Finding the confidence to build your business again

You can still have ambition when you are exhausted

You can get a great deal done and still have less and less room to develop your business. Existing work comes first. Whatever is urgent gets your energy. To start something new, you want to be able to think, explore possibilities and make a decision without knowing exactly how it will turn out. When you are already exhausted, even a plan you are excited about can feel mainly like another burden.

For a long time, I focused on how much more I could carry. Working, caring for others, keeping commitments. In De Manke Wolf, I write about how little attention I paid to what it was costing me. I kept expecting myself to have energy for the next thing too. When I did not, I raised the bar again.

That is why, when I work with a business owner, I also look at the life around the business. How do you sleep? What do you take home with you? What is happening at home that carries over into work? You may be sitting at a different table, but you are still you. A fuller work schedule does not automatically resolve what is on your mind.

From keeping up appearances to taking the initiative again

Jefta Bade described trying to do right by his children after his divorce. Working even harder no longer helped. On the outside he kept up appearances, while inside he was struggling. He had panic attacks and was quicker to get angry with his children.

Looking back on our work together, he writes that he wakes up happy again. Difficult situations no longer escalate as they used to, because he has the calm and energy to handle them differently. He also writes:

“I start new projects and step forward as a leader.” — Jefta Bade (translated from Dutch)

He feels able to aim for more and better things again. That goes beyond keeping his existing work going. There is something he wants to start himself. His story shows why I also look towards the future with someone: when things improve, what do you want to be able to do with your life and work?

A plan you can find room for again

A new project still takes time, money and a workable plan. There may also simply be too much work. That needs a business solution. At the same time, there is little point in continually improving a schedule if you start every day too exhausted to follow it.

So I want to know both what you want to build and what makes it so difficult to begin right now. We work with situations from your life. That is where change can show up too: in how you start a working day, have a difficult conversation or take the initiative on something you want to do.

What plan have you put aside, even though you know you would like to carry it out? We take that seriously, alongside whatever is getting in your way now.