Five entrepreneurial challenges to boost your entrepreneurship

The human mind is incredibly complex, and (unless your speciality is neuroscience, psychology or psychiatry) using an abstract model is the best way to understand how it works. For example, many dieting programmes use the elephant and rider model to describe how to manage cravings and not give in to temptation. However, another model applies to entrepreneurship: the reptile, the monkey and the empire builder (Priestley, 2013).

The reptile looks upon the world as a dangerous place where nothing can be trusted. Its primary purpose is to ensure that you can escape and survive any difficult or stressful situation.

It has little empathy for others and will look out for scenarios that appear to provide for your immediate survival and involve as little effort as possible. If you have ever lashed out at someone, sent an unkind email in anger or binged on junk food, that was your reptile brain taking over.