There’s a strange thing that happens when you own a home care business.

You start the company thinking you’re building a business.

Then, somewhere along the way, you realize:

The business is also building you.

It exposes your weaknesses. It tests your patience. It forces you to have conversations you’d rather avoid. It puts problems in front of you that you have absolutely no idea how to solve.

You hire the wrong person….A great caregiver quits…..A client you thought was happy leaves…..Your best salesperson stops producing.

Payroll is coming…..The phone isn’t ringing enough.

….Or maybe the opposite happens.

You start growing quickly, and suddenly the systems, people, and leadership abilities that got you to $1 million aren’t enough to get you to $3 million.

Every new level seems to introduce a new set of problems.

And I think there’s a reason for that.

You are being asked to expand your vessel.

Your Business Can Only Grow as Far as You Can

Think about pouring a gallon of water into an eight-ounce glass.

It doesn’t matter how much water is available…..The glass can only hold eight ounces.

Business works the same way.

We all have a certain capacity for responsibility, uncertainty, pressure, leadership, money, conflict, risk, and complexity.

That capacity becomes our vessel. But our vessel is malleable.

…Early in business, managing five caregivers can feel overwhelming.

Eventually, five caregivers feels like nothing….Then 25 feels overwhelming…..Until it doesn’t.

…Then it’s 50.

….Then 100.

……Then multiple locations.

……..Then an executive team.

What changed?

It wasn’t necessarily that business became easier.

You became bigger…..Your vessel expanded.

Things that once created enormous stress became normal.

Problems that once ruined your entire weekend became things you handled in 20 minutes on Monday morning.

That is growth.

….And there’s something deeper happening underneath all of it.

Your Mind Wants Comfort. Your Soul Wants Expansion.

The human mind is an interesting creature.

It likes certainty.

It likes familiarity.

It likes knowing what’s going to happen next.

In many ways, we’re wired to seek safety and avoid discomfort.

So when we’re about to do something that stretches us, the mind often starts negotiating.

…Maybe I should wait.

…Maybe I’m not ready.

…Maybe I need to learn a little more first.

…Maybe now isn’t the right time.

And sometimes those thoughts are legitimate.

….But sometimes they’re just sophisticated ways of saying:

“I would rather stay where it’s comfortable.”

Here’s the problem…..Very little meaningful growth happens there.

Plus…nothing actually ever stays the same…

New competitors enter the market….Ai enters the industry…..an epidemic hits…. A new regulation passes…

IT NEVER STAYS THE SAME…

But our mind and nervous system tricks us into thinking “comfort” is “safety”….but it’s not.

And yet…..There’s another part of us that wants something entirely different.

Call it your soul. Your spirit. Your higher self. Your God-given potential. Whatever language resonates with you.

….That part of you wants expansion.

It wants to find out what you’re capable of.

It wants to create.

It wants to contribute.

It wants to experience more of life.

And that creates one of the great internal battles of entrepreneurship:

Your human wants to be comfortable while your soul wants to grow.

Maybe the answer isn’t eliminating that tension.

Maybe the answer is learning to love it.

What If Discomfort Became the Signal?

Most people interpret discomfort as a warning:

“Something’s wrong. Get me out of here.”

But what if you trained yourself to interpret certain kinds of discomfort differently?

“I’m uncomfortable. Good. I’m probably expanding.”

Not reckless behavior.

Not ignoring your intuition.

Not staying in genuinely unhealthy situations.

….I’m talking about the discomfort that accompanies growth.

Hiring someone before you feel completely ready.

Delegating something you’ve controlled for years.

Walking into a referral source you’ve been afraid to approach.

Holding an employee accountable….Raising your prices…..Making the investment….Opening another location….Hiring the salesperson.

Firing someone you know isn’t right…..Standing on the stage…..Making the offer…..Having the difficult conversation.

….Those moments don’t always feel good.

But neither does lifting a heavy weight.

We understand that resistance in the gym is what causes the muscle to grow.

Yet somehow, in life, we expect growth without resistance.

It doesn’t work that way….Resistance is often the mechanism.

Train Your Human

…..This may be one of the most valuable skills we can develop as entrepreneurs:

Train your human to become comfortable being uncomfortable.

Better yet, train yourself to become curious about discomfort.

When you feel that nervousness before doing something bigger, instead of immediately retreating, recognize it.

“There it is.”….”That’s the edge of my current vessel.”

And then move toward the edge…..Stay there a little longer.

Teach your nervous system:

We’re okay here.

….Do that enough times and something remarkable happens.

What used to feel terrifying becomes familiar.

Then something bigger becomes terrifying…..Good.

You’ve found the next edge…..That’s the game.

Your 95-Year-Old Self

There’s one perspective I think about that cuts through a lot of the noise.

My love always talks about Imagining we’re 95 years old

…..laying on our death bed….and looking back on our life….What will we wish we did?

….The businesses, houses, cars, revenue numbers and bank accounts don’t matter much anymore.

You’re looking backward….At your life….At the opportunities you had.

At the person you could have become.

What do you want to be able to say?

…Did you go for it?

…Did you find out what you were capable of?

…Did you build the thing that kept whispering to you?

…Did you take some risks?

…Did you fall down?

…Did you get back up?

…Did you allow yourself to become the person your dreams required you to become?

….Or did you spend most of your life negotiating with fear so you could remain comfortable?

I don’t think most of us will regret the things that didn’t work.

We tried….We learned…..We grew.

Some of my biggest failures have expanded me more than some of my greatest successes.

The harder question may be:

What did I never discover about myself because I was unwilling to become uncomfortable long enough to find out?

That question hits differently……Maybe That’s What This Is Really About

Yes, grow your home care company…..Generate more referrals….Recruit more caregivers.

Build your leadership team…..Improve your margins.

Open another location…..Make more money.

Do all of it.

But understand something:

The biggest thing you’re building may not be the company.

It’s you.

Every challenge is asking you to hold a little more.

…More responsibility.

…More uncertainty.

…More leadership.

…More abundance.

…More complexity.

…More impact.

….And every time you step outside your familiar boundaries and discover that you’re capable of handling more than you thought, your vessel gets a little bigger.

Eventually, you may realize that the goal was never to create a life without discomfort.

The goal was to become someone who no longer needed comfort in order to move forward.

So when business stretches you this month—and if you own a home care company, I promise you, it will—don’t immediately ask:

“How do I make this discomfort go away?”

Try asking: “Who is this requiring me to become?”

….Then become that person.

Because one day, hopefully many decades from now, you’re going to look backward at this whole crazy ride.

And when that day comes, you won’t get another chance to step outside the comfort zone.

You won’t get another chance to take the risk….You won’t get another chance to find out.

Expand the vessel now….Your human may resist it…..Your soul has been waiting for it.

Article by Gregg Mazza