The Lightbulb Moment

My friend Courtney Brown is a powerhouse entrepreneur and ultra-achiever who has built two highly successful companies: a fashion brand and an operations platform. After years of running her businesses, Courtney realized that she had also accidentally run herself into the ground. She was burned out, exhausted, and in a rough headspace.

As she entered the beginning of Q4 in 2018, Courtney felt called to take some time away from work. She pulled herself away from the office and flew to the UK, where she came to the realization that this particular chapter in her life wasn’t intended to continue as it had been. She had the same level of certainty as when she started the businesses, and Courtney knew she had to heed that feeling. A similar thing happened to me after my car accident, when I was compelled to pursue mountain climbing despite having never so much as slept in a tent before. When we get these nudges in our life, it’s important to take a step back and listen.

One of the things I love about Courtney is her emphasis on setting a powerful example for the people around her. During our conversation, she reflected on how much society has changed even as recently as our parents’ generation. Our mothers and grandmothers wouldn’t have legally been able to own businesses in the same way we do, and Courtney is passionate about sharing her story so others see how it can be done.

Try it yourself:

Put yourself in a new environment. Sometimes a change of scenery is what it takes to shift your perspective. Courtney had long felt pulled toward a particular area in the United Kingdom that has a deep spiritual history. During her time of intense burnout, she turned to her husband as they were driving in the car and asked what he thought about her getting on a plane the very next day. The week Courtney spent in the UK gave her the space to realize that she needed to continue to heal and rest. Not all of us can take a spontaneous international trip, but we can all change our environments – even if temporarily. Can you work from a cafe this week rather than your home office? Do you have a free weekend coming up that would allow you to do a daytrip out of where you live? Break out of your routine and see how your point of view changes.

Talk it out with friends. One of Courtney’s friends invited a group of people to an off-site retreat with the goal of reflecting on what they envisioned as the next phase in their lives. After writing down their thoughts, the group connected as a unit to learn and grow together. Do you have people in your life who might be interested in taking half a day to do a similar practice? If not, do a bit of research to see if there is anything that exists in your area or online where you could interact with like-minded individuals.

Make C turns, not Z turns. When you’re skiing down a hill, you ideally want to be able to look back at the end and see a bunch of c-shaped lines marking the path you’ve taken. This is an indication that you’ve gently glided down the slope with confidence. Many people instead see choppy z-shaped lines, which happens when you panic a bit and rush the turn. I often think about this difference when I do things in my life that are uncomfortable. There can be a temptation to speed through moments of difficulty and try to get them to end as soon as possible. In doing so, however, you miss out on the journey. When you feel these moments of discomfort arise, pause and ask yourself what will happen when you later look back on your experience. Will you see c-curves or z-curves?