← Alissa Smajilovic Contact
Journal

Thoughts on the nervous system, capacity and growth

No advice content. No formulas. Only what I have learnt from working with women founders and from working with my own system. About the body, the nervous system and why growth needs to remain sustainable.

Decision-making
The sales page is 90 percent finished. Still no launch.
Only one link is missing. Yet you would rather develop a second offer. Why this is not a question of discipline and which level of your hesitation might be right.
Leadership
You have a team. You still check every post.
No graphic, text or hashtag goes out without you. Why you are paying twice and which level of holding on might be right.
Growth
Fully booked. Still writing rejections.
The moment you worked towards is here. Now you are turning people away. Why fully booked is not a state but information.
Sales
“What did you have in mind?”
The question sounds professional. Yet it turns her number into your price. Why this is not flexibility and what is working underneath.
Sales
The proposal has been sitting in your drafts since Tuesday
Opened three times, rewritten twice, price lowered once. Why pressing send is the real muscle.
Decision-making
Two new business ideas a week. None of them finished.
The switch to the next idea almost always happens when the old one would need to become concrete. Why this is not a character trait.
Leadership
“By the time I explain it, I can do it myself.”
Halfway through explaining, you take the task back because doing it yourself is faster. Why the first handover is always the most expensive.
Capacity
“As soon as I take time off, I get sick.”
The first day off, an empty calendar and you are in bed. So reliably that you pack throat lozenges. Why this is not weakness but a deferred bill.
Nervous system
Why you offer a discount before the client even negotiates
The price is fair. You still lower it at the last second. Why your nervous system predicts rejection, why understanding alone changes nothing and what actually shifts the prediction.
Nervous system
Functional freeze: when you function but nothing moves
You deliver. You are reliable. Still, nothing moves forward. Why this is not laziness and why discipline makes it worse.
Capacity
Capacity: why your business is not failing because of your calendar
Time management, tools, routines. Still gone by 2 pm. This is not a time problem. Time cannot be built. Capacity can.
Nervous system
Regulating your nervous system is not the same as calming down
Regulation is almost always confused with calming down. Why that sometimes makes everything worse and what is actually happening.
Somatics
Why somatic exercises do not automatically regulate your nervous system
Somatic exercises are everywhere. Doing an exercise does not mean it helps your system. The sequence matters.