What to do when you don’t know what to do next (and the ‘Change Your Life in 10-Minutes’ Exercise)

Five years ago, I was running a larger team, chasing the INC 5000, doing work that didn't fire me up when my feet hit the floor. I was good at it, but I wasn't the best - the Ferrari in my field. The pipeline was always a struggle, the doubt was constant, and it felt like my health and family were not even on the top five of my list.

Then I did one simple exercise that changed everything.

It took ten minutes. And that includes nine minutes of thinking.

Here's what I did - and what you can do tonight:

The Exercise:

1: Find a sheet of paper and pencil so you can erase. Trust me.

2: Draw a line down the middle, top to bottom.

3: On the right side, list everything you think the market would pay you to do right now. Real things—not babysitting, or a far-flung dream, but actual work someone would hire you for or has hired you for. Roles and key work areas you didn't love, work you did love, and work you do now.

4: Then, on the left side, you get to choose. Out of everything on the right, what's the one thing you most want to do? The thing you want to be known for. The thing you're obsessed with.

When I did this exercise, something became crystal clear. On my right side: team management, scaling operations, broad marketing services, executive thought leadership in cybersecurity and AI, web design, strategy consulting.

On my left side? Executive thought leadership in cybersecurity and AI. The only thing that made me want to bleed for it.

Here's why this matters: specialization wins.

It's wildly powerful, but also, clarity enables people to repeat what you do in a single sentence. If you give me three things, I'll forget all of them, even if I LOVE YOU.

But if you give me one clear, sticky thing, I can repeat it to the person in line at Starbucks. That's how word of you spreads.

That's why I lean into titles people can instantly picture. They need to be so clear that someone can see you in their mind right away.

What I needed on the left side of that paper was the thing I wanted filling 65+% of my client revenue bucket. That's what drives my focus, how I spend my time, and with whom I spend it. That's what drives what I seek to be known for, the referrals I receive, my brand positioning and thought leadership.

It's momentum.

What Happened Next:

I shifted from a huge team to a tiny company of four. I moved away from a broad service model to hyperfocus on that one thing from the left side of my paper.

The relief, peace, and sustainability that change brought about? Everything.

You - business or entrepreneur - are a Ferrari, all 16 cylinders of something. But WHAT is it?

Not your business humming sleepily and disinterested on 5 cylinders, doing something you're not willing to bleed for, and don't even want to talk about in thought leadership.

Here's the thing about knowing yourself - and I'm not the touchy-feely type. But until you do that kind of inner looking, you're constantly plagued by "what if" and "What did I do wrong", and self-doubt. Those are your enemies.

I'm not talking about a year sitting on the sidelines in therapy (though we should all be born with someone to decode our brains and figure out what the heck is happening in there and how to relate to the world). I am absolutely saying that you heal while your feet are moving - put boots on whatever you're learning and move!

You heal while you're leaning in to where you are amazing.

Why This Exercise Works:

Knowing where I am strong means accepting where I'm not strong, or not strong in this season. It's one of the ways I clued in that growing a team and scaling a business to make the INC 5000 just may not be for me. I love the work. Not being a manager of a large team.

And the sooner I accepted that, the faster I was able to lean in at max where I could deliver incredible value.

And yes, I have client work that people come to me for no matter what—web design, for example. I never talk about it. It's all word of mouth. I don't need to push it.

And you can always change your mind later. Pilot it hard for a quarter, and pivot accordingly.

This is how I've been in business this long. I'm obsessed with what the market needs and how I show up to serve it, at my best, which shifts here and there.

But if you're out of alignment - the WHAT, HOW, and with WHOM you're working for… just those tiny things - it's plagued by every manner of challenge, doubt, and exhaustion. Those clues are trying to tell you something.

Where are you the Ferrari, flying on all cylinders? What do you want to spend your one life doing?

Do the exercise. Find your answer.