No man is worth his salt who is not ready at all times to risk his well-being, to risk his body, to risk his life, in a great cause. ~Theodore Roosevelt
No business can survive without a willingness to take—and persevere through—risk. The relationship between risk and the what ifs will always have to be managed for you to thrive. Especially if you have chosen the path of a creative entrepreneur. Your very nature will drive you to want to create new services, programs and products all the time. Creatives are by essence creators and to create requires us to take risks. But with risk, we are often shut down before we even get started by the dreadful WHAT IFS.
What if they don’t like me?
What if they laugh at me?
What if they yell at me?
What if I loose all my money? My friends, my possessions?
What if I discover I’m not actually good at this?
What if I fail?
What if, what if, what if?…
You can fill in the blanks for yourself. We all have our hidden list of what ifs that plague us, often in the middle of the night, sometimes in broad daylight, sometimes shouting loudly at the most inopportune times. The What ifs can paralyze us, stop us in our tracks from creating our lifelong dreams, keep us stuck in a reality we have no desire to create and are often responsible for another January 1st rolling around without us keeping our goals and resolutions.
So how do we shut them down?
We don’t. We step over them and keep on moving through despite their childlike banter. Trying to wait until they go away will keep you waiting forever. They can be quieted, but for most of us, they lurk in the shadows just waiting for a moment to pounce. The What ifs aren’t going away because they are a built-in natural protection from your mind. They are there to protect your feelings and your spirit. And they aren’t all bad. The What ifs can be good for you at times, especially when they allow you to see ahead to potential challenges and get you to plan accordingly with smart strategies and systems.
So, if we aren’t going to shut them down, how do we keep them productive and not a handicap? By taking them on one by one with a few pointed questions of your own right back at them.
The What If Questions.
- What is the worse that can happen?
- How would I deal with that?
- What would be my solution for changing that ahead of time to minimize the risk of the worse case happening?
- Why is it important that I do this action in the first place?
- Is the WHY bigger than the WHAT IF?
- If so, am I willing to take the risk?