Identifying Worst Possible Scenarios

In life, we are often encountered by many problems that stop us from doing what we want to do. Most of these things however are only happening in our mind. If you’re ever scared or doubtful to do something, ask yourself, “What’s the worst thing that can happen?”

Don’t take it so literally though. I don’t mean repeatedly going visualizing the worst possible scenario of getting punched in the face and then going out and picking a fight with a stranger. That’s not too smart. What I do mean by this is for you to be able to break a limitation that is stopping you from doing something that you have been wanting to do.

There have studies done showing that the mind cannot differentiate between what’s going on inside to the real thing happening on the outside. We are often afraid to ask the question of what is the worst thing that can happen because we don’t want to even begin facing unwanted emotions. But if you can go through a visualized worst possible scenario in your head over and over again, eventually you’ll be able to go through it in real life.

For example, maybe you (and this happens a lot nowadays) are working somewhere you don’t really enjoy and would rather work someplace else. Although your current job of working under somebody else is paying for all your bills, the job is very restrictive. What you really want to do is start a small business with a group of people – you’re the boss, you have an assistant, and you have two to three people working under you guys.

The problem is this requires a lot of time and a lot of capital. You might even need investors to invest in you before making it work and there’s a chance you might also have to sacrifice the job that is supplying you with income.

The truth is a lot of people go through these kinds of dilemma or at least something similar. Most people, when encountered by possible dilemmas will continue to do the job that they have because they don’t have enough faith or confidence in themselves to pursue a dream. They’re afraid of something horrible that might happen.

That’s when this question comes into play: asking what is the worst possible scenario of starting a small business with a team of four to five people from scratch?

The worst possible scenario I can think of is not earning enough income to pay the employees and continue the company. This would make the employees mad and eventually quitting the company, causing the business to go bankrupt, and resulting in more debt than before the business even started.

Now that the worst possible scenario is out there, you know what to expect. The best way to deal with it is simply good preparation. A good laid out business plan would be able to overcome any worst possible scenario or scenarios if it is well planned out.

A good business plan would cover everything, as accurately as possible, including all expenses of how much the business needs, how the employers are getting paid, all taxes including federal, state, county, and sales, and of course, insurance. It would cover monthly projections for the next two years and quarter projections for the three years after that.

It would be strong enough to overcome any every external and internal hurdle or obstacle from lack of capital, competition, changes in the marketplace and economy to fear, doubt, lack of confidence, lack of experience and knowledge, and so on. Finally, it would mean that for every month that goes by, you as the boss, would make sure that you have hit the monthly income projection. This knowledge would ensure you that if you continue at the same pace, eventually you would be able to hit the intended goal.

The point is whether we are dealing with business, social relationships, or anything that involves high risk, identifying what the worst possible scenario is before hand will help us be able to break through any limitation that’s stopping us from starting. Once we get that done, good preparation, whether it’s written or mentally rehearsed over and over again until we feel like it can be achieved on a gut level, then it’s time to go for it.

Everything that we are scared of in life that’s stopping us from achieving it is most likely from a fear of something horrible happening. A dream then only becomes a glimpse of imagination in our daily thoughts. Even in encountering something horrible or encountering a “worst possible scenario” that you imagined before hand, there is always something that we can learn from it.

As stated in one of the most sacred texts of India – The Bhagavad Gita:

Even in the knocks of life we can find great gifts.

This means that even if you happened to encounter a worst possible scenario, you can still find something special in it. By knowing what you’re dealing with and knowing that something good can come out of it no matter what it happens to be, there should be nothing out there challenging enough that we cannot eventually overcome.

photo credit: dospaz

Tweet This Post