Why Entrepreneurs Should Be Prepared For The Worst
Lessons from an international flight
“We suffer more in imagination than in reality.” — Seneca
There I was at the airport to be on my last flight of the year. It was 27th December of 2019, and I was about to go to Austria to spend New Year’s Day. Or at least it was what I was expecting to do.
I talked to the attendant to check me in and gave her my passport, but she couldn’t find my flight. What was happening? I stayed calm while she kept looking for it. Then she asks for the number of the flight I had with me and then she surprises me with bad news. I had bought the ticket for the wrong month. I had purchased the ticket for 27th March of 2020 instead of 27th December of 2019.
What can I do now?
Being an entrepreneur is to live a life of uncertainty. You never know if what you are about to do is going to work. We always hope for the best, but rarely we are prepared for the worst. Entrepreneurship is a long-term emotional game. We must learn how to deal with our feelings.
Plan in advance
“If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.” ― Benjamin Franklin
When I started my first company, I believed that hard work would be enough to make it work. I didn’t have a plan. I was working long hours and giving the best I could. However, as you may expect, that didn’t help me to get positive results.
A few years later, I had a profitable company and had learned the importance of planning. When you plan, you understand what you will need to do; you understand who you will need to hire; you understand when you should have things done. If you don’t have that, you will be working reactively and putting out fires.
Many entrepreneurs think you should have a long and detailed plan to put into action, but I never had something too complicated or bureaucratic. It’s impossible to plan for everything. It’s better to have something that leaves room for individual initiative, opportunities, changing conditions, experimentation, and innovation.
Be prepared for the worst
“Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” — Mike Tyson
Your plan isn’t going to work. So, why to plan in the first place?
It’s not because it won’t work that it isn’t essential. As I said before, it’s impossible to plan for everything. It’s impossible to prepare for or prevent something you’re unaware of. Things will go wrong, and you need to be calm to deal with that. You may think that imagining the worst is pessimistic, but it is merely a feature of their self-confident optimism. When you think about that, you can imagine how to solve those future problems. You will be ready to do whatever work necessary. Everything different from the worst is a victory.
If you want to have a great company:
- Think about all the ways it might go wrong. Be prepared for that.
- Think about how you’d handle it, all the things you would need to do in response.
- Practice being calm in the face of how overwhelming it might seem.
- Remember that people will depend on you, and that’s why you need to respond right.
- Consider what steps you can take now in anticipation.
- Expect to have a successful and pleasant organization, but be ready in case that doesn’t happen.
What about my flight?
“Rehearse in your mind: exile, torture, war, shipwreck. All the terms of our human lot should be before our eyes.” — Seneca
When I heard the news about my mistake, I asked what I could do. The attendant said that I should call the place where I have bought the tickets to try to change them. And that’s what I did.
While I was waiting for someone to answer me, I started to think about the worst that could happen to me. I was at the airport with my baggage, ready to go to Austria to spend New Year’s Day. I didn’t want to spend it in Brazil (that’s where I live). Then I realize that that was the worst that could happen to me that day. I had paid for the tickets, just not for the days I planned. I still could go in another moment. I was not hurt; I still had all my teeth and members with me. Why complain?
After more than one hour of talking to the attendant trying to change my flight date, I got the news. I could take a flight later that same day. I would leave eight hours later than I was expecting to. Not bad. I had to pay a fee and wait at the airport for my flight. I had to cancel a lunch in a fancy restaurant that I have booked as I wasn’t going to arrive on time for that. But that’s ok. At least I would spend New Year’s Day in Austria.
The future
“Hope for the best and be prepared for the worst.” ―Maya Angelou
I’m proud to say that I was calm while all of this happened at the airport. I wish I had acted more often like this in my entrepreneurial journey. I would have avoided many negative feelings and lived a healthier life. However, I can’t change my past, so it is up to me now to learn from all of this and act differently in my future endeavors.
We are not used to preparing for the worst, but I believe that doing so can help us deal better with entrepreneurial life challenges. I’m a very optimistic person. It was difficult for me to start thinking about the worse. As I started doing that, I was able to solve problems faster and avoid toxic thoughts.
There is no time to criticize, condemn, or complain. When you do that, you could harm personal and business relationships. The goal of an entrepreneur is to build a successful company. Thus it is essential to build and maintain — not destroy — those relationships. We must learn how to deal with our feelings.
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