You're Solving It Backwards

When something isn't working, what do you do? You look for a better move. A better line. A better plan. You tweak strategy. But you i gnore the mood you're operating from. Flat. Resentful. Anxious. Checked out. And then you wonder why nothing sticks.

Here's how it usually goes: Strategy → Story → Mood You start with: "What should I do?" Then you build a story around it. "I've tried before." "This probably won't work." "They won't respond well."

Then your mood sinks further. And now your "strategy" is built on hopelessness, fear, or frustration. I saw this clearly in a recent coaching session. He thought he needed a better strategy for one area of tension. But as we unpacked it, the same avoidance was showing up:

At home. In business. In conversations he kept delaying. It wasn't strategy. It was his mood.

Flip the order. Mood → Story → Strategy Your mood shapes your interpretation. Your interpretation shapes your decisions. Your decisions shape your actions. When he shifted his mood first - grounded, curious, not performing - The same people, same environment, same circumstances... Completely different outcome. No new tactics. No clever lines. Just a different way of being.

Quick clarification before we move on: Mood is the deeper climate you're living in. State is the moment-to-moment condition.

They're connected, but not identical. I'll unpack that properly in the next email.

This week, before asking: "What should I do?" Ask: "What mood am I in?"

If it's off - address that first. Reset. Move. Commit. Have the conversation you're avoiding.

Then build strategy. Stop trying to solve tactical problems from a collapsed mood.