As small companies or owner-operators we are often left to figure out solutions to most of our problems on our own. This means that we are internally processing the solutions and can get stuck in a loop. We are only experiencing the conversation in one way and that tends to produce the same results. Imagine how many times just having someone to bounce an idea off of would have been helpful.
When we do get the rare opportunity to externalize our conundrum, we can generally have a solution for it that is different from our initial one, and we didn’t even need the help or input from that person. It’s not that their advice is not valid or helpful. It is just that when we are able to externalize our problems, we are not only saying them, we are hearing them and that gives way to a different processing mode. Even writing things down instead of only internally working through them can help you process differently.