The hope zone: the danger zone for entrepreneurs.

When I was 17 I did my pilot’s licence. One of the most difficult parts about learning to fly actually had little do with aviation and everything to do with psychology. Aviation skills can be taught easily. The aviation safety mindset with much more difficulty. And the most difficult part? Knowing when to turn back, especially when you have already invested so much in your trip.

Eg. you have been flying for 2 hours and are 40 mins from your destination. You and your passengers are tired and keen to get there. There are heavy clouds ahead. The natural instinct is to just push ahead and hope you’ll make it. In aviation they call it the white knuckles syndrome (you subconsciously grip the joystick so hard that your knuckles turn white) and hope to dodge the clouds and make it.

In entrepreneurship it is easy to just hope you’ll make it. To borrow just a little more to get you around the corner. To think that just another 6 months and you’ll be fine.

In my experience the best entrepreneurs are the ones that from time to time stop and turn around and land the plane to refuel, take a breather and check the aircraft and the flight plan.

A good entrepreneur doesn’t give up.
A phenomenal entrepreneur knows when to land, take stock and recalculate their flight plan.

Tip: this is much easier if you have no bullshit advisors in your team who are less enamoured in your business than you.

(PS the pic is the pilot kindly allowing me to sit an #A380 while boarding. I don’t fly these kind of planes but the pic was so cool)