Starting a business is risky.
Unfortunately, most founders ignore their biggest risk area: their own mind.
Research shows that humans are not as logical as we want to believe. Our brains are hard coded to fall victim to cognitive biases and mental mistakes. But these glitches provide us an opportunity. Hacking how we think can help us succeed while others make mistakes.
Here are the top 3 mental hacks for Founders.
Mental Hacks for Founders
1) Confirmation Bias
When a person has a preferred outcome, they are more at risk for interpreting the data in a way to confirms their desires.
Founders want their startups to succeed. That means they need to be extra careful when analyzing critical information to ensure they aren’t fooling themselves.
Hack = Specifically look for data that proves the opposite of what you want.
Mental Hacks for Founders
2)The Ikea Effect
A person will overvalue something they have created or built. For example, they think the Ikea shelves they put together are worth more then other people would.
Founders have built their company from scratch. That means they are most at risk for overvaluing their products and company.
Hack = Bring in outside perspectives you trust that will challenge you on how you price.
Mental Hacks for Founders
3) Sunk Cost Fallacy
A person is reluctant to abandon a strategy they have heavily invested in, even when it is clear that stopping is more beneficial.
Founders invest their time, money, and life into their companies. They are at risk of throwing good money after bad, because they don’t want to give up.
Hack = Analyze the opportunity cost of what you can do with your money and effort instead of putting it into a struggling project / company.
But I’m not a Founder?
No matter who you are, you can also use these mental hacks for founders. So don’t glitch. Hack your way to success.
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