Maybe the Answer Isn’t More
Sometimes growth starts with letting something go
To launch Soss Strategy Group, I had to reckon with something I didn’t expect.
Not the business plan. Not the financials. Not the question of whether I had enough experience—I had 13 years of it.
The thing I had to reckon with was this: for the first time, my name is the brand.
There’s no organization to stand behind. No title that does the explaining for me. No company logo carrying credibility on my behalf.
Just me, putting my point of view out into the world and hoping it lands.
That’s a different kind of exposure than anything I’d done before. And I could feel the resistance immediately.
So I had to ask myself a hard question:
What am I actually resisting?
The answer surprised me less than I’d like to admit.
- To grow, I needed to let go of my fear of being seen.
- I needed to let go of my fear of judgment.
- I needed to let go of my fear of failure.
- I needed to let go of the guard I’ve carried for years and allow myself to be more vulnerable than feels comfortable.
For a long time, I thought confidence would come first and action would follow.
What I’m learning is that it’s usually the other way around.
What if it’s letting something go?
We’re wired to think growth is additive. If something isn’t working, the answer must be more effort, more discipline, more knowledge, more strategy. We assume progress comes from adding: another habit, another system, another optimization, another thing to improve.
But what if the answer isn’t adding something new?
What if it’s letting something go?
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately because everywhere I look, the message seems to be the same: do more. Build more. Learn more. Optimize more. Become more.
And while some of that advice is valuable, I wonder how often we stop to ask whether the thing standing between us and the life we want isn’t something we’re missing, but something we’re carrying.
Something we’re carrying
You can be the most driven, focused, hardworking person in the room and still feel stuck—not because you’re incapable and not because you aren’t trying hard enough, but because something is quietly working against you.
Maybe it’s a belief that you’re not smart enough to pull it off. Maybe it’s the voice that tells you people like you don’t build businesses like this. Maybe it’s the fear of being judged, failing publicly, or succeeding and suddenly having to become someone you’ve never been before.
You don’t hear those thoughts out loud very often. But they show up everywhere: in the opportunities you don’t pursue, in the conversations you avoid, in the ideas you never share, and in the risks you talk yourself out of before anyone else has the chance to tell you no.
Fear rarely sounds like fear
The tricky part is that fear rarely sounds like fear.
It sounds practical.
It sounds responsible.
It sounds strategic.
“I need a little more experience first.”
“I’ll start when I know more.”
“I just need a better plan.”
“There are people way more qualified than me.”
Maybe those things are true. Or maybe your brain is doing exactly what it was designed to do: keep you safe.
Because growth requires uncertainty. And uncertainty feels uncomfortable. The problem is that what keeps us safe doesn’t always move us forward.
What part of myself do I need to let go of?
So here’s the question I’ll leave you with:
Not, “What do I need to add to get where I’m going?”
But, “What part of myself do I need to let go of?”
The perfectionist? The people pleaser? The person who doesn’t think they’re good enough?
- For me, it’s the version that needs everyone’s approval.
- The version that’s afraid of judgment.
- The version that believes visibility is dangerous.
- The version that thinks she needs one more credential before she’s ready.
None of those things require a new strategy.
They require a decision.
Maybe the next version of you isn’t waiting on the other side of more knowledge, more experience, or a better plan.
Maybe it’s waiting on the other side of letting something go.
