The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur

October 7Trouble Solving

Within two minutes, or even less, he had forgotten all his troubles. Not because his troubles were one whit less heavy and bitter to him, but because a new and powerful interest bore them down and drove them out of his mind for the time—just as one's misfortunes are forgotten in the excitement of new enterprises.

Mark Twain—The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876)

There's little question that the strategy for quickly moving on from our troubles is to fill the space with “the excitement of a new enterprise.”

But is moving on in that fashion potentially like sticking our head in the sand? Don't like the hard work required to make this initiative profitable? No worries; just try out a new social media platform. Distraction isn't the answer; honesty is.

To leave a problem in the past, we have to first be willing to draw a line in that sand instead of digging a hole in it. We have to be able to mark the past as the past and the present as the greatest opportunity to learn.

We may need to ask for help. The solution could live in a completely new approach, testing something that's worked for a peer, or getting advice from an independent voice.

And you might have to change your mind.

Like many entrepreneurs, Tom Sawyer's troubles were often self-inflicted. Finding and knocking down the barrier we've built within that keeps us stuck in a cycle of self-sabotage may be the real problem that deserves a fix.

Is it fear of the cost of failure or fear of the cost of ...