3 Tips for Overcoming Hesitancy and Uncertainty – Getting Into Action

Overcoming hesitancy and uncertainty and getting into action

5 Minute read

In my experience, this is the most common challenge faced by business owners as they make progress with their business. We are creatures of habit and we love to be certain that things will work before we take action. Our lizard brain is programmed to warn us if it sees something it can’t explain, an anomaly for example. It will start that conversation in your head, you know the one that goes… ’are you sure you want to do that?’

The habit you are following in this instance is the habit of listening to your lizard brain as if it is saying “STOP DON’T DO IT” when, in fact, what it is really saying is, ‘hey there, I can see you are going to do something new that you have not done before, are you fully prepared for all of the consequences, and do you know what they are?’

Uncertainty is part of running a business. It is impossible to know if what you are planning will work or not, even if you have done it hundreds of times. There are too many variables.

In his book “What to do When It’s Your Turn” Seth Godin reminds us that at any given moment there are two outcomes. It will either work or it won’t. Both will have consequences and you will deal with them when they occur.

Preparation does not eliminate the uncertainty. It prepares you for the consequences of either outcome. What your lizard brain is trying to do is make you aware that there may be some unintended circumstances that you have not yet considered.

Tips for overcoming uncertainty and hesitation and getting into action

1. Be clear about your intended outcome. Ask yourself what the result you want to get is, why it is important and what it will enable you to do once achieved?
2. Set out the individual steps that will achieve your desired outcome. Fill in any gaps that you identify.
3. Consider potential consequences and list out remedies or counter actions that will either cope with or eliminate unwanted consequences.

The better your preparation, the greater clarity, certainty and confidence you will have. That will help you take high-impact action that gets results and drives your business forward faster.

Barriers to Getting Into Action

The main barrier is how do you feel about preparation. If you are the type of person that is more comfortable just getting into action, you are impatient. That impatience has a cost which can be seen with all of your incomplete or rushed tasks. The most valuable skill you can learn is this:

• STOP – literally stop doing anything and give yourself time to think.
• PAUSE – think about the situation. What is working, what is not working, what’s missing? Really understand what is happening and see it from as many different angles as possible.
• BREATHE – having got clarity about the problem, challenge or situation, identify how things might be done differently. For example, what new training, skills or resources might be required?
• CONTINUE – with your new ideas and perspective, now is the time to take action.

As a business owner, you are the one that has to be the role model for thinking before acting. Procrastination is a curse, hesitation is a signal. When you feel yourself hesitating, check the way forward to make sure you have prepared enough, and demonstrate to your team it’s better to STOP, PAUSE, BREATHE & CONTINUE than it is to rush blindly into action.