By Chandran Iyer

One of the prime attraction for the tourists is in China is  a 4000 feet high transparent  glass panel bridge which appears to shatter when people walk over it.  Digital special effects have been added to this glass bridge in Hebai in China to give the appearance and sound of a shattered glass when people walk  over it.

As a result many people literally start screaming when they start walking over the bridge  as it gives a terrifying feeling.  Why does it happen ? The conscious brain  knows  that the bridge will not break. But the subconscious brain intervenes and screams at  us “what if it does ? “ The amygdala magnifies the consequence of failure than  imagining  the possibility of   sweet thrill of success. As a result we are gripped by anxiety attack. We stop moving forward.

The glass bridge  only appears to crack. But still  people scream the way children scream on fast moving roller coasters. Some people manage to  walk all through the bridge while others, return even after purchasing the  tickets. A friend who had been to China  in the pre covid times and had walked over this bridge was narrating her experience. She said though she purchased  the ticket,  initially she could not cross  the glass bridge as she got terrified. But later she managed. What did she do ? She  just closed her eyes and started walking holding the hand of her other friend who did not panic. I will again come to this point at the end of the article.

Why people fail to cross this bridge? Because a part of their brain which is called amygdala paralyses their actions.  If the amygdala senses danger, it makes a split-second decision to initiate the fight-or-flight response before the neocortex has time to overrule it. This cascade of events triggers the release of stress hormones, which puts a break in our action.

The bridge from Employee to Entrepreneur is similar. The road to entrepreneurship is strewn with threats and dangers. At every moment, the amygdala will see threats and will paralyse our action. A voice in our  head will continuously scream at us. “Stop. Don’t take this step. You will lose your hard earned money. Don’t be foolish to take this step and end up losing your security”.

Using will power may  not get you there as mind has a tendency to magnify things out of proportion.   How do I know this? Because I have gone through it. I was an employee getting a decent monthly pay cheque. There was job security. There was no need for multitasking activities. What I had to do was clearly defined. But when you become an entrepreneur, the buck stops at you.

So how to you stop your brain from derailing your  plans to become an entrepreneur? Take very small steps  in this journey  CONSISTENTLY.

Today I have a Business and Travel Magazine Corporate Tycoons which is nine year old. But how did I start it?  By taking micro steps and cheating my brain. Nine years ago I spend Rs 5000( five thousand) and made a  beautiful Prototype of the magazine. This was my starting point. A year later I launched  a magazine at the hands of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar in Bengaluru on March 2013. It is now a leading business and travel magazine. I am not narrating these to  boast any achievements. I mentioned these only to convey that if one person can do it, anybody else too can do the same.

So if you are toying with the idea of starting any new venture. Take these two steps. Make a beautiful prototype of how your business will look once it is completed. You can use internet images to plan how it will look like . For the second  step, take the help of a good mentor who has done what you want to do.  Remember the story of the glass bridge of China. How did the woman  cross the bridge?  She just closed his eyes and allowed her friend to hold her hands.

Lesson Number FOUR  To accomplish a worthwhile goal, do not use will power. It will be too weak in front of the fear.  Instead cheat your brain by making a prototype of what you want. It can be a good starting point.