Avoiding Avoidance

Entrepreneurship is a unique endeavour. Success is often uncertain. The entrepreneurial journey can be unpredictable and requires flexibility, a certain amount of risk-taking and a good amount of proactiveness.

The entrepreneurial process is one that requires getting outside one’s comfort zone, as many trailblazing entrepreneurs have done. It is no surprise then, that one of the biggest obstacles facing the budding entrepreneur is avoidance behaviour.

The root of avoidance behaviour is psychological. Simply put, a person may find herself facing something unpleasant or harmful. This could be a real threat, like encountering a dangerous wild animal; or more commonly, a perceived threat, such as the fear of humiliation that arises from public speaking.

One then avoids this threat and is rewarded with a temporary sense of relief. Now, in the wild, this is a beneficial, life-preserving behaviour. But in the corporate jungle, this behaviour is detrimental and will only offer resistance to the needs of a promising enterprise. For example, one might avoid networking events for a variety of reasons. Shyness, or maybe rationalizing that it’s actually not that important. Missing one networking event might not be a big deal, but keep avoiding them and you will find yourself lacking the crucial connections you need to launch your startup. Not to mention the missed opportunity of sharpening your pitch as well as your social skills and social capital.

What are some forms of avoidance behaviour?

Perhaps the most common is procrastination. Everyone has done this at some point or other. We put off sending that important email, or we postpone a deadline. It’s no big deal, we will just do it later, right? In the meantime, let’s check social media for again for the ninth time.

Procrastination is insidious because it seems so innocuous. But like a miniscule snowflake, it has the tendency to gain more momentum each time and before you know it, your procrastination has snowballed into something sinister.

Another form of avoidance behaviour is performing tasks partially. Maybe we go to a networking event but leave before making any introductions. Perhaps we do the first couple of steps but avoid the meatier, tougher parts of the sequence. Yet another form of avoidance is outsourcing duties to others. This is especially troublesome if the duties are important ones.

For example, having a difficult conversation with an employee. Or pitching an idea to a potential investor. These are tasks that require ownership and proper execution. Palming off that responsibility to someone else means it may not be implemented to a high standard. Furthermore, you will miss out on a great learning opportunity, because these unpleasant tasks are how you develop and hone the very skills essential to an entrepreneur.

Some people use social media in place of face to face interactions. This can also be another form of avoidance, especially if it’s to go over something important. As efficient as an email or a text message can be, it lacks the quality of a face to face interaction and can feel quite artificial.

There’s also the classic ‘paralysis by analysis’.

“I need more information, my team isn’t ready yet, we need more preparation before the launch.”

Before you know it, months have passed by and nothing concrete has materialized. Avoidance behaviour usually manifests itself as the abovementioned behaviours and more commonly, some combination of them.

So what can the ambitious entrepreneur do to avoid avoidance?

Before we get into the lifehacks, cunning plans and tips & tricks, let’s start with the most fundamental and seemingly obvious one.

Discomfort is normal. The most important step is to have a mindset shift. Whether in entrepreneurship or in life, we will time and time again have to face unpleasant tasks. They are just not fun and no amount of lifehacking or sidestepping will change that. But that is okay. Lean into the discomfort. Sometimes we just have to get something done, and it may feel uncomfortable, but it will be over. Reminding yourself that the stress you feel is from a perceived threat is also helpful.

Don’t waste your energy looking for detours or shortcuts. Just accept the fact that a particular task is going to be a little unpleasant. You don’t feel like doing it, but you will do it anyway. It sounds simple, but this is a very powerful tool because it fundamentally changes your perception of stressful tasks.  Of course, once you make this shift in mindset, there are other simpler, more fun things you can do to help you along.

If networking events scare you, sign up for public speaking classes. They will inoculate you to the stress of speaking to a large group of people, in a formal setting. An increasingly popular, if unorthodox option is to take up improv classes. While they lack the formality of traditional public speaking classes, they offer a dynamic environment, with emphasis on thinking on your feet and keeping people engaged. Apart from being fun, it offers a supportive environment where being tongue-tied or messing up results not in public humiliation but laughter and social cohesion.

You could also do simple things like choose a quiet corner of a networking event and speak with smaller groups of people. Or even organize meetups with a particular individual over lunch or coffee. When it comes procrastination, there is a plethora of innovative books, apps and articles to help you avoid it. A word of warning though, it is all too easy to end up procrastinating by researching ways to avoid procrastinating. Choose one, use it and move on.

Try meditation and relaxation exercises. The underlying cause of most avoidance behaviour is anxiety. Often, eliminating or reducing your baseline anxiety will translate into less avoidance behaviour, not just in business but in all aspects of your life. Try an exercise program, long walks, meditation, visualization, relaxing music…the options are endless. Incorporating some mindfulness exercises will also pay dividends to your productiveness.

Avoidance behaviour can be the bane of an entrepreneur’s existence, but it is not to be feared. An understanding of why we succumb to avoidance behaviour, coupled with a simple shift in one’s mindset is a strong start. Add to that the implementation of the strategies entailed here and a dash of enterprising enthusiasm, and you’ll be avoiding avoidance in no time.

Written by Garry Johal

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