I kept waiting for someone else to fix it ... [🐝U]

My neighbour dropped off a diamond harrow first thing Monday morning.

If you're not from the country, that’s basically a giant metal rake... metal bars arranged in a diamond pattern to stagger the teeth.
Normally drags behind a tractor.
Levels ground, breaks up clumps, pulls out roots & ruts.

Except I don't have a tractor.

I’ve got an electric ATV, a tow rope, some cinder blocks, & a flooding problem left over from the snow thaw so bad that for about a week I literally couldn't get my truck off the property.

water pooled over 6 inches high & 200 feet wide along the gate... I was technically trapped.

& I'd been waiting for someone to fix it.

Almost a month waiting on another contractor quote … because the contractor who made the driveway & “guaranteed” his work wanted to charge me again. & the contractor who came to look at water management (including flooding & catchment) laughed at the condition of the driveway.

I didn’t find it funny.

Mostly because deep down… I already knew he was right.

The driveway wasn’t getting fixed.
I was just delaying the moment I’d have to figure it out myself.

When it finally came in — $34k — it didn't explain what was covered.

Just a wall of labour, equipment usage & materials.
No breakdown.
No clarity on what was actually included

I was furious.
Not really at the quote.

But at how long I’d spent acting like progress needed permission first.

Growing up, I watched my father MacGyver things … he’d stare at broken things longer than other people were willing to.

Then eventually he’d disappear into the garage,
come back with something completely unexpected,
& somehow make it work.

No manuals.
No perfect setup.
Just stubborn creativity.

So…
Cinder blocks & big rocks for weight.
Tow rope through the frame because I don't own a chain.
Hooked it to the ATV & started moving.

Metal scraping along the hardened dirt & gravel.
Wet grass wrapping around the teeth.
The whole setup rattled like it had absolutely no business working.

It worked... until it didn't.
Hit a bigger rock & everything flew off.
Stopped.
Restacked.
Started again.
Hit a root.
Stopped.
Restacked.
Kept going.

Halfway through, I noticed the rope fraying.
Wrapped it in duct tape.
Kept going.

& here's what I've got now:
NO ruts in the driveway.
Aerated mud.
3 trailer loads of pulled grass sitting in the composting pile where the garden's going.
At least 2 more waiting to be picked up
A leveled spot (on higher ground) to move my trailer to.
& the beginning of a plan for what this property is actually going to look like.

Not because I waited for the right equipment.
Because I started figuring it out.

I wish I'd started sooner.
Can't do anything about that.

But I can keep moving forward... 1 baby step at a time.
Getting comfortable with figuring it out myself.
Staying standing as I go.

the voice that wants you to wait

You know that voice.

"You don't have the right tools." 
"You’ve never done this before" 
"Wait until you can do it right."

It sounds like wisdom … patience … diligence.

It’s NOT.
It's the most expensive & destructive voice in your head.

Because while it's talking, the ruts just keep getting deeper & harder to deal with

that voice got a name

 Nir Eyal posted something on LinkedIn that stopped me mid-scroll.

12 belief patterns.

Years of research showed him that high achievers don't have fewer doubts.
They just choose different beliefs.

After reading the post, I had this uncomfortable realization:
I’d been writing about these patterns for months.

Same things I see in clients.
Things I've caught myself doing professionally.

Totally missed personally.
& I realized I'd also been living the answers.

"beliefs” about who you think you are

The first 4 stop you before you begin.

"It's too late for me" is the 1 I hear most from people who've been watching others build something & quietly decide their window closed. I wrote about a woman once who told me she had no work experience.

Turns out she'd raised 12 kids alone, homeschooled every single 1 of them into college, & managed a farm as a widow.

That's not "no work experience."
That's executive-level operations management.

Then there’s fixed identity … "I'm just not that kind of person."
You're experiencing a challenge.
It's not who you are.

The issue usually isn't your identity.
It's that you've been playing only 1 of those 2 roles.

Then there's magical thinking … visualizing the win without facing the actual obstacle in front of you. A client kept saying yes to work that led nowhere.

They didn't need to think more positively.
They needed to stop building roads that went nowhere.

& the need for rescue … the belief someone else holds the answer to your problem. I waited almost a month for that $34k quote. It came in without a real explanation of what was covered.

I just kept waiting... while the driveway kept deteriorating & the flooding ready to make a come back with the next bit of rain.

Real accountability … isn't waiting for the expert to ride in.
Sometimes the expert’s just you…
with a tow rope, cinder blocks, & no better option.

“Beliefs” when things get hard

These 4 show up once things get hard.

"External forces control my outcomes" …I know this 1 personally.

The barn contractor showed up with wrong materials... or none. Then the trailer’s electrical system failed an hour later. That was just the beginning.

By lunch I was curled up on the trailer floor ugly-crying. Then I wiped my face, made the next call, & kept going.

The only thing you can control are your actions & reactions.
That's enough.

"Problems mean I should quit or change direction" is the 1 that quietly ends more businesses than anything dramatic.

Every time the harrow caught, everything stopped dead.
Same with business sometimes.

We mistake resistance for a sign we’re wrong…
When really it’s just the next thing that needs adjusting.

Restack.
Adjust.
Keep going.

& let real feedback in.
The breakthrough isn't miles away.
It's usually just past the point where you got tired.

Right alongside that is avoiding discomfort. I offered a client introductions once … real people, real support to launch. They pulled back. Not because they weren't ready to build the thing. Because they weren't ready to hear what people thought of it.

That discomfort they were avoiding was the door their breakthrough was behind.

Every time I restacked those cinder blocks, quitting was easier.

& labels = identity … my diagnosis, my history, my title defines who I am.

Back to that same woman. The label was "no experience."
But the label was information about her situation... not her capability.
The curse of knowledge hid what she'd actually built.
The label gave her permission to stop looking.

the sneaky ones sounding like wisdom

These are the dangerous ones.
They feel responsible.

"I can't start until conditions are perfect." Clarity & confidence don't come first. I almost didn't launch this newsletter. Kept putting it off. Until I didn't.

& here a cinder-block-weighted harrow dragged by an ATV on a tow rope tells you if the approach works... not the theory of it.

"My past determines my future."
Progress rarely never looks impressive in real time.

The story of who you are is more flexible than the stuck version of you believes.
That's not a motivational line.
It’s just true.

"My beliefs don't affect my physical reality." Sciatica firing down both legs. -15 outside. 80-pound dog chasing something & pulling me down on a sheet of ice at the crack of dawn. The body’ll find every reason to stop. You still show up … because what you believe about your responsibility to your future-self (& your goals) matters more than how you felt in the moment.

& the last 1, "I need to know for sure before I act."

This is the 1 I want to sit with for a second.

the belief I'd focus on…

Certainty required.

"I need to know for sure before I act."

It sounds like wisdom.
Like diligence.
Like "I just want to do it right."

It kills more businesses quietly, slowly, & without drama than anything else on that list.

Not with a bang.
With a list of "not yets."

I kept wanting certainty before I started.

Problem was… certainty wasn’t sitting somewhere waiting for me to arrive.

The only way I found out if the harrow would work was dragging it across the driveway.

The only way I found out the cinder blocks weren’t heavy enough…
was when they weren’t heavy enough.

The only way I found out the rope wouldn’t hold… was seeing fibers snap when I was restacking.

Most of what I know about building anything useful came exactly that way:
after movement.
not before

The driveway isn't finished.
It may never be exactly right.

There’s always going to be another pass to make.

But I'm here.
I'm not going anywhere.

& every pass with that imperfect, MacGyver'd, duct-taped setup gets it closer to what I want this property to look like.

Just like my business.
Just like this newsletter.
Just like everything worth building, really.

Marie Forleo calls it "figureoutable."

I grew up watching my dad live it.
& I'm pretty sure you already know how to do it too

Or at least enough to get started.
You've just been waiting for permission to start without the guarantee.

Most of us don't need more certainty before we move.
We’re just hoping certainty shows up first so we don’t have to risk looking foolish while we learn.

your turn

Nir asked his LinkedIn audience which belief pattern they struggle with most.

I'm asking you the same thing … with 1 extra step.

Don't just name it.
Swap it out this week.

what 1 imperfect action are you going to take towards the liberating beliefs?

Just 1.
Let me know.

& yeah... I'll probably hold you to it.

Make it a great "MacGyver’d" week!
EG

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