If you’ve already decided to take the leap into entrepreneurship, you must have had a great reason for doing so. After all, no one makes such significant decisions unless they’ve had a some deeper thought about the pros and cons, and presumably decided that the former definitely outnumber the latter.
Avoid the philia trap
The problem, though, is that we often fall into the philia trap, believing that the future will present us with more ups and downs. Then again, you could be prone to phobic thinking, imagining that there will be more negatives than positives going forward. Both of these polarities if taken to extremes are problematic, because they give us a skewed perception of reality.
You may already have had some experience of this in formal employment. Perhaps this is what has prompted you to leave your job. What you may consider, though, is that in any job, you’ll probably be assigned some tasks that engage you more, and others much less or don’t.
If you exaggerate the downside of these responsibilities, you’re falling prey to phobic thinking, and this may lead to a dissociative fantasy or philia of what it would be like to own your own business.
You may then jump into a new venture without conducting due diligence or wise and proper planning – and when more negatives arise out of a situation for which you haven’t prepared adequately (as they inevitably will), your phobic thinking patterns will set in once more.
1. List your responsibilities or duties
One way to overcome this? Plan! Make a list of all your responsibilities or duties in your current job, then think about how well linked each of these are to what you truly and highly value most – how congruent they actually are to what is truly meaningful to you.
If some or many are not very aligned – to help you temporarily align them – you can ask yourself: How, specifically, do each ofthese individual job duties help you fulfil what’s most important to you – your highest values?
This questioning process will help you link each of these duties to your top values and, at the same time, will help you feel more inspired, engaged, grounded and calm, less anxious and less desperate to escape your current situation. As you go through this, remember that even tasks which you may at first assume to have no value to you probably fulfil you in some way.
Discovering how your current job serves you will help you appreciate it, and you’ll start to see it as a useful transition on your way, rather than something that is in your way. You’ll also see that it is providing useful experience, contacts and skills; it’s a training ground of sorts that’s grooming you to take the next step.
2. Do your due diligence
You are also wise to use this transition time to conduct due diligence on your entrepreneurial business planning. Many entrepreneurs make assumptions about the market and project what they believe the market wants, rather than finding out their potential clients or customers exact needs. However, the chief objective of your business is to serve the needs of your market first, and only then to make profit. Sustainable transactions demand equitable fair exchanges.
Packaging your due diligence findings into a business plan will further help to allay your fantasy philias and nightmare phobias, which often arise when you haven’t conducted sufficient objective research and relied on skewed assumptions.
Before you resign, it might be wise that you have at least six months of reserve capital saved or accessible. This mitigates against risk, which you can also do by pre-marketing and pre-selling your new product, service or ides.
You may find it useful to engage a business coach or mentor who can help you navigate the rapids in the river you’re about to sail on. It’s a river that may be thrilling and challenging, but can also be incredibly rewarding, provided you’re adequately prepared to transcend your philias and phobias. For more of Dr Demartini’s teachings, visit www.drdemartini.com
