The Entrepreneur and His Fears
Fear is a sneaky wretch.
True, from time to time, he’ll jump out in the middle of the road as you drive by and your heart will leap. But usually, Fear just walks at your side pretending to be your dear, caring friend. Once you’re fooled, he takes your hand – and leads you off a cliff.
Think about it. You know the price of fear is huge. But since Fear is subtle, slight and cunning, you often don’t notice his subterfuge. Watch carefully, or you miss it and you’ll blame yourself for his reprobate ways.
When Fear talks, it all sounds so logical. “You don’t have time!” he says. “Hurry!” And so you don’t plan. You wing it. And you stumble. With expressions of deep sympathy, Fear helps you up while whispering more deceptive drivel into your ear.
“You better hire this guy,” says Fear. “It’s just impossible to find good people and he’s the best you’re going to get. He’ll adjust once he’s on the job. Don’t worry.”
“Don’t throw out that pile of magazines. You really ought to read those articles. One day you’re going to look for them and wish you’d kept them.” And so you collect and accumulate when you should relax and let go. He tells you the same things about emails, which is why your inbox is such a mess.
“You really should serve the full range of customers,” he says. “If you don’t, your business will be boring. And if you don’t do it, someone else will do it and one day they’ll put you out of business.” And with that you forfeit the tremendous potency of focus in favor of overextension and diffusion.
After a while, you turn to Fear for advice. “Look, we’re in over our heads. We’re all over the place!”
Remember that uncomfortable conversation you needed to have? Remember how Fear advised you to put it off? “Give yourself some time to think about it.” And, “It’ll work itself out. Give it a bit more time and you’ll avoid the whole thing.”
Until you couldn’t postpone it any longer. But then you were forced to confront the issue on someone else’s terms. With no time to prepare, you fumbled and lost your advantage.
How do you do that?
One way is to notice your gut. Notice when you’re feeling tense. Notice when you’re feeling forced or pressured. That’s almost always a clue that your buying his latest story.
When you catch yourself, here’s what you must do:
1. Remind yourself that if you’re dogged, there’s a way. If you want something bad enough, you can get it. So ask yourself, “If my life depended on this, what would I do to get it?” Or, “If my current option were taken from me, what alternatives would I come up with?”
2. Remind yourself of that wise comment of George Bernard Shaw: “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.” There’s no hope for your entrepreneurial dream as long as you allow Fear to talk you into being reasonable. Ask yourself: “What would I do if I was a tad more unreasonable?”
Dov,
very sharp and pinpointed. I can see that you must have dealt in one way or another with all these issues and not only witnessed or have been through the experience of fearful delays but also learned and developed analytic and solution skills. I would love to work with you and trying my best to convince my partner about this decision. I will share this link with him and others.
All the best,
Axel