Are you sitting there at the end of January wondering where the month went and why nothing's actually changed? Did those optimistic plans to finally delegate more, work fewer hours, and get out of the weeds disappear faster than your New Year's resolutions? If you're back to being the busiest person in your firm, firefighting the same problems you promised yourself would be different in 2026, this episode is for you.

I share what I've learned about why our best intentions fail and what's actually happening in your brain when you revert to old patterns. In this episode, I talk about the real reasons you keep getting pulled back into client work despite knowing you need to work on the business. You'll hear the brain science behind why change is so difficult and the one practical step that will actually break the pattern.

What you'll learn in the podcast episode:

- Why defaulting to old patterns isn't a failure of willpower or discipline, but a predictable brain response

- The certainty trap: how your brain chooses the immediate dopamine hit of client work over the uncertain outcomes of working on your business, even when you know what needs to change

- Why the transition from growing to scaling creates a survival response in your brain that pulls you back to billable work, especially during light revenue months

- How your identity as a successful firm owner has been wired to equate being busy with client work as important, filtering out the strategic work that actually matters

- The planning fallacy that keeps you bumping business development to 'next week' and why that mythical quiet period never arrives

- The one non-negotiable practice that breaks the pattern

Related episodes:

You’re not running a business, you’re running an expensive job (and how to change this): https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/publish/posts/detail/182867523?referrer=%2Fpublish%2Fposts%2Fpublished

Working harder won’t get you there (here’s what will in 2026): https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/publish/posts/detail/182227399?referrer=%2Fpublish%2Fposts%2Fpublished

Why we feel the compulsion to overwork (and how to stop): https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/publish/posts/detail/171535895?referrer=%2Fpublish%2Fposts%2Fpublished

Why I can’t stop doing the one thing that’s limiting my business: https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/publish/posts/detail/180334311?referrer=%2Fpublish%2Fposts%2Fpublished

15 ways your life will unexpectedly change (and not always for the better) as your business moves from growing to scaling https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/publish/posts/detail/175091214?referrer=%2Fpublish%2Fposts%2Fpublished

4 micro habits to stop burnout (before it starts): https://startuptogrownup.substack.com/publish/posts/detail/167596494?referrer=%2Fpublish%2Fposts%2Fpublished

Useful links:

- sign up as a paid subscriber and use this link to get 20% off an annual membership of Start Up To Grown Up

Welcome to a free podcast episode of Start Up To Grown Up: Your source for ideas, insights and tactics to take back control of your business and scale it sustainably and profitably by Heather Townsend, award-winning author of The Accountants’ Millionaires’ Club and Founder of The Accountants’ Growth Club

Each episode of the Start Up To Growth Up Podcast is based on my weekly Substack Article on the same topic. Head over to my substack to subscribe https://substack.com/@startuptogrownup so you never miss an article or episode again.

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