I would like to talk with you about the inner game of business because I truly believe that, as a business owner, the most important key to success is a solid mindset that will allow you to endure all of the challenges that growing a business presents.
We can be our own worst enemies. If our mindset is off, we will actually sabotage ourselves by caving when we need to be strong and playing safe when we need to leap.
The truth is that everyone approaches their businesses differently and there is no one single way to create a successful business.
Your business model should be unique to you and get you excited. That is what will give you the inner energy to follow through when times get tough.
And that is why strategies and tactics for growing a business are not enough.
You can model all of the same strategies as other successful business owners in your field, but if your mindset is not in alignment and you aren’t excited about what you are striving for, you will sabotage yourself and often you really won’t understand why.
Mindset is the foundation to your success! It keeps you grounded, hopeful, resilient and fearless. It will get you through the tough times and provide the energy and fortitude to keep you moving forward.
When you implement all of the “right” strategies but don’t have the “energy” behind them, you will easily cave when you meet a challenge or obstacle. Innately you won’t really believe that you can handle the setbacks and you will default to old, limiting patterns that will keep you playing small.
That voice in your head will begin to deflate your dreams, telling you all of the reasons you won’t succeed. And you will believe them if you don’t consciously work on your mindset.
The right mindset defies that voice and reframes it to a voice that serves your higher good. It believes that you have everything you need to achieve your goals-if you believe and take inspired action.
And although there is so much to talk with you about mindset I would like to focus on growth mindset vs. fixed mindset.
Why waste time proving over and over how great you are, when you could be getting better? Why hide deficiencies instead of overcoming them? Why look for friends or partners who will just shore up your self-esteem instead of ones who will also challenge you to grow? And why seek out the tried and true, instead of experiences that will stretch you? The passion for stretching yourself and sticking to it, even (or especially) when it’s not going well, is the hallmark of the growth mindset. This is the mindset that allows people to thrive during some of the most challenging times in their lives. – Carol Dweck
Carol Dweck, PHD is one of the world’s leading researchers on motivation. A Stanford University professor, her focus has been on why people succeed and what ways that we can learn from them.
Carol proposes that there are 2 different mindsets: a fixed mindset or a growth mindset.
People who have a fixed mindset believe that their basic traits such as their intelligence, creativity or talent are fixed traits that they simply have or not. They also believe that talent is the thing that causes success-period. People who have a “fixed” mindset constantly judge themselves. They have a running monologue in their head that says things like “This means that I am a loser” or “This means that I can never win” or “This means that I am not as good as…fill in the blank”.
People with a growth mindset believe that their abilities can be improved through hard work and consistency. They have a love of learning and believe that it is up to them to figure things out. They take constructive action and they believe that they totally have a hand in their own success. They trust themselves. They understand that there is no “failing”-that it is all part of the growth process. They are not judgmental and try and stay open minded.
It is so easy to default to our usual way of doing things but when we do this, we don’t grow and in order to grow our business, we have to be willing to grow ourselves. The ones who are brave and willing to do this are the ones who will succeed. They take that leap of faith. They imagine that the net will appear. Failure is not an option-it is simply a detour-an opportunity for growth.
The good news is-you get to choose. You make a decision to “do the work” whether it be reading books on the subject, working with a coach or surrounding yourself with positive, forward thinking people, mindset is as important as the fuel you put into your body.
Keep growing that mindset muscle!
Namaste,
P.S. I have 2 openings for 1 on 1 coaching clients. I am looking for coaching clients who are serious about up leveling their business! Please click here if would like to set up a discovery session.
