1428: The Stalling Period (When It Feels Like It's Not Working)

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My kids planted zinnias, and then they stopped growing. They came through the dirt and just sat there, day after day, doing nothing. I was ready to take a chainsaw to a tree over it.

Turns out the zinnias weren't broken. They were in the root stage. All the energy was going underground, where I couldn't see it, building the system that lets a plant shoot up later. The part that looked like failure was actually the most important work the plant would ever do.

This episode is about what that root stage exposes in us.

We want results to show up in tandem with our effort, and they don't. There is almost always a gap between when you put the work in and when you get to see it. That gap is where most people quit their debt payoff, their nutrition, their training, and go looking for a different plan that isn't actually the problem.

So I'm asking you the honest question. Have you been consistent over time, through a stretch where you weren't seeing results? And if your answer is "kinda," I'll save you the suspense. Kinda is a no. If it's not a hell yes, it's a no.

We also get into the apple tree, and why I have to pick the blossoms off mine this year on purpose. You have a finite amount of energy, and you cannot fruit in every area of your life at once. Not everything has to fruit this season. The trick is choosing where the energy goes instead of thinning it across everything and panicking when nothing blooms.

Here's the thing underneath all of it. The stalling period is a predictable vulnerability. You will hit it every single time, in every pursuit that matters. It's the exact moment the negotiation starts and the standard begins to bend. And anything you can see coming, you can build defense against.

That's what DEFENSE Foundations is. It's the structure that gets you through the root stage without bending, so you stop negotiating against the woman you could be in the moment it counts. You already know where you quit last time. Let's build the thing that gets you through it.

You can't have a fruit system without a root system. Stop reaching for the chainsaw.

Get on the DEFENSE waitlist: elizabethbenton.com/defense-app/