As the early-release week wrapped up, we were exhausted, but had survived. However, I was disappointed, feeling as if I had failed to move the need or meet my expectations for the week. It was a good reminder that we need to calibrate expectations to reality.

Some say if your business is not growing, it’s dying. But growth can also kill a business owner. You didn’t go into business to lose the life you were living or hurt your health. There are steps you can take to move your business in a direction that will be personally sustainable.

I have always wanted to be an astronaut and go to the moon. As the Mars Rover landed and my kid declared she wanted to build a rocket, it got me thinking. Does going to the moon satisfy my needs, goals, and desires for owning and running my business?

To fully understand where you need to go, you first need to know where you are. Identify where you are on your roadmap and you’ll be better positioned to efficiently achieve your objectives. And that could lead to an opportunity for delicious cookies.

There are thousands of reasons people make the leap into business ownership, but that may not end up being what you enjoy most about the work of your business. After some time has passed, the excitement and enjoyment of taking the leap can be replaced by the exhaustion of trying to make it successful.

As business owners and leaders, it is easy to look at the plan you had for 2020, throw it out the window and swear off building a new plan. You might be thinking there is no reason to have a plan when everything is so unpredictable.

We are all dealing with a lot and it has an impact on our mental, emotional, psychological, and physical well-being. It's harder to focus with so much to take in and digest. There are steps we can take to regain our focus.

It didn’t take many rounds of Chutes and Ladders to see how the game mimics running a business. The valleys and peaks of running a business align with the chutes and ladders that send you backward and fling you forward while trying to reach your goal.

Are your core values guiding the many critical decisions you are making for your business?

But when I realized that certain structures and routines could help get my team all moving in the same direction and focused on the right activities, I realized the benefits that can come with a predictable schedule.