Does your Mindset Lead to Success or Sabotage?
Mindset as a major business opportunity has come of age and about time! I’ve worked in and around mindset for almost 30 years initially in the marketing and advertising space and more recently working with the impact mindset has on performance and success. I know personally and professionally the significant opportunity this opens up for individuals and businesses alike. If you don’t already, I’d love to help you understand the power, the nature and adaptability of your mindset. Over the past 2 weeks, I’ve posted on the foundations of mindset. Mindset creates your Reality. Time to Take the reins and One Piece of the jigsaw puzzle is NOT reality. Today I’m tackling the big question of whether your mindset is right or wrong. It’s a loaded question because it’s a question that comes from judgement and lack of understanding about how we create our mindset. In the second article of this Mindset series, I used a metaphor to explain the process of eliminating data that is unconsciously classified as unnecessary. I likened all of reality – 11 million bits of information a second – to a 5000 piece jigsaw puzzle. After we’ve eliminated what’s irrelevant and doesn’t fit our existing view of reality, we’re left with 1 piece of the puzzle. We have no idea what reality is as, on the surface of it, we have no way of identifying what the picture is all about. So in essence, the question can’t be whether it’s right or wrong. The question has to be whether it’s useful or not. The only way to gauge if something is useful is to evaluate it in a context. A hammer is useful, unless you’ve got a screw. Let’s use an example. Think of something that you would love to achieve. Typically, I work in the business environment with clients who want more money, or more clients, a bigger pay packet, a clear career path or more opportunities. The process applies equally well to any other area of your life. Think about what you would really like to achieve and think about it as much detail as possible. So you can see it, you can taste it, you can feel it. The more detail that you have, the more real it will feel and the better able you will be to assess your how supportive your mindset currently is. Got your picture of what you really want to achieve? Now think about who you need to be; how you need to show up; what do you need to think, feel or do in order to achieve that outcome? The next step is to say, ‘OK, that’s what I need to get there. Where am I now in relation to that?’ which involves you assessing your current mindset in relation to what you believe it will take to be successful. ‘How am I showing up, right now? What am I thinking feeling and doing that is creating the results that I’m getting now and which are NOT what I’m looking for in the future.’ The two contrasting perspectives provide the opportunity to identify the gap which could include capabilities, as you might not have these skills and tools you need. What got you here may not get you to the next level. It could be you need to up the ante on your strength and use of power and influence. Perhaps you need a stronger more diverse network. Or it could be that your mindset doesn’t support your success. I get to work with some fabulous business owners, leaders and managers – mostly women. They come to me with a very clear idea of what they want to achieve. They generally have the capabilities to achieve their dream. What typically holds them back is a lack of self confidence. Self confidence is an outcome of self esteem. Healthy self esteem breeds self confidence. For example, how worthy you might feel you are, the messages you send yourself about the nature of success, yourself in relation to success, how easy success might be to come by, the perceived price of success and the impact of perfectionism on success, all affect how well you’re set up to achieve the outcomes that you’re looking for. A lack of self-confidence can rob you of the inspiration, excitement and motivation you initially experienced when thinking about the difference you’d like to make. Lack of confidence can take away your ability to put ‘failure’ into perspective. It can challenge your ability to navigate both the fast rate of change and the uncertainty that is now normal. So my question to you is ‘Are you set up for success? Or sabotage?’ And are you happy with where you are?