4. Self-Check: Are You in Danger of Being Trapped?

The line between healthy optimism and blind optimism can be hard to see from the inside. This checklist is a tool to help you evaluate whether your passion might be putting your venture at risk. Completing this check honestly is a foundational step toward cultivating the earned optimism that successful founders require.

Read the following statements. The more that sound like you or your startup, the more likely you are exposing your new business to unnecessary risk.

• [ ] Thinking or saying, “This is a sure thing?”
• [ ] Losing patience with people who point out risks or shortcomings in your plan?
• [ ] Believing your solution is better than anything on the market?
• [ ] Expecting most of your sales to come from word-of-mouth or “viral” marketing?
• [ ] Plotting global domination before releasing your first product?
• [ ] Delaying product releases until they are perfect?
• [ ] Loving your product, with no idea who will buy it?
• [ ] Hearing great “buzz” but finding few (or no) paying customers?
• [ ] Finding yourself saying (about your customers), “They don’t get it yet, but they will!”?

Recognizing these patterns in yourself is not a sign of failure; it’s a mark of the self-awareness needed to succeed.