How to think fresh about your business

Hey folks,

You know when you write a word too many times and it starts sounding like nonsense? 

That’s called semantic satiation.

And it doesn’t just happen to words. 

If you’re an entrepreneur, you’re probably used to spending long stretches of heads-down building, where you get into all the nitty gritty details. Those stretches are crucial. 

But equally important is keeping an eye on the big picture: what’s happening with your peers, your industry, the macro, even what’s going on inside yourself.  

Here are five ways to get your perspective back, so you can see what actually matters.

This is a practice I got from EOS, and I use it at all my companies. (Here’s the book, if you’re curious.)

No matter how good your annual planning is, people lose focus after about three months. This is natural. New projects come up, priorities change, and to-do lists keep getting refilled.

So in the week or two before each new quarter, get your leadership together for 1-2 days, unplug from the day-to-day work, and:

You’ll be amazed at how much comes back into focus. 

You and your team will come away with a clear eyes and a full tank of gas.

The EOS system was so effective for my businesses that I adapted it for my personal life. 

You don’t have to go as nerdy as me, but taking regular time to reflect on what’s important to you, what sort of life you want to live, and how you plan to get there will help you focus on what really matters.

Think about:

Once you’ve chosen that 10-year goal, work backwards.  

If you were on track for your 10 year target, where would you be in 3 years? 

If you were on track for your 3 year target, where would you be in 1 year?

You can take this all the way down to weekly goals.

You can’t help but get fresh perspective when you travel. So break out of your rut.

One friend of mine picks a city, finds a list of people he wants to connect with, then offers to buy them lunch one-on-one. It’s a perspective speedrun.

Alternatively, go on a retreat. I did one for business content creators a while ago, and it fired me right up. 

(Just beware of “retreat-itis”, where you come back with a million half-baked ideas and want to do them all at once. The treatment: write them down, give it a week, and ask your team which ones are actually possible.)

Running a business is lonely. 

As CEO, you can’t talk about your problems to your staff, and your partner or friends can sympathize but probably not empathize.

But 85% of small business is the same, no matter what industry you’re in: hiring, management, finances, marketing, etc.

So having a braintrust to share with and learn from will 10x your professional growth. 

I’ve written (a lot!) about my experience with peer groups, so I’ll leave it at that.

I own multiple businesses, and there is always something on fire somewhere. 

Last summer, I was coming off a particularly bumpy 12 months where I’d been running nonstop. The stress had crept up on my like a frog in boiling water. 

One day my Chief of Staff Robyn asked me: “Hey, you seem really miserable in your work right now. What do you need to do differently?”

I realized I was spending 0% of my time on stuff that inspires me: 

Now, obviously when you own a business, you can’t just walk away from its problems. But I set aside 5% of my time for inspirational work. 

I quickly found that having even one project that reduced instead of increased my stress made a world of difference. And I had way more gas in the tank to tackle the stuff that needed tackling.

(By the way: Robyn asking me tough questions is what makes her an amazing Chief of Staff. I’m hosting a talk / Q&A with her in September on all things Chief of Staff — RSVP here!)

—

That’s all for today. 

How do you get perspective in your business? Hit reply and let me know.

Thanks for reading!

Michael

P.S. If you like the sound of that Scalepath field trip, but you’re not in manufacturing, they’re also putting together an SMB CEO surfing retreat in Costa Rica for January. 

If that sounds like a good time, hit reply and I’ll connect you with their team!

MORE WAYS I CAN HELP YOUR BUSINESS

💡 START → ​The Low-Risk Business (ebook)
Get the 5-step framework I've used to build multiple businesses from scratch. 40 pages of hands-on, practical guidance.

📈 SCALE → join ​Scalepath ​
Connect, learn, and grow your business with expert guidance, vetted community, detailed playbooks, and other resources. For businesses making $500K+ in revenue.

🌎 HIRE → talk to ​Near ​
Meet your hiring needs with top-tier Latin American talent for 70% less than US staff. My team at Near takes care of all the headaches. Get in touch today.