Emotions-The Leading Cause of Death

As human beings, all of our behaviors are influenced by emotion. When it comes to entrepreneurship, this can be both a gift and a curse. I am not one of those Fortune 500 zombies who believes that emotion has no place in business but I do think that uncontrolled emotion is the quickest path to business failure. There are times when the use of emotion is beneficial but the key is learning when it is appropriate to allow those emotions to influence your decisions.

Emotions cause people to make impulse commitments during the heat of the moment. For instance, have you ever been shopping for a car and come across one that you really did not like much only to find yourself considering the purchase? Emotions are the main cause of this consideration. You are either tired of looking, not sure you’ll find what you want, don’t want to disappoint the salesman, etc… If you buy the car you will regret it every time you see the car that you really want. Decisions made purely out of emotion are usually one’s that will benefit someone else more than yourself. This is why sales people are trained to play to the emotions
of customers. Obviously this method of decision making could be very destructive to your business.

What goes Up Must Come Down

Another reason why emotion is the leading cause of death for businesses is because of the low lows. When you are emotional as a business person, you will be overly excited when your company is doing well. However, the same is true in reverse. When your company begins to
struggle, you will be extremely distraught and therefore more liable to quit. You have to understand that every business will have its up and downs(Hey its the law of gravity). You have to learn to be professional as opposed to emotional and you will be able to handle the highs and
lows more comfortably.

Allow your emotions to influence enthusiasm, dedication, and love for your business. Allow them to make you passionate about what you do. This passion is necessary in order to propel your business into the mature industry powerhouse that you first envisioned. Just don’t allow your emotions to make you vulnerable as this is a guaranteed path to that huge, small business cemetery in the sky. If you keep your emotions in check, they will do their job and make you better at yours.