Artificial Moments
Sitting besides founders and listening to their narration of startup experiments is what makes our founder forum days, really exciting. Since we moved the forum sessions to private round-table mode with only pre-registered group of founders, we are seeing a greater depth in conversations. This time the subject was failed experiments. We had three volunteer founders who narrated their stories and offered answers. Experiments belong to the founders but the results are for everyone.
Every founder goes through several artificial moments in their entrepreneur journeys. Yes. Artificial Moments. Brief points in time, where an unpleasant emotion caused by the threat of danger, pain or harm seems to be staring at you. The likelihood of something unwelcome happening being very high. Most of us call it by the name — FEAR.
When StartUp experiments fail and fail one after the other, you start doubting yourself fully well. “Once I can blame it on luck, may be the other on inexperience, or the timing, and so on. But am I not the problem when third startup fails in succession?”
Isn’t it natural to get into the zone of self-doubt and let fear occupy the entire self? But, the truth is — this is also an artificial moment. May be this THE artificial moment. Only way out is to face it and take control of the journey. Mentors with significant experience will be of help. But even for seeking help, you should step out. And do take action to reinforce faith in yourself and pickup the next direction. Don’t hide behind technology or any other virtual shield. Just do it!
For a playbook chapter, What to do in these moments? That’s the question.
Since every moment is in transition, it is natural to adapt “hope strategy” and pretend to be “happy” and “in control”. But dealing with the moment with hard realities, makes the journey richer. This is what these founders found:
- Fear is normal. The goal is to conquer the fear, not to avoid it or pretend it doesn’t exist.
- The pain of making a change must become less than the pain of staying in the current situation.
- Remarkable people are not remarkable by nature. They made a few key choices along the way that helped them overcome their fears. Right on time.
- Key driver to push comes from asking yourself “What’s the worst thing that can happen?” and finding an honest answer to move forward.
The people who are ready to change want the change more than almost anything. They want a way out of their current state, and want it yesterday! All it takes to change is to act. Especially at the moment you decide to get out of the trap — “Artificial Moments” put you in.
Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.
~ Dale Carnegie
Originally published at mhebbar.com on October 17, 2016.
