From my new book, FIFTEEN CRITICAL INSIGHTS FOR BUSINESS OWNERS OVER FIFTY, a personality type we recognize, and in many cases, one with which we thoroughly identify. Do SUPPORTER///ENABLERS make good business owners? You be the judge.
Strangely, in an era in which we are bombarded with statistical data and evidence-based decision-making, many of you still identify with this personality type. You are, by nature, a perpetual supporter and nurturer. Your caretaking instincts direct you to put others first. You are generous with your time and possessions and share without being asked.
When it comes to decision-making, what you feel and sense takes precedent over what the hard facts reveal.
“I feel something strange in the air today …… I told the realtor I just felt like this was our house …… I did it because I felt it was the right thing to do.”
Intuitive Choices
Because you base most of your decisions on intuitive feelings rather than sequential fact-finding, your convictions are more deeply rooted, more connected to who you are and what you’ve experienced over time, than statistical evidence revealed by research. If you witnessed a jumbo jet crash in the woods behind your house, no matter the stats that prove flying has the fewest fatalities and is the safest mode of transportation, you will intuitively “feel” safer in a car.
Your truths evolve over long periods of time, primarily through experiences and observations that form the basis for rational thought. A certain thing is true because your “rational” mind has certified it to be true. [Dogs are bad and will bite you.]
In the neocortex area of the brain where rational thinking and emotional thinking battle it out, your rational thinking is so heavily wedded to emotionally-charged experiences of the past [angry dogs barking behind fences or fighting in the street], your rational thinking that would ordinarily separate dogs by type, breed, size, and labrador retriever playfulness is not a valid contender, but rather, an enabler of intuitive choices and suspicions dominating your decisions in the “here-and-now”. What might appear to be an instantaneous burst of intuition in your current reality, is really an old core belief certifying right-and-wrong, truth-and-fantasy in your most current state of affairs.
Let’s put this into simple terms. You’re buying a used car. You haven’t done any research on makes and models. You “feel” good about the blue Buick Lesabre in front of you. The price is low; the tires are new; it has no scratches or dents. Your subconscious is jumping up and down. Sold!!!
What you don’t realize is that you’re really buying a connection to the past. Your grandmother once had a blue Buick. Your grandmother used to rub your bicycle bruises and make those delicious buttermilk pancakes. She paid for most of your college education. Your “right now” intuition is not buying the car. It’s buying a precious memory. You’ll find out later about the overheating and low reliability and sobering news that General Motors is discontinuing the old Buick line altogether.
This is a glimpse into the way you will process business … the way you process life, itself. Find out more about who you really are.
The Over-50 Q9 Entrepreneur Personality assessment is coming in April. Stay tuned!!!
————
Ready to join a group of advanced business thinkers to help you through the reset?
Let’s GO!!!
(Join the Over-50 Entrepreneur Master Group here:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1087477241691912