This week, I Didn’t Feel Like a Leader. I Felt Like a Loser.

This week, I didn’t feel like a leader. I felt like a loser.

Sometimes I scroll through my feed and wonder—can all this happiness really be real? Is it just ChatGPT crafting perfect positivity? Is it that people only share the wins, never the losses? Or maybe, as leaders, we feel we have to inspire and appear put-together all the time.

This week on my way home from moving my daughter out of the house into her first apartment I called a friend and I was definitely feeling down. And she said to me, “Lor, I just feel like a loser this week. I almost called you but thought, ‘No, I’m the coach. I’m the one who’s supposed to lift people up. No one wants to hear my woes.’”

I GET THAT.

And I’m so glad she told me, because it reminded me: I’m not alone.
Truth? This week I was just ho hum and my “strategic vision” was non existent. I lost a big client- hence the feeling like a loser. I lost this client not because of anything we did, just their circumstances. But still, I spiraled.

I overthought.
I overcompensated.
I was short with my family.
When my team pressured me for ideas I had to say wait I am not sure I know what to do next.
I was not the best version of CEO Lori Gunther.

Entrepreneurship looks glamorous from the outside. But some weeks, it feels like it could all fade in an instant. And when that happens, we rarely post about it.
Maybe we should. Because naming the hard weeks—out loud—reminds others they’re not alone either.

So here it is: This was not my best week.
And as my friend said, sometimes you just have to say that, then take action. Because action moves you forward. My action today is I will take a shower (it’s already 1pm) put on a better outfit and hopefully give my brain a rest so next week can be better.

Here’s to showing up for the good weeks AND the weeks when we feel like we’re losing in a game everyone else is winning. Also sometimes we need to reach out and say I need you.

And my advice: Reach to the person you know will answer and lift you up. You may also be exactly what they need.