Entrepreneur’s Guide For Progress

Under normal circumstances, being an entrepreneur can seem like a constant upward movement. Every day involves the constant impact of decisions large and small made by you and only you. But in times of uncertainty, when companies struggle to adapt to changing markets and working conditions, entrepreneurs face more day-to-day decisions than ever. Not surprisingly, according to data from the World Economic Forum, an average of 45% of adults worldwide say their physical and mental health has worsened in the last year.

As CEO of our company JotForm, to spend another crowded day, it is easy to enter cruise control; keep swimming and forget to consider how I think and make decisions.

But poorly informed decisions can lead to a lack of innovation, productivity, and inclusion in the workplace and ultimately damage your business. That is why it is important to recognize your current mindset and how to do it better. Here, some expert-backed strategies can improve the quality of your ideas.
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Thinking

If you are reading this article, you have eliminated the first strategy. According to Ness Labs, metacognition, the practice of thinking about your thinking, can help you analyze your thinking process and improve the quality of your thinking by doing so. Although it may seem complicated, metacognition only needs to create space for self-reflection. This can be accomplished by keeping a diary, reviewing your thought process regularly, and practicing some of the following skills.
As long as you can perceive your thoughts, you are a good start.

Pay attention to loop

Many of us are familiar with behavior loops: the way we automatically look to both sides before crossing the street; or when you walk into your favorite How it makes you drool in the restaurant. Similar to these learned physical responses, our brains also form certain “cycles.”

Psychological cycles are not bad in themselves; in fact, we sometimes need them to process new information throughout the day. As Zat Rana wrote, “Our brain is a pattern-seeking survival machine. It is used to ensure that we do not have to think too much about what to do when familiar situations arise, and it is a way to save energy.”

But they can also cause stitches. blind. Rana wrote: “Our brains learned something in one situation, so they applied it to other people by mistake, confusing the triggers that lead to conventional ideas.” For example, it assumes that a new business problem needs the same old solution rather than looking for a better answer.

The way to eliminate loops is to train our minds to think critically: read books, listen to conflicting opinions, and educate ourselves about different ways of understanding the world. In addition, you can practice different mental models as described below.

Add a mental model to your toolbox

As entrepreneur Charles Munger once said, “You must have a model in your head. And you must combine your experience in this model network in an indirect and direct way. “

In other words, we organize new information based on the existing infrastructure in the brain. The advantage is that we can diversify the types of models in this way and gain a deeper and more detailed understanding of new information. Enhanced availability One way of mental models is to simply study and practice them. Taking first-principles mental models as an example, it involves decomposing complex problems into individual elements and then rebuilding them from scratch or reverse engineering: think about what you want What, then think about the opposite of what you want: a reliable way to gain a new perspective.

Entrepreneurs can also try to organize their employees in a way that ensures the integration of mental models. A few years ago at JotForm, our employees started working in small cross-functional teams. The designer will see the challenge from one angle and the engineer will see it from a completely different angle. The result is undeniable: not only are employees happier and more motivated but our products have also been improved.

On a personal level, expanding your mental model toolbox will help you make better decisions.

Let diversity be the rule, not the exception

Among all the reasons to embrace diversity, this is one: it promotes your thinking and company innovation. The author of “Harvard Business Review” analyzed more than 150 companies and found that after women joined C-suites, they not only brought new perspectives but changed Csuite’s view on innovation, leading them to consider strategies. broader to create value. The important thing is that this change is especially true for teams that already have at least one woman.

Having a more diverse perspective can make the group more willing to accept change. As any entrepreneur can tell you, change is an integral part of innovation.

Remember the Agility of Emotions

Although we all want to see ourselves as completely objective decision-makers, especially in our business, it is undeniable that emotions affect our daily choices. Although we may think that anger leads to reckless or impulsive decisions, it turns out that positive emotions can also affect our better judgment.

The key to overcoming this tendency is to cultivate awareness and practice emotional agility. As Ness Labs explains, “Emotional agility encourages you to look at your inner world and develop adaptability. Building this compassionate and honest relationship with your emotions will help limit the impact of your judgment.” In this way, emotional agility can also relieve stress, reduce errors and improve work performance.

Also Read: Wanna Become A Zen Entrepreneur?

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