Most experienced business owners are great at solving problems. It’s one of the reasons they’ve been able to build a successful business. Something stops working, they look for the cause, decide what to change, and take action.
Usually, that works.
But sometimes a change improves things but doesn’t fully solve the problem; something still isn’t right. So they reassess, form another hypothesis, make another change, and watch what happens. Things may improve, but the problem still remains.
This can go on and on for months or years. And eventually, the problem-solving ability that’s served them so well starts working against them. Because when you’re accustomed to being able to figure things out, repeatedly failing to solve a problem can feel personal.
They stop wondering what’s wrong with the business and start wondering what’s wrong with them.
Why can’t I figure this out? Why am I always dissatisfied? Why is nothing ever enough? I should be grateful for what I have. Maybe this is just what it takes to run a successful business. Maybe I need to work harder, tolerate more, or expect less.
We’ve had plenty of practice internalizing problems this way. But the persistence of the problem is not evidence that you are the problem.
What it does tell you is that the changes you’ve tried so far haven’t solved the root issue. Which leaves you in the uncomfortable position of knowing something isn’t working without yet understanding why.
But if repeated rounds of identifying problems, making changes, and evaluating the results haven’t solved the issues with your business, another round of the same process probably won’t either.
So when you reach this point, the radical move is to pause. Stop jumping into action and start getting curious about what the actual problem is.
Which sucks, because it’s wildly uncomfortable to sit with something feeling off and not do anything about it. Taking action temporarily quiets discomfort, and pausing means forgoing that relief.
Now, you begin to investigate the problem differently.
It’s like a complicated knot. Until now, when you saw a loose strand, you pulled it. Change the offer. Hire someone. Work less. Launch something new. Set firmer boundaries.
But the strands are all tangled together, and pulling the most obvious one didn’t loosen the knot; it might’ve made things tighter overall. You have to stop pulling and start looking at how all the pieces are connected.
The question shifts from “What should I change?” to “What’s the deeper issue beneath the problems I keep trying to fix?” And the challenge is to tolerate the discomfort long enough to get a clear read on what’s actually going on.
It’ll probably take longer than you want it to. And it won’t look like the kind of work you’re used to doing, full of decisions and action. It will look more like thinking, talking things out, noticing patterns, questioning assumptions, and giving yourself enough time to see what you couldn’t see while you were so busy trying to fix it.
But once you have a clear enough picture of the larger problem to know what you want to do about it, you can resume what you already know how to do well: make a thoughtful decision, take action, evaluate what happens, and adjust from there.
Only now, you’ll be doing it with a much better understanding of what you’re actually dealing with, and you can make changes that move the business toward what you actually want, rather than simply fixing whatever problem is most visible.
I’d love to know if and how you relate to this.
Have you been trying to fix something in your business for months or years, only to find that something still isn’t right?
Are you at a place of wondering whether another change is actually going to solve it?
Do you think that the problems you’ve been trying to fix might be pointing to something deeper? Do you know what that something deeper might be?
Fill me in, and I’ll personally respond.
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