Friday, 18 October 2013

Are You Lying to Yourself?

Fact and Faith: Combatants or Collaborators?, Psychology Today, Oct. 11, 2013

What They Say: Even the best scientists get trapped by their subconscious wishes, which can override facts in sneaky ways. The scientific method was designed to override our wishes and determine whether something is really true, or just something we wish were true.

The Scientific Method vs. Faith:

Scientific Business Method Virginia Ginsburg

What This Means For You: Many entrepreneurs and small business owners get trapped in their own faith-based doom loop. They come up with a brilliant idea that is really exciting, and then they push towards the belief that their idea is brilliant, ignoring any evidence to the contrary.

I have been seeing this a lot in the new business ideas presented to me lately. Smart people become so enamored of their idea that even when I model out the revenue and it turns out to be a poor income generator, they are still determined to make it work.

I also see this in established businesses in which the entrepreneur simply can't figure out why her business is not profitable. She is so set on executing the business the way it worked five years ago that she is missing the fact that everything has changed in that time. 

What to Do: No matter what stage of business development you are currently in, consider the scientific method as a way to constantly test your assumptions. Most importantly, remember that building and growing a successful business is a never-ending process of evaluating your situation and making new decisions about how to move forward. 

Virginia Ginsburg is founder and chief consultant at Swell Strategies. She is passionate about supporting small business owners and entrepreneurs in starting and running successful enterprises. An avid reader, in this blog she reviews books and articles and relates specific learning points back to entrepreneurial businesses.
 

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