Scott Duffy discusses the emotional roller coaster of entrepreneurship and argues that our brains habitually ask negative, unhelpful questions (e.g., 'Why do I suck?'), producing detrimental feelings and behaviors. He recommends developing the habit of asking better questions—such as 'What can I learn from this?' and 'What can I do differently?'—to change feelings, behavior, and ultimately business results.
I think that one of the most difficult parts of being an entrepreneur is the roller coaster ride that we go through every single day with our emotions. And you know what I mean? It's like you wake up in the morning and the big deal that you've been hoping for, it says it comes through and then it falls out. And then a couple hours later, like the big hire you've been trying to make says yes. And then they go to your biggest competitor, like, you know exactly what it is. I mean. And so the question is, how do you manage through this emotional roller coaster? And here's what I think. I think that our brains are just like Google. Whatever question we ask, it's going to come up with an answer. And what happens when we go through these tough spots is our brains always start to ask two questions without us even knowing it. What does this mean? And what should I do? And we start to go into this loop of asking ourselves questions that become a habit or a pattern, like, why do these things always happen to me? Why do I suck? And here's the thing, if you ask your Google like brain, why do I suck? It's going to come up with an answer. I went to Google, I typed in, why do I suck? Than a second, it came up with seven and a half million reasons. And that's just what your brain does. And as a result, you feel terrible. And the way you feel determines how you behave, and the way you behave determines the results that you're going to get in your business. So what we have to do is become great, exceptional at doing one thing, asking a better question, developing the muscle and the habit of asking better questions. If you start to ask yourself questions during those tough times when like, what can I learn from this? And that becomes your autoresponder, or what can I learn from this now and apply next time, like, to get a different result, what can I do differently? And really enjoy this, really enjoy the process. And guess what? You start to ask yourself questions like that, you'll get seven and a half million reasons why you will succeed. So ask yourself a better quality question, you'll come up with a higher quality answer. That answer will. Will change the way you feel, which will change the way you behave, which will change the results that you get in your life and in your business forever.
Business & Burgers-Sequence Collection bracelet for National Entrepreneurship Week
