Expat Entrepreneurs: What Are Your Emotional Triggers?

Posted on 05. Mar, 2010 by Emmanuelle Archer in Blog, Expat Entrepreneurs
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The least you can say is that being an expat entrepreneur gives rise to some strong emotions, especially when it’s your first time running a business or living abroad. You go from stressed out to panicky to strangely euphoric within the same minute. And you desperately yearn for some peace of mind.

The problem is, you cannot productively deal with your feelings unless you define them clearly. It’s like the old management axiom: “If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it.”

Identify your feelings

So your first course of action should be to put your finger on what it is exactly that you’re feeling.

“Stressed out” is too vague. “Overwhelmed by the number of tasks I have to complete before tonight” and “Afraid to make that important phone call” are much better, because they point to two concrete issues: time management and procrastination. That’s useful information.

Recognise your triggers

The next step is to identify your triggers. When exactly do you switch from your normal mood to Overwhelmed and Afraid? What are the circumstances and the associated feelings? What’s the pattern here?

Be as specific as possible. You may want to take notes, even if some of your triggers may look silly once you write them down – I know mine certainly do! Keep a record of the information you’re uncovering, because it will come in handy further down the line.

In case you’re wondering, you’re not just playing detective for the fun of it, or for the sake of self-knowledge.
Recognising your triggers is important, because with a bit of practice, you’ll be able to take a deep breath, pause, and calm yourself down before your emotions become too distracting. In a matter of minutes, you’ll be back to working efficiently and building a successful business, instead of wallowing in negative feelings and self-pity for hours, if not days.

In the next post, we’ll look at a technique you can use when things get really bad – when you’re not just scared, but downright panicked and unable to focus on your work.

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Emmanuelle

Images by n0r (top) and Phil Romans (bottom), both via Flickr Creative Commons