When You’re the Bottleneck in Your Own Business

When You’re the Bottleneck in Your Own Business

I’ll be honest. The past few weeks have felt like juggling fire. I’m in the middle of revamping one of my programs, and there are a lot of moving parts: copy to rewrite, systems to clean up, visuals to redesign, automations to test. Each task connects to another, and the mental energy it takes to hold it all can feel like a full-time job on its own.

Then life, as it tends to do, decided to add a little chaos. Our youngest was home because of the teachers’ strike, which meant every neatly planned day turned into a mix of work, parenting, and adjusting expectations on the fly.

It’s easy to look at a week like that and say, “I just don’t have the time.” But if I’m being honest, that’s not the whole story. The truth is, I was standing in my own way. I told myself that once things settled down, I’d get back on track, but things rarely settle down for long. There will always be another project, another email, another reason to wait. Then the hard truth kicks in, one of my mentors reminded me of it: I wasn’t waiting for time. I was waiting for comfort.

The Real Bottleneck

When life gets busy, we naturally point to time as the problem. Yet more often than not, the real bottleneck isn’t the schedule; it’s us. We hesitate to move forward because the next step feels unclear or because we’re afraid of doing it wrong. We tell ourselves we’re waiting for the right moment, but what we’re really doing is protecting ourselves from discomfort.

I see this pattern in almost every coaching conversation I have with leaders and business owners. They know exactly what would move their business forward: posting consistently, hiring help, refining a process, giving feedback, and setting clearer expectations. Yet, they can’t seem to act on it. It’s not about laziness or lack of discipline. It’s the quiet pressure of perfection. It’s the voice that says, “Once I have it all figured out, I’ll start.”

But clarity doesn’t come before action. It comes through it. Every small step you take creates feedback, direction, and momentum. The moment you stop waiting for certainty and start experimenting, things begin to move again.

Three Steps to Get Out of Your Own Way

Step 1: Acknowledge the noise, but don’t surrender to it.
Life will always be full, and waiting for calm is a luxury most of us don’t have. The goal isn’t to eliminate chaos; it’s to learn how to build within it. When you recognize that there will never be a “quiet season,” you stop fighting reality and start designing habits that work with your life instead of against it.

Step 2: Start smaller than you think you should.
Big goals are exciting, but they can also be paralyzing. Movement begins when you take the next small, meaningful action, updating one section of a program, sending one email, or reaching out to one potential collaborator. Consistency grows from action, not intention, and small wins accumulate faster than perfect plans.

Step 3: Change the story you’re telling yourself.
“I don’t have time” often translates to “I’m overwhelmed” or “I’m afraid it won’t be good enough.” When you say the truth out loud, it becomes much easier to work with. You move from guilt to clarity and from avoidance to ownership. The story shifts from “I can’t” to “I’m learning to.”

The Honest Truth

Getting out of your own way isn’t a single breakthrough; it’s a practice. It takes awareness, patience, and a willingness to start where you are, even when it’s messy. But that’s also where growth happens. Because once you realize that progress doesn’t rely on perfect conditions, you begin to build with more confidence, less guilt, and a lot more flow.

If you’re standing in your own way right now, give yourself a little grace, and then take one small, imperfect step forward. You don’t need the noise to quiet down before you move. You just need to move through it.

Growth is rarely tidy, but it’s always worth it!