I used to debate my employees and clients about changing our business model.

I’d make my case in the shower, refine it in the car, and rehearse it again at two in the morning. 

Every time I came up with a better answer, they came back with a better objection.

The strange part is that none of them knew we were debating.

The whole conversation was happening in my head.

Chess 

If you’ve ever played chess against yourself, you know you can never outsmart your opponent. 

That’s what those debates were like. 

And the objections were so convincing because they were really my own doubts in disguise.

When I pictured a client threatening to leave, I was the one wondering whether we were worth staying for. 

When my team pushed back in my head, I was the one who wasn’t sure it would work.

I wasn’t trying to persuade them. I was trying to persuade myself.

What It Cost

Meanwhile, we kept running the business the old way, with all the problems the new model was meant to solve.

We could have been making offers, hearing real objections, and refining our marketing.

The whole thing started to feel like a bad idea, even though I’d never tested it.

I played the game alone, and it ended in a stalemate for many months.

Find Out

Maybe for you it’s using AI, developing a subscription service, or doubling your marketing investment.

Whatever it is, notice when you’re rehearsing resistance. Then step back and ask: Who’s really saying this?

That question takes you out of the game and into the role of the Observer, who can see both sides of the board at once.

Try rewriting each objection as a sentence that starts with “I.” Some will turn out to be your own doubts, and those are yours to work on. 

Others are real questions only another person can answer.

Take those to actual people. A real no will teach you more than a hundred imaginary ones.