Overcoming The Mind Games of New Business Beginnings

Have you ever thought that thinking was over rated? Does that statement sound like blasphemy to you? The mind may be a terrible thing to waste, but it causes great waste when we let it run on it's own, especially when we feel the stress of the unknown that shows up after we have decided to undertake a new endeavor.

Research indicates that 83% if us get excited about a fresh start and are quickly overrun with fear and doubt. When we are feeling anxious and uncertain, our mind can go wild if we let it. We can make a plan, change our mind, imagine one hundred outcomes, overcompensate, second guess ourselves and miss the boat entirely. We start with our eye on a new prize and end up with our knickers in a twist.

Our minds seem to be wired to present us with all the reasons "why not" when we decide to go for anything new and unfamiliar. "I'm too old. I'm too young. I'm too dumb. I'm too poor. I tried that before. My cousin tried that before. They say it's a waste of time. They say it's a trick." Certainly these are good reasons to go back to the status quo. Besides all that, you feel a cold coming on, you should rest.

Have you ever heard yourself or someone else demolish their prospects for a brighter future with thinking like this? Even if you don't do it yourself, mention a new venture and you will easily find others who happily rain on your parade. It's not that they are all mean spirited, or that we ourselves are raging pessimists. It just that this is what the mind does when presented with a new possibility that reeks of uncertainty.

New doesn't always create chaos. When you find a new pair of jeans just like your worn out favorites, it's time for celebration. If you've built successful businesses, a new venture is faced with the excitement of a positive expectation. If you have managed your money deftly, you recognize and act on additional opportunities to grow your stash.

But, what if you have tried before and failed? What if your dad attempted to build a business while your mom was extolling the virtues of a regular paycheck and the golden handcuffs of imagined corporate security while complaining about your dear old dad's financial irresponsibility? What if the neighbors lost their house because, instead of keeping their money safe in a bank, they invested in an orange grove that turned out to be past-its-prime swampland? How do you jump into the realm of fiscal freedom when you have evidence that you could very well fall on your face if you take any risks?

What do we do with the doubts, fears and what-ifs? We certainly can ignore them, push them to the side and pretend they do not exist. Positive thinking and faking it until we make it allows us to get started. The only problem is that those doubts, fears and memories of failure are now buried, hidden underground. They now form a landmine field that we have to cross to get to our goal. We created the landmines. We buried them. We tied the blindfold around our eyes.

We bravely set out to reach our goal. (Notice that bravery and courage require fear and doubt. A walk in the park requires no courage when we have reasonable certainty about our ability and the positive outcome of our efforts.) One false step and everything will explode in our face. The more importance we've attached to our success or failure the bigger the explosion we're likely to experience. "I've just gotta make this work. It's my only hope. This is my one chance."

Man! That's a lot of pressure! The bigger the pressure is, the bigger the explosion. And remember, the pressure; fear, doubt and courage in the face of low expectations is created all in our own minds! What a neat trick!

The greater the stress the dumber we become. Our creative juice runs out of our heads and into our bodies in case we have to win a footrace with the saber tooth tiger.

In spite of my grandfather having lost his bundle in the stock crash of 1929 and my father having made a lousy business deal that cost him his airplanes and luxury lifestyle, I've recently embarked on two new ventures. I've implemented strategies that you can use too.

The Foreign Currency Exchange, called Forex, is a high yield opportunity. There is an abundance of hype on the Internet and plenty of information scattered about if you know where to look. The same is true about Internet marketing, hype and valuable information scattered to the four corners of the web. What's a girl to do? Dive in and get consumed with confusion that leads to those dreaded fears and doubts?

No, no, no! The answer is simple. Get a mentor! Get a mentor! Get a mentor! When you are plagued with doubt, get a mentor. When starting a new enterprise, get a mentor! If you have not already succeeded in an endeavor then find someone who has succeeded and can lay out the plan and step-by-step how to do's for you. They know the way. You can replicate it. You can replace doubt with activity. When you know what the next successful step is you can easily focus your attention on action instead of uncertainty. Aligned action creates certainty and overcomes the mind games of new beginnings.