Self-Sabotaged by Research
by Karyn Greenstreet
Published on this site: October 28th, 2005 - See
more articles from this month
A woman in my MasterMind group posed a question today:
why did she spend all her time doing research and never actually go on
with "doing" the thing she was researching? She loved looking up information, finding
resources, interviewing people, gathering facts. But taking
these facts and applying them to her business seemed to always
be put on the back burner.
It's called "analysis paralysis". The idea is
this: if I could just gather this information, if I could
just find this fact, if I could make this list a bit longer
you get the drift.
The cause is simple: it's easier for many people to
research than to "do" because gathering research
is often a successful task, while acting on the research is
fraught with the possibility of failure, stress, or pressure.
So we stay in the research mode because it's safe and we get
a lot of positive feelings about having uncovered the information
we need.
Don't get me wrong: research is vital. I've seen many
businesses fail to thrive because they haven't done the marketing
research necessary to see if people want to buy the service or product they want to sell. The
key, as always, is balance. When you find yourself doing more
and more research, then you can bet you're procrastinating
on the "doing" side of things. You have two choices:
- Try to figure out why you're not doing the work, or
- Just do the work.
Either choice is valid, but guess what? Choice 1 is still
"research!" :)
Karyn Greenstreet is a Self Employment expert
and small business coach. She shares tips, techniques and
strategies with self-employed people to boost clarity and
focus, create sustainable motivation, and increase sales and
profits. Visit her website at http://www.PassionForBusiness.com
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