Are you scared of technology?
How comfortable are you with technology? You’d probably be embarrassed to say yes to this one, but the truth is that most people are scared of what they don’t understand. To those who aren’t trained in it, technology is an unknown that you have no control over. The fear is understandable.
But if you’re running a business, the natural fear of change and technology hurts you more than you realize. By not taking steps to implement new technology into your work life, you’re hampering your ability to grow, scale your business model, and stay ahead of the competition.
Here are some steps you can take to start integrating technology successfully.
1. Set aside 2 minutes a day to learn something new technologically
What you know and understand is more friendly than the unknown. The more you expose yourself, the more familiar and friendly you become with your new technological ally. It doesn’t matter what you choose to start with – as long as it’s something new. This will also teach you that technology can be your friend, and future attempts won’t be as intimidating.
Google can be very helpful with this. Some suggestions might be to:
- Find a new keyboard shortcut you didn’t know about.
- Learn a new Excel formula
- Research Chrome extensions and find a new one to try
- Explore all the settings of your most often used software
2. Find someone you can trust to help you
You can’t know everything. It’s not possible. You’re a leader, not a CIO. How could anyone expect you to understand technology when that’s not your specialty? What you do need is someone knowledgeable, who understands you and your business, to help you find and implement the right technology in your business.
Besides, there might be some easy answers to some complicated questions – but you wouldn’t know that until you ask someone who can give you those answers. Google isn’t good enough (yet) to tell you what you really need.
3. Set yourself up for small successes
Too often, I see people that jumped into a huge change without knowing what they really needed. $200,000 later, they don’t have what they want and are sworn off of technology forever. While I can’t go back in time and help them make the right decision to begin with, I can help them overcome their fear of technology by making a series of small and successful changes. With each change, the general comfort level with technology drastically increases.
Starting with small changes has a number of benefits:
- It helps you get used to change
- It minimizes risk, because you can easily change direction
- Too much change can be bad, since you’re leaving no room for the human part of using technology, and if it doesn’t turn out well, you’ll be scarred.
Start small and move in the direction of those small successes. In time you’ll have built a scalable business structure that lives ahead of your competition and is able to adapt. A recipe for success.
Do you have a story to share about a new technology you tried or a change you made that helped you grow? Please share, so that others can benefit from your experience.