Many people have dreams of starting up their own businesses and becoming entrepreneurial successes – and it’s not hard to see why this particular vision is so alluring.
Entrepreneurial success means being your own boss, doing work that you feel personally invested in each day, and setting your own schedule – at least to a significant degree. What’s more, there are now all sorts of resources and services out there, such as the cheapest less-than-truckload (LTL) freight shipping services, that can help aspiring entrepreneurs to launch successful businesses on a reasonable budget.
Nonetheless, entrepreneurship invariably comes with an array of different challenges – and it so happens that a huge number of those challenges are primarily psychological in nature.
Here are some of the bigger psychological obstacles that you are likely to encounter, when striving to become a successful entrepreneur.
Learned helplessness
Learned helplessness refers to a psychological state first identified by the psychologist Martin Seligman, in which subjects are conditioned to believe that their circumstances are outside their ability to influence. The consequences of learned helplessness are passivity and fatalism.
Animals that have been exposed to repeated stress in laboratory settings, without an avenue of escape, have been found to develop learned helplessness in many cases – and the same dynamic can frequently be found among human beings, as well.
A sense of futility is very likely to prevent you from ever actually embarking on your entrepreneurial venture in the first place – and it can keep you from seizing the initiative, and being bold and proactive, once your business is off the ground.
Remember that the little voice that tells you “it’s impossible,” and “there’s no point” may very well be the voice of past disappointment, and not an objective reflection of current reality.
Analysis paralysis
Have you ever had so many different things to do, and felt so overwhelmed as a result, that you just spent hours procrastinating and doing something completely unrelated instead?
This seems counterintuitive, and it’s quite comical as well, but it’s a real dynamic that many people find themselves contending with.
The psychological state known as “analysis paralysis” refers to a condition where you have so many different variables to consider, that you are overwhelmed by stress and uncertainty, and simply can’t take action.
As an entrepreneur, it’s important to know that it’s impossible to figure out the “perfect approach” from a purely theoretical perspective. Often, simply making a decision and taking action can carry you a long way.
Catastrophizing and negativity bias
Bad things inevitably happen, and we are all faced by mishaps from time to time. How we respond to those negative situations and mishaps is very important.
If you allow yourself to interpret every negative situation as a sign of inevitable catastrophe, your ability to be effective professionally and personally will be severely diminished.
Train yourself to challenge that little voice of doom and gloom, and you will become a lot more balanced, resilient and effective.
