Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hi Yvette :-) Don`t beat yourself up, you`re not the only one going through this. It actually comes down to a pretty basic principle that we need to see progress in things, otherwise we tend to give up.

There was a brilliant experiment done, many years back (I can`t remember the source or I`d cite it). The psychologists took a rat and put it into a tub. Around the edge of the tub were various landing places. The rat would swim for a bit, then climb onto a platform.

Over time, they removed the various platforms, one by one, until there were none left around the edge. When the rat discovered there was no landing place anymore, it basically gave up....started to drown. (They rescued it.)

From there, other studies have gone on to show that a very large percentage of suicides are based on a perception of no more options. People give up hope when they can`t see a way to move out of their circumstances. Depression is in that same realm, and if we feel overwhelmed, we become listless.

Take a look at your life and see where you`re "moving forward." See where it is that you`re seeing real results and progress toward some sort of goal. That`s the essential nature of happiness---progress toward various goals in several areas of life.

If you`re not moving forward, then you can start to look at what appears to be progress...a sort of pseudo progress. For some people it`s shopping, for others it`s tinkering in a workshop. I`ll argue that for entrepreneurial type people, this type of pseudo progress can be evident in throwing off idea after idea after idea.

It`s not so much being depressed. Instead, it`s being blocked and frustrated from moving forward in overall life goals. When we come up with a Great Idea, then start to actually examine the implementation, our mind tends to see it as "Oh jeez, and here`s ANOTHER massive amount of work for no apparent reward."

Which side of the brain you`re using really doesn`t matter so much. The key is to sit down, examine your life goals, and imagine where you`d like to be in 5 years. Then take a look at everything going on in your life at the moment, and ask yourself, "What`s REALLY going on here?"

More often than not, you`ll find that you`re heavily invested in obligation, but not doing so much that you really want to do...and that you really like doing.

I`m in a similar boat but I am seriously pursuing a couple of my business concepts.  I`m a really creative person and come up with ideas/businesses all the time.  Some suck but then there`s a handful that are not only doable, but something I can start relatively easily.  I do research, make plans, even start processes.  That still doesn`t mean I`ll do it or follow through.  To me, that`s okay.  Not every great idea (or not so great idea) has to be implemented.

Hi,

Have you tried out this test:

Left Brain - Right brain and the Spinning Girl

I starred at this like one of those "magic eye books" for a good thirty minutes.  I could not make the girl appear to go counter clock wise; I had to stop when I felt she was becoming attractive.

Yvette:

Hey there, JustTryingToHelp... :-) Y`know, you`ve hit on another very important point these days---diversification.

I`ve tended to keep it in mind primarily as a safeguard against the collapsing economy, but the way you`ve described it highlights a different reason to diversify.

Sometimes being a "jack of all trades" doesn`t automatically include "master of none." Sometimes there`s a huge benefit to this type of diversification; it allows creative and imaginative people to work on many interesting (and profitable) things at the same time. (More likely, in a round-robin type of environment.)

So many Yvette, your solution might be to look at 5 of the most interesting ideas you have, then reduce them a bit into more of a country-buffet type of approach? Instead of devoting 100% of your efforts into a single business option, work out what 20% of that effort would get you.

For example, instead of starting up a catering company, focused on weddings and receptions, you could sell only three or four speciality food items at a few locations around town. They`d be "out there" working for you, sending home some residual income---your percentage of each sale.

The vending business is like this, where you appply X amount of effort for the time it takes to make the rounds, stock the machines, and extract the money. That leaves you time to do something else....one of the other 5 business lines you`re running.

:-) Kinda like fishing with a net or dragline, rather than one or two poles.