Lead From Within🪽
Instead of a Pool Party
In March, I bought a rug on Facebook Marketplace for my new apartment. It was a great price for the size, with a modern design that set it apart from most of the rugs I'd seen up to that point. The previous owners had cats and the rug hadn't been cleaned in a while.
I took the deal anyway, rolled it up, and put it in my car. When I took it out, white cat hair and wool lint had stuck to my trunk. Washing the car was a chore I planned to get to, but it stayed low on my list of priorities. I kept thinking about it, especially because of the lingering smell.
One Saturday, I finally drove to the car wash instead of a pool party. After two hours of vacuuming, wiping down every surface, reorganizing the compartments, I pulled out right as they were closing. I felt proud of myself for finishing. I had thoroughly enjoyed myself in the process and was delighted by the result. I didn't feel like socializing that day, but to my surprise, I did want to close a chapter.
The Post-it I Forgot I Wrote
Still energized by that satisfaction, I cleaned my desk the next day.
Under the piles, a post-it caught the light. I'd written it four days after I launched these letters, a reminder of names I needed to reconnect with to keep those business relationships moving forward. It had been sitting there for a month.
I knew exactly why. My weeks filled up fast with writing 700 to 1,500 words every week, a creative exercise I hadn't done since high school. As the weeks passed, my attention went toward sharing my experiences, reviewing the finished letters with my editor, and optimizing the whole process with her. In that time, I lost track of the post-it: where it was and what was on it.
Once I had both loops in front of me, it dawned on me that I'd closed the car first because it asked less of me.
Spending two hours outdoors on a Saturday beat writing new messages from my desk.
What the Order Taught Me
There will always be something to do, and more that comes after it. That's not the problem to solve; it's just what having a full life looks like. Instead of asking ourselves how to get to zero, the real question is whether we're satisfied with how we're moving through what needs our attention, one day at a time.
We all carry more than one open loop: a task, a conversation, a decision we've been meaning to close. While some cost us almost nothing to leave open, others erode the relationships or the work we genuinely care about. The instinct is to feel like we should always tackle the hardest one first. Sometimes closing the easy loop first just proves you finish what you start, and it’s that practice that makes the harder loop easier to face next.
I sent those messages two days later.
Start with whatever loop is in front of you today, even the small one. Let closing it be the proof that moves you forward, one loop at a time, toward the one that's been waiting the longest.
PS — My car's been spotless for two weeks now. I haven't found a new post-it stuck under anything yet. I'm choosing to call that progress.
From insight to action — here's how we can go further:
Take the Lead — 1:1 Coaching. Eight weeks, one-on-one, for the loops that take more than a Saturday afternoon to close. Details here
TODAY — Monthly HypnoBreathwork — Resilience One hour to build the ground you stand on before deciding which loop to close next. Saturday June 27 @ 11:30am EST. Register here
See you Saturday.
Victoria Grandury
CEO & Founder, Limitless Rebel
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