Examining your trigger finger

Are you considering quitting your job, getting into a different industry, or starting your own business? Has your finger been on the trigger for months or even years, but have you not yet been able to pull that trigger?If so, let’s examine why that might be. When you think about pulling the trigger, which objections do you notice in your thoughts?Here are some reasons that people commonly give for not pulling the trigger:

• I haven’t saved enough money.
• I don’t know what I’d do after quitting my job.
• What if I pull the trigger and then regret it?
• Will I make any money doing something else?
• I should learn more about the new job/business first.
• Quitting or switching comes with uncertainty and that’s scary.

Do you experience any of these thoughts? If so, which ones?Just like we can make a list of reasons not to pull the trigger, we can come up with reasons that you should, such as:

• You’ll never feel like you’ve saved up enough.
• You might regret your decision, but you also might find that it is the best decision you’ve ever made.
• Even if you regret your decision, you’ll have learned from it and that will help you make better decisions in the future.
• You are a creative person and will figure out a way to make money.
• You probably have already learned plenty of theory; you’ll grow more by experiencing something new than by thinking about it.
• Uncertainty can be scary, but can also be exciting!

Obviously, there are pros and cons. How can you weigh them? Should you choose whichever side has the most bullet points? Of course not. Should you assign each reason a weight and use a weighted decision matrix? I don’t think that will help.In the end, you’ll have to decide based on your values and on how you feel.But let’s talk about that some other time. For now, can you pay attention to your thoughts and become familiar with the objections that you raise?Yours,— Peter