Life happens. Disruptions happen. Problems happen.

Consider many of my clients. They learn and apply the basic principles of success. They give those principles enough time to grow and bear fruit. Finally, they achieve the “next level” of growth, profit, leadership, opportunity, or balance in life – whatever “next level” means for them.

Suddenly, the unexpected happens. And everything feels wrong again.

Suddenly they feel a very strong – almost insurmountable – urge to give up on what has produced results and go back to the “old familiar” ways of working and relating. Even though these ways won’t and can’t serve them well.

I can always tell when this has happened. I start to notice that they are becoming tired, frazzled, and are back on their gerbil wheel, running like mad, trying to make progress.

Intellectually, they know that it won’t work. But emotionally, oh wow. They believe it will.

It’s like an addiction. An addiction to being stuck.

Maybe the old familiar ways used to work. Maybe they got you where you are. But, often, they no longer work. And in some cases, not only do they not move you forward, but they pull you backward.

However, in the moment, it feels good. It’s comfortable. It provides the illusory sense of, “We recognize this, we know how to do this. Everything is going to be ok now.”

Don’t give in to it. Or, if you have, learn to recognize it quickly and get back to what works – where you need to be.

How to avoid getting sucked back in

These recommendations assume that you have figured out what works to be “next level” and are experiencing a hiccup that is causing you to question those and reach back to the old ways.

Stay the course: Don’t toss your vision. And be very careful about changing a working strategy just because the road is bumpy. Adapt, if needed, to specific situations. But adapt within what works. 

In 2020 when COVID turned the world on its head, one of my best clients adopted this theme: “Business as usual to the maximum extent possible.” They stayed the course, made minor adjustments to how but not where, and grew from about $220M to $300M that year.

They weren’t alone. All but one of my clients had their best year ever in 2020. They all stayed their course – adjusting as needed but not where they were trying to go. 

Stay true to your values: As a rule, I’m blessed to attract values-driven clients. They care about the quality of their work and the people they work with and serve.

But during times of stress, it is easy to compromise or bend your values. “It’s business.” Don’t do it. Especially when it comes to values that might be listed in the categories of “relating with integrity” and “treating people with respect.”

Compromises in either of these areas nearly always mean hurting or compromising someone else to benefit yourself. Short-term compromises in these areas frequently come with long-term consequences. They are not worth it. And you may not be able to repair the consequences.

Practice success behaviors: Success behaviors are a handful of organizational habits that, when everyone does them, things “work.” They are usually unique to your team or organization. And they are usually not very extraordinary sounding.

If you aren’t sure what they might be for you, they are typically the behaviors that are described when people say ( or think), “If we just did _______, things would work so much better around here!”

For most of my clients, these are very simple. Such as:

• Show up to meetings on time.
• Show up to meetings prepared.
• Schedule time in your calendar to do your “most important” work.
• Don’t make sarcastic comments.
• Be willing to listen before responding.
• Hold people accountable for action items.

Success behaviors are key to helping organizations ‘find their gears’ and start gaining traction towards their goals. When teams use them, things start to work.

But, these are the behaviors that are often abandoned under stress. When they are abandoned, it kick starts a negative feedback loop.

For example, imagine if a team has decided that showing up prepared and on time to meetings are important success behaviors. They practice those two behaviors for several months. Meetings become productive. People don’t feel frustrated with each other. Decisions are made in a timely way. There is time and emotional energy for deeper-level conversations.

Then something happens. Money is tight. So is time. Stress starts to ramp up. Old behaviors reemerge – people become too busy to prepare for meetings. They are also too busy to be on time. Half of each meeting is now wasted waiting for people to show up and then getting caught up.

The meetings stop solving problems and start becoming problems again. They feel like another waste of time. People become frustrated again or check out. They stop talking to each other. Creative energy is dissipated through irritation. People start to withdraw, isolate, and hunker down to crank out work.

The bad old days are back.

The solution? Go back to your success behaviors. Make them non-negotiable. They’ll get you back on track.

To summarize

Success, particularly new success, will be challenged. Don’t quit doing what works just because things become difficult.

• Stay the course
• Stay true to your values
• Practice success behaviors

And you’ll get back on track.

Take good care,

Christian

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