Future Vision: How Overthinking & Perfectionism Sabotage Progress (Part 2)

Last week, Melissa introduced you to the concept of the future vision you are creating for your law firm. In order for it to come to fruition, you must deeply believe in that vision as an owner, which requires you to take a close look at your mindset and assess whether or not it’s supporting you in achieving your goals. 

The truth is it's very easy to get caught up in the weeds of running your business. You may find yourself second-guessing the path you've chosen or the decisions you've made along the way. But this type of overthinking and overanalyzing can be a form of self-sabotage, preventing you from making meaningful progress towards your vision.

Join Melissa this week to learn the mindset shifts required to break free from the perfectionism and doubt that can hold you back from achieving your goals. You'll learn how to quiet the voices of fear and doubt and instead focus on aligning your actions with the paradigm shift required to reach your goals, and the importance of believing wholeheartedly in the future you are creating for your law firm.

‍If you’re a law firm owner, Mastery Group is the way for you to work with Melissa. This program consists of quarterly strategic planning facilitated with guidance and community every step of the way. Click here learn more!

If you’re wondering if Velocity Work is the right fit for you and want to chat with Melissa, text CONSULT to 201-534-8753.

What You’ll Discover:

• How overthinking and overanalyzing can be a form of self-sabotage that holds you back from achieving your goals.

• Why perfectionistic tendencies are the enemy of progress.

• The importance of letting go of the need to find the perfect path forward.

• Examples of law firm owners who have successfully shifted their mindset and achieved remarkable growth.

• Why short-term thinking and quick wins can undermine your long-term vision if they don't align with your future paradigm.

• What happens when you don’t believe deeply in your future vision.

• The role of coaching and accountability in staying aligned with your vision.

Featured on the Show:

• Create space, mindset, and concrete plans for growth. Start here: Velocity Work Monday Map.
• Join Mastery Group.
• Schedule a consult call with us here
• #281: Future Vision: Align Your Decisions with Future Goals (Part 1)

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I’m Melissa Shanahan, and this is The Law Firm Owner Podcast Episode #282.

Welcome to The Law Firm Owner Podcast, powered by Velocity Work, for owners who want to grow a firm that gives them the life they want. Get crystal clear on where you're going, take planning seriously, and honor your plan like a pro. This is the work that creates Velocity.

Welcome back to this week's episode. This is building on what we talked about last week. If you haven't listened to last week's, I would probably go back and listen to that first. But this will stand on its own two feet, so it's fine if you're here and you just want to keep listening. Go for it. I would say, go back when you can.

Building on last week, so last week we talked about how you have to believe in the future you are creating. So in order for that to happen, you have to have some clarity about the future that you're creating, the vision. And once you do have some clarity, then it's your job to believe in that vision. 

Because if you don't believe in that vision, you're not going to do a great job of aligning yourself with the vision. Because there's doubt or fear or you're not sure, or whatever the barrier is, you don't believe, really believe, and practice believing, that that is what you're creating, period. 

So we talked about last week how important that is. We talked about how all the decisions day to day, today, should be aligned with that vision. And if it's not, the decision that you're making is coming from the wrong paradigm. If you kind of think about your current state as one paradigm and where you're headed is another paradigm, you're making decisions from the wrong paradigm. That's one way I try to explain it; and how important it is to make decisions. 

Now, the decisions that you make today for the future, for that future paradigm, are typically not easy decisions. Some might be, but generally 

the decisions are harder, and that's because it's such a paradigm shift. You are making decisions for a future paradigm, for a future vision that you're creating, and those decisions are not comfortable. They tend to be, or just to feel, riskier. It's not your normal. 

I mean, if there was a normal way you made decisions, you'd probably be at the future state that you wanted. But you've been making decisions a certain way and it's gotten you to this point, and that's been fantastic. But as they say, what got you here is not going to get you there. 

So you have to shift how you're thinking about your day to day, and the decisions that you make, the way that you show up, the habits and behaviors that you exhibit, all of that. And it starts with mindset. It starts with what is between your ears. 

And that mental framework that you have, that belongs to this paradigm, you have to work your way out of that. You have to exercise your way out of that. You have to practice new decisions, new ways of thinking, new ways of operating, habits and behaviors that align with that future paradigm, that align with that future vision. 

That's not comfortable. There's a reason that it's not your normal. There's a reason that you are where you are. And if you want to shift out of that, you have to keep all of this in mind. 

A point that I made last week, that I feel like is good to start out this week, is a reminder that the future that you have in mind, that you believe in, you don't get to that future without pulling that future into your mental framework. And so this is kind of like saying what I was saying a minute ago, but you have to pull that paradigm into how you think today. That's aligning yourself with that future vision. 

And when you can do that you will start to create and be on your way to that future vision, to that next level. You do not get to experience that next 

level, you do not get to experience that future, without making decisions today that align with it. 

So last week we talked about optimism a bit. You know, it's a bit of an optimistic reality to do that. But I thought too, I should probably reframe. It's not just optimism. It is, right? But it is operating in a reality that is breaking yourself out of your current norm, and operating in a way that aligns with a new normal, a new reality, a new set of circumstances, a new vision. And so that felt important to mention. 

Optimism doesn't always resonate with people. I know people… And I actually had this for a while in my own life. I did not resonate with the word “optimistic”. Like when people would say, “You're so positive,” I’d be like, “No, I'm not.” I have my own head too. Sure, maybe some things I'm positive about, and maybe I present in a way that sounds positive to you, but I also have a blend of both. 

And some people don't really identify with “optimistic” or “positive” because they consider themselves a realist. They’re like, “Well, there's both, and I don't know how it's going to land.” They call themselves a realist, but it's actually pretty protective. 

The truth is, there's nothing wrong, and there's so much right, with being an optimist. Another way to say that is thinking positively about now in the future. So there's nothing wrong with it, but I thought I would just touch on this because people do have a problem sometimes with… 

If they don't self-identify as an “optimist”, number one, maybe you should change that. Maybe that's part of this new paradigm, is that you start to consider yourself an optimistic person when it comes to your business, and the belief in you getting to the vision you're creating. If you have a belief in the vision you're creating, by definition, that's optimistic.

So anyway, that word came up, and actually was in a conversation with another law firm owner, and they pushed back on that word. But there you have it. There's a little bit around that, that I wanted to say.

But here's the main gist of today's episode that goes along and builds on last week's episode. I want to talk about overthinking. Because overthinking, overanalyzing, spinning on something can prevent you from being in alignment with your vision. And I see this a lot. 

I mean, first of all, I could spot it because I've got it. I overanalyze. I tend to overthink. But generally, at this stage, I catch myself and realize this does not have an end that is productive. I need to stop. It's not doing anything. So I could pull myself back, and I have tools, and because of the nature of my job it's more top of mind for me. 

But what I have noticed over time is that many of my clients also tend to overthink. And I want to share some things with you today that might help you make the case to yourself for letting go of overthinking.

I think there are deep reasons why we tend to overanalyze or overthink. But I will say, sort of one step up from that, it's like one level more surface than that, is the fact that people don't have enough data to be able to show the way. 

If you have a lot of data, it's all laid out in front of you and you can see, “Oh, so it's not really a reason to overthink.” When you don't have enough facts, your brain will just spin and loop and assume. And it's in the spin that there's no payoff for. It never ends well, right? 

So when you have data, when you have facts, it quiets that part of your brain that is trying to get in and make sense, and trying to prove and trying to work out all the avenues and catastrophize; worst-case scenario kind of stuff. And then you come back. And then you spin back to that. It's just total overthinking of something.

Sometimes it's because, and what would help, is if you had more actual facts and data, then your brain would shut up. Here it is. Here it is. Now you may have thoughts about the facts… We will get there. That's coaching, right?... But data is a big piece of what helps quiet the mind.

Now, if you have data, if you have all the things worked out, then what ends up happening, when I see overthinking, is we have the current state totally locked in. We're very clear about the current state from a number of different angles for the business and for the owners. And then, when we look towards the vision and we map, we sort of decide and get clarity on the future vision and how we want to get there.

There are always many ways to get there, and it really depends on the conditions that the owner has for what they want that future state to be like. And based on those conditions, it helps narrow down to a few different paths that are going to make sense for those owners and for that firm.

And so then we start to have a look at those, we play the numbers out, and we determine barriers to paths, etc. So then we get to the place where it's like, okay, this is the clearest path, from the best of our ability, that we've mapped. And it's based on a lot of data. It's based on a lot of conversations. It's really important to trust these days where we're doing this.

Because you are in a state of mind and a frame of mind, you are in this level of thinking, and it's being facilitated for you, that is so powerful. It's so clear, so much clearer than you can usually get on your own. And so there's almost a calmness about: 

“Yeah, this is it. We can see the things we need to execute on. We're going to go back home, and we're going to do this to the best of our ability. It's not going to be easy. This is going to require hard decisions. This is going to require hard, big decisions. 

And it's going to require hard decisions in the moment for me to make the right call about how I need to show up. It's all very clear that there are going to be barriers. It's not going to be a cakewalk, and yet, I'm all in.”

And then people go home and they start to get into it, they start to get into the work. And this is where the default thinking takes over. We talked about this last week; over-analyzation kicks in. Overthinking kicks in.

“Why did we pick this Rock? Why didn't we say X for the vision? Why do I really have to let this person go? I mean, we talked through it. I understand how we got there, but why do I really need to let them go? They're doing all right.” You start to doubt. This old paradigm, that you've been living in for a while, starts to override the new paradigm, where you wanted to be headed, and the path that it's going to take to get there.

All of this is undermined, totally undermined, by the old paradigm. And your overthinking is how it will typically present. You will overthink things. You will stew on things. You will ruminate on things, overthinking about all of it. And for some people, this is very, very deep. It's very intense. 

Not only do they think about the things that I just mentioned, that are typically stewing in people's heads who are overthinking everything, but they're overthinking, “Is this really possible? Were we crazy to map this out?” Where it's all this doubt that creeps in. 

Now, while that's normal, and you're going to have those days where that's rearing its head, you have to understand that your job, your job, is to believe in the future state. And so even when you have this overthinking, and your gears are just churning in your mind about all of the different things, and how maybe you should have thought differently, and second-guessing the decisions that you made and all of that, you have to remember, in those moments: 

“My job right now is to believe hard in the future that I said I was committed to. My job is to be committed. My job is to show up and act like I am committed to that future version. My job is to break through into a new paradigm that's going to be able to deliver this new vision.”

And sometimes just reminding yourself of that, any one of those sentences or maybe all of those sentences, but reminding yourself of that is enough to shut down the voices that tend to get loud for overthinkers. 

I am an overthinker; I have these voices. Many of my clients are overthinkers; they have these voices. It's about progress, not perfection. It's not about becoming a person that just never has these voices, everybody does. Everybody has fear and doubt and rethinking, which is a form of waste if you really think about it. But rethinking and retooling and changing your mind and all of that, all of that is sabotage. And a big sign of it is overthinking. 

So now is probably a very good time to share, or remind for those of you that already know this, that overthinking is directly correlated with perfectionism. Because most of the time people, and I can sniff this stuff when we're working in retreats or when I'm working closely with someone on a call or whatever, you can sniff when they have this perfectionistic tendency. Which, by the way, is very normal for our crew that we work with, right? 

But you can sniff it, because they are trying to find the perfect path. They are trying to find the perfect vision. It has to be so right. And I am all for right. But here's the truth, there isn't a perfect path. There isn't a perfect vision. There is a vision that feels very right to you.

Now, if someone is articulating a vision and we're doing facilitation for that, we're saying, “What else? What else is success to you? What does your life look like? What does the firm look like? What does the work look like that you're doing? What is the vibe inside of the firm?” We pull all this stuff out. 

And when we look through the outcomes of that work together, sometimes someone will say there's something that's not quite right. That's not perfectionism, that is just being in tune. I'll ask them, “Does this feel right? Is there anything missing from this?” That's about just getting more and more in tune with you and what you want. 

But there are times where people say, “No, I think that's it,” and they feel really tight around it. It's almost like they're trying to convince themselves that ‘yeah, that works. That's good.’ 

And then you start to figure out, okay, how are we going to get from here to there? How are we going to bridge the gap from where we are now to where we're going to go? And when we start talking through that, they are so nitty-gritty into the details a year out from now. In the next 90 days there needs to be a lot of specificity and detail. Because your brain, it needs to be very easy for your brain to just go check off the things; you get the execution done. 

Beyond that, it's not actually helpful. So when they're trying to nail down specificity beyond the 90 days, I mean hardcore specificity, this is a perfectionist's tendency. It's because they want to prove to themselves that it is the perfect path, that it works out from every angle, that all the math is perfect. I mean all of it. 

And what I find, and what I show them, is that that's not the way to approach this, because it doesn't exist. They're not going to find it. They could make the perfect path… And we do make a very good solid plan.

For instance, if there's a certain revenue number a year from now, let's just say it's $2.5 million. Okay, $2.5 million is the target. And if they cannot see exactly how they are going to create $2.5 million, then they can't set it down mentally. They have to see the whole path, with detail, in order to believe that $2.5 million is possible. 

And I'm telling you, I have done those plans. I'm willing, with some people, to get more granular than others. But the truth is, it doesn't matter how granular you get or not, as long as you're smart, high level…you're being very smart in terms of projections and things like that… it doesn't matter. Because no one lands at $2.5 exactly. 

That's not the point. The point isn't the number. And so the perfectionistic tendencies tend to come out when people are like, “Oh, that's the number. I am so attached to that number. How in the hell are we going to make sure that we hit that number?” 

It's like, “Wait. Wait a minute. We put in this vision, and $2.5 is the target in this vision. But do you understand that you putting in the work to do what you need to do in order to become a $2.5 million firm, in order to create this future vision, it makes it so that that $2.5 is inevitable?”

It may not happen by December 31st of that year, but it probably will by January or February. And so you really just have to understand that it's not about the number. And you can't attach this perfectionistic ‘I have to hit this by this time.’ No, it's a done deal. 

But you have to do the work in order to become a $2.5 million firm. You have to do the work to get out of your current paradigm and get into the next paradigm. And when you do that work, the number is inevitable. I don't know exactly the date you're going to hit it, that's not the point. You're just aligning yourself on the number. 

So the perfectionistic tendencies tend to come out as overthinking and over-analyzation. I can correct this. I can right this ship with people. But this is where coaching comes in when they go back home. At some point in the quarter, those tendencies will pop back up. Remember, this is the old paradigm. It will pop back up and it will start to rethink everything. “Was this the perfect path? Why did I choose this Rock? Was this the perfect Rock?” 

The Rock is so productive. If you were to get that puppy checked off the list, it would be meaningful to the firm. That's important work. So stop worrying if you should have done another one first, or if you should have done this one first. You have a lot to do this year. These are what we decided this quarter. Put your head down and go.

Stop overthinking it. When people overthink it, they stop themselves. They are not as productive. They stall. They procrastinate. They put things off instead of just doing the work.

So when overthinking presents, you have to understand that it is a form of sabotage. It is not helpful. It is not going to move the needle meaningfully. It is taking away from you in terms of focus. You could just be doing the work. Instead, you are overthinking all the decisions that you've made.

By the way, this is a decision. It is a decision to not work and overthink about this and stew on it and maybe not execute because you're not sure it was perfect. You thought it was, but now you're not sure. And you can justify your way out of the work, but that's sabotage. 

I have a set of clients I've been working with, and I've been working with them for a while. The progress that they’ve made is remarkable. They, for the last several years, have not grown. Their revenue hasn't grown at all. They've totally been in a plateau. They don't feel like they should be at a plateau. They knew there were reasons why they were, so they came to work with us. It was a private client relationship. 

We really dug in. We helped them understand exactly where their business was, and we made plans for a brighter future. They wanted to grow by 25% in 12 months. Now that is not unusual for a firm that we are working with to get to, so I'm all in. I see the vision they have. Let's go. 

So what ended up happening is that the number wasn't hit perfectly at the 12-month mark, but I could see all of the revenue that was scheduled to come in to the firm; payments that were going to be made to the firm, or money that was going to be moved from trust into their OpX account. 

And all that money puts them, likely, over 25% growth at the 15-month mark. So they wanted this all done within 12, and they're on track for this at 15. And because of what we can see and we can project based on reality, this is not just pie in the sky ‘we hope you can make this revenue next year, in 2025.’ 

No. What we can see beyond the 15, is they are never coming back. All the work that they have done in the last year, and some before us, right? Like getting certain kinds of cases in, getting more of those in, working those cases this entire year, developing systems for certain things in their firms so there's more efficiency, hiring the right people, doing the right things. 

And this year they have essentially, even though they held their revenue at the 12-month mark, they stayed at that same plateau, but everything has teed them up. The future is never going to be the same, ever, as what it has been for years and years and years and years. I was so thrilled for them. They can see it. 

I think they wanted to be further in 12 months, but the truth is, it's done. The hay is in the barn, as we would have said back where I'm from. The work that they did got them here, and the money that's coming in over the next three months will get them to that 25% growth rate… That would have taken 15 months.

And from there, next year, the projection is ridiculous. When I say “ridiculous”, I'm talking about a 90% growth rate, which is just crazy. But these are contingency cases, right? So this is, for some of you thinking about that with your hourly or flat fee, it's not the same thing. These are contingency cases. These are cases they've been working up. These are cases they've been working. 

So now, finally… and mostly contingency-fee firm… has been plateaued for years, and now they have set themselves up to do something entirely different. They have more efficiency, so they'll be able to handle more capacity. They've worked really hard. They've done the work. 

But the entire time they have questioned everything. And they have been focused on where they are… and it's not far enough. It's not enough yet. “See? At 12 months we're still here. See?” It's like they're so focused on what they consider to be negatives that they are literally blind to the reality, the inevitability of the future that they wanted to create.

They are about to blow that out of the water in a way that they did not think was possible by the end of 2026. And they're going to do it. And so I guess what I'm saying here is one thing that we really had to work on together was the over-analyzation of everything… The overthinking, it’s not even analyzation. It's overthinking everything. 

It's allowing doubt and fear to swim in their brains and make them doubt themselves. And what wasn't happening enough, which we got really clear on, was that they do not believe in their vision. If they did, they would not be saying the things that they're saying now. They would not be looking for evidence that it's not working. They would be looking for evidence that it is working, because it is. It just didn't happen in the 12-month mark. 

And so this overthinking, and this, ‘see? We're at this plateau. We are just a firm that's plateaued here.’ We do all the math to figure out where they're going to be, and it's, “Y'all are good. You're good.” 

Then we look out even further. We do the math for 2025, and it's like, “You guys are good. By the end of this year you're going to probably surpass your 25% growth rate that you wanted to see. You have put yourself on a path to have grown so far beyond that. So can we just stop talking about where you didn't get to in 12 months and focus on where you're headed?”

That is where the conversation needs to be. You have literally built yourself a new paradigm, but you will absolutely sabotage it if you are not willing to step into that paradigm. If you are not willing to operate from that paradigm, you will stay here. You will sabotage. You will. Clearly, you don't believe in your future vision, or not hard enough, and you are the owners of this firm.

So if you don't believe in it your team's not going to believe in it. Everyone will feel a little shaky on it. It's like, “Well, we’ll just do our best.” And listen, that will get them pretty far but it's sabotage. This is just unnecessary. It's unnecessary stewing. It's unnecessary wavering. And it undermines the entire effort to plan forward and have a vision and to see the success. It undermines your success at every point. 

That's why this is important work to talk about. Because people don't realize this is what's happening. And the way that they think about themselves, and the way that they think about the things that are happening, and the way that they make decisions is old. But they are trying to build a firm that’s at a different place, at a different level, providing a different set of circumstances. It's providing a different future.

And if you're trying to get there, you cannot do it with what's got you here. And to these people's credit, they're very open to that. This is a very on-the-table conversation, really productive conversations, we've had. Their awareness is high and it is shifting. They know it's their job to shift into this new way of thinking. 

They have to have a focus on mindset, and they're doing a lot of work there. They're doing a very good job, but it took a while for us to realize really what was going on. And once we did, we could address it and get underneath it and hold space for that vision no matter what, and let it trump, not their skepticism and cynicism, quite honestly. 

Cynicism is dark. It's an unhealthy thing to bring on your journey to shaping your reality for your vision. Cynicism is not really a welcome participant. 

Skepticism we can work with, it's something that we can juggle and shape and shift and more easily get out of.

But it's this thinking that's not helpful. It's a mindset that's not helpful. That produces new… your own barriers and your own spin and your own stress and your own anxiety. About what? Really, with the example I just gave you, can you imagine? Outside, looking in, it's easy, right? Really put yourself in that set of shoes. Can you imagine? 

You've had the same result for so many years, you've done a lot of work, you didn't see it within 12 months, and so your brain just goes, “See? We're just stuck here. See?” And then it's like you don't even let yourself see the possibility. 

We painted this future vision. Do you believe in that or not? And if you don't, you have to stop and ask yourself, why don't I believe in this? And if I don't believe in this, is it worth doing? “My job is to believe in this. How can I believe in this? What do I need to do in order to be able to believe in this?” 

And you know when you really believe hard in something, the cynicism doesn't come up. The skepticism doesn't come up. Because it's just not useful. Now, questioning and evaluating and looking at data? Useful. Asking questions, being open, being curious about solutions, about barriers that you could hit? Useful. But skepticism and cynicism about it unfolding is un-useful. So catching yourself with this.

And it usually presents as overthinking. Catching yourself with this is important, because if you don't really have an awareness that it's happening you can't do anything with it. If you do have an awareness, and it's happening, then you can work with it. And I don't mind working with it. 

This is just… I love humans. I love human behavior. I love people who decide to go for things. And even if they do doubt themselves afterwards, that's normal. 

But that's my job, is to really step in and say, “Yo! Yo, we're going to work on this together and your cynicism needs to be checked at the door. So let's talk about what it's going to take in order for that to be true. Let's talk about what you're forgetting, that you need to remember that would squash that cynicism pretty quickly. Let's talk about what kinds of questions you need to be asking yourself regularly. High-quality questions that will allow you to be in alignment with this vision, instead of stewing on what's not happened yet. That's not helpful.”

So I love working with this, and I really love working with it in my realm. Because I won't do it without data. I will not do it if we do not have numbers 

to look at, and some facts to hold in our hands, to be able to look at it from different angles. And then we can make a good plan.

And then you try to poke holes in the plan that we've already poked holes in. We've already tried to think through all the barriers, all the things you may encounter. And then with your cynicism you try to poke holes in. It's like, “No, no, no. We already did that. You're not believing hard enough anymore. Can we just back up and let's go again? Let's reset here.”

I think it's important to have that accountability. I think it's important to have someone outside, objective, to say, “Wait, what? We're not doing that.” I'm 

willing to entertain barriers. I'm willing to entertain things that could go wrong. I am willing to entertain all of that so we can anticipate and be ahead of the game. 

I'm not willing to entertain a mindset that is unhelpful to all of the work we were doing. And so let's chat about that. Where do we need to start? What needs to be reframed so that your mental framework is on board? Okay?

Now I have another client in my head, that I'm going to share a bit here so you can see the other side of things. There's another private client and she WILL achieve whatever she sets her mind to. It is a decision on her part. She looks at that future vision. She thinks through it. She gets facilitated with it. She looks at it. 

And that puppy is now. She is living in that future vision. Every decision she makes is aligned with it. Some people are just more naturally inclined. Everybody is capable of aligning themselves with that future vision; hard, in a really great way. 

But some people, this woman that I'm thinking of, is living it out to the best of her ability today. And she has data; she looks at the full picture. So it's not that she's spending money she doesn't have, that's not what I'm saying. She is making decisions that align with that future vision. 

And if it does not, it does not get made. Even if it feels like there'd be a short-term win, or a bit of a compromise, just for some relief right now but it's really not in line with that future vision, she won't make it. So she is someone who plays the long game very well and is uninterested in playing the short game. It's pretty impressive to see. She is one of those people. 

You believe her when she tells you she's going to hit the goal. You believe her. She believes herself. She believes strongly in it. Her entire team feels it. People can rally around it. They get in line. And if they don't, they can leave. She has zero tolerance for a day-to-day existence that isn't in alignment with the future that she wants to create. 

The difference between the first scenario and the second is mindset. Mindset is something that can be developed. You can develop that to something that serves you better. So this is not looking at two different clients and saying one is better than the other. It's just showing you what happens and how fast everything happens when your mindset is attuned to the future vision and you believe hard in it. 

If you don't believe hard in it, you're going to sabotage it. You're going to overthink. You're going to have skepticism and be cynical and waste time.  Because you could be executing but you're not executing, you're doing something else. 

And the other side of that is you believe so hard in it. You just put your head down and you go. You don't make decisions that don't line up with it. You don't waste time. You're responsible with your calendar. You're willing to put in the work, and you're willing to not overanalyze it in the middle of a quarter. 

When we get back in the room at the retreat, that's the space to debrief and to look back and say, “Man, that was not the right way to do that. I didn't know that. I thought I was making a decision. Okay, lesson learned. That is something that doesn't… The way that I made that decision doesn't align with the future. Got it.” And you can keep moving forward. 

But in between quarters, you put your head down and you work. We don't get very far off track, it's only one quarter. So if you're doing something that's going to provide a lesson learned, like you could have done it differently, you should have done it differently, we're going to find that out at the retreat. So you don't need to be scared that you're just going to be 

down this wrong path and down a rabbit hole. You're not. We won't let that happen. 

Where the overthinkers and the people that don't believe as hard in the vision… they want to, but they don't believe as hard in it... they are the ones that tinker more in the quarter. They let the busyness take over and they don't actually complete the things that they said they would do.

It's because they just didn't get to work. They were busy, but they didn't get to work on the stuff that they said they would do in order to put them on the right path. 

It really does come down to belief. If you believe in that future vision and you align yourself with it… that is so important… and it's who you are, then your vision becomes your reality much more quickly and much less painlessly. 

But never without pain. I should be clear about that. None of this is a cakewalk, guys. You all know that. Owning your business is not a cakewalk. There are things to navigate. There are tough things to go through. There are hard decisions that need to be made. It's just tough. It can be stressful. It can really weigh on you. 

And most people I work with, they really wouldn't have it another way. So it's really just about optimizing that journey for yourself. So it's never a cakewalk, but we can make it a lot harder on ourselves if we don't have clarity. If we don't have commitment to that vision. If we don't believe in that vision.

And sometimes we need a facilitator and a coach to get ourselves there. Clarity, facilitation, and then coaching, which is staying on the right track, and the mindset and behaviors and habits, which all stem from your mindset. So both are really important. 

And the whole gist of last week and this week is believing hard in your vision. Believing in the future that you are setting out to create. And that level of belief really requires you to enter into a whole new paradigm. That's not easy, but it's totally possible and it makes life fun. 

This is where you create your dreams. This is where dreams come to life. This is where you turn your dreams into goals, and then you move towards them very quickly. That's fun. That is fun. 

And even when it's hard, you would rather not be just working for somebody else, you'd rather see what's possible. You'd rather go the distance and learn and grow and create that vision that you believe in. 

All right everybody, I hope you got something good from these. It's deep work. It's rewarding work. Not just for me and helping clients, but it's rewarding work for the clients and for the members. It's such an honor to be a part of it. I enjoy every minute of it. 

All right everybody, take away something. Take away something, one thing, and you can throw the rest out the window. What resonated? Noodle on this for yourself. 

If you want to work with us on this, if you want all of this and all the stuff beforehand… that before you can even get to this work you have to have clarity, you have to have data, you have to have vision, all of that… then come and talk to us. 

Go to VelocityWork.com, you can book a consult. You can go to VelocityWork.com/Melissa, and you can also book a consult there. We would love to talk to you.

All right everybody, have a wonderful week. I'll see you here next Tuesday. 

Hey, you may not know this, but there's a free guide for a process I teach called Monday Map/Friday Wrap. If you go to VelocityWork.com, it's all yours. It's about how to plan your time and honor your plans. So, that week over week, more work that moves the needle is getting done in less time. Go to VelocityWork.com to get your free copy. 

Thank you for listening to The Law Firm Owner Podcast. If you're ready to get clearer on your vision, data, and mindset, then head over to VelocityWork.com where you can plug in to Quarterly Strategic Planning, with accountability and coaching in between. This is the work that creates Velocity.