For those living the entrepren-artist, solopreneur or mompreneur life, you know that the lonely hours, the hard work, the less-than-adequate funding can cause and fuel stress, negative thoughts, self-doubt and even complete burnout if you’re not careful. You may lose your motivation and your mojo by succumbing to the “negative bias,” the natural human tendency to allow bad events or emotions to derail our positive strides. They say it usually takes four positives to overcome one bad thing.
When you’re alone and unable to lean on someone from your tribe to help you out of the funnel of fear, try these four tips to banish nagging doubts that may creep into your entrepreneurial brain.
Find Your “Sticky Point”
When and why did you start spiraling? A missed opportunity? A lost sale? Once you find “the sticky point” next, find your “trigger point.” The “I knew I wasn’t prepared” or “I’m not good enough” thought. Once you identify this thought, you can begin to change the narrative to eliminate your sticky point.
Practice saying out loud to yourself the opposite of your trigger point. Repeat it often and all the time. After a while of intentional practice when you get “stuck” again, your new mantra will surface to stop that cycle of doom.
Don’t Jump to Conclusions
Left alone, entrepreneurs tend to jump headfirst into the rabbit hole of doubt. Don’t. Take a breath. Better yet, stop working and go to sleep. You’ll feel better or at least less anxious in the light of day.
Be Kind to Yourself
Treat yourself with empathy and compassion, just as you would any of your other fellow entrepreneurs. Trust in you. After all, you got yourself to this point and it wasn’t easy. You’ve always known it was not going to be easy. You were right.
Don’t Think in Terms of “All or Nothing”
You chose to be on this entrepreneurial journey, and that’s the exact deliverable…you are on a journey. Be patient.
Regroup, repeat the steps and move forward!
