Imagine driving on a highway and suddenly hitting a narrow bridge. Traffic slows to a crawl, and your journey takes much longer than expected.

This is what we call a bottleneck. And we hate this moment.

Bottlenecks are also present in personal and business growth.

In today’s newsletter, I want to help you identify how personal and business bottlenecks are connected.

Let’s dive in.

The Struggle of Personal Bottlenecks

Many of us feel stuck in a career that doesn’t reflect our true selves.

You may have followed the traditional path laid out by society—college, job, corporate ladder—only to realize it’s not what you envisioned.

You crave respect, purpose, and fulfillment, but instead, you’re left feeling inadequate and unappreciated.

These feelings are bottlenecks that limit your personal growth.

Staying in a job where you’re not valued can be soul-crushing.

It’s not just about the lack of career progression; it’s about the constant feeling of being stuck, unworthy, and undervalued.

Personal bottlenecks compound, including:

• Negative mindset

• Lack of clarity

• Fear of failure

• Lack of accountability

• Procrastination

Then they quickly seep into the business world, causing deceleration, delays, and inefficiencies.

Overcoming Personal Bottlenecks to Drive Business Growth

Bottlenecks prevent us from living the life we want.

They sometimes hide in plain sight. And other times we don’t do anything about them.

As an entrepreneur, personal bottlenecks turn into business bottlenecks.

To break free from this cycle, you need to recognize that personal bottlenecks are business bottlenecks. And work to improve them proactively.

Here are 5 actionable steps to help you:

(I derived these steps from the DMAIC Framework [define, measure, analyze, improve, control] to be more relatable.)

1. Set goals

Identify what you want in life. What does your dream life look like?

Sometimes this level of clarity can be difficult, so work backward and identify what you don’t want.

Then set specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based goals.

2. Define the problems in the way of your goals

What problems are standing in your way of achieving those goals? Write out a couple of sentences defining the known facts.

3. Analyze the problems

Look at the root cause of those problems. This is where bottlenecks exist.

It’s more than likely that a problem is a bottleneck. Analyze the bottleneck.

4. Develop a (solution) system

Research your curiosities and learn how to overcome the bottleneck.

Document your solution and create a repeatable, teachable, and automatable system.

5. Control the system

Ensure the system keeps you accountable to your goals.

Through this system, you’ll practice personal growth and business growth.

Why you should care

If you want to build your dream life, one filled with freedom to control what you work on, who you work with, when you work, and where you work, then smoothing out bottlenecks is a necessity.

• Your Dream Life = The Benefits of Your System / (Personal Bottlenecks + Business Bottlenecks)

To maximize your dream life, you need to maximize the benefits of your system while minimizing personal and business bottlenecks.

If you’re looking for a more specific system, let me introduce you to the system-based 1-person business.

Simply put, this system allows you to be yourself, improve yourself, and profit off yourself—without anybody getting in your way.

For personalized guidance, accountability, and structure, check out my course designed to break you free from your personal bottlenecks and turn your passions into profit with a 1-person business.

Mindset Jujitsu.

As always, I love to chat with you guys! Reply back to this email or DM me on X (@markfrommktg) with any questions, feedback, or to simply kick it.

Thanks for being here.

Talk soon,

Mark