Do you consider yourself a good decision-maker?
You’re running a business, so of course you can handle decisions.Most of the time.
The big ones are harder, right? Partly because you’re responsible for so much more than your own personal future…
What do you do when you’re not sure if something is an amazing opportunity or a bad idea in disguise?
How can you choose the path that leads to more success and happiness when it’s a leap into the unknown?
Sometimes you just know.
It feels “right.” You feel it in your body somehow, and your heart tells you too.
There is a deep knowing within, a promise that it will shift you, your life, your business, or your relationships for the better.
When you get these promptings, it feels GOOD in the moment and you are energized!
WHAT to do isn’t as clear as you’d like...but you know you’re supposed to run with this and act on it.
Then your thinking brain starts doing its thing.
If you don’t act quickly enough, “reality” hits and the boost of energy to make changes is going to be sucked up by the next task on your agenda.
What’ll it be? Listen to your heart, dive right in and live boldly!! Or you could hang back.
(Note: You might be surprised to learn later that both could take you to the same destination. I'll explain- stick with me.)
If you take the more typical path, you’ll probably experience something like this as soon as you allow fear into your decision-making process: Even though you know you want it, instead of expanding fully into the path of growth, you start contracting and asking the wrong questions or making negative assumptions. You‘re settling into the grooves of habit, and starting to convince yourself it’s not what you really want.
(Have you been down this road before? I have!)
Later you may feel a little sadness or disappointment, but you shoo it away almost as soon as it enters your mind. Maybe you tell yourself “I’ve got all these things I need to get done! Who has time for taking on new projects and big shifts anyway? That’s not for me, or if it is I’ll figure it out later."
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It’s scary because you don’t have all the answers.
However, if you’re honest with yourself- you know it’s still there under the surface. Maybe it’s easily pushed away when you’re focusing on staying busy, but if it’s something you REALLY want it will keep popping up...
Running a business means sometimes taking risks and feeling stressed. You love the freedoms and controls this allows you, but -as you’ve tried to explain to others- it’s not as easy as working for someone else. It’s not just doing your job, earning a paycheck, and going home to enjoy life nightly. Other people don’t understand the level of stress and responsibility that running a business entails. They ask things like “Why do you work SO much?” and “Can’t you trust the people on your team to do the work so you can take a vacation already?” or “How can you stand it not knowing exactly what revenue is coming in?”
Sure, some days are hard, but you’ve learned how to survive the manic roller-coaster ride of fright and elation, anxiety and celebration, hard work and deep satisfaction.
You’re not giving up on being successful AND happy.
This time you decide to shove the fears to the back, and go for it!
You make a plan to follow your heart, then you put your plan in motion and it feels right. You make a few shifts, or replace a couple habits and things start to flow.
It’s not easy making changes while wading through distraction, self-doubt, and the never-ending to-do list, but you manage to make some progress and it feels great!
Until you fall off the horse, realizing later you sabotaged yourself somehow (again). You revisit those old thoughts like “This is so hard” or “My life is pretty good already- who am I to want it all?” You settle back into old ways...
But you still yearn for it.
You feel a kind of internal itchiness. Dissatisfaction or conflicting feelings are reminders to live your life and manage your business more in alignment with who you really are. Whatever that means.
You wake up in the night with thoughts zooming through your mind, generating possibly brilliant ideas, and praying for answers to questions like:
“What should I do about ______?” “What if I’ve got it all wrong and I’m actually heading for failure instead of success?” “What if I’m not ________ enough for this. What are my best options?”
You keep chasing your dream -despite the times when you feel like things are taking too long, life’s curveballs are pulling you off course again, or your internal struggles are getting tiresome.
Keep going for it!
How?
You sponge up inspiration, motivation, and hacks from anywhere. You dive into personal growth, learn new skills, invest in some new systems, or find an expert.
When you realize you are the biggest hurdle to your own success and happiness, you choose to do some fear-busting head-on. Maybe you try some methods others have recommended, or you see a therapist, hire a coach, or connect with a group of others who are figuring out how to “have it all.”
You keep chasing your dream - despite the times when you feel like things are taking too long, life’s curve-balls are pulling you off course again, or your internal struggles are getting tiresome... (And people in your life think you're a bit crazy!)
Until one day...
Even though the path may have been long and winding, one day you look back and see how far you’ve come. You can finally see many of your achievements and pause for a moment to celebrate (even though you’re not perfect yet, and there is always more to do!).
You realize something WONDERFUL.
That you don’t have to know all the answers, or banish all your fears, to be happy and successful.
Ironically, although you took the path that felt easier at first, it wound around and redirected you again and again. Then sometimes it seems like fate how you ended up in the same place because your heart knew this was for you...
The bottom line: Slow isn't necessarily bad, but things will go faster if you listen to your own inner guidance earlier in the process! You want to save wasted energy, avoid unpleasant detours, or looping back to the start.
Strengthen your intuition: Learn to trust your first instincts when it comes to making those bigger business decisions. I often ask my clients to just blurt out the answer that feels right (I tell them they have less than 2 minutes while I wait, looking at them expectantly...they think it's a bit diabolical intially.) It's nice to see them experience massive relief at coming up with the answer as soon as they are "forced" to choose. Then, their next steps are doing due-diligence on the decision they essentially already made.
Whether you choose the faster route or the slow path, the key is to KEEP GOING!
- Keep learning to trust your inner brilliance. It takes practice.
- Never give up on creating, serving, providing, or growing in business.
- Never give up on improving and loving yourself more.
- Even if it’s not easy! Because what in life is truly easy anyway?
- This is YOUR life and you can choose your own adventure.
Take inspired action.
__ Is there a decision you’ve been fearing? Listen to your intuition.
__ Have you been beating yourself up for taking the long path? Celebrate what you’ve learned!
__ What’s your next step?
__ What feels right?
How can I help?
Here's to your success,
How to decide which path is best in business? You will learn that you don’t have to know all the answers, or banish all your fears, to be happy and successful. And sometimes, although you took the path that felt easier which took longer and wound all over hill and dale, you ended up in the same place because you knew deep down this was right from the beginning… #EnvisionSuccess