Brewed From Within

Fructifying Fortitude

Watching toddlers learn to walk is adorable. This instinctive right of passage reminds us that fresh motivation may be needed when progress stalls.

At first, early moves feel natural, and then crawling did the job. As children see what’s possible, expectations rise and success begins to feel inevitable. If progress stalls, parental motivation can lose its luster and concern sets in. But what if the breakthrough simply awaits fresh encouragement?

As new motivation is introduced, even when it’s unplanned, progress proceeds almost all at once. We scramble for the camera and those precious first steps are beloved by all. More practice is still needed, but this achievement renews momentum that keeps little ones moving upright and forward.

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For parents smiling as they read this, know that Pure Wonder, Wayfinders, Winding Whys, Training Wheels, Playforce, Santa is Real, and many timeless episodes from You Don’t Need This Podcast are energizing extensions on this topic!

As we build into new quests, our dance with innovation may also require shifting gears. Next time an engine stalls, step back to consider an alternate angle, talk to peers with different perspectives, take time away, or show up unannounced to adapt and get back on track.

Brewed From Within
📖 Entrepreneurship

By Ben McDougal, ago

Sequencing

When an audience feels informed, confidence increases and the opportunity for lasting collaboration is refined. Perhaps everything is an enumerated collection of objects in which repetition and order matters?

Understanding how everything connects is impossible for even the most methodical mind. Be it system thinking, design thinking, meta synthesis, neural networking, or whatever mindset you choose, the abstract intensity of complexity makes it hard to see how a few things relate, let alone immeasurable members in infinite streams.

Machines add computed awareness. But the squishy nature of each member within a sequence feels like it will remain a futile enigma, forever transforming based on if, who, what, when, where, why, and how something is being observed.

The processing power required to source the connection(s) of every moment would paralyze your thoughts. The mind is effective, thanks to sequenced memories and staying light enough to deduce answers with limited real-time input. This saves time, but it’s interesting how this type of internal sequencing actually quiets the depth of each sequence.

Enjoy the moment and be a serendipitist but keep tabs on where each member fits into a sequence.How sequences are pieced together keeps strategies in harmony. This brews appreciation from the past and adds a lightness for the moment. Delivering less information gives people only what they need when they need it. Added depth can then arrive down string to make a timelier impact.

Brewed From Within - Layers of Understanding

Layers of Understanding

As a sequenced narrative stretches, depth that rhymes will meet people where they’re at and more effectively guide the curious through new layers of understanding.

By Ben McDougal, ago

Shifting Gears

Imagine the howl of a distant motorcycle bolting through the night. Hear the speed and wait for that clutch to drop, knowing more power awaits.

The first gear is dedicated to initiating motion within an engine. It won’t get you far, but as the red line wraps, a shift brings you into the next gear that builds on the momentum. As that next gear tops out, yet another shifts moves you farther, with higher gears that bring you to full speed.

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After pushing a motorcycle to 150mph, twas time to sell that bullet on wheels. A face full of wind is still invigorating, but a convertible will now suffice.

Any journey is a dance, but reaching your destination requires an ability to temporarily lose power in exchange for more lasting capacity. Whether it’s personal or in business, recognizing a limit prompts a well-timed shift in gears to keep moving forward.

Brewed From Within
📖 Entrepreneurship

By Ben McDougal, ago

Waiting Rooms

The waiting room is that season where you’re not where you used to be, but you’re not yet where you want to go. It’s the in-between. The pause before your name gets called. The place where you’re preparing for what’s next, whether you think you know what’s next or not.

If we can move our egos out of the way long enough, we’d see the beauty here. The waiting room is where character develops. Where preparation happens. Where we create, reflect, and release what no longer serves us.

But we want to bypass it. We grow impatient and intolerant. We think our will—our force—can push us through faster. It doesn’t work like that. You’ll only exhaust and burn yourself out.It’s easy to watch others get called before you. The mental chatter starts: “When will it be my turn?” “Will I ever be ready?” “Why them and not me?”

The problem with watching others is that you have no idea where they are in their journeys. You don’t know where they’re being called to next—or what’s waiting for them when they get there. Their timeline is not a reflection of yours. It never was.

Everyone gets called at exactly the right time for their highest good. Not a moment sooner. Not because the universe is withholding opportunity, but because love doesn’t set us up to fail. The waiting room keeps us from walking through a doorway we’re not ready for. It’s protective. We wouldn’t hand a six-year-old the car keys just because they felt ready to drive. Your higher wisdom knows better. That child stays in the waiting room until they’re actually equipped for what’s next.

EXTRA SHOT

Watch Vanessa narrate this riff on-stage!

No one wants to be in the waiting room. But everyone has to pass through it. These built-in pause points aren’t punishments—they’re where we catch our breath, integrate what we’ve learned, and prepare for what’s coming.

We take the wait personally. Like it’s evidence we’re not good enough, not ready enough, not deserving enough. We get frustrated. Resentful. Sometimes we give up right here.

But your job is to learn to sit in the tension of not being where you want to be without making it mean something’s wrong with you. When we are able to loosen the grip, the pause can be strategic. You can recalibrate here. Gain mastery here. Rest here. The waiting room is the bulb that leads to the flower—fertilized by your patience and who you choose to become while you wait.

EXTRA SHOT

This contribution was written by Vanessa McNeal. Vanessa is a social architect and keynote speaker who transforms the nervous system to lead through love.

Life is full of waiting rooms. When the time comes, we move forward and eventually, we find ourselves in another waiting room. We create suffering if we believe we’ll arrive one day at a place with no more growth, no more waiting.

That’s not how it works. What would we learn by skipping the journey to reach the destination? How would we develop patience, self-trust, or resilience?

Right now is transitory, but micro-moments add up and coalesce into the story of our comprehensive progress. Waiting rooms are where we become the person who’s ready and open to what comes next.

By Ben McDougal, ago

Momentum Mountain

From the moment we decide, a force is required—action geared to find and then maintain momentum.

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Everyone has a creative spirit. When an appetite for (calculated) risk is applied, the entrepreneurial spirit emboldens.

Meaningful momentum is awakened in endless ways. Early propulsion can mean showing up at an event for the first time, researching the competitive landscape, testing an early hypothesis, leaning into customer discovery, considering potential co-founders, building product, and eventually activating a launch sequence.

Once a project is launched, the need for momentum gets stronger. There are a world of examples, but growing the business, achieving milestones, and celebrating progress are all forms of momentum.

Even in later stages of a company, momentum drives activities like succession planning, navigating exit paths, and considering how your human, financial, cultural, intellectual, and network capital can be recycled back into the startup community.

If momentum is maintained long enough, the result can be a flywheel effect that feeds on itself. Most things you want to grow require attention, but with less friction, momentum delivers bonus time and valuable understanding. Space for new activity emerges and that keeps things interesting.

The tough reality is that if momentum is melting, it’s difficult to recapture. Once something melts, it’s never quite the same. These dips are moments to consider when and what to quit. If there’s enough energy to keep going, there may be a way to keep building.

The longer stagnancy lingers, the further you get from momentum. Tactics to maintain kamiwaza, even when momentum is melting, start with communication.

Honest communication spells out the pace. Reducing the weird by exposing the why also keeps different stakeholders on the same page. By reducing the tension that quietly brews in silence, teams can run at lower speeds, even during lethargic times. If left unattended, however, this can devolve into a lack of urgency that brings another set of challenges.

At lower speeds, perhaps less movement is needed to regain the sense of shared momentum? That’s true, but also lame. When it’s time to thrive, here are climbing tactics to awaken the mountains of momentum:

  • Say yes to unlock adventure.
  • Say no to create space.
  • Travel to expand the mind.
  • Share premium human time.
  • Revisit customer discovery.
  • Experiment with new ideas.
  • Onboard new customers.
  • Build a fresh feature.
  • Add to the team.
  • Consider a pivot.
  • Alter your routine.
  • Embrace continual learning.
  • Expand your engaged network.
  • Attend a new startup community event.
  • Revisit an activity you once enjoyed.
  • Stay centered on any descent.

    Momentum is crucial to playing long-term games with long-term counterparts. Find the proper pace by recognizing the momentum you’ll need to move through different stages of the quest. This awareness helps us quit chasing momentum and frees us to forge better art at a sustainable speed. Continue to multiply mass and velocity, which equates to momentum when, where, and how it’s needed to stay wild.

    Brewed From Within
    📖 Entrepreneurship

    By Ben McDougal, ago