The Current, the Chaos and the Course We Choose
Lessons from rivers, roadmaps, and resisting the pull of entropy.
7 minute readThe red ‘LIVE’ light flickers on. A hush descends. A lone voice, deafening in the quiet “Stand by…. We’re live in 5… 4… 3…” ✌️… ☝️…
Cue Website…
And just like that. We’re live!
After months of planning, hard work, and resisting the urge to tinker endlessly, my website is now live. And with it comes the relaunch of my business: Your Roadmap - Coaching & Consulting.
For my clients, this launch marks the beginning of a space where strategy & operations meet balance & fulfilment, packaged in just enough process to help individuals and businesses find simplicity in their own journeys. Put simply, to find value.
“Simplicity is in equal measure alluring and elusive.”
I love Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts - a beautiful story based on his own life. A drug addict imprisoned for armed robbery, he escapes from prison and builds a new life in the underworld of 1980s Mumbai. Binding adventure, philosophy, and crime in the ribbons of love and beauty, it explores themes of exile, suffering, redemption, and the complexity of human nature.
Through the book, Abdel Khader Khan (Khader Bhai), his old philosopher friend Qasim Ali, and Shantaram himself explore a theory they call "The movement towards complexity." They believe humanity, the world, and the universe are always shifting toward a more complex state, and that those who can adapt to greater complexity will survive.
It’s a fascinating perspective - one we see mirrored in business, leadership, and everyday life. A simple startup that thrives by hitting a market gap with a great product, clear message, and lean processes can soon find itself weighed down by layers of post-buyout legal, security, finance, and management governance.
Humanity’s journey from hunter-gatherers to farming, industrialisation, and the modern digital age follows the same path - more complex systems emerge to create order and structure, but they also introduce a tendency toward chaos.
Complexity shapes the world, but it is not the only force at play.
“You build a perfect sandcastle. Left alone, it will quickly return to random grains of sand.
That’s entropy.
Things naturally fall apart unless energy is put into maintain order.”
We build businesses, layer by layer - strategies cascading from boardrooms to divisions, to teams, to individuals. Each level has its own processes, its own topography, its own lexicon. Idiosyncrasies develop, even within similar functions across different companies. And we pour energy into holding the system together, resisting the ever-present pull toward entropy.
Entropy is drifting downstream. If you do nothing, the river’s current (disorder) naturally carries you forward. Sometimes it’s gentle - a lazy, gliding stretch of water. Sometimes it’s punishing rocks, roaring rapids, scraping shallows, tearing brambles...
And sometimes, you see it too late. The hushed horizon of an approaching waterfall.
Chaos.
Complexity, on the other hand, is paddling upstream. It takes gnarling effort and energy to strain against the natural pull of disorder and create something structured.
But just as a skilled canoeist learns to read the river, in business we can form complexity in pockets, using energy wisely. The subtle dip of a paddle can smoothly guide the boat down the most direct path, using the pull of the rocks like an orbit, then gliding deftly past.
This is simplicity in motion.
“But we must be careful not to mistake simple with easy.”
Passive simplicity is drifting aimlessly - choosing the easy option. If you let go completely, hoping the current carries you somewhere good, you might find yourself in a slow, lazy river.
But the rapids, the rocks, and the open sea await.
Intentional simplicity is different.
It demands conscious engagement - vigilant listening for what truly matters. It requires the discipline to quieten the noise, the patience to find the right flow, and the judgment to know when to steer, when to paddle, and when to let the current do the work.
This isn’t drifting. This is moving with purpose while avoiding unnecessary struggle.
Intentional simplicity - removing distractions, noise, and wasted effort - actually helps maintain complexity where it matters most.
It’s pruning a tree. Cutting away what isn’t essential so that what remains grows stronger, fuller, more beautiful.
“The key is choosing your path - simplifying where possible - so your energy is spent rowing only where it truly counts.”
A Business Starts Before the Website
A business begins long before it has a website. Long before it has a service, a brand, or even a registered name.
It starts with an idea.
A pull in a certain direction, like the river funnelling between two rocks.
For me, that pull has been decades in the making - shaped by psychology, product management, consulting; by growing up, friendships, marriage, and kids; by weight gain, back pain, ill-health, weight loss, and fitness; by experimenting, tripping, falling, getting back up.
And now, by executive coaching.
“But ideas alone don't build businesses”
You need:
A clear vision.
A strategy.
The discipline to cut through the noise, focus on what truly matters, and keep going.
Building my website forced me to practice exactly what I help others achieve:
Identifying my ideal audience.
Crafting a clear strategy.
Deciding what moves the strategy forward and cutting everything else.
Overcoming the ever-present critical voice.
Favouring creativity over consumption, action over activity.
These decisions mirror the choices leaders and individuals face daily. It’s one thing to help others achieve strategic clarity. It’s quite another to hold yourself to the same standard.
A New Chapter Begins
I’ll be writing weekly on strategy, operations, roadmapping, executive coaching, and personal development. Some posts will be practical. Some will be reflective. Some will dig into the real challenges businesses and leaders face.
That’s the journey ahead.
Whether through executive coaching, strategic consulting, or guiding teams to build meaningful roadmaps, my approach is rooted in one belief:
The best solutions come from within.
Sometimes, they just need the right questions to bring them to the surface.
What’s Next?
Lean into the tension, complexity, or resistance and learn how to let go. Resist passive simplicity and the chaos it serves up. Choose hard work now to find the grace, flow, and simplicity in the space that follows.
If this resonates, let’s talk.
📍 Schedule a free 30-minute consultation at www.yourroadmap-cc.com
📩 Email me at help@yourroadmap-cc.com
“Let’s go somewhere great. Together.”
Steve Dagless
I am the Founder of Your Roadmap - Coaching & Consulting.
Life, work and business can be so simple. Let me help quieten the noise.
Helping leaders find
Balance - working in harmony with the world
Fulfilment - by doing what matters most
Process - to be at their best
Helping business deliver
Strategy - purposefully connecting with ‘why’
Operations - what, when and how; smoothly and simply
Roadmapping - alignment around a compelling visual
