It's the last week of January. If your New Year habits haven't quite stuck the way you hoped, you're probably being pretty hard on yourself right now. Telling yourself it's about discipline, or motivation, or that you didn't want it enough.

What if it's none of those things?

In this episode, I walk through why habits struggle to take root for Quietly Disruptive founders, and it's almost never about willpower. It's about space. Or more specifically, whether your business actually has any room left for new things to grow.

When you're in a cage business that's already consuming every bit of your time, energy, and creativity, habits can't take root, not because you're uncommitted, but because there's literally nowhere for them to breathe. You're trying to plant seeds in a garden that's already completely full.

I share my own story of trying to build a daily writing habit while drowning in client work, and what changed when I finally rebuilt my business with space built in from the start. Not squeezed into the margins after everything else. Actually built in.

If your habits aren't sticking, the question isn't "What's wrong with me?" The real question is: "Does my business actually have room for this?"

You're not broken. The habits aren't the problem. The business consuming all your space is the problem.

And that's something you can rebuild.

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You know that feeling when something's off in your business but you can't quite name it? Everything looks fine from the outside: good revenue, established clients, and a professional reputation. But on the inside, you're exhausted, resentful, and trapped in something you built yourself.

In this episode, I walk through seven signs that you might be in a cage business. From saying yes to work you don't actually want, to hiding your boundaries and then breaking them, to performing a version of yourself you don't recognise, these patterns are how cages get built, bar by bar, yes by yes.

I'm sharing my own stories from when I was deep in my cage business at 38, not because they're special, but because if you're feeling this way, you're not alone.

You can't change what you can't see. This episode is about awareness, recognition, and finally naming what's actually happening.

You're not broken. You're just in a cage....and cages have doors.

Want even more wisdom, inspiration and only good things?

• Join The Founders Club, the free weekly newsletter for entrepreneurs who think differently and build unconventionally. Every week, I share what the Quietly Disruptive path really looks like: behind-the-scenes confessions, quiet wins, and the hard-won lessons from building businesses my way (so you can skip some of the painful bits 😆).
• Follow me over on the Gram or LinkedIn
• Read my unique story of how I became a Quietly Disruptive Business Coach, which involves over 25 years of building businesses and model horses (#notatypo)
• Drop me a line to share your story and say hello. I'd love to hear from you!

I'm going to tell you something that might sound irresponsible: when your business feels heavy, the solution isn't more strategy or discipline, it's fun. I challenge the idea that you need to push harder as we head into December, and instead make the case for letting yourself actually enjoy what you're building again.

I share my own experience of optimising all the joy out of my business while trying to be strategic and professional, and how I'm reclaiming it through an unconventional December project: a 25-day Instagram advent calendar that prioritises enjoyment over optimal marketing strategy. I take you through the realisation that I'd been so focused on being strategic that I'd made my business heavy, and how giving myself permission to have fun again transformed everything.

You'll hear:

• Why fun isn't frivolous but actually strategic. It's how you bring yourself back into your business
• The pattern established founders fall into: starting creative and excited, then learning "the rules" and squeezing out all the personality
• How giving myself permission to be less professional and more myself led to the Quietly Disruptive movement
• Why you're stuck because you stopped having fun, not in spite of it
• A challenge to break one rule and do something just because it sounds fun

This episode is a reminder that when you're having fun, you show up as yourself rather than as a professional performance, and that authenticity is what makes you magnetic to the right clients. Sometimes the best way forward isn't more strategy. It's more you.

Join in the advent calendar over on Instagram: @beckybenfieldhumberstone

Want even more wisdom, inspiration and only good things?

• Follow Becky on Instagram or LinkedIn
• Read Becky's story and her eclectic background which involves model horses (#notatypo)
• Drop Becky a line and say hello.