Being by nature optimistic, most business owners and leaders are reluctant to tackle business risks and issues head on. In our experience, they are reluctant to even think about these and bring the topic up.
If you are a business owner, how are you feeling right now, reading the words ‘risks and issues’? Do you feel the urge to change the channel, find a more motivating topic? Wait. Don’t. Here’s why.
Dealing with risks and issues is scary, yes, but not doing so is worse. What you will find by thoughtfully analyzing your own business risks and issues is the following:
- Some of these things that are worrying about you are not as big as you made them out to be. Vague fears and worries have that effect: they amplify the monsters and boogeymen in our heads.
- Several of your issues have solutions that you can take to either resolve them, or are risks you can mitigate if they actually come true.
- You will reduce your worries and will be able to sleep better at night.
Ultimately, if you really want to achieve what you set out for your business, there is no way around having to face this ‘dark side’. Every goal comes with built-in obstacles! However, let me show you a way that will make the exercise of dealing with your own risks and issues easier and less unpleasant.
There are the steps you can take:
- Get at least one other person to do this with. This makes the scariest parts less so.
- Make the environment pleasant, somewhat informal.
- Plan something fun and energizing right afterwards.
- Write out all of your risks and issues with brief descriptions. You may notice that what you thought were different issues were really the same one, seen from different angles.
- Prioritize your risks and issues. You will likely find that you only have only one or two issues you have to deal with right now. The rest can wait a little longer.
- Develop tasks to tackle your most urgent or biggest issues.
- Lastly, enjoy your fun, energizing exercise you planned to do afterwards. Reward yourself! You did something most people hide away from.
These are the steps we use within our own business and with our clients. Everyone always feels better afterwards. We hope you’ll try it too!
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