BITE POINT: The Gas-Clutch Dilemma

Think of the direction of your life as a car. Free will means you are the driver. But the car has limitations. It doesn’t fly. It doesn’t float. It’s just a normal, standard-transmission car.

If you understand how to drive the car, things will go faster and smoother, but some people have their car on rougher roads than others.

Let’s say your car is on frequently flooded roads. It’s going to be harder to exercise your free will. There is only so much the car can do. You go a few miles, but then the road floods and you have to stop.

Some people have their car on the autobahn, perfect for top speeds.

Some of us have bumpy hilly roads or roads with potholes.

You don’t get to pick the road or the car, but you do get to control how you drive.

So yes, you have free will. But that free will play out differently if you have the narrow road with potholes than it does if you have a wide open, well-paved highway.

It’s not free will OR determinism. It’s always both.

No matter what road you get assigned to drive this manual car on, you will, from time-to-time want or need to change gears.

To change gears, you have to do this tricky maneuver.

To get the car into the new gear, you need to lift your foot off the gas, and press down on the clutch, engage the new gear and then step on the acceleration again.

When authors come to me very often, they are at the point where they need to shift to a new gear. The gear they are in won't take them where they want to go. They want to shift up a level, but there is a problem. They are afraid to take their foot off the gas in their current career gear because it’s the gear they know. It’s how they earn a living, and they don’t want to give it up.

They start to press on the clutch, but they only get to that halfway "bite point." The clutch is engaged, but not all the way. The gear clicks in and out. The engine revs, but when you accelerate at this point, you move forward slowly and as you move forward, you are burning out the clutch.

You have not made the shift to the new gear, but you aren't performing well in the original gear either!

Sound familiar? You have your old identity still rotating with the new one. Everything is moving a lot slower.

A manual transmission maxed out in first hits about 35 mph. I mean that is not BAD! It’s easy to see why people want to stay there. It was “working.” It’s not ideal if you want to get on the highway, but it will get you from point A to point B.

The only way to get into that next gear is to get the clutch all the way down. If you stay at the bite point, you burn out.

As their coach, it looks like they are screaming, “I want to change gears!” but at the same time, they are holding their foot steady in that in-between phase, and the car is confused. It’s like they are pushing in the clutch to start in a new gear, but then they keep their foot on the gas of their current life and ask me why it's not working.

Here's the answer: You aren’t creating the conditions necessary to shift to the new gear.

The ones who quit their jobs and go all in on their goals and let go of that old identity are the ones who have the most success.

When I first started, for the first 3 years, I kept my corporate job and had a business as a side hustle. Classic keeping the foot on the gas and clutch.

I was a shit-show at my job. I didn’t want to give it up, but I hated it. I was terrible at it. And I found it so hard to focus and stay positive. I wasn't going to get a promotion or a raise in my job because I didn't want to stay in that gear.

I wanted to be in my new identity gear building a business, but I needed my old identity, which came with a paycheck. So I stayed at the bite point, repeatedly hitting the gas, reviving the engine, and not making progress.

The truth for me was I was never going to succeed with my foot on the gas and clutch at the same time. The more I kept trying, the closer I was to burnout in both areas.

Once I freed myself from the identity of the corporate career gear, I was able to make the transition to my new business owner gear.

I can’t tell people to quit their job. I know bills have to be paid. But what I say is it’s not going to work to drive with your foot on the gas and clutch at the same time. Pick your gear.

As long as you keep the clutch at the bite point, you aren’t going anywhere fast, no matter how much energy and acceleration you pour in.

It’s scary to release the clutch. But the question is: Is it worse to grind the gears and burn out the transmission?

If not, stay in your current gear! 25 miles an hour is fine!

If staying in your current gear isn’t working for you, try releasing the clutch and THEN accelerate. Otherwise, all you are doing is pointlessly revving the engine.

So I guess here’s my question for you… considering the terrain you have been given to drive, how can you be a better driver for yourself?

#business

#businessowner

#careerchange

#changeyourlife