A BIG Circle

A year ago I had a rhythm going. Podcast dropped every Monday at 7am. Blog went out every Wednesday. A short video, Monday to Friday, whatever had crossed my mind that day. It wasn't clever. It wasn't planned six weeks out on a spreadsheet. It was just what I did.

Then I decided I could do better. I moved things around, tried new formats, started thinking harder about hooks and angles and what might get more people to reach out. I told myself it was strategy. Really it was me trying too hard at something that used to just come out of me.

The numbers told the truth before I did. Podcast listens dropped. The blog stopped landing the way it used to. And if I'm honest, the actual writing got worse, because I wasn't enjoying it. I was performing it.

So this week I went back. Podcast recorded Saturday morning on whatever's on my mind, out Monday at 7am. Blog on Wednesday. A video most days. Exactly what I was doing a year ago, before I decided I knew better.

I didn't beat myself up for going back. There was a time I would have. I'd have sat there thinking about the months I'd wasted, the wrong turns, treating it like proof I'd failed at something. Not this time. I just went, right, that didn't work, and turned around.

That's a harder thing to do than it sounds. I know plenty of people who tried something, watched it not work, and instead of going back to what they knew was solid, they stayed stuck exactly where they were. Too proud to admit the new thing was wrong. Too embarrassed to go back to the old thing in case it looked like defeat. So they just sit in the middle, doing neither, and calling it patience.

It isn't defeat. Going back to what worked because you tried something else and it didn't is just information. There's a lesson in nearly everything that goes wrong, if you're willing to actually look at it instead of just feeling bad about it. I looked at mine and it told me something useful: I lost the enjoyment because I was chasing an outcome instead of just talking about what I wanted to talk about.

So what's this got to do with you?

Chances are there's something in your life right now you changed because you thought the new way would be better, and it hasn't been. Maybe it's how you're running your business. Maybe it's a routine, a relationship, a way of doing things you dropped because someone convinced you there was a smarter version. Have a proper look at whether it's actually working, and if it isn't, going back isn't weakness. It's just you paying attention.

Take Care

GB