Don’t do busy. Do what matters, when it matters.

Lee Friedlander — New York City, 1962

Recently, I had a session with a former Fortune 100 executive turned entrepreneur who was being pulled in a lot of different directions in his life and business.

“I feel like I’m flip flopping around,” he admitted.

I could hear the weariness in his voice as he described juggling family responsibilities, concerns about revenue, and six different ideas for growing his business.

Can you relate?

As he spoke, I noticed how much of his energy was in his head, problem solving. On the surface, it looked like he was being proactive in developing his growth strategy. But as I listened, it became clear that he was thinking in circles, and it was draining him.

So, we slowed things down.

As we dove deeper, we started to see how his default response to feeling worried about revenue was to jump straight into activity. The busyness gave him a sense of purpose, productivity, and control, which helped distract him from his underlying fears.

But his constant mental churn and scattered efforts were also confusing and overwhelming him.

There’s an irony here. Strategy is one of this entrepreneur’s greatest strengths! The tricky thing is, our greatest strengths become our greatest weaknesses when we overuse them.

In his case, his tendency towards problem solving had led him to slip into spinning his wheels. Instead of helping him get clear, take effective action, and ultimately ease his worries, his approach was resulting in him being stuck in his head, spread thin, and even more anxious.

We took a step back and zoomed out. At the core, he wanted more clients. His work had evolved over the last few years, and he wasn’t working with as many people as he would have liked with his refined focus.

As we explored what was holding him back, we uncovered a crucial insight: though his focus had evolved, his messaging hadn’t. And it lacked the clarity, precision, and resonance it needed to click with the clients he wanted to work with.

This misalignment was at the root of his frustration. Despite his skill, expertise, and passion, his business wasn’t growing at the pace he wanted it to. His incongruent messaging was resulting in lukewarm responses and minimal returns across his marketing initiatives, despite significant efforts. 

We turned our attention to his list of ideas. They were mostly marketing projects. “If your message is unclear, getting in front of 1,000 people won’t do you much good,” I reflected. “With that in mind, which of these are you crossing off your to-do list?”

We narrowed his list of priorities down to one — the one that would be most helpful in clarifying and refining his message. This was his greatest leverage point, where small changes could make the biggest impact. Clarifying his message wasn’t just another task on his to-do list — it was the linchpin for everything else.

Our session served as a valuable reminder: it’s often when we least want to slow down that it’s most essential to.

Especially as entrepreneurs, it’s easy to fall into the trap of throwing more at your problems. But growing your business, like most things, is often not about doing more. It’s about focusing on what matters, when it matters.

To do that well, you have to be able to see the big picture and how all of the pieces fit together. You can't do that while you're spinning your wheels.

Where is it time for you to slow down, step back, and zoom out? 

Love,
Levina