I’m someone who thrives on order.
I like a regular routine, I build systems for everything, and am most satisfied when everything has (and is in) its proper place.
It’s no surprise that this internal drive for order extends to most aspects of my work.
Every task has either a “due” or a “do” date, projects have target completion dates with regularly scheduled reviews to assess their status, and I put significant effort into staying on top of my inbox. I typically try to respond to emails within a day and if an issue comes up with a client, I drop everything to set things right immediately.
In many ways, this level of order has served me well.
When I ask for feedback from clients, my responsiveness is referenced regularly as one of the things they love about working with me and my team. My projects make regular progress forward thanks to the systems and timelines I’ve set around them. When the occasional fires flare up, I’m able to put them out immediately.
This order gives me a sense of control over my world.
And yet lately, I’m beginning to wonder whether this quest for order is holding me back.
Let The Fires Burn
I remember reading a blog post a while back about building and growing a bootstrapped SaaS product as a solo founder.
The author shared that in his experience, the biggest impediment to founders scaling their products to the point of being sustainable businesses was their own reluctance to let fires burn.
Before launching, a founder is able to devote 100% of their time to developing the idea and building out the product.
Once the product is built and launched, however, they suddenly find themselves having to handle support requests, fix bugs, market the product, do sales, and all the other maintenance related to running a business.
For a while, this maintenance might be manageable.
The problem is that the ongoing maintenance often leaves no time to continue building and improving the product, which is the only way the business will attract new users and reach a level where it can sustain itself.
Faced with this challenge, the founders that succeed in the long term are those that get comfortable with letting some (maybe even many) fires burn in order to focus on the things that really matter when it comes to achieving the bigger picture goals for the business.
In the short term, however, this will almost certainly mean bugs with the product, unanswered support tickets, unhappy customers, and a loss of users.
Choosing Important > Urgent
When I think about this idea in the context of my own life, this scares me.
I want to be known as reliable, responsive, and trustworthy. I want to hit the deadlines I set for myself and others. I want to stay on top of every project, task, question, comment, and request that crosses my path.
Essentially, I want to maintain a sense of order and control over my life.
I think we all do.
And yet, to do the things that matter most well, we often need to neglect the things that matter less. To abandon our pursuit of order–at least for a time–in pursuit of progress.
The truth is there are a never-ending number of fires waiting to flare up and demand our attention.
Knowing this, we face a choice.
We can attempt to run around, putting each of them out in a desperate attempt to maintain the current state of balance and order. Or we can choose to get comfortable letting them burn, embracing some disorder–maybe even some chaos–in some parts of our lives in order to commit fully to the work that only we can do.
Sometimes we need to let the fires burn to pave the way for new growth.
Explore how to navigate a creative life that matters
This article originally appeared in my weekly Creative Wayfinding Newsletter. Each issue is the product of a week of work, and contains something not available for sale.
A fresh perspective, a shot of encouragement when you need it most, and maybe even some genuine wisdom from time to time.
Each week, we explore a different facet of the question “How do we navigate the wilds of creating work that matters?”
It’s something I’m proud to create and I’d be honoured to share it with you.
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