I have been reading a fascinating book over the last couple of weeks which is called “The Chimp Paradox”. I had some time on my hands due to undergoing an operation on my neck two weeks ago, which is a whole other story. Anyway, this fascinating book has been used by a great many successful people including the likes of Chris Hoy the Olympic Gold medallist.
Given my charity Ironman exploits coming up, I thought, “if it is good enough for him then it is good enough for me!”
Anyway, the book explains that our mind is made up of pronominally three main components. Our human side, our Chimp side and our computer side.
In order to not give away the whole gist of the book in case any readers wish to try it for yourself, it essentially says that in any given circumstance the human will be in charge or the chimp. The computer side is used by both the chimp and the human to refer to for how to deal with situations from past experience. As you can probably guess that ideally we want the human in charge most of the time. Unfortunately the chimp is much faster and stronger than the human so it must be carefully managed in order maintain control.
The Chimp acts upon emotions whereas the human acts upon facts. The chimp is designed to be our defence mechanism. When things go wrong or are not going as expected or a brand new situation presents itself, this is when you are most likely to see the Chimp in control.
Bringing this all back to business, do you run your business based on actual facts and accurate numbers etc. Do you know what results you can expect because you have a tight control on your business activities and costs, staff etc. I am a great believer in procedures being used for as many things as possible within a business.
With procedures in place and good planning, you should predominantly be coming from a place of fact or certainty and not of surprise or guessing or even fear.
Sometimes it is worth getting an outside opinion of where you are with your business or personal financial affairs so you can plan ahead with confidence and keep your chimp happy. Best Accountancy offer a free consultation to d
iscuss any aspect of your business or personal tax affairs and to discuss your plans for the future and possibly be able to assist you make those plans happen.
No two businesses are ever the same just as people. I would be delighted to meet both the human and your chimp to see if we can help you reach your own goals.
Finally, I am back training for the Iron man in aid of Bowel Cancer West all be it not as intense for a few more weeks. This is a great charity, please do check them out and donate if you or your chimp is inclined. Oh and look out for our new sign written van on the road. All the best.