When Everything Stalls – Building Simple Systems To Keep Going

Exit Lab – Week 5
This week, progress slowed down enough for me to realize something important: I need to focus on building simple systems to keep going, not just add more designs.

I guess this is life. Murphy’s Law and all that.

Truth is, I’ve hit the wall. Of sorts.

This project started off well. I was excited. I thought I was prepared — more than prepared, actually. Ahead already.

I was wrong.

Almost everything that could have gone wrong did. Publishing on print-on-demand platforms took much longer than I remembered from the handful of designs I uploaded back in 2024. And life kept happening, over and over, as I mentioned in an earlier post.

Energy has been low. Nordic winter does that every year.

And then came the real setback: both TeePublic and Redbubble shut down my shops. Accounts gone.

So last week I had to start over. This time I began with another platform, Spring. So far, I actually like it better. More platforms will come later — but for now, this will do.

When the Road Got Bumpy: My Key Takeaways

So what have I actually learned from this messy start?

This week hasn’t only been about producing results. In fact, it made me realize that my focus has been slightly off.

I’ve spent a lot of time trying to push output — designs, uploads, progress — without building simple systems to keep going.

Hamster Wheel Exit and ExitLab need workflows, templates, and structure. Otherwise, every post and every upload feels like starting from scratch.

Building that foundation has taken longer than I expected, but it’s becoming clear that without it, long-term progress simply isn’t possible.

Looking back, a few things stand out.

First, my niche was probably too narrow. I limited myself early on, trying to be precise instead of giving the project room to grow. The result was fewer ideas, slower output, and uncertainty about whether the concept had enough space to develop over time.

Another thing I’ve realized is how easy it is to spend all your time building, preparing, and improving — and postpone marketing.

I kept telling myself I’d start promoting “Once a Rebel” once things felt more ready. A few more designs, a slightly better setup, a bit more structure first. But projects rarely feel “ready.” And waiting too long to put things out there means momentum never really gets a chance to build.

Adjusting My Approach: Simple Systems in Action

So one clear adjustment going forward is simple: start showing the work earlier, even if everything isn’t perfect yet.

And then there’s momentum itself. Momentum dips. Always. Some weeks everything flows, other weeks feel like walking through mud. That part isn’t failure — it’s simply part of building something over time.

This week also made it clear how important it is to keep going by building simple systems. As James Clear, author of the bestselling Atomic Habits, argues, it’s often better to focus on systems instead of goals. So I need to build or create templates, workflows, routines — things that make publishing and creating easier instead of reinventing the wheel every time. Without them, every step takes more energy than it should.

And finally, storage and organization. I’ve been juggling files between devices like it’s still 2005, sending documents and images back and forth instead of keeping everything accessible in one place. Let’s just say my Generation X instincts still lean toward external hard drives. But cloud storage simply makes life easier, and it’s time to build that structure properly too.

With all this said, it would be easy to give up right now. Progress still feels slow, and after being forced to restart on new platforms, it sometimes feels like I haven’t moved forward at all. And if I quit now, all the work done so far would be wasted. More importantly, the project wouldn’t have had a fair chance to succeed.

Next Steps and Marketing Focus

Maybe every project goes through this phase. First comes the excitement and creative rush, when everything feels possible and progress is fast. Then comes the part where everything slows down, doubts creep in, and you start questioning both yourself and the whole idea.

And maybe that’s exactly the point where you simply have to keep going.

When things feel heavy, the solution isn’t to push harder, but to make the steps smaller. Keep moving, even if progress feels modest. One small thing done still moves the project forward.

That has been my experience over the years as a freelancing copywriter as well. Big breakthroughs rarely come from heroic bursts of effort, but from showing up again and again, doing small pieces of work over time.

A bit like training, or writing: it’s the regular sessions, not the occasional marathon, that create results.

This week reminded me that setbacks don’t mean stop — they mean adjust and keep going.
Next week, the experiment continues, this time with marketing in focus.