A little content writing on the plane…

I was on the phone with my son the other day, just talking through life. He’s in the middle of some pretty difficult stuff right now, the kind that weighs on you a bit heavier than you expected. Nothing you can fix in a quick conversation, nothing you can neatly wrap up with advice. Just real life, unfolding in a way that forces you to think.

Somewhere in that conversation, something clicked for me. Not about the specifics of what he’s dealing with, but about a pattern I’ve seen play out way too many times… in business.

It’s funny how that works. You’re having a personal conversation and all of a sudden you realize you’ve seen this before. Different setting, different stakes, same underlying pattern.

In business, I’ve sat across from owners in that exact spot. Something has been off for a while. Maybe it crept in slowly, maybe it showed up all at once, but now it’s sitting there and it’s hard to ignore. And what usually follows is this pull to make a decision quickly, just to get out of the tension. Not necessarily the best decision, just one that creates a little breathing room.

I see it when an owner starts talking about selling, or stepping away, or blowing something up that might not actually be broken beyond repair. When you slow the conversation down a bit, it usually isn’t just about the business. It’s about how uncomfortable the process of working through it is. The conversations they don’t want to have, the ownership they don’t want to take, the uncertainty they don’t want to sit in.

That’s the part most people skip. They move straight from discomfort to decision without spending much time in the middle, where the real work actually happens.

And listening to him talk, I was reminded how easy it is for any of us to fall into that same pattern. We all like to think when we say something can’t be fixed, it’s because we’ve fully explored every angle. But more often than not, we haven’t. We’ve just reached the edge of what we’re willing to do.

There’s a difference between something being unfixable and something being uncomfortable to fix.

I see this all the time with clients in VITAL. The ones who step away rarely do it because they genuinely believe the program doesn’t work. They’ve seen enough to know it does. What gets them is everything that comes with it. The changes required, the discipline, the accountability, the willingness to look in the mirror a little longer than they’d like. That part gets uncomfortable, and it’s a lot easier to step out and say “it just didn’t work for me” than it is to admit they weren’t ready to do what it takes.

And to be fair, that’s not unique to them. That’s all of us at some point.

In business, I’ve watched owners walk away from situations that had a path forward, not because the path didn’t exist, but because it required more from them than they were ready to give. More honesty. More patience. More willingness to stay in conversations that don’t resolve cleanly.

And sometimes walking away is the right move. Not everything should be saved. But when that decision gets made too early, when the hard part hasn’t really been stepped into yet, there’s usually a pattern that follows. New business, new team, new situation… same issues showing up again in a different form.

That’s what stuck with me after we hung up.

In business, we like to think our decisions are logical. Strategic. Well thought out. And sometimes they are. But a lot of times, they’re emotional decisions that we justify with logic afterward. We choose the path that gives us relief, then build a story around why it was the only option.

So here’s the question I’ve been sitting with since that call.

Before making a big decision, especially one that involves walking away from something, have you actually done the work to try to fix it… or have you just reached the point where you don’t want to anymore?

That answer will tell you a lot.

Because if it’s about willingness, not possibility, then the decision isn’t really about the business. It’s about you. And that’s not a criticism, it’s just clarity.

If something in your business feels off right now, don’t rush to solve it by escaping it. Slow it down just enough to engage with it.

Have the conversation you’ve been avoiding. Say the thing you’ve been holding back. Lean into the part that feels uncomfortable instead of stepping around it.

That’s where most things either get fixed, or get clear enough to move on for the right reasons.

So here’s the move. Before today ends, pick one thing you’ve been putting off because it feels uncomfortable and deal with it. One conversation, one decision, one step forward.

Not because it guarantees the outcome you want, but because it guarantees you won’t look back wondering if you quit too early.

Everything else gets a lot clearer from there.