Are you overthinking or overdoing?

There’s a phrase I’ve used in talking about how people can feel stuck or overwhelmed when they have to make their next big decision.

So you do nothing (enter analysis paralysis 🫥) or you haphazardly do all the things (hi there, mindless hustling 🫨).

Let me address both of these today...

Doing nothing

Often we think that inaction, doing nothing or maintaining status quo while we "figure things out," will keep us moving forward in the same straight path → as time inevitably passes. Meaning things don't get better, but they don't get worse.

However, as I recently learned from a science-y friend, inaction will almost always shift us slightly toward ↗ our goals or slightly away ↘ from them.

↗ Hypothetically, this could look like you continue to get a similar amount of inquiries and you happen on a client that is super well connected that introduces you to their network and seemingly overnight you're booming. 🤩🎉

↘ Also hypothetically, it could also look like others around you up-leveling their skills and positioning while you slowly look like a less appealing option and seemingly overnight, your inquiries start to dry up and you're now racing to play catch-up. 😱🫨

With enough time, you'll be in a very different place. And wouldn't you prefer to give yourself the nudge up (assuming goals are somewhere upward in this scenario 😉)?

Doing all the things

There is an argument for taking big, imperfect action. Even in taking the "wrong" action there is learning that will eventually help guide us in the "right" direction. That's why you'll hear, if you're going to fail, fail fast.

That may make sense logically, but there's a part of my overthinking mind that still wants to pick the RIGHT imperfect action 😅 Because again, time and resources aren't always plentiful and the possibility of veering off course is not always a route we're feeling brave enough to explore regardless of what learnings we might gain.

Not only that, often because we're not confident in the action we took, we either start and stop without letting anything take root or we're running so many different tactics at once that even if one works, we don't know which one and we end up having to continue to do them all. This is not sustainable.

So what instead?

Somewhere in the middle of nothing and all the things, I think, lies a challenge in identifying the true problem we're hoping to solve.

Sometimes we look at the symptom—my site feels outdated, for example—and diagnose that a redesign is the solution where really what's driving this is that you're not getting enough sales. Maybe your visuals aren't the best, but there are plenty of people out there who make sales without even having a website, with solely a template-generated sales page or even a link to a Google Doc! Yes, it’s a thing.

At the core of feeling stuck is a lack of clarity. 

While I can't give you a one-and-done answer to what your next move should be, I do want to leave you with some food for thought. First, take a breath (for real though 😉). Then, try asking yourself:

• Is there something beneath the problem I'm focusing on?

• What do I hope [insert action/investment you're considering] will allow me to do / be / have?

Hopefully with these questions you can get closer to the core problem and the next step becomes clearer. Say hello if you have thoughts or questions.