Mind the Gap

As I continue to grow into grown-up entrepreneurship and apply my own Seven Exits Framework to my business, I’ve been learning to mind the gap.

Let me explain.

I absolutely believe in a growth mindset. But a growth mindset without direction is like riding a train with no clear destination.

For growth to work in business, I have to notice where the train actually stops—and step over the gap to do the real work: the work of evaluation, the work of decision-making, the work of discipline.

Hyper-ego can keep me sitting on the train pretending it never stopped.

Looking out the open door. Waiting for someone else to get on and guide me the rest of the way. Calling motion “progress.”

When I Turned Data into a Question

Recently, I returned to one of my favorite Seven Exits questions:

How am I getting in my own way?

The insight surprised me.

“I don’t use data the way I teach leaders to use data.”

And when I say data, I don’t only mean numbers or spreadsheets.

Data is the difference between what I expected to happen and what actually happened.

An email that didn’t get a response. A post that got clicks but didn’t lead to new contacts. Unexpected critical feedback from a client or mentor.

I was interpreting these moments as failure, instead of recognizing them as information.

When something doesn’t work, I usually move quickly to Plan B without fully understanding why Plan A failed. I call it flexibility. But it is really avoidance. An express route to relieving the discomfort of disappointment.

Busy feels productive—or at least like a rebound. But busy without analysis is just motion without mastery.

The most humbling part?

When I slowed down and reconsidered my actions, the corrections were far simpler than creating entirely new ones.

It was like pushing a door because I didn’t read the sign that said pull. When I pulled it, it swung right open.

In business, it can be just as simple.

Sending a second email with the assumption that the first one got lost in the crowd instead of assuming disinterest and moving on. Making a slight alteration to the website instead of creating more ads. Hiring an assistant for five hours a week instead of telling yourself you “can’t afford help” because you’re thinking in thousands instead of hundreds.

Upgrading Your Leadership

This is the same pattern I see in many leaders:

When results disappoint, they change direction instead of understanding what happened. They replace insight with urgency. They skip reflection for action.

Growth mindset isn’t just optimism. It’s precision. It’s the courage to pause and ask:

What actually happened? Where did the process break down? And what does the evidence require of me next?

That’s what “minding the gap” looks like in leadership.

Not staying on the train. Not jumping to the next platform. But stepping deliberately into the space where learning becomes strategy.