I wanted to share the most obvious but often forgotten message that I was reminded of during a Maverick business event this week.
A group of us descended on Horseshoe Farm, in the hills of Asheville, NC, to celebrate the 50th birthday of one of my closest friends, Yanik Silver. Yanik is a super heartfelt entrepreneur that has been on an incredible journey towards being a true leader of conscious style capitalism among his peers. I have known Yanik for more than a decade, and his evolution has been a joy to witness.
It was during one of the sessions this week, surrounded by other entrepreneurs that consider themselves connected to ‘doing good while doing well’, that I heard the simplest thing…but something that really resonated.
That thing was…
in times of true uncertainty, for any reason (business, personal, family), sometimes the best thing to do is just focus on taking one step forward.
Whatever that step is, just move one step forward. Then another, then another.
It is okay to lose sight of the “big picture” the “ultimate goal” when you are deeply stressed or uncertain.
Trust that your instincts and intuition will be a good guide for you, and just focus on one thing to accomplish. Then the next. Then the next.
With all the turmoil and uncertainty that has been accelerating recently, this really resonated with me. I thought back to COVID’s early days, and how leaders broke down into three distinct camps.
The first group of entrepreneurs coached by our community simply froze. Maybe panicked? These simply couldn’t move, and were not seeing the world.
The second group got frenetic, and simply went into action mode. There was not much of a plan or thought, but simply motion and action.
The third, and what I considered to be most successful group, paused for a moment to observe. They took in their surroundings, and took inventory of what they knew and thought they knew, what they did well, and what they were scared to do, and then took one simple step. After that step they paused again, observed, and took another step. And then another. Each time moving small increments forward and taking the time to see the effect of the action and get reoriented… yes the classic OODA loop for sure…but for today it is on taking the step. Not freezing. Not panicking.
So, my message is simple. If you are stuck, or unsure, or scared or uncertain and that has caused you to freeze.
Ask yourself: what is the one small next thing you can do to create momentum?
Momentum breeds momentum. Flywheels are hard to start, but they are also hard to stop and each small step turns the wheel.
Sometimes simple is the best course.
Cheers,
John
Founder of the align5 Companies, CEO of Scaling Up Coaches, and Serial Entrepreneur
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