It’s Never What You Think
I was facilitating a recent EO Forum retreat and doing a Deep Dive with one of the members—let’s call him Stan.
Stan was stuck.
In his mind, the solution was clear:
“I need to hire either a business development person or an office manager.”
Someone. Anyone.
Because this—what he was doing every day—was exhausting.
The Myth of the Savior Hire
The thing I’ve learned after years of coaching entrepreneurs:
When someone is convinced the answer is a hire, a system, or a restructure… it’s usually not.
Instead of staying in the how, I shifted us to the why.
I asked him, “What would that hire actually give you?”
He said, “It would free up my time so I could do more business development.”
I asked, “Do you enjoy business development?”
He paused. Then said,
“Honestly? No. It’s kind of drudgery. But business is supposed to be hard, right?”
The Diagnosis: Sustainable Misery
That’s when things got interesting. I asked him, “In your life overall—on a scale from 0 to 100%—how often are you genuinely happy?”
He didn’t hesitate. “About 10% of the time.”
Then he reconsidered. “Maybe 20,” he said with a sheepish giggle.
And there it was.
Stan wasn’t wrestling with a hiring decision.
He was operating from a belief system that said:
• Business is supposed to involve suffering.
• Fulfillment comes later.
• Happiness is earned through endurance, not design.
In other words, he had normalizedSustainable Misery.
The 85% Rule
About 12 years ago, I was on a coaching call with Dr. Daniel Friedland, nearly in tears, saying: “When the hell am I ever going to be happy?”
My company had come back from the brink. We made the Inc. 5000 six times in seven years.
And I was still empty.
That’s when Dr. Danny said something that fundamentally changed how I think about success:
“Stop chasing happy. Happy isn’t sustainable. Start designing for satisfaction.”
Happiness is fleeting. Satisfaction is directional.
Satisfaction lives in the Hero’s Journey—when your work is aligned with who you are, not just what you’re producing.
The Logic Check
Before you hire the next person or add the next system, pause.
Ask yourself:
1. Where am I telling myself that suffering is just “part of the deal”?
2. What work am I tolerating that is quietly draining my life force?
3. If I suddenly had more time… would I even know how to use it?
This aligns with what we callStrategic Subtraction. Performance doesn’t come from grit alone—it comes from energy alignment.
The Founder Bottleneck Diagnostic
The real issue wasn't whether Stan should hire someone. The issue was his Growth Ceiling.
If you are looking for a "Savior Hire" to fix your exhaustion, you are likely trying to add speed to a machine that is already shaking.
Stop guessing why you’re exhausted. Before you post that job description, find out if you are the bottleneck.
👉Take the Growth Ceiling Audit
