Have you ever felt the weight of running your business?

Wouldn’t it be nice not to have everything resting on your shoulders?

Wouldn’t it be nice to feel supported and know that certain things are ‘handled’, and you aren’t solely responsible to make key things happen in your business?

I’m not a car person by any means, but this analogy popped into my mind as I was thinking about how I often hear (and experience) the challenge of feeling like you’re alone in your business.

Happy New Year!

I hope this email reaches you healthy, happy and ready for what’s coming this year.

I’m hearing from some of you that you are cautiously optimistic but approaching the start of the year slowly.

And I’ve heard from others that you are ready and putting your head down with clear intentions, and you’re moving ahead with your plans, regardless of what else is going on (Omicron be damned!).

Whatever your thoughts are on beginning your year, I want to ask you about goal setting.

Do you set goals?

And if you do…?

Do your goals light a fire within and get you excited to hit the ground running?

If your goals aren’t generating that kind of excitement, I encourage you to take a look and see how you can write or re-articulate your goals so that they do.

Because, if you aren’t excited by the prospect of moving ahead with your goals, then why do them? AND, you lower your chances of hitting them in the first place…

Ah the zen vacation, the year long sabbatical, the parental leave, the short mini-break where you immersed yourself in 4 days at the beach or hiking in the back woods somewhere.

And, now it’s time to head back to work.

Heading back to work can sometimes feel like a mixed bag of emotions no matter if you run your own business or are an employee.

There have been years where I’ve reluctantly gone back (almost in tears), some years when I’ve been indifferent and years where I genuinely looked forward to starting back on Monday morning. Luckily, the latter has been much more often.

Where ever you are…the feelings you have when you’re ’heading back in’ can be telling. We often want to push them aside and get on with it, but did you know that those emotions and feelings hold incredible amounts of information for you?

If you’re feeling reluctant, anxious, dread, uncertainty, sadness, joy, or excitement, there’s information in here not to be shoved aside, but to be experienced and listened to. And then, what to do about that information?

How do we turn disappointments in your business and leadership into a profound path forward that will lead us to future wins?

We’ve all felt it. The time when our customer didn’t come on board.

That moment where our idea fell flat in the boardroom and ultimately was glossed over.

That moment when our proposal wasn’t accepted.

That time when our manager didn’t seek our input on an important direction, when you felt you had been integral up to that point.

Instead of going to down the path, which so often might occur, of spinning out in a spiral of feeling put down, de-motivated, which then can lead into, ‘am I cut out for this?’ or ‘why does this always happen to me’ I’d like to make another suggestion.

Growing a business and leading your organization can be fraught with ‘what-if’s’ and ‘maybe’s’ and general unknowns.

Deciding which way to go can feel like you’re at the fork of multiple paths.

So, how can you create certainty, when you don’t feel at all certain?

First, what creates certainty?

Is it more information?

Knowing you couldn’t fail?

Knowing if someone will buy?

So consider this, does having more information really create more certainty? Perhaps in some cases….but we can never really have ALL the information. Can we?

Everyone has their own way of navigating career twists and turns.

However, there are some common themes (and mistakes) I’ve noticed that, if avoided, could actually improve your opportunities or make career changes more successful (and easier) for you.