Running
your own business has its fair share of nerve-wracking moments. Some people feel
the most anxious and uncertain before they take the entrepreneurial plunge. Do I
have a chance of succeeding?
Others
come across bumps in the road well after the business is established. Perhaps
the market is changing or a fierce competitor arrives on the
scene.
It
is natural to feel worried or nervous at different times in the life of your
business. But it’s another thing to make important decisions from a position of
anxiety. The problem with negative emotions is that they’re so powerful, they
can dominate our thinking and actions.
Source:
pinterest
If
we don’t pay attention, the order of operations we tend to follow is Feel
-- Think -- Act. Strong negative emotion affects our thinking and then our
actions.
It
often goes like this: You feel anxious about a client meeting. You think it
might not go well. You act tense and nervous and tight, rather than loose. But
it doesn’t have to be like that. You can reverse the order of operations to Act
-- Think -- Feel and have an entirely different experience. Here is a story to
illustrate what I mean.
Shortly
before the London Olympics, diver Alexandre Despatie was training in Spain.
During one of his dives, he hit his head on the diving board. The accident
caused a concussion and a 10 cm gash in his forehead, which required
surgery.
Despatie
followed his doctor’s return-to-sport protocol closely and resumed training
shortly after the accident. A few weeks later, he was competing in London, where
he had to perform the same dive he was attempting when he injured
himself.
Pause
for a moment and put yourself in his shoes (or in his bare feet on his diving
board). You have to perform a dive that had just caused a severe injury, and you
have to do it live in front of thousands of people live and millions more on
television. How would you be feeling in that moment? Tense? Nervous? Scared?
Anxious?
Despatie
was none of these. I was fortunate enough to be in the pool that day covering
the event, and I noticed that he was practicing a specific technique right
before his dive.
Below
the board, Despatie was rehearsing his dives in his mind. His arms were open to
the sides, and he stood tall with his head up, as if he were standing on a beach
welcoming the sunrise. His face was completely relaxed as he adopted the
physical positioning required to perform his dive. There was not a trace of fear
or tension in his body. Physical positions can directly impact our psychology
and our emotions.
This
process of gaining control of your thoughts and emotions is what I am
calling Act -- Think -- Feel. But as I mentioned, this is not a natural sequence
for humans.
In
difficult circumstances, we generally begin with negative emotion -- fear,
nervousness, anger -- that then fuels our thoughts and causes us to act in a
certain way. That is the reverse of what I’m suggesting. By switching the flow,
we can improve our thinking, performance and even our health.
The
key to making this shift is focusing first on your body. Take physical action,
like Despatie did. Regardless of how you’re feeling, adopt a posture of
confidence and control. Stand tall with your head up. Breathe deeply and relax.
Loosen and drop your shoulders. Unclench your hands. Smile a few times. This may
seem overly simple to you, but science tells us that your bodily actions can
deeply affect your thoughts and emotions.
When
you get anxious, tense or uncertain, try these three tips:
- Focus first on a confident, relaxed, open stance -- Act
- Tune into your thoughts, which will follow your posture -- Think
- Experience the anxiety and tension receding -- Feel
Practice
making the shift to Act -- Think -- Feel any time you are worried or under
pressure. A calm, relaxed body really does create a calm, relaxed mind, which is
what you need when making important business decisions.
SOURCE:
ENTREPRENEUR
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