Until few months ago I had avoided making certain big decisions in life. Although each had its own set of reasons, there was a common set of emotions, the anxiety cocktail, behind all of them. And once I realized what held me back I started to confront each, one at a time.
In this process I also realized that the big decisions I made so far, have been the ones in which either I had ignored the emotional reaction or let my will override other emotions. For instance, while starting my business consulting practice at the age of 25, my overarching superseded my fear of rejection and many other emotions. And it was so natural that I never realized the audacity until a few years later.
Moreover, in my entrepreneurship journey so far I have been adamant on certain things. And this made me overcome other fears quite naturally. In the initial days, uncertainty was very high whether in terms of retaining clients or getting new clients, but being adamant to make things helped overcome the emotional drama. This made me realize that until the point when I actually make the leap, the emotional cocktail will keep me high and defuse my otherwise instinctive reactions.
Despite being a professional who works on quantifying the odds of failure or chances of success, I have to admit that sometimes you just have to go by your gut and trust the universe. I am not trying to convince you to try your luck as I would never advice against in-depth contemplation before making any decision. But what I am saying is that contemplating forever is not an option and sometimes your reactions workout way better than your estimation. For instance, for a quaint person I am, my sales skills worked out to be way better than what I or any sales veteran would estimate.
Before you make the leap your fear will be the biggest barrier but once you jump, fear becomes the greatest driving factor. As an entrepreneur, the fear of being unable to pay your bills and salary can drove me to heights that were previously unimaginable. It unleashed my best performance to generating revenue for the organization by working 100 hour weeks. Although working under constant fear can have downsides but this preventive motivation is undeniably effective.
As social beings, we are very receptive of the society’s opinion about ourselves. However, sometimes what bothers us is not actually the society’s opinion but is rather our perception of their society. Everyone including myself, has an opinion about oneself and usually this is quite sublime. Although this is nothing more than a perception, nobody wants to undermine this virtual image as that would be an embarrassment!
Perhaps, what I feel to be more ridiculous is that embarrassment, which lacks physical existence unlike the consequences of failure, can demoralize so much. After each failure I have an in-depth discussion about my failure describing my errors in great detail. Even though it is sometimes followed by ‘I told you so…’ session, I am open to gulp the bitterness as I do not have a pride to swallow. Despite the failure, I am wiser than what I was before this expedition.
Finally when it comes to agony, I just let is fizzle out as I engage myself in my next pursuit. Agony is the most difficult to defuse, especially when you fail by going against your gut. Perhaps the only effective counter measure is to drain the energy that fuels agony, by running a 5k or to divert awareness towards something constructive, such as a new venture.
But the inconvenience of facing agony is far from being a good enough reason that stops you from taking the next big leap. At the end of the day, everything is uncertain – including my morning coffee – and our perception of certainty is perhaps only an ignorance of uncertainty. So as long as you know your odds and your abilities suffice the challenges, the leap should help you unravel a better version of yourself.
Header Image Photo by Riho Kroll on Unsplash
Savvy Munshi 