🧠Weekly MindSweep No. 217 | Mind Your Business | Resistance
March 2026
Week 216: Curated Conversation: Resistance
*Week 217: Mind Your Business: Resistance
Week 218: Manage Your Mind: Resistance
Week 219: What’s On My Mind: Resistance
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In the MindSweep this week:
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Jamie’s Second Brain Corner: Links to references & MindSweep Mapping
What’s Inspiring Me - Fawning by Ingrid Clayton
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The Quiet Resistance That Keeps Creative Entrepreneurs Invisible
Before I left my career, everything seemed perfectly reasonable.
The paycheck was reliable.
The benefits were solid.
The title looked respectable on paper.
​To anyone looking in, staying made perfect sense.
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But in 2020, as the world grew unsettled, something inside me started to shift. The ideas grew louder. The curiosity about building something of my own kept surfacing. I could feel the pull toward entrepreneurship long before I acted on it, setting the stage for what was to come.
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And yet I didn’t move right away.
Not because the opportunity wasn’t there.
Not because I didn’t have ideas.
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Because starting something new always brings discomfort and fear.
​Leaving a structured job for the open world of entrepreneurship means giving up familiar routines, validation, and certainty. Our minds like predictability and want to know what tomorrow will bring.
​Entrepreneurship offers very little of that.
​So I found myself standing in that in-between space—aware that something new was waiting on the other side, and yet still feeling resistance to taking the step. This moment of hesitation bridges the divide many entrepreneurs know well.
​The moment when you know.
And you still hesitate.
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Resistance shows up in the gap between knowing and taking action.
Resistance Rarely Looks Like Procrastination
When people talk about resistance, they often imagine procrastination. They picture someone avoiding work or distracting themselves instead of doing what matters.
But in entrepreneurship, resistance is rarely that obvious. It often hides behind a sense of responsibility.
​Last week in Curated Conversation, this came up repeatedly. Resistance doesn’t usually stop us from working; it just shifts our focus to other tasks that feel productive.
Emails.
Client work.
Administrative tasks.
Helping other people.
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Suddenly, there are five million things that need to be done before you can focus on the work that actually moves your business forward.
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Visibility.
Creative work.
Publishing the idea.
Looking honestly at your numbers.
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We all laughed about doing tasks that weren’t even on the to-do list, then adding them just to check them off because it felt so familiar. Our minds enjoy the feeling of finishing something, even if it means avoiding the work that feels vulnerable.
​The day feels full.
​And yet somehow, nothing moved.
​Resistance rarely stops entrepreneurs from being busy. It stops them from being visible.
The Quiet Resistance of Showing Up
Many entrepreneurs, especially those doing creative or heart-centered work, face another kind of resistance: the struggle to speak openly about what matters to them.
​Many people know who they are and what they want to share with the world. They’ve spent years developing ideas, refining their thoughts, and gaining experience. Their work matters deeply to them, but something inside still holds them back from speaking up.
​The internal dialogue sounds familiar:
Who am I to talk about this?
There are already so many voices out there.
Why would anyone listen to me?
During our conversation last week, someone realized they were holding back their words—not because they weren’t ready, but because being visible means growing into a bigger version of yourself. That kind of growth can feel unsettling, especially when our minds prefer the safety of what’s familiar.
​Entrepreneurship often asks us to grow into new versions of ourselves that we haven’t fully become yet.
​The space between who we were and who we’re becoming can feel uncomfortable.
​Growth usually feels awkward long before it feels expansive.
Creating in Uncertain Conditions
There’s another kind of resistance many entrepreneurs are dealing with right now. It’s not about motivation or discipline, but about how our nervous systems handle stress.
​We’re building businesses in uncertain economic times. News changes quickly, markets shift, and social and political situations feel tense and unpredictable. Even if we’re not thinking about these things, our bodies still pick up on the stress around us.
​Our brains are built to spot threats and keep us safe. When things feel uncertain, we naturally become more cautious.That’s when resistance sneaks in quietly.
Decision fatigue.
Creative blocks.
Refining endlessly instead of publishing.
Researching instead of creating.
​From a cognitive neuroscience perspective, this response makes sense. Research shows that when uncertainty increases, our brains prefer familiar choices and avoid risks. (Huettel, Song, & McCarthy, Decisions Under Uncertainty, 2008).
​Creation, visibility, and entrepreneurship all involve uncertainty.
​So the brain hesitates.
​But entrepreneurship has never depended on perfect stability. Many businesses and ideas we admire started during uncertain times, like Chickbook Creative and Curated Conversation, which began during the global pandemic in 2020.
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Which means something important.
Creating right now is not naive.
It’s courageous.
In uncertain times, creating something new is an act of resistance.
The Discomfort of Becoming
Last week in Curated Conversation, someone shared an honest insight that captured how uncomfortable it can feel to grow and change.
​“It’s uncomfortable to be between what was and what is becoming.”
​Creative entrepreneurs often spend a lot of time in that middle space. You’re not who you used to be, but you’re not quite who you’re becoming yet.
​Our minds like clear identities and predictable outcomes, but growth disrupts both. When we move toward a bigger vision of ourselves, we lose the comfort of certainty for a while.
​That disorientation can feel like resistance, but it’s actually a sign that growth is underway.
​When we look at entrepreneurs we admire, we often forget they felt the same hesitation.
​We see their books, businesses, and ideas out in the world. We admire their impact and assume they were always confident. But each of them once stood at a crossroads, wondering whether to take the next step.
​Every creative entrepreneur you look up to once felt the same resistance you feel now.
Noticing Where Resistance Hides
The biggest change entrepreneurs can make isn’t getting rid of resistance, but noticing where it shows up. Resistance grows stronger when we don’t name it. If we think something is wrong with us, we miss what’s really going on.
​Awareness changes that.
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Start by asking yourself a few honest questions:
​Where am I staying busy instead of being visible?
What work am I delaying because it feels emotionally uncomfortable?
Where am I helping everyone else before I help my own business move forward?
What idea am I whispering about instead of speaking clearly?
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These questions aren’t about criticism; they’re about clarity. Once you can see resistance, you can choose to respond differently.
​You can choose to create anyway.
​When we see resistance clearly, we regain the power to move through it.
Moving Through Resistance
When I finally left my full-time job to become an entrepreneur, nothing magical happened right away. The uncertainty was still there. The questions didn’t go away.
​If anything, they multiplied.
​But something else changed, too.
​The ideas I’d been holding onto finally had space to grow. The work that mattered to me could finally take shape. And the discomfort that once felt like resistance slowly started to feel like expansion.
​Looking back, that moment before making the decision makes sense now. The hesitation wasn’t a sign that the step was wrong. It was just my mind reacting to change.
​Entrepreneurship is full of moments like this.
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Moments when the path forward feels uncertain.
Moments when resistance gets loud.
Moments when the safer choice looks very reasonable.
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But entrepreneurs who change industries, communities, and lives all share one thing in common.
​They didn’t wait for resistance to go away. They noticed it and created anyway.
​Resistance might be there when you make a decision, but it doesn’t get to choose whether you move forward.
My questions for you this week:
When you feel resistance in your business, how do you know whether it’s a signal to pause or the exact place where growth is asking you to move?
What’s one piece of work you know you want to share… but keep finding reasons to delay?
Reply and share with me!
✨ You Belong Here. I can help.
If you find yourself struggling with resistance, you’re not the only one.
A lot of creative entrepreneurs know what they want to build, say, or share, but still hold back when it’s time to be seen. It’s not a lack of ideas or talent. Our brains are simply built to protect us from uncertainty, being exposed, and change.
This is the work I do.
As a brain-based business strategist, I help entrepreneurs see what’s really happening in their brains and nervous systems during moments of resistance. Together, we turn that understanding into clear, purposeful action.
If you’re ready to stop overthinking and start creating, or if you want to move from hesitation to sharing your gifts, let’s set up a free call to talk about your next step.
Decide if you want a free consultation to talk through your current state or book your MindSweep Mapping Session now. Choose what fits your needs and reserve your spot.
Curated Conversation
If this conversation resonated, you don’t have to navigate resistance alone. Curated Conversation is a weekly live space for heart-centered, ADHD-wired entrepreneurs to slow down, reflect together, and understand what resistance is actually protecting, rather than shaming themselves for feeling it.
We look at the subtle stalls. The overthinking. The “I’ll start tomorrow.” We untangle avoidance from nervous system overwhelm and create small, supported movement forward.
If you’ve never joined us, your first month is free. Come sit in the room. Listen if you want. Speak if you’re ready. Stay if it feels like home.
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Jamie’s Second Brain Corner:
Words in bold within the Weekly MindSweep are all topics we’ve covered in Curated Conversation. You can dig into them here by searching for the word.
What I’m reading
Fawning.
I’m inspired by the shift from performing for worth to living from inner alignment, where success, visibility, and money feel safe because they’re rooted in self-worth, agency, and self-compassion.
Business Community & Collaboration
Be sure to join us in before our final gathering, June 2026!
Friday, April 3, 2025 Join Shannon and me at the MetroWest Chamber of Commerce for this special session. Different Thinkers. Stronger Teams. Autistic and AuDHD professionals offer valuable strengths like focus, creativity, integrity, and systems thinking. However, many workplaces are not set up to support the way they work best.
In this session, Melissa K. Berger from thriving with autism will talk about the hidden challenges that can slow teams down. She will share simple, practical changes that help neurodivergent team members do their best work, leading to better collaboration, productivity, and innovation for all.
Free: Registration is required: https://bit.ly/MWCOC_April2026
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