Dang this ad for business software hit me in the feels this morning. I can't tell if it's a good hit or bad one.
Loneliness in running a business - or at least the kind I feel - is not overcome with more coffee chats, networking events, or a new office.
Being responsible for literally everything in my business is my lonely feeling. And can be utterly exhausting.
Sleep helps a ton because the mental game is a hard one to fight when you're tired. If you've been shorting yourself on sleep for awhile, whether it's because of video games & Netflix or kids (and video games & Netflix), you could have something like sleep debt - where one good night of sleep doesn't actually catch you up.
But what it sometimes feels like the reality for me is that I need to either shut my business down and go work for someone else on their team. Or getting successful / big enough to hire and work with a team on my business.
Obviously there's a lot of middle ground between those two extremes. That's just how my brain sometimes works when trying to solve a problem - go to the extremes! Nothing else will do!
For now, I will keep plugging away and working in a positive direction by:
- Putting myself out there in ways that make the podcast editing & production work I do attractive and interesting to potential clients.
- Go to bed earlier than 11pm more consistently.
- Talking and praying together with my wife most mornings.
- Continue going for short bike rides in the morning until my legs & lungs feel like I can handle longer than short bike rides.
- Stop letting comparison to others steal my joy.
I know that the extremes aren't realistic. And even if they are, they won't happen over night. It's only in small, baby steps that real meaningful change can happen. Someone needs to remind my brain of that every so often.
I wonder who should do that? :)
This post is also a Twitter thread available here if you'd prefer to reply on Twitter instead of commenting below.