The Let Them Theory: How to Take Action and Move Forward in Business

Earlier this week, I went to see Mel Robbins. The tickets were a gift from my daughter—who also happens to work with me. And if you’ve followed Mel at all, you know how much she talks about her daughter Sawyer and how they built the “Let Them Theory” together.

And then, my daughter couldn’t make it at the last minute so my son stepped in. And what we thought was a “backup plan” turned into something else entirely—an unexpected gift for both of us.

Sitting there, listening to Mel—and at times her daughter—their dynamic, their banter, the honesty between them…it hit me in a way I didn’t expect.

Because when you build something alongside your adult children—whether it’s a business, a life, or just shared ambition—it’s different. There’s depth to it. A pride. A vulnerability. It’s not just about what you’re building, but who you’re becoming together in the process.

And maybe that’s why her message landed the way it did. At its core, it wasn’t complicated. In fact, it was almost uncomfortably simple: your life will not change unless you change something. Time is moving either way, and whether we admit it or not, the choices we’re making right now are quietly shaping where we’ll end up.

As entrepreneurs, we don’t usually struggle with knowing what to do. We are surrounded by advice, strategies, courses, coaches, and more information than we could ever use. But as Mel pointed out, information is never the problem—action is. And not just action on the days when we feel clear or confident, but the kind of action we take when things are uncertain, uncomfortable, or unresolved. The kind of action we take when even getting out of bed is a struggle.

That idea stayed with me, especially when paired with something I’ve lived through over the past year. I experienced a situation in my business that, at the time, felt completely out of left field. Someone I trusted made a decision I didn’t see coming, and it created a ripple effect that was difficult to navigate in the moment. It would have been easy to stay focused on the betrayal, to try to make sense of it, or even to try to control the outcome after the fact.

But sitting there last night, listening to Mel talk about “Let Them,” I saw it differently: Let them make their choices. Let them act in ways you don’t understand. Let them leave, shift, or move on. And then comes the harder, more important part: LET ME decide what I do next.

That shift—from trying to manage other people to taking full ownership of your own response—is where real momentum begins. It doesn’t mean things don’t sting or that challenges don’t exist. It just means you stop handing over your energy to things you were never in control of to begin with.

With a bit of distance, I can now see something I couldn’t see then. What felt like a disruption was actually a form of protection from something that would have cost me so much in the long run.

And I think that’s one of the more uncomfortable truths that I’m learning in real time in business:not everything that leaves is a loss.Some things leave because they’re no longer aligned with where you’re going, even if you haven’t fully stepped into that next chapter yet.

Mel also talked about how feeling stuck is often a sign that you’ve outgrown something, not that you’re incapable. That idea is worth sitting with. Because many of us spend time trying to fix or force something that we were never meant to stay in long-term.

So if you find yourself in a season where things feel off—whether it’s a role, a relationship, a team dynamic, or even your own direction—it might be worth asking a different question. Not “How do I fix this?” but “Have I outgrown this?”

And if the answer is yes, then the next step isn’t more thinking. It’s action. Not perfect action. Not fully mapped-out action. Just the willingness to move, even when it feels a little uncomfortable or uncertain.

So that's what I took away from the night. Not just the reminder to act, but the reminder to release what isn’t mine to control and to trust that forward motion, even messy forward motion, is what creates change.

And maybe the most meaningful part of it all was how the night unfolded in the first place. A gift from my daughter. An unexpected experience with my son. A message that landed at exactly the right time.

It was a good reminder that not everything has to go according to plan to be exactly what you needed.

Let them.

And then let yourself move forward. If this resonates, I’d love to hear what it brings up for you.

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