It's me. Hi.
I'm the problem. It's me.
Full disclosure: I haven’t listened to Midnights all the way through.
But the line, “It’s me. Hi. I’m the problem. It’s me.” is taking the internet by storm.
I feel personally called out.
I can recount many a tale of how I’ve turned out to be the problem in my creative and business building processes. Most of them center around three themes:
Being married to an initial vision
My initial vision for Inner Workout was to build the Zumba of self-care. I developed a class format I was—and still am—proud of. As the Inner Workout community grew over the course of the pandemic, the vast majority of people cared less about attending a class and more about the way the company reframed self-care.
I kept the Inner Workout practice front and center for far longer than I should have, simply because that was what I’d originally set out to build. I wish I could tell you that was the last time I got wrapped up in an initial vision, but I’d be lying. Every pivot comes with its own grieving process. Grieving is often a part of growing. It doesn’t mean you’re failing. It means you’re doing it right.
Trying to do everything myself
As someone who has a degree focused on organizational effectiveness, you’d think that I’d avoid the oh so common pitfall of being a bottleneck. It’s actually been the opposite. I’m a major bottleneck right now. It’s embarrassing. Things are not getting done because I haven’t given the people I work with what they need to get started or because I’ve assigned a task to myself that I have no capacity to complete. It’s a problem.
Of the three themes I’m sharing today, this is the one that is most present for me. Here’s what I’ve done/am doing to stop being such a bottleneck:
Working with a coach to identify what I can delegate. Having the coach there to question my judgement about what can or cannot be delegated is especially useful for me.
Automate. I’ve automated as much of the Gateway Coaching interview process as I possibly can. Zapier and Dubsado are the MVPs of my work life.
Outsource. Right now, I have a virtual assistant and a podcast editor that I work with on an ongoing basis. I recently hired an admin to do research and data entry tasks for the book launch. My contract with my book publicist starts tomorrow, and I’m working with a podcast PR firm starting in December. As I’m writing, I’m realizing that outsourcing could be its own issue of the Process Report. I’ve got a lot to say. Let me know if that’s of interest!
Attempting to realize my full vision right now
Back in college, I had the quote, “You can do anything but not everything” written on my whiteboard. It’s a lesson I’ve been attempting to learn for years.
If we sat down over coffee, I could tell you about all the businesses I want to build over the next 30 years and how they all intersect. Futuristic is one of my StrengthsFinder strengths. That strength becomes a problem when I allow that future vision to distract me from the work I need to do in the present.
Trying to make it all happen right now is its own form of self-sabotage. I get burned out. People can’t follow the thread of how things connect. Capacity and resources are strained.
I don’t do it perfectly, but I’m trying to implement a slower, more layered approach. Once I get something to a place of near stability, I can add something new. With everything currently on my plate, I won’t be adding anything new for quite a while.
If you saw some of yourself in what I shared, know that we’re all the problem at some point in our process. The sooner we recognize that, the sooner we can make a different choice.
Here’s what I’m currently processing and in the process of building:
What it means to run a lifestyle business
What I’m learning through building a tech enabled business
My relationship to confidence
The art of collaboration
LMK what you thought of this week’s report and if anything I’m currently processing strikes your fancy.