Peer pressure, we have all been through it, right? It is the influence or force you feel from your friends and family telling you to do something you don’t want to or the other way around. Whether the case is that you want to start an online business or just not go to the karate class, Social pressure, most of the time makes us go against our will! Here’s how to deal with it.
1. Remember, no one is perfect at giving advice-
While dealing with Social Pressure, you have to let your mind know that the person giving you ” advice ” to not take on your dream job is not always an expert in the field and nor does know you better than you yourself do. He or she is just trying to make you play it safe. But no goal can be achieved without taking risks. So, just take a piece of paper and write down the things that you prioritize, and see if they are more important then your goal you want to achieve.
How to prioritize things?
Prioritizing things won’t always be easy as there are many factors you have to keep in mind while doing so. But there is an easy way, just ask yourself this question –
Will you be happy looking back to your past counting your last minutes that you did in?
Would you prefer keeping your 9 to 5 job and working until the age of 65 before retiring and playing it safe lifelong or go to LA and starting the online business?
If you are like me ( and most of the humans ) you will probably go with the second option. Cool, you just prioritized your goals.
2. Make yourself immune to the doubters –
It is obvious that no one can be a 100% immune to social-pressure, you surely will have times that will make you think that whether your colleague was right when he said that your business would fail. To defend yourself from these attacks, you need to get something that is equal and opposite to their doubts, something that motivates you to go and chase your dreams, it can be some of your like-minded friends or a book or a video on YouTube. For me personally, it was a music video by Jake Paul where he flexes about the things he has being only 20 years old, I visualize myself as him when I am 20 and that motivates me to go forward!
Surround yourself with like-minded people –
One of the best ways to counter those doubts is to find friends with whom you want to start your restaurant with. It might be obvious that you can’t or not want to change your existing friend circle and you don’t need to either, all you have to do is to give them that book or video that motivated you to go with the decision you made.
3. Visualize –
To motivate yourself, even more, you need to visualize yourself in the position you want to be. Imagine of waking up every morning and going to your own office, working with friends to make your restaurant successful and going back to bed satisfied and happy.
4. Be Practical –
As I have already said a lot of fantastic and motivating stuff in this article, make sure you keep it in your mind that you can always fail and will have to beg for the job you left to get it back! But remember that even if you fail, you will have learned a lot, even more than you probably would not have learned, if you would have succeeded!