I’m going to be honest with you. I’m extremely susceptible to the trap of the familiar. I default to it all the time. I’m good at operational things: web design, writing, even some light bookkeeping. I can fill an entire day doing tasks I know I can handle with confidence. But lately, I’ve been asking myself a hard question: Is this actually moving my business forward?
The truth is, familiar work feels productive. It gives you quick wins. You can check a box and say, “Look at what I accomplished today.” It feels safe, efficient, and useful. But that doesn’t always mean it’s valuable. Busyness does not equal progress.
Familiarity keeps us comfortable. But comfort rarely creates growth.
If you’re a business owner or leader, you’ve probably faced this same tension. Operations are important. They maintain what you’ve built. But leadership, vision, and development are what expand it. Many entrepreneurs reach a plateau, not because they lack talent, but because they spend too much time doing what they’re good at, instead of what they’re called to do.
Your skill can actually become a distraction. Just because you can build your website doesn’t mean you should. Just because you can write the social media posts, manage the books, or tweak the process, doesn’t mean those are the best use of your time. Sometimes, our greatest strengths become our greatest limitations.
Growth work is rarely comfortable. It often involves the things we tend to avoid—sales conversations, strategic planning, business development, and delegating things we enjoy doing. But these are the actions that move the needle.
Leadership requires stepping into what is necessary, not just what is familiar.
If you want to shift from operator to leader, ask yourself these three questions:
- What activities actually create future revenue?
- What am I doing just because I’m good at it, but someone else could do?
- What would I focus on if my goal was growth, not comfort?
Once you’ve answered those questions, take action. Pick one operational task to reduce or delegate this week. Then block out time to work on one growth activity you’ve been avoiding. Maybe it’s making that sales call. Maybe it’s finally sitting down to cast vision for the next quarter.
Operations keep the lights on. But leadership turns the lights outward, giving others clarity and direction.
The familiar will always call your name. It’s easy, predictable, and within reach. But growth is calling too. It just might take a little courage to answer.
Keep this in mind.