Becoming an entrepreneur is a funny business, isn’t it? Everyone tells you that you need to be determined, that you need to follow your heart in spite of the odds, and that if you have the passion, success will follow. Then they turn around and tell you that you need to pay attention to your inner critic!
The truth is, this is just one of many challenges you will face as an entrepreneur, in your quest to find the balance that brings success. In this article, we look at why you need to pay attention to the little voice of reason in your head – sometimes.
What Your Inner Critic Is Telling You
No matter how determined you are as an entrepreneur, and how gung ho you are about making it against the odds, there will be times when a little voice in the very back of your mind will try to tell you that something is not quite right.
Usually, it’s either when something does not feel quite right – a new business deal, a partnership or an expansion that you aren’t quite ready for. It’s your mind trying to override blind enthusiasm, and remind you that great entrepreneurs take calculated risks – they don’t rush blindly into disaster!
Another time that many entrepreneurs start noticing their inner critic is when they have done something that’s not quite up to the standard they expect from themselves. This is particularly important when it’s something you’ve done for a client – after all, you want your clients to be happy, right? So if your inner critic is telling you that something is not right, listen!
Tapping Into Your Inner Critic – An Exercise in Objectivity
No one likes being told they’re wrong – least of all the entrepreneur. Of course, you left the safe world of employment to be your own boss, so that you never needed to be criticized again, didn’t you? However, as an entrepreneur, you will need to exercise objectivity, and weigh your own desires and feelings against the good of the company. Here’s how:
- Pay attention to what your inner critic is telling you. You can only act on problems if you admit they exist.
- Sit down when you have a quiet moment, and write the problem down on a piece of paper.
- Now list the pros and cons of not acting on the issue. Consider the cost of not rectifying the problem, and what it will do to your reputation. List everything that can go wrong if you don’t take action. Usually, you will find that the only pros will be saving time and money – in the short term. If you want to be a success as an entrepreneur however, you need to think long term.
- Now list possible solutions to the problem. Write down as many as you can think of.
- Decide on a solution, and get started!
Being an entrepreneur is a freeing experience – it frees us from having to answer to anyone for our actions – or the lack thereof. However, it also means that you need to learn self discipline, and to make tough decisions when you need to. That’s where listening to that inner critic comes in. All great entrepreneurs do, and if you want to be one of them, it’s a skill you need to learn.
You Don’t Have to Do it Alone
The good news is that while becoming an entrepreneur, and building a company is sometimes a lonely and friendless endeavor, finding ways to deal with issues that your inner critic raises does not have to be.
When you start to notice something weighing on your mind, speak to someone. It could be your spouse, your parents or your business mentor. You don’t have to ask for advice, or even comment, but sometimes, saying it out loud, and even getting those comments, can help you to decide what you should do.
Make no mistake however, in business, as with life, doing nothing is almost always worse than doing the wrong thing. As long as you take action, and do something, you start the momentum you need to keep going, and fix the problem. When you ignore it, or hope it’ll go away, it’ll almost always get worse.
The Bottom Line
Just as you, as an entrepreneur, have that burning feeling in your gut that your big idea WILL be a huge success, and that if you just follow your dreams, they’ll all be attainable, you need to realize that the same is true of the negative.
When something doesn’t feel right, it’s usually not, and you need to be prepared to tackle the bad, as well as the good. The sooner you do, the sooner you can put it behind you, and move on to what drives you – building the very best business you can!
As a successful, under-30 serial entrepreneur, Gary Whitehill’s game-changing endeavors have been featured on television and in magazines and newspapers across the nation. Read more about Gary here.
Matthew Toren is an Award Winning Author, Serial Entrepreneur, and Investor. He Co-Founded YoungEntrepreneur.com along with his brother Adam. Matthew is co-author of the newly released book:Small Business, Big Vision: “Lessons on How to Dominate Your Market from Self-Made Entrepreneurs Who Did it Right” and also co-author of Kidpreneurs.
