What do I do next? How purpose turns a long list into a clear next step

Every founder’s to-do list grows faster than it shrinks. There’s always another feature, another meeting, another opportunity that looks too good to miss. You finish the week exhausted, and still can’t say whether any of it moved you forward.
The question underneath it all never changes: what do I do next?
In this session, Paul Cannavan will share why a long list is rarely the real problem, and why a missing sense of direction usually is.

Drawing on 20 years building digital products, mentoring more than 50 founders, and some hard personal choices about where his own time goes, Paul will tackle the questions he hears most:

• How do you choose between ten good ideas when you only have time for one?
• How do you say no without feeling like you’re missing out?
• How do you get from a big-picture “why” to something you can actually do on Monday morning?

You’ve probably heard that you should start with why. This session is about what comes after it. Most purpose talks stop at the statement; Paul treats purpose as a decision tool that turns a why into a direction, and a direction into the one step worth taking this week. You’ll leave with a short set of questions you can use straight away, and your own next step noted down, on your phone or however suits you, along with why it matters.

About the speaker

Paul Cannavan is a product strategy consultant and the founder of With Impact In Mind. He has spent 20 years building digital products across Australia and the UK, from working with clinicians in UK hospitals to shadowing clinical staff in First Nations clinics in the Northern Territory. He has mentored more than 50 founders through accelerator programs and runs the Innovation Shed, a platform and hands-on workspace for early-stage Perth founders and innovators. He’s also building buddi, a tool that helps people take the next step towards better health. His own why is simple: time, and quality of life, with his family