The Puddle on The Floor

We’ve all had that experience of noticing something before we understand what it is. It’s the moment right before clarity, when you’re looking at ‘a thing’ but haven’t registered what it is yet. 

Kind of like this line: “It’s a bird. It’s a plane. No, it’s Superman!”

It captures that short moment before understanding fully clicks in the mind, when you can see something forming but don’t yet have the words for it.

That moment is familiar if you have kids.

You walk into a room and see a large puddle on the floor (some unknown, brightly colored liquid spreading farther than it should). For a second, you just look at it. You don’t know where it came from yet, whether it’s juice, paint, or something you don’t want to identify too quickly. That moment matters so much more than it seems.

Why? Because reacting immediately usually makes things worse. Getting frustrated doesn’t tell you what spilled. Yelling doesn’t explain how it happened.

What helps me the most is paying attention (checking the color, the smell, the trail leading back to its source). Those details tell you what you’re dealing with and what the next move should be.

In business, that moment works the same way. You notice the mess before you understand it—a gap, a slowdown, a disconnect. That’s usually when people rush to fix it or get upset about how it happened. 

But the better move is the same one you make standing over that puddle on the floor. You stop. You look more closely. You figure out what you’re dealing with before you react. You slow down just enough to separate frustration from information, so the response matches reality instead of impulse. 

That moment of attention creates the conditions for better decisions later on. Not in the action that follows, but in whether you pause long enough to understand what you’re actually seeing.

And once you do, it’s hard to imagine how it ever looked like anything else.

That Moment

If you’ve reached that moment and want to step back, look more closely, and understand what you’re dealing with before reacting—that’s what The Nexus was built for. It’s for business owners, teams, and professionals who need room to think before they act.

Bring your team or just a notebook. We’ll keep the coffee on.

Visit The Nexus

461 Sandy Creek Rd, Suite 4109, Fayetteville, GA

Monday–Friday, starting at 9:00 AM