What happens when you stop pushing and start listening
How to bring the art of the pause into your business.
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately…
What does it mean to stop pushing in your business and start listening to it instead?
It’s all to easy to see what everyone else is doing — on LinkedIn, on Instagram, on TikTok, in their email campaigns, in the networking groups you belong to, etc. — and start to panic. You feel left behind. Like you’re doing enough. Like you need to be doing more. That you need to keep pushing to make the business work, to keep up.
Let’s be honest… it feels downright awful to be in that place. I’m barely breathing as I type this.
But what if there was another way? What if instead of driving ahead based on what you see everyone else doing in their business or what you think you’re supposed to do, you stopped long enough to listen to yours? What might it tell you?
The power of the pause.
Earlier this year, I wrote a post about ways to handle inevitable setbacks in your business. For any of the ideas presented there to work, there needs to be a pause. A time to acknowledge and feel your feelings, not act from them, followed by a rational response to what has happened.
When the team member does not deliver. When the client annoys the hell out of you. When a “pretty much done deal” never closes.
To quote Victor Frankl:
“Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space lies our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and freedom.”
I realize this is easier said than done. Frankly, it’s a practice. One built over time with each new opportunity that’s presented. And the same approach 100% applies here. The goal is to catch yourself before you start a new initiative or make a big decision in your business, no matter what it is. To pause and listen to understand what’s driving you and what your business needs at this moment in time.
When you create that gap “between stimulus and response,” you taken your power back.
Why this is so important.
If you don’t stop long enough to get a sense of whether we’re reacting (doing without thinking) or responding (taking in the information and then actively choosing what we say or do), you run the risk of heading in the wrong direction. Of spending precious time and money on unwise choices.
Some common phrases that capture result of reacting:
Giving in to shiny object syndrome
Spreading yourself too thin
Not giving what you’re already doing time to work
Rushing on to the next thing
Spinning your wheels
Not making a distinction between what’s work and what’s not
Not trying to gain an understanding of why that is
Not hearing what prospects and clients are really saying/trying to tell you
Not hearing what your numbers are trying to tell you
The truth is your business is speaking to you on the regular.
You are your business.
Not in the sense that it’s the only thing you are. But rather, you are the owner and you set the agenda. If you subscribe to this perspective, then consider the question, “When was the last time you deeply listened to you?”
I recently had a discovery call with a founder of a services-based business. She had launched a new business after her first, highly successful, longstanding company came to a halt with the pandemic and never quite gained the necessary traction again after it. So she pivoted and entered a new arena.
This business was dramatically different in terms of her offerings, approach to marketing, her potential client’s problems and needs, all of it. She was way outside of her comfort zone. She bought all the courses, signed up for all of the online platforms and tools, and did what everyone told her to do to get her business out into the world and bring in clients who could benefit from what she had to offer. And none of it was working.
In her own words…
“I didn’t know what I didn’t know.”
If you’ve been there, you know it’s a tough place to be, especially when you’re a hard worker and you really want to make things work. You don’t know what to say no to, so you say yes to everything.
And yet… I think there is a part of you that always knows. If you can create the intentional pause described above and listen to what the tiny voice inside is trying to tell you, and what your body is trying to tell you (it never lies), there’s a beautiful way to move beyond the “not knowing what you don’t know.” To get to what’s clear and what’s right for you.
This is quietly, yet powerfully, life-altering.
Are you listening to your business?
The answer may be yes, in which case, take a moment to acknowledge that.
But if it’s not, perhaps you can take the lesson of the pause and some of the questions shared above to create the space to do just that.
Until next time,
Katherine
#ICYMI
Personally I recognise I am not listening (to my self, to my business, to my own evolution) when I rush into a new project after having closing one. Taking time to sit down with what you have achieved and having a moment of personal recognition is something I rarely remember to honor.
This was a nice reminder today, thank you Katherine 🙏🏼