Business Lessons from Babies

During my morning social media crawl, a baby picture rolled across my feed. One of my friends sharing about her gorgeous little girl and how she’s growing. Another friend soon after shared a fairly recent memory of her baby who is now a toddler.

Every one of these pictures gets an “Awwwww!” response from me. Babies are precious, and amazing.

And I do not want another one.

I have two of my own, and the youngest has officially moved out of “baby” stage in my mind because we’re starting the dreaded potty training.

I appreciate my kids, and I’m glad I had them - especially the second, who was a “surprise, here I come!” baby. But I’m SO HAPPY that they’re becoming more independent.

Each week I have a little more time to myself, and I revel in it. I no longer have to hover over the younger one every time he’s outside to make sure he isn’t eating rocks or bugs. I can sit in my chair and read one of the hundred books I have sitting here waiting for me, looking over the top whenever they get too quiet, and then I go back to reading.

There’s more time for writing to flow, and for making videos for my clients. I feel like I can relax and unclench my jaw and shoulders just a smidge more because the boys can play in the next room with their trucks for 5 minutes without me standing RIGHT THERE.

I love this little tiny bit of breathing room their development has given me.

And as I’m brushing my teeth this morning, a thought winged through my head that said “Yeah, too bad you don’t have that freedom in your business.”

Right here, insert me pausing and looking at the ceiling like “Well, shit.” as I straight up threw a grenade at myself. (This is what I call the truth-bombs I lob at my clients on occasion.)

I’m constantly in a state of strain in my business, and some days I claim to not know why. I really do know why - I have trouble focusing on anything long enough to FINISH it. I have terrible perfectionism and so. much. fear. about being visible to the world. Been kicked in the teeth by people enough that my scared, small self just wants to hide.

A lot of you probably feel that with me. This is not unusual or uncommon, and we can grow a whole weird set of defense mechanisms around these fears.

One of mine includes not finishing things. If I don’t finish it I don’t have to show it to anyone, right? RIGHT?

Then do you know what happens? I end up with a million super cool ideas, all partially finished and hanging out in the Universe, waiting to get tied up into something nice.

Do this enough times, and I end up with so many loose ends that I literally don’t know where to begin with fixing this mess. So a lot of those ideas fade into obscurity because I’m overwhelmed by the idea of having to backtrack and go over what IS done so that I can figure out what still needs to be finished. (Did I mention I’m also a chronic note-loser? I’ll brainstorm up all kinds of neat shit and then LOSE THE NOTEPAD, only to have it resurface months or years later.)

So it hit me this morning in that moment of brilliant clarity that I have kept my business in a perpetual state of being a baby. It can’t be left alone for a moment or something will break, or die - it’s something I have to watch, handle, and think about CONSTANTLY.

Whereas if I finished some things and built some proper systems to keep things running even when I was away from my computer, I wouldn’t feel like it needed so much babysitting.

Ya know, I could go to the kitchen and have a cup of coffee without stressing about it. I could sleep without nagging thoughts that I’m failing, falling behind, and probably forgetting something important.

Business isn’t all that different in that way from a human child, or a puppy. In the beginning they ALL need absolutely insane amounts of attention, love, and lost sleep (generally speaking). But with nurturing, they’re meant to reach a point where you can stop hovering.

We’re supposed to be able to relax and enjoy life, our kids, our dogs, and our businesses.

Fortunately I feel like I’m on the right path now that I’ve hired some help to get everything set up in a way where my business is a lot more self-sufficient, and I’ve bought a couple resources that keep me moving in the right direction each day.

But I’m going to be thinking about this morning’s revelation for a while . . .

I don’t want another baby that keeps me up at night and needs constant supervision - so why the hell have I allowed my business to hold that kind of role in my life?

Done with that, thanks.