I hate waiting*.

That doesn’t feel accurate to say though because waiting for the check at a restaurant is fine unless I have somewhere else I need to get to, then it’s torture.

But waiting to go, waiting to get picked up, waiting to see how a decision pans out, waiting for a specific date, like a trip or a move. They all cause me some very uncomfortable anxiety.

It’s exhausting.

Caleb and I are moving house on Monday and I can’t wait. I’m very much looking forward to being in our new place. But more than being there, I can’t wait for this transition period to end. To have all the packing and moving done and over with so I can get back to my regular day-to-day.

It’s not just the move, it’s all the unknowns that go with it that I’m waiting to have resolved.

• Will the movers show up on time?
• Did I estimate appropriately or am I going to be charged double?
• Will the animals like the new house as much as we do?
• Will the walking path near the house be a good place to walk the dogs, or will we constantly run into kids and other dogs there?
• Will all of our stuff fit in this house, or will we have to do a second purge once we get there?

Every unknown, every open loop sits in my brain waiting for resolution. Luckily, they’ll all resolve themselves cleanly.

Monday will come. The movers show up or they don't. The dogs sniff the new place and decide they love it or not. Within a week every one of those loops closes on its own, whether I do a single thing more about it or not.

The open loops in your business don't work that way.

The decision you keep almost-making. The task you've been meaning to do or hand off. The hire you're not sure about. The process that only runs because it lives in your head. None of those resolve, at least not well, when left to time alone.

They'll either stay open forever, or they'll close themselves** but not the way you'd have chosen. Refuse to make the decision long enough and it gets made for you. Put off that task long enough and the client leaves, so, good news, you don't have to do it anymore.

Regardless, they’ll sit there, open, indefinitely; consistently drawing down your energy the same way waiting for Monday is drawing down mine.

And you feel it. You call it busy, or tired, or stretched thin. But a lot of the time it isn't the work that's exhausting you. It's those open loops you're carrying around.

They need you to pay attention to them. Spend some time weighing the options, making a decision, taking action.

It doesn’t have to be a lot of work, but it does have to get done. And it’ll never get done if you don’t take a moment to do it.

Which is one of my mantras when talking to my clients or Scale Society members: “we need to pause and assess.” That's the only way those loops close. You work them shut, on purpose.

Here’s where to start.

Take a second right now to jot down any items that are swirling around in your brain. Decisions you keep putting off, or work you keep pushing down the road.

Ask yourself what’s stopping you from moving forward.

• If it’s a lack of something (data, skills, time, etc) decide to either make a plan to get what you need, or revisit the decision on a specific date.
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• If you need outside perspectives, bring it to some of your business pals, or that mastermind you always attend but rarely ask for support in. Or consider building yourself an AI Board of Advisors.
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• If there’s nothing stopping you, then make the decision or set a date for when the work will be done, and stick to it.

The end goal is to either have it done, have it delegated, have a plan for getting it done/delegated, or have a date for revisiting it so you can stop thinking about it every day.

That’s it. It doesn’t have to be complicated and scary. You just need to shine a light on it and make a plan on what to do about it.

xo,
Sandra

*Is it weird that I hear Inigo’s voice every single time I say that?

**To quote one of my fav Canadian bands, Rush: “If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.”