The Real Reason Nothing Is Shifting In Your Business

I read something recently that didn’t give me a big breakthrough… it made me uncomfortable.

And sometimes that’s the stuff that actually changes things.

In this episode, we unpack a powerful idea from Napoleon Hill’s Outwitting the Devil and how it shows up in business in a way most people don’t realise.

Because the issue usually isn’t that you don’t know what to do.

It’s that you’re not doing what you already know.

This is a deeper look at why nothing seems to shift… even when you’re capable, experienced, and trying.

𝗜𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗲𝗽𝗶𝘀𝗼𝗱𝗲 𝘄𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿:

• The concept of “drifting” and how it shows up in everyday decisions

• Why not deciding is still a decision

• The hidden cost of delay, avoidance, and staying busy

• How small choices quietly shape your business outcomes

• Why most people already know what they need to do

• The gap between knowing and actually doing

• How we justify inaction in ways that sound reasonable

• The role of habits, thinking, and reactions in holding you back

• Why growth rarely comes from big moments but from consistent small decisions

• The question that shifts everything about how you show up

𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀:

• Not deciding is still shaping your results

• Most people are not stuck because they lack knowledge

• Avoidance often disguises itself as preparation or timing

• Small decisions compound into confidence, income, and growth

• The real shift happens when you consciously decide how you show up

🎧𝗟𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗼𝗱𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁𝘀

https://www.sharonfrancisco.com/podcast

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Have a question for the podcast? Email hello@sharonfrancisco.com

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Hello and welcome to the Sharon Francisco Show. Today we're talking about the real reason your business isn't shifting. I read something recently that stayed with me longer than I expected, actually. It wasn't like a big aha moment, but it was more uncomfortable than I thought it would make me feel. Now, you probably know the book Think and Grow Rich, written by Napoleon Hill. It was one of the very first books that I read, and I absolutely loved it. It was, I read it in my mid-20s. It made me realize that what I think actually shapes what I do, and what I do shapes my results. That was a big kind of um realization for me back in the day when I was still trying to understand what makes businesses work and why some people succeed and why some people struggle. So I was reading a whole bunch of books like that to try and help me with that. So there's another book Napoleon Hill wrote called Outwitting the Devil. And I'd never heard of it before. I only found it just recently. And this book actually takes it a little bit further. The story behind it's really interesting. He wrote this book in 1930 and it wasn't released when he wrote it. It sat there for years. And when you read it, you're going to see why, see why it sat there for years. It doesn't just talk about success, it actually questions how people are living. Now, there's a couple of different versions around why it wasn't released. One was that they didn't think that they should release it then because it was too sort of confronting. Another version is the family just found the script of the book and released it when they found it. So I don't know what the truth is with that, but I'm glad that they released it. The whole thing was written like a conversation with the devil. But the devil isn't some external force. It's not about something that's happening to you, it's about the part of you that gives your power away. It's not big dramatic moments, it's in small everyday moments. So it's like a conversation with the stuff that's going on in your world inside your head. What the book really points to is the idea that most people don't actually decide how they're going to live. They respond and they actually just follow. They delay, they stay with what feels familiar. And I know this is a really normal human trait that we just stay with what feels familiar and what feels, I guess, easier. He calls this drifting, but it's not harmless. It's living a life you don't consciously choose, you just drift along. And what I guess hit me most about this wasn't the word, it was about what sits underneath that. It's the lack of decision and clarity. That's all that's missing. It's knowing what you should do and not doing it. It's telling yourself that you'll get to it at some point and never actually getting to it. And over time, that actually becomes your life. You didn't choose it, you just let it run. Not deciding still shapes where you end up. That is a decision. When you don't raise your prices, that's a decision. When you don't put yourself out there, that's a decision. When you don't say the thing that needs to be said, that's a decision. And they don't feel like decisions because they don't feel strong. They feel like avoidance, delay, and being busy, but they compound. And I think I've told my story on this podcast about the the day that um I was married with my husband. I was together with my husband for 26 years, and our marriage had sort of ended a few years before, but both of us were kind of just existing together like friends. We were just kind of hanging out together. And it wasn't awful, it wasn't horrible, it was just it had ended. And neither of us would make the decision. And that's why when he called me that day to say, Shazar, I can't do this anymore. The first words out of my mouth were, You're the brave one. Because neither of us were making the decision. And I tell you, it's that, and after that, I did a whole bunch of things to make sure that, because it is big, big, scary decisions like that are massive, and that's why we delay them. But I said to myself, and I said it out loud to him, I'll never ask for you back. And that to me kind of was like an affirmation that I would never ask for him back. So that was a decision that I made. He was the brave one to say it first, but then I was like, okay, I've got to figure out a way where I'm gonna make sure this stays and that we we do what's courageous for both of us. So, and this is where the book actually gets quite confronting because it suggests that people don't get don't get controlled by something outside of them, they get controlled by what they don't question inside of them, their habits, their thinking, their reactions. And I think that's where it links back to business in a really practical kind of way, because most of the time the issue isn't that you don't know what to do. You do. It's that you're not doing what you know you should be doing, and there's usually a darn good reason for that, but we don't always call it what it is. We make it sound sensible. We say we're waiting, we're preparing, or just needing a little bit more time. But underneath that, there's something we're avoiding. And I'm not saying that from a place of I've got it all sorted either. I still catch myself with this sort of stuff sometimes. But what this book has made me more aware of is how easy it is to let all those small little things pass without stepping in and making a decision, and how much those small moments actually shape everything in our lives, our confidence, our income, and our growth. Not one big decision, but hundreds of tiny small ones. So I think the real takeaway for me wasn't about the fear of success or even mindset, it was this am I actually deciding how I'm showing up? Or am I just following what feels easiest in the moment? Because those are different paths and they don't lead to the same place. Hopefully, this has been helpful. The book is called Outwitting the Devil by Napoleon Hill. If you get a chance, there's a summary version of it, and it really hit me this one. It was a really good read. So until next time, I'll talk to you soon. Bye.