goats, marshmallows, blizzards & truth ... [🐝U]

It’s below freezing.
The kind of humid cold that bites through your jacket & laughs at your gloves.

It’s been 3 straight days of all snow & no sun …10 inches & counting

The frost blooms on the inside of my trailer windows.
My breath fogs up my glasses so I can barely see the screen
& my fingers move in numbingly slow motion

& somehow… in all this “chaos” … I’ve never felt more aligned in my life.

Because this … what most people see as chaos, the discomfort, the “you’re doing what??” from well-meaning friends & family … is me choosing my path.

 & the same is true for my business. 

Goats running in circles

 A LinkedIn post by Yu-kai Chou stopped me mid-scroll this week. The video summed up perfectly what I’ve been seeing & hearing from coaching clients:

A herd of goats running in circles around the fire.
No leader.
No plan.
Lots of motion dressed up as “momentum”

If that isn’t entrepreneurship in 2025, I don’t know what is.

Everyone’s “doing things.”
Posting. Creating. “Leveraging” AI because they’re told to

They’re running faster, pushing harder every week
Some to the point of burnout
Others quit altogether.

But the thing we’re not doing ….
We’re not asking why.

I‘ve been that goat

You’d never guess it looking at my life now, but I’ve done the dizzy circle shuffle.
Blindly followed the herd, listened to “experts” tell me what I should be doing.
& calling it “progress”

I was exhausted & convinced I was doing everything “right”

Spoiler Alert:
I wasn’t.
& a week-long stay in the hospital was the wake-up call I didn’t want but desperately needed.

As far back as I can remember, I’ve heard about “fitting in” & “don’t rock the boat” & color between the lines.

I was your stereotypical “Stepford child” … until I wasn’t

& when I rebelled, I totally swung the pendulum in the opposite direction.

Eventually, I settled on a happy medium (for me), though people keep trying to fit me in other boxes.

Turns out, that urge to fit in doesn’t disappear … it just puts on a business hat.

Yes, even today I find myself getting sucked into trendy business tactics, mimicking others,
trying to do it all “right”  … whatever.

But that kind of busy isn’t the same as progress.
Momentum doesn’t equal motion.

Blizzard & almost-dead batteries

So yeah … Being off-grid in a tiny trailer during a blizzard with little or no power (I’m sitting in my truck writing this because the trailer batteries can’t hold a charge in the cold)

& no one wants to go out in freezing temperatures a few times a night to shake the snow off the tent to keep it from collapsing … the stacked boxes just aren’t enough.

It’s not comfortable but it’s honest.
& I’d rather sit in a freezing trailer typing with numb fingers than stay cozy building a lie.
Cold truth beats warm pretence any day.

Because not just being stubborn & not wanting to admit defeat …
It’s the trade-off that keeps me here, trying to find ways around & pushing through.

The walks along the perimeter of my property, the sun reflecting on the snow, the dog’s zoomies as she tries to catch snow … a vision of what can be …

But every time I think about packing up, I’m reminded of my why …
No one said waiting for something real would be easy.

Every entrepreneur hits this moment (usually more than once!)
When effort feels invisible, progress feels slow, & you wonder if it’s even worth it.
That space between “doing” & “becoming” is where most quit.
Psychologists have a name for it: delayed gratification.
Or, as a famous study calls it — the Marshmallow Test.

The Marshmallow Test

You’ve probably not heard of Stanford’s old Marshmallow test

A kid, left alone in a room for 15 minutes, with a marshmallow
“You can eat this 1 now. But if you wait 15 minutes, you’ll get 2.”

Some gobbled it up right away.
Others fidgeted, squirmed, sang songs to distract themselves … & held out for more.

It’s not just about instant gratification of gooey goodness.
& it didn’t end with the marshmallows.

Years later, they checked back in with those kids.
Turns out, the ones who waited were more successful.
They weren’t necessarily smarter
But they were better at holding a long-term vision.

They knew what they wanted,
& they could sit in the discomfort of not yet getting there.

The payoff.

What’s your marshmallow?

That’s what building your own business really is a long, uncomfortable wait for a second marshmallow.

Except no one tells you that half the people around you
aren’t even waiting for their marshmallow.
They’re chasing someone else’s.

Society sells you this dream:
Freedom. Flexibility. Financial independence.

Sounds amazing, right?
Except that same dream could come from a dozen other paths.
a job, an investment, remote work, teaching yoga on a beach.

So why this way?
Is it what you want?
Are you doing things your way?
→ in marketing?
→ in running your business?
→ in reaching your dreams

Because if you’re going to wait through the long, hard middle
All the uncertainty, slow growth, second-guessing, & the no-power-in-a-blizzard kind of days.

You'd better be sure the dream you’re chasing is actually yours.
& that you’re building in a way you can live with.

Honestly. Authentically.
Those aren’t just trendy buzzwords in the anti-AI movement marketers make fun of.

Clarity beats hustle

That’s what keeps you from giving up when it gets hard.
Not hype.

Not hustle.
Clarity.

When you know exactly why this path matters
The kind of impact, connection, or life you’re trying to build
You stop needing other people’s validation.
You stop following a herd of goats in circles, chasing what’s trendy.

It’s not stubbornness that keeps me here … it’s commitment.
The kind that doesn’t care if it’s dark, freezing, or inconvenient.
Because clarity, not comfort, is what keeps me pushing through.

& it’s so much easier to hold out for the other marshmallow, having clarity in why.

Your business (& its marketing) is the same way.

It’s not about tricking people into buying.
It’s about connecting … through truth, not tactics.

When your why is strong, you don’t need gimmicks.
Your honesty (& your why) becomes the thing that sets you apart.

This is why I coach the way I do.

So here’s your challenge this week:

No fluff. No filters.

Ask yourself:
👉 What’s your 2nd marshmallow?

Not the money.
Not the “freedom & flexibility” line everyone parrots.
The real reason you’re here, building this business

Because once you know that…
Persistence stops feeling like punishment.
It becomes your purpose.

What’s one thing you’re doing because it’s trendy or someone told you to,
& it’s not really true to you?

You don’t have to burn it all down.
Just notice it.

Because the second you do
You stop running in circles following the herd
& start leading yourself forward.

Remember:
The herd looks like it moves faster… but they’re not going anywhere.
Keep walking your own path, even if it’s through a snowstorm.
Because your 2nd marshmallow is on the other side of the storm.

Make it a great “circle-free“ week!
EG

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