ideal for
It is not ideal when safety requires every item in a mandatory procedure to be completed together.
From the transcript
“you should be looking at the one or two things that have to go right. To keep things moving forward.”
“do you know exactly the one or two things that have to go right, like right now for everything else to be able to move…”
“And if you can name those two things and you know what those things are, then as you execute those, then the next things that…”
From the episode
Dr. Jeff Spencer: Ultimate Goal Setting for Entrepreneurs
Dr. Jeff Spencer