If you are inspired to start a business but you don’t know which way to go, the one obstacle that you need to get over is yourself.
It’s obvious we live in different times. And this means that we have got to learn how to operate in a different mindset. Once you find your feet in terms of a job and you develop your confidence in the office, something comes to pull the rug out from underneath you, which, for many people, has been the pandemic, relegating people to their homes. And for many people who have been inspired by the pandemic to focus on what they really want in life, there are so many hurdles. We’ve seen a rise in women who have wanted to start their own business and follow their dreams. If you are inspired by these women but you don’t know which way to go, the one obstacle that you need to get over is, arguably, yourself.
Photo by Franciele da Silva on Unsplash
Embrace the Worst-Case Scenario
We spend our entire lives trying to avoid the worst-case scenario. When we spend a lot of time and effort in a mental sense to keep the wolf from the door, this can almost leave us in a permanent state of anxiety. But when we start to acclimatize ourselves to these difficult scenarios, this is when we gain perspective. If we spend our entire lives being scared of what might be, we will never learn anything deep within our core. And there are two things to consider when it comes to embracing the worst-case scenario.
Firstly, you need to give yourself the tools to cope with whatever comes at you. This could be something like the OODA loop so you can break down these tasks. The second one is even easier: asking for help. People feel that they shouldn’t ask for help but whether this is in a legal context and you need a serious injury lawyer because of something that happened in life, or you need someone with the smarts to guide you through potential problems, such as a mentor, when you get yourself into difficult scenarios and learn to embrace them, this is what will make you stronger.
Be Mindful
If you want to be stronger in your mind, you have to be mindful. When we spend so much of our energy trying to avoid intimidating or scary scenarios, we do not learn anything. But we also need to become more aware of our state when we are scared. This gives you perspective but it also gives you the opportunity to control those feelings and emotions. It’s about going back to the notion of fight or flight. When we are scared in a physiological sense, our body perceives a threat and releases cortisol, the stress hormone. Cortisol was beneficial when we were running away from a mammal, but when in the boardroom or speaking to a client, it is useless. This is why we need to incorporate the right practices to minimize the symptoms.
Learning to become mindful isn’t something that happens overnight. You have to get into the practice of being mindful. It helps you to get rid of anxiety. And when you are mindful, you have more control over your thoughts, which means that you won’t react to stress like you used to. While we have to expose ourselves to stressful situations, we need the tools too, and this is when mindfulness becomes invaluable. Those people that don’t get stressed, what is it about them that you admire? It may very well be the fact they’ve experienced bad things in their lives. But one of the best methods is to gain perspective. Putting yourself into a difficult situation, like having a cold shower first thing in the morning, means that by the time the day is done, you realize that was actually the worst thing you did that day. The more you get used to it, the more mindful you become of how you react to stress, and the better you can control it.
Create a Routine You Can Rely On
Whether you are looking to be an entrepreneur or you feel you need to develop more confidence in certain areas, the importance of a good routine cannot be underestimated. Organization isn’t just useful for meetings but it’s a perfect way to compartmentalize things in our brains. When we create a routine that we can rely on with the right tools that benefit us, this is the constant in our lives. It can help us to remain stable if everything else is erratic around us. This is why Barack Obama had the same wardrobe and worked out as soon as he got up. These little routines provided the stability he needed to do his stressful job. There is also the idea of decision fatigue that we need to address. In picking your clothes out the night before and making little preparations before you go to sleep, it gives you that control you need to tackle the day when you wake up.
It’s these routines that we need as a constant in our lives. We need to rely on these things. This is why it’s important for us to go to sleep and wake up at the same time every day. Physiologically speaking, our body takes this as a signal. And it’s exactly the same method when it comes to improving our mental strength, either for the benefits of being an entrepreneur or just living a better life.
We have to remember that when we go through any sort of difficulty in life, we can either learn from it, or we can run away. Learning lessons is the most important thing but we live in a culture that seems to ostracize the person that has made a mistake. And if you find yourself surrounded by people who are constantly waiting for you to make a mistake, you have to ask yourself if these are the right people for you. It seems that now we have to get everything right the first time and this puts a lot of pressure on us. We can see this in so many aspects of society where people are scared to do anything. But the people who break new ground are those that are willing to make mistakes. And this is the very definition of being in a scary situation.
