Digital Byte 81: The Word Of The Year
June 2nd, 2026
I have landed on my word for 2026.
Patience.
This is an area I genuinely struggle in most areas of my life, and I think most entrepreneurs do too. We have ambitious goals, and we know that if we put in 200%, we could reach them fast.
I take sales calls pretty often, and when talking to high-level executives running 20+ year companies, I noticed a trend against the more novice ones. When I ask them what their five-year goals are, the answer almost always feels unaspirational at first. Just a little more of what they are already doing. And keep in mind, what they are already doing is already great. No massive pivots, no aggressive timelines, no reinventing anything. Just steady intentional growth on top of a foundation they trust. Five years feels slow and steady like a marathon, not fast and exhausting like a sprint.
It hit me recently that this is not a lack of ambition. It is wisdom.
It is not lost on me that we live in a time where you can get a package delivered in a day and get an answer to anything in seconds, it is honestly easier to lose sight of patience as a virtue. Growing slower is not falling behind. It actually gives you the ability to show up in more areas of your life.
Since February, I was dealing with team turnover at a rate I have never experienced. When I sat down to review why, 90% were due to situations beyond both of our control, personal relocation, family problems, visa issues... I felt the pressure to hire fast to keep up with the growth we had on the client side. I found a few options quickly, but honestly, I was not excited about them. They solved an immediate need and were not bad, but they did not feel 100% right either.
I took a step back and reminded myself to be patient. My problem is simple. Just one or two right hires will solve my problems. With patience for the right person, I will likely accelerate growth more than a mediocre fast hire ever would. Every instinct I had was telling me to rush, to fix it faster, to make up for lost time. But slow growth, as uncomfortable as it feels, is still growth.
Growth trends upward, but it is not linear. The progress is accumulating even when it does not feel that way.
So, the next time a valued team member needs to exit? Patience.
When you lose a client out of the blue? Patience.
Remind yourself that you did not lose your foundation. Making decisions from patience instead of pressure does not mean you are losing ground. It just means you are protecting it.
Stay Patient,
Sydney
