Dealing with Doubts

Today's guest blog post was provided by transition coach and writer Deborah A. Bailey (www.dbaileycoach.com).

So what happens when you have doubts about your business dream? You can see it...most of the time. Other times it seems much too difficult or too far away from your current reality to ever manifest. Perhaps people have told you that you're crazy, or that you aren't the type of person to take such risks.

You're juggling a day job with your business and feeling overwhelmed by both. At times like that you can wonder why you thought you could bring your dream into reality. What were you thinking? To be honest, if a lot of entrepreneurs knew what they were getting into, they might have run away screaming instead of starting a business. The thing is, dreams don't go away that easily. You may try to dismiss them, but they're always in the back of your mind.

In my opinion, doubt can never destroy a dream, but it can delay your bringing it to life. Every time you say, this can't happen you push your dream a bit further away. So, how do you deal with doubt and overwhelm while you work your business?

1. Write down your ideas in a journal or notebook. Keep them private or share them with your support system. Don't judge them or try to determine how logical they are (or aren't).
2. Get quiet and create a vision for what your dream would be like if you were living it right now. Sit down and close your eyes and see the pictures. Feel your emotions. Smell and taste and touch your vision. How does it feel?
3. When you feel doubt, ask yourself where this is coming from. Is it a fear of the unknown? Are you feelings based on past disappointments? Do you doubt your dreams because you've been told they're silly or unrealistic?
4. Think about the things you've accomplished in other areas of your life. When we're in doubt, we think about our failures, and not our successes.
5. Accept that it's not important that you know how your dream will manifest. The "how" is not as important as the "what." (As in, knowing what you want.) This is the hardest thing to let go of because it means surrendering control. When you try to control it, we base our expectations on what's happened in the past -- not on what's possible in your life right now.

Doubts will never completely go away. They're part of being human. So don't wait for them to disappear before you embrace your dreams; keep believing in them and visualizing them. You'll be surprised at what you will accomplish. It takes courage to step out of the crowd and create a business out of an idea. Working on a full-time job and a business will take every ounce of belief that you have in your dream - and the reward will be beyond what you could've imagined.

Transition Coach and writer Deborah A. Bailey successfully transitioned to career consultant and coach by founding her company Deb Bailey Coaching. Her extensive personal experience in the employee to entrepreneur transition makes her the partner of choice for many successful entrepreneurs and career professionals. Deborah is the host of "Women Entrepreneurs - The Secrets of Success," a weekly Internet radio talk show where she provides candid discussions with today's top entrepreneurs, authors and industry experts. She has been interviewed on radio stations around the country, featured on ABC6 Philadelphia and has been published in Baseline magazine, the NJ Star Ledger, Crain's New York Business and Bankrate.com. For more information, visit http://www.dbaileycoach.com.

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