Doubt is the Great Immobilizer

The two most common words I hear are “I’m stuck”. At any stage of business building, it’s possible to be stuck – idea phase, starting up, growth, sustainment, maturation, even exiting.

Being stuck is the most frustrating of frustrations, and the source of many a sleepless night. In fact, I’m sure the advertisers on late night TV heavily target entrepreneurs, staring blankly into the screen, flipping and turning their immovable business over in their head for the gazillionth time.

Most of the time, what’s got our insomniac friends stuck isn’t a lack of options or even the lack of a chosen direction, it’s doubt. Doubt that they can pull it off, doubt that it’s the right choice, doubt that there’s a market, doubt that they can weather another failure.

They are stuck second guessing something or everything, because they are waiting for some type of assurance or proof that things will work.

So, they hold back. They make all the plans, and then they spin around them forever, wondering, looking for evidence, doing… nothing.

Guess how much clarity you get when you do nothing?

There is one antidote for doubt: action. Any action. A small action. Maybe you take that product idea one step further and you see what happens. Maybe you write that blog post about your new strategic direction and see what kind of feedback you get. Take the really big thing on which you are stuck and make a mini action that feels like committing without a wholesale change.

Or ask for help. Some business owners stay in the crippling cycle of doubt for a long, long time, and the only way out is some third-party business therapy. An exorcism of the doubtful demons.

Find a mentor, a coach, another entrepreneur with lots of experience, anyone who has the education or the scars to help you work through the wall of misery. You’d be shocked how quickly a second set of eyes can narrow down your problem and help you create clarity, the other side of doubt.

If you’re in the grips of doubt, don’t forget that I offer a free 30-minute Discovery Call.

Kick doubt to the curb, and start taking action. Your business will love you.

Tell me in the comments…

When has doubt paralyzed your business?  What action did you take to re-start your momentum?