Remove Emotion

Emotional strength is the new school of power for entrepreneurship. The old school business type of starting a venture with your best friend, working alongside your girlfriend or boyfriend, or buying a property based on its looks alone are now a thing of the past. The new entrepreneur learns how to produce more success and fulfilment by using emotional strength to make better decisions. The key is, is to harness these emotions and learn how to control them and use them only when necessary. It is very difficult for us to remove emotions entirely as we are only human, but we need to condition our minds to take control of the situations that get put in front of us. If we do not work on this conditioning of the brain then we will be left behind in the marketplace.

I used to be an emotional wreck. I would make decisions using my heart and not my head. A lot of those decisions were based on ego rather than logic. In my twenties I went into business with a number of different friends. It felt like the right thing to do as it was all I ever knew. In my mind was that if we can get along socially then we could get along professionally. How I was so wrong! The more involved we became in business, the more friendships suffered then consequently the business did as well. Your expectations of your friends are so much higher than anyone else because you hold them in such high regard. You expect them to understand you emotionally and for them to have some sort of consideration for you. Most of my friends who I have gone into business with have not been able to handle the workload that the business had required. Unfortunately these people had to be cut from my organisation and replaced with people who are more competent and committed to the role where I have no emotional attachment to. These partners and employees have been put in place from a logical and strategic approach, to ensure lines aren’t blurred in communication.

Now I look at business in a different way, I analyse the numbers and study financial statements over worrying whether I like the people involved or not. Of course people play a big part in any deal, but the numbers always come first for me now. Decisions need to be based on logic and accuracy, especially when you are looking at projects for the long-term. This type of approach can also work in the workplace if you are an employee. For example, if you don’t personally like your boss because he is constantly barking orders at you, remove yourself from the situation and analyse why he is acting that way. He probably has targets and responsibilities to hit set out by his superiors so it’s not a personal attack, just a manager trying to get a job done. Once you remove yourself, deconstruct the situation and understand why people act a certain way, you begin to accept things a lot easier.

When it comes to property, all emotion must be removed, even when buying a family home. Purchasing a property will probably be the biggest financial decision we will have to make for most of us, therefore the decision needs to be based purely on numbers. Your basic instincts and emotional responses may affect your ability to make good financial decisions., clouding the bigger picture and may result in paying far too much for a bad property. A good property bought at the right price can provide fantastic returns for a lifetimes, however a bad property bought at a bad price can have the opposite effect and can take a lifetime to recover from. “Falling in love” with a property based on how it simply looks can be a very expensive mistake. Just like a business you must investigate financial reports, cash flows and forecasts. Often, people want to invest in property as a way to generate and accumulate wealth – to grow their future. If that is really the objective, then its all about the numbers, removing all emotion from purchasing decisions.

You have to remain calm to make good decisions in the face of any uncertainty. Sometimes we can cloud our judgement in times of fear, excitement, anger, sadness, love and passion. We must always train ourselves to have a conservative approach when making critical decisions in life. Having a rollercoaster of emotions can see us high in the sky one day and come crashing down to burn the next day. The ability to strategically manage your feelings is one of the most important skills you can cultivate in an increasingly uncertain world we live in. You control your actions and reactions. Don’t let your emotions run your life. If you can master them, you will build a successful life and accomplish great things.