About this episode
Episode #478: How to Deal with FEAR in Business Entrepreneurs suffer from fear for many reasons 9 out of 10 businesses fail failure is part of the journey...baggage Even Success can provoke anxiety and fear pressure to perform fear of money Fear of failure is a state not a trait...very important Many sources of fear of business: financial security cashflow and revenue self esteem (imposter syndrome) social views and impressions FOMO opportunity costs time value The source of fear is important for a few reasons: 1-some fear is a motivator (money, FOMO, opportunity cost) 2-some fear is a demotivator (self esteem, social views, etc) FEAR causes paralysis and overanalyzing situation (F>E>A>R) Fear affects your goals you set (holding back, not 100% in) Fear can make you add pressure, urgency and timelines to certain goals that are unnecessary and affect results in a negative way. What are some ways you can respond and what are traits needed to successfully navigate and deal with fears in business: Harvard Business Review listed 4 key elements entrepreneurs can use to analyze and deal with fear in business: 1-Emotional self-monitoring and control. Emotional intelligence involves both awareness of one’s feelings and being able to control their influence on thought and behavior. Some of our entrepreneurs could pull this off. “If I’m in a lower mood one week and I look at my projects, I see only negative things and reasons why it can’t happen. I started to learn that that’s actually not associated with the projects, but it’s associated with my emotions,” one said. Added another, “I’ve recently been learning to separate that anxiety out because I’ve learned that it’s just transient.” Emotional self-awareness is a skill that can be learned, and it involves becoming aware of the signs of emotions intruding upon consciousness through feelings and moods, anticipating their impact on thoughts, and using this awareness to limit their effects on decision and action. Practicing self-awareness can help curb the potent influences of negative emotions on goal setting and decision making. 2-Problem solving. Actively seeking out flaws and weaknesses and doing something about them is a powerful means of reducing the fear of failure. Intuition is a potent source of information, and research has demonstrated that among experts, tacit knowledge and gut instinct lead to rapid and effective decision making. Such instincts are often associated with feelings rather than specific thoughts. Feelings of fear driven by concerns over the idea, for example, can offer important signals that work is needed. When treated as such a signal and acted on, rather than being repressed or ignored, these emotional flags can help entrepreneurs eliminate weaknesses and flaws in their venture idea. A proactive, problem-solving response to feelings of fear can help reduce fear. But our research also shows that such action tends to be inhibited when the fear is caused by doubts about the validity of the business idea. This suggests that taking a deliberately action-oriented approach, overcoming the desire to repress or ignore the problem, will be especially important. Of course, weaknesses can never be eliminated altogether. For any entrepreneur, perfectionism is potentially dangerous. 3-Learning. Entrepreneurs told us one of the ways in which they overcome the feelings of fear was through learning and information seeking. This might be for core knowledge, such as computer coding skills on the part of the software entrepreneur seeking financing, or learning to cope with the high pace of activities that most entrepreneurs experience. Some of the entrepreneurs we interviewed learned through formal education and training, although it was more common to do research, reflect, and network with experts and mentors. Learning is a powerful antidote to fear of failure, helping to mitigate one’s doubts by increasing one’s capabilities. But uncertainty is real and constant. Uncertainty and ambiguity are defining features of the challenge of entrepreneurship. There are always unknown unknowns out there, and so a recognition that one will never have all the information one wants — that one will always have to keep learning — is important. 4-Seeking support. Reaching out to mentors who are directly related to the business you are starting is really key and really helpful. For entrepreneurs in a constant battle with fear of failure, mentors and networks can be a vital source of reassurance. Mentors and social supports are beneficial because they support the three strategies of learning, problem solving, and self-awareness. Bottom Line is that FEAR in your business is a real thing. But remember that you are not alone and it comes with the territory. Fear can have both Negative and Positive affects so be aware of the source and reason for fear. NOTE-even the positive affects can bring added stress so be aware of this. So, even though FEAR is a common and natural thing in business....developing your ability to identify and deal with it is the real skill you must develop.