Is fear affecting your decision making abilities?
As entrepreneurs and small business owners, we make decisions every day. What to buy, who to sell to, who to hire, whether we should try and grow our company, whether we should take on that new client.
Unfortunately, we often make these decisions out of fear. Or, perhaps worse, we don't make a decision out of fear. Fear of the economy, fear of our competition, fear of what people will think of us after the decision is made.
If you're a science fiction geek like me, you might recognize the following passage.
I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.
It's the Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear from the novel Dune by Frank Herbert.
When you become aware of your fear, and when you can name it, then you gain control over it. Your fears may be well founded, but they also may be persuading you to make an irrational decision that's ultimately bad for your business.
Is there a decision you made for your business out of fear? Or one time you realized fear was clouding your vision and you made the right decision?