As business owners, we tend to picture things going one way and then throw an internal tantrum when they don’t go the way we envisioned. Although it’s frustrating and can make you need more coffee, vodka, hugs, sleep or a combination of all the above, give yourself some grace. It’s NORMAL.
What can we do though, to minimize the number of indignant, entrepreneurial hissy-fits you put yourself through over your many years in business?
Just three things. Three big, important, put-on-your-big-boy-pants-and-adjust-your-tiara things:
First, stop with the expectations.
That e-word, it’s a dirty one. The dreaded expectation is how we end up feeling like a failure pile when things don’t end up the way we expected. How many times have you created a plan and expected it to unfold in a specific way? This could be something as small as a Facebook ad that didn’t yield a ROI but hopefully it wasn’t (Lawd, help us) your full business plan. If it was your business plan, see reference above to hugs and vodka, but we can still get through this.
Get rid of expectations and instead, set your intentions. When you set an intention, you’re declaring your plan or action, and how you intend it to go. When it (inevitably) doesn’t (because… #EntrepreneurLife), you have the ability to pivot your course of action and keep working toward your goals, instead of curling into the fetal position under your desk and wallowing in your unmet expectations.
Second, be prepared.
The best way to combat the obstacles that will bulldoze your plan is to be prepared for them. You took the adequate amount of time to make the plan, so it’s imperative to take the adequate amount of time to anticipate anything that could interfere with the way you intended your plan to go. That way when those obstacles come to fruition, you are prepared to pivot and can continue on your merry, successful, tantrum-free way. Reminder: As referenced above, don’t expect these obstacles because we don’t want to manifest trouble (my mom would say, “Worry is the interest paid on trouble before it’s due”) but instead, be prepared for those pesky rainstorms that threaten your prosperity parade.
Finally, be confident. Be you.
There’s a reason you started this business in the first place. You didn’t open a coffee shop because accounting is your specialty. You didn’t open a law firm because you have tremendous yoga skills. During particularly difficult and unexpected diversions from your original plan, remind yourself of the accolades and experience that lead to you captaining this ship. Have the confidence of Kanye West, trust in yourself, go solve today’s problem, clap for your damn self, add it to your list of “reasons why I’m awesome” and reference that success the next time an internal tantrum threatens to throw you off course.