Are You Just Misaligned? - Episode 210

 Today we're going to challenge the idea that you're just burned out. Because what if the real problem isn't exhaustion? What if it's misalignment?

Welcome to the Budding Entrepreneur Podcast. I'm Randy Bridges, business advisor, consultant, coach, and trusted partner to service-based business owners who are serious about performance, profit, and progress.

This podcast exists to do one thing, help you solve the real problems that stall your growth, kill momentum, and burn out the very people who built your business. So let's get started, shall we?

All right, all right. We are on episode 210 and today is July 30th. 

This episode's for every business owner who feels like they've hit the wall but can't explain why. You're still showing up, still driving the business forward, still doing the things that should work, but inside you're tired. Not in the I need sleep kind of way either. 

More like I need this to make sense again. We've been taught to call that burnout, but what if that feeling isn't about being overworked? What if it's about being out of sync? Today we're pulling back the curtain on a different kind of business fatigue, misalignment, and look at some ways that we can fix it. So here's what we're going to be covering today. 

How to spot the real warning signs of misalignment before they look like burnout. Why the problem isn't your calendar, it's your role. Three practical ways to realign your time, your systems, and your energy, and a quick audit to know if this is your next growth step. 

Let's jump right in. Earlier this week on Confessions of a Business Owner, Natalie shared something powerful. She was drained, scattered, off her game.

She thought it was burnout, but the real issue for her, it was nutrition. She wasn't fueling her body in a way that worked for her, and it was bleeding into everything else. Once she got that aligned, the fog lifted, her focus came back, and so did her confidence. 

And that got me to thinking, your business, it probably works the same way. It did for me for a while when I had some things that I needed to fix in my own eating habits. But we often say we're exhausted, and it's not because we're doing too much. 

It's because we're doing the wrong things, usually at the wrong time, and often in the wrong ways. So what does business misalignment actually look like? Well, it starts with role misalignment. This is where you're stuck doing the things that drain you instead of leading from within your strengths that you have already built up. 

Another area is rhythm misalignment. You're fighting your own energy cycles, doing deep work in low focus hours. And also responsibility misalignment. 

This is where you're still carrying your systems or your team, and these are things that they should be handling. So the next time you say, I'm burned out, ask yourself, am I actually just out of alignment with what gives me energy and traction? Unlike burnout, misalignment doesn't usually scream. It whispers. 

Here's what it sounds like. I just need to get through this week. Why does it feel harder than it should? I love my business, but I'm not loving the way it feels lately. 

And then you start procrastinating. Not out of laziness, just generally out of friction. You feel dread around the task that used to energize you. 

You start micromanaging, not because your team is bad, but because you're unsure what you should be doing next. This isn't about working harder. This is about your business telling you you've outgrown your current alignment. 

It's not a failure. It's feedback from the entity that built you and you built it. Now, before we jump into trying to fix the issue, let's pause and clarify something.

How do you know if this is misalignment and not just burnout? Well, there are three signals that might hit home. With misalignment, you're dreading certain tasks, even after you get a rest. You took a vacation. 

You got more sleep, but you still can't stand doing that one thing. That's not fatigue. That's about your job role. 

You're doing the wrong thing for you. Number two, you've become resentful of your own business. You built this thing, but now it feels like it owns you. 

If your gut reaction is, I have to do this, instead of, I get to do this, that's a red flag. And number three, you avoid the work you're best at. Even the work you once loved starts to feel like a chore, and it's usually because the urgent is crowding out the important. 

This is the moment to pay attention, because when those patterns show up, burnout isn't the problem, it's the symptom. And the solution isn't more rest, it becomes more realignment. Now that we understand that, and that nuance of how this all brings us to this point, let's walk through how you can bring your business back into alignment with you and for you.

First, audit your role, not just your time. We've discussed this before. Look beyond the calendar. 

Ask yourself, what part of this role still excites me? What trains me every single time? What's essential for me to do, and what isn't? This isn't about dumping tasks. It's about designing a role that fits the season you're in. And a cyclical nature of seasons is, we come into one, and we leave another.

Then we come into another one later, and we leave the former one. That's the way that we have to navigate the seasons of our life. And as we begin that transition to the next one, our job role needs to match that.

Another area is to build clarity checkpoints. Is this task mine? Does it fit how I work best? And does it still serve the business model of the business? Define the week you want to have, and then build systems and time blocks that honor that. Don't put together a huge calendar of things to do, and then wonder where you're going to put the things that make you whole, that make you feel good. 

And third, reflect alignment in your systems. Don't just update your SOPs or your playbook. Upgrade them to reflect what works best for you and your business now. 

If your systems were built when you were in hustle mode, they may still be coded for chaos. Alignment means your processes match your energy flow, your team owns what you've outgrown, and your business supports you, not just your clients. So let's talk about how we put that together in real terms with our mini case study this week.

Let me tell you about Danielle. She runs an accounting agency. She's smart, successful, totally driven. 

But she came to me saying, I just don't feel sharp anymore. So we sat down and dug into her calendar. That's where I usually like to start, because it's an indication of what you're doing and oftentimes what you're not.

Turns out 60% of her week was in project and team management. It's stuff that didn't light her up. Her real power, financial strategy, big picture insights, helping her clients forecast, grow, and make smarter decisions. 

We made three changes in her role that made all the difference. First, we took her out of the routine check-ins and admin reviews. These were not helping her.

She could assign them to somebody else that probably knew them better than she did. We shifted the team oversight to her ops manager. That made things a lot easier because it aligned her to be able to think longer term. 

And we rebuilt her week to focus on strategic planning and key client consults. Six weeks later, she felt re-energized, finally working in her zone of genius, which was great to watch. Client outcomes were improved across the board. 

Not only was she not watching them, she was able to focus on the results at the end and make sure that that was aligned with what the client expected the results to be. And finally, her team was more confident and independent, which made her feel good because now she's not just helping her, she's helping everybody else achieve what they want and feeling good about what they do every single day. Now the change wasn't magic, it was very simple, but it really came down to alignment and it made the business feel exciting again for her.

So to help you do your own alignment self-audit, let's do a quick gut check. You're going to have two choices to choose from for each of three questions. First question, are you energized or simply enduring your day? Number two, are you playing to your strengths or are you reacting to demands? And number three, is your business built around your leadership or your availability? If you answered yes to any of the second statements, you've just hit the ceiling of your current alignment. 

And that's the best kind of signal because it means the next level is calling for you. It's calling for you to make the choices and how to move it back to where it should be. In a closing reflection, you didn't build your business to grind, you built it to thrive. 

So if it feels off, don't blame your stamina, don't grind it out. Step back, reconnect with what actually lights you up. Redesign your role to reflect that because you don't need to hustle harder, you need to realign with what's already working.

Ultimately, you're not burned out, you're misaligned, and it's time to fix that.

That's it for this episode. I hope you picked up some valuable insights and maybe even sparked a few new ideas. 

If you want to keep the conversation going, or maybe even explore partnerships, don't hesitate to reach out. And hey, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share this with someone who needs to hear it. The steps you take today could be the start of something big tomorrow. 

For The Budding Entrepreneur, I wish you the best in your health, your wealth, your business, your family, everything about you. Take care, and we'll see you back here next week.