I want to tell you about Sam. Sam is an operations leader at a small business that’s growing and changing fast. He’s very used to powering through and solving problems quickly.
Lately, Sam’s team ran into tech glitches from new AI features—with no easy fixes yet. His first move? Double down: work longer, push harder, expecting the same great results.
But problems kept piling up for him and the team: Missed deadlines when automated alerts got lost, confusion about which process version to use, and burnout looming over everybody.
What does it take to release old habits and embrace fresh ways of working? If you’re juggling tight budgets, stretched teams, and constant change—this episode is for you. Let’s get started!
The Pressure Ops Execs Face Today: Financial Strain, AI, and Customer Shifts
I keep hearing it everywhere—financial pressures, AI changes, shifting customer needs. It’s not uncommon for the habits that got you this far to now not be serving you down or even slowing you down.
I deeply respect the grit and relentless commitment you bring every day. That dedication is pure gold.
But how do you know when those same habits are actually what’s quietly slowing you down?
Aristotle called it the ‘golden mean’, the balance between too much and too little. Every strength can be overused or underused. The trick is finding the sweet spot between pushing and pacing where things feel smooth and fluid and productive.
Let’s bring that here: What familiar habit feels comfortable but you’re starting to realize it isn’t moving things forward anymore? What if you let go, just a little, and see what happens?
It’s tough to let go of a habit that’s been your go-to for so long. It can feel uncomfortable, but that’s normal. Like slowly untying a tight knot. With a little patience and intention, you start to loosen that hold and that creates space for a newer version of you to show up, one you might not even know yet.
Sam’s Story: Experimenting, Pausing, and Trusting the Process
Sam began experimenting with this. Instead of pushing harder, he started asking different questions and breathing through the uncertainty when there were no quick answers. He tuned into his team’s signals—frustrations, suggestions, and hesitation—and learned to pause before jumping in to fix things.
Over time, his team found a better flow, not because everything got easy, but because they welcomed small changes, trusted each other more, and intentionally made time to pause and adjust.
Lately, I’ve been thinking about how powerful it is to “mix up your thinking” by bringing different parts of your brain into play. And how things like curiosity, imagination—even frustration—can open new doors.
For example, after years of studying French, I hit a wall. To shake things up, I took up Polish—an entirely different universe of sounds and grammar that pushed me to get comfy with confusion and slow progress all over again. In its own weird way, it gave me a fresh way to approach French, and growth in general.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise, but it still might: Growth is messy, rarely straight, and almost never as fast as we want.
Practical Ways to Shake Up Your Thinking
Mixing up your thinking can look a lot of different ways, including:
- Taking up an unrelated class or hobby like improv or painting
- Writing a letter to your future self clarifying the mindset you want to have
- Trying “reverse brainstorming”—think of ways to worsen a problem to find solutions
- Changing your environment for an hour or a day —work outside or rearrange your space
- Listening to podcasts outside your industry
- Using your non-dominant hand for simple tasks
- Telling a story from a different viewpoint, like a customer’s
- Tapping into a coach or advisor who challenges you to face the habits you’ve been avoiding
I wonder how trying one of these changes could shift your perspective and make room for what’s next.
Here’s a question I want to leave you with: What’s one belief or habit around your work that feels like it’s time to rethink? What happens if you loosen your grip on it just a little this week?
Give it a try, and if you feel like it, drop me a line and let me know what comes up.
If this episode resonated with you, you’ll want to check out Episode 88. It’s about leading through changes with practical tips for staying grounded and ready to adapt when things feel out of control. You’ll find it at yourfuturerealized.com/88.
You can’t stop the chaos, but you can change the game.