The rush that comes with being busy and successful is an excellent-yet-dangerous motivator. It may provide continuing energy and get you going day-to-day, but the intoxicating nature of success is what leads to the gruesome third acts of too many Scorsese movies. Letting feelings guide your business choices, be they positive or negative, can threaten your ability to make smart decisions, which always need to be rational and based on a careful assessment of risk and benefit (and, in departure from Scorsese, never involve cocaine).<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why you should never accept the notion that you should lead your business with your gut, or that work is supposed to be fun and, if it isn\u2019t, you\u2019re doing something wrong. Work is supposed to be hard\u2014that’s why it’s called work<\/em>\u2014and that means having to make careful, thoughtful decisions, despite your emotional impulses.<\/p>\n Here are five ways of managing emotions in order to keep your decision-making skills sharp and your business afloat.<\/p>\n 1. Rage against rage. <\/strong>Anger is a great motivator\u2014if you’re looking to do something regrettable. So don\u2019t let rage be the inspiration that causes you to leave your old job and create a new one, or let anger at your old boss or a new client push you to make major changes to the way you do things. Since anger rarely inspires anything but bad haircuts and mug shots, protect yourself by figuring out long-term business goals that you can tether yourself to\u2014no matter how you feel. That way, you’ll have something holding you back so anger can’t get you too carried away.<\/span><\/p>\n 2. Fear only facts.<\/strong> Since nothing is quite so scary as the unknown\u2014all the what-ifs and worst-case scenarios that keep us up at night\u2014the best way to keep panic (and panic-driven decision-making) at bay is to do your research and make the unknown familiar. That way, you can see most problems coming and face them without letting them push you into a panic. Then you won\u2019t worry yourself out of taking smart chances or push yourself to take bad risks.<\/span><\/p>\n