Feeling Stuck in Your Business? Start With One Small Step
Just Go Around the Block
Yesterday, I hit the afternoon wall. 4pm where the couch starts looking like the smartest plan of the day.
My body needed to move, so I made myself a little deal. I'll just go around the block a few times and get some steps in. Some is better than none, right?
Hubby usually walks with me, but he was away at a conference. This time it was just me and my sneakers.
Then I opened the front door. Oh my gosh. It was sunny and in the low 70s with a soft breeze, one of those early fall days in Virginia where the air feels brand new.
The first lap felt good so I took another one. That turned into a longer loop, and then a street I haven’t walked in awhile. By the time I checked my phone, I'd been out for over an hour. (Cue me wondering where all that tired went.)
I didn't put on a podcast or call anyone. It was me, the sunshine, and a lot of quiet. People are surprised to hear I'm an introvert, since I love a full room and connecting with people. Time alone is how I fill back up, and that hour did it.
It's just like this in our business, especially when you feel stuck.
When you feel stuck in your business, start at the front door
There's an old line from the writer John Burroughs: "Leap, and the net will appear."
For years I thought that as advice for giant moments, like quitting a job to start a business.
Yesterday my leap was lacing up my shoes. Once I was outside, the net showed up. The sunshine was the net. So was the energy I didn't have ten minutes earlier.
Business owners get stuck at the front door all the time. We look at a project and picture every single step at once, and our brain says nope.
Maybe it's the welcome email you've meant to rewrite since spring. (That first email says a lot about how easy you are to do business with.) New clients still get the old one, and you cringe a little every time it goes out. Or it's the contract you hunt for in three different folders every time someone signs.
Those tasks feel like a leap because they look big from the couch.
From the sidewalk, they're usually smaller than you thought. Open the welcome email and fix the first line. That's your lap around the block. Most days, you'll keep going.
Tired days count too
If you've watched Ted Lasso, you know it's a show where grown men cry and nobody makes fun of them for it.
We were watching a few weeks ago and one scene had me in tears.
Practice is flat, everyone is carrying a lot of feelings, and Ted pulls the team in for a talk. You might know the old movie line "There's no crying in baseball." Ted flips it. "There is crying in football," he tells them. Always has been.
Then he lists the greats who cried. Messi cried when he finally won the World Cup. Their own big, bad Roy Kent bawled at his retirement press conference.
His point is simple. If you're feeling something, "You don't have to hide it. You don't have to apologize for it. And you sure don't have to be ashamed of it."
That's what I loved about my walk. I was tired, and I let myself be tired. There was no workout plan and no step goal to beat. All I did was give myself permission to do a little.
So many owners treat tired or hitting a wall like a failure. I'll admit I do it too sometimes...well, quite a bit, actually. In fact, I find it happens most when I’m on the verge of a breakthrough or leveling up.
We push through a twelve-hour day and then feel bad that the big project didn't move. The next morning we're even more worn out, and the project still sits there.
Being tired is OK, and so is crying about it. On a low day, you can still take one small step. Ted would want you to.
If you lead a team, say this out loud to them. Running solo? Say it to yourself.
One thing that helps: keep a short list of easy tasks for low-energy days. Filing that contract where it belongs counts. So does answering one client email you've been putting off. Low days can still move your business forward. If you're tired most days, that's a bigger sign, and I wrote about how to get your time back as a business owner.
Small steps are how systems stick
This is how I work with clients, too. When an owner reaches out to me, everything feels urgent. The temptation is to fix all of it in the first week.
Nope. We simplify one process, like how a new client gets welcomed, and write it down so it runs the same way every time. After that, we pick the next one. Once the work is clear, we look at what a team member or an automation can take off their plate.
It's the same idea from my apple pie playbook post. Write it down once, and you don't have to figure it out again next time.
Small steps are the ones that stick, because you can keep doing them on a busy week. A giant leap on a tired brain usually fizzles by Friday.
Your lap around the block this week
Here's a simple way to try it:
Pick one task you've been avoiding. The first one that pops into your head is usually the right one.
Make yourself a tiny deal. Fifteen minutes, one paragraph, or one folder.
Do just that much, then notice how you feel.
Keep going if you want to. Stop if you don't. Either way, you got out the door.
And if your business needs more than one lap, that's what I do. Let's find your first step together.
Now go around the block. I'll be out there too.
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Start smaller than you think you need to. Pick one task and give yourself 15 minutes. Moving at all usually brings some energy back.
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Find the first piece you can finish in one sitting, like rewriting one email or saving your contract template where you can find it. Finish that, then decide on the next piece.
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Make the first step so small it feels silly to skip. Fix one line of that email, or find one file. Most of the time, getting started is the hard part, and you'll keep going once you're in it.
Another option, if you like it better: "What should I do on a low-energy day as a business owner?" That one ties in with the Ted Lasso section.