Keep Moving Forward

Feeling Overwhelmed

I contemplated not writing a post this week, but I’m not one to give up. I think of myself as a machine that is designed to do a specific task, and it does so repeatedly and nearly flawlessly. This idea is central to my business philosophy, and when one of my plans doesn’t work out the way I wanted it to, I create a new plan and adjust/adapt. Succeeding in the stormy seas of business involves a lot of tacking when you find yourself confronting galelike winds. Skilled sailors always find a way to continue moving forward…even when the fickle winds turn against them. A few times in my business career I have gotten past my threshold/tolerance level for frustration. This week was no exception even though I started having doubts about my ability to keep plugging away. This wasn’t the first time this has happened, and each time has yielded similar negative thoughts. 

• Maybe it’s time to throw in the towel.  
• It doesn’t matter how hard I work because things are going to keep going wrong.
• Why can’t people just do their jobs so I can focus on doing mine?
• Why aren’t people listening, and what’s the point of explaining things if my employees are unwilling to listen?
• I did everything I could, and it still didn’t work out.
• This rejection was just too much. It’s the last straw, the one that breaks the camel’s back.

These were just a few of the kinds of negative thoughts that haunt me at such moments.

But I’m still here at 10:30 at night, writing this blog. Monday night, when I hit one of the low points of the last 5 years, little did I know that things were going to get a lot worse before they began to get better. I was physically exhausted. I’d lost my appetite. I did the unthinkable and cancelled my yoga practice and left work a few minutes early. I then came home, showered, and was in bed a few minutes after 7 pm. I slept for close to 12 hours.

What got me to this point?

• I’m still short staffed in my franchise stores.
• A midlevel manager gave notice.
• I offered a promising candidate an executive position, but it was rejected.
• A midlevel manager who has some personal problems slipped into some bad habits, which need serious addressing.
• Some physical equipment which was just fixed was damaged again due to carelessness.
• A new piece of equipment was damaged.
• For a few weeks in a row, I was pushing the envelope, working long, grueling hours, and I did not give myself any downtime.

If you own your own business, you’ve no doubt experienced problems like these. “With great power comes great responsibility” is the mantra in the Spiderman universe. In business, it’s more like “With great responsibility comes great problems.” 

What am I doing to work through these issues?

• I added an extra session of tennis to my week, and I worked out and took a yoga class on Thursday night. Exercise always helps clear my head. 
• I had a therapy session and talked openly about my frustrations. I do not need to work for money at this point in my life. I work now to just be the best version of my professional self and to help create opportunities for others.
• I spent a lot of time reading.
• I spent time with family.
• I ate lots of ice cream! People rarely recognize the therapeutic value of ice cream.
• I spent time with a friend and talked through some of my frustrations.

While this post may seem off topic in a business blog, I actually think it’s quite useful and appropriate. Everyone feels depressed sometimes, and such feelings can also affect your business. Work/life balance is something I have always struggled with, and overextending myself is a recurring theme in my story. While I normally present a stoic face when I’m out in the world, in reality, I have plenty of doubts about how to proceed.

You then might ask, “How do I keep it moving forward?”

While I may harbor internal doubts on occasion, once I make my decision (which I usually do rather quickly), I communicate it to my team confidently and decisively. If my people voice objections, I consider what they said and either move forward with my plan or make adjustments that reflect their input. After doing a few things for myself to recharge, I return to work and do that which I do best. I spend a tremendous amount of time planning so that execution of the plan isn’t a mission impossible. I remind myself why I’m doing what I’m doing—I’m trying to help others—and then I jump back into the ring for another round.

When life gets you down and you feel like everything is going wrong in your business, take a moment to pause, write down what made you start it in the first place and why you want it to survive…and thrive. Take a moment to pause, and then jump back in and just do the work. You can succeed. Learn from the mistakes, learn from what went wrong, and don’t make the same mistake again. Make new mistakes, and keep moving forward. Eventually, the wind will be at your back again, and it will be smooth sailing.