Sometimes in life, our mindset can be the biggest obstacle to our own success.
We talk down to ourselves, limit what we can achieve, play it safe, underprice, under-promise and over-deliver.
If we heard someone speak to our children the way we speak about ourselves – even in the privacy of our own thoughts – we’d go all ‘mama bear’ and fight their corner with everything we have.
Why then do so many of us accept second best in business, if not life itself?
Those Rotten Mind Monkeys
We’re back to those limiting thoughts and behaviours that we learn to adopt over time.
As a coach, I see how some of the biggest positive developments happen when you change your mindset. When I run coaching programmes, I ask my lovely ladies to think about the things people have said to them in the past that have held them back, before encouraging them to write a list of all the things that make them fabulous.
It’s all about changing the narrative in your head.
Setbacks Are Not Failures
When you’re in business, things will happen that give your confidence a hit. Maybe you’ll lose a big contract, receive a complaint, or a rival business will explode onto the scene leaving you reeling.
In the aftermath, we often feel that we’ve failed or that it’s somehow our fault, causing our confidence to nosedive while our business takes a turn for the worse.
In reality, it’s not the challenges themselves that dictate your future – it’s how you react to them.
If you ask questions, look for new opportunities and generally look ahead rather than behind, your business can come back bigger and better than ever.
Build Your Confidence From Within
Receiving customer feedback, testimonials and positive interactions can all feed your confidence. Social proof is an incredibly important tool for growing your business.
But changing your mindset also means finding a sense of value and self-worth from within. You went into business for a reason. You believed you could do it – and you ARE doing it, even if you’re facing tough circumstances.
Sometimes you won’t get any feedback at all. Your customers won’t shower you with praise. You need to be content enough with yourself to know that’s OK.
Step Out Of Your Comfort Zone
Stepping out of your comfort zone is one of the best ways to shift your mindset.
Listen to your gut and grab new opportunities with both hands. If something feels scary (in a good way), it will probably deliver the greatest rewards. If something is setting off alarm bells, value yourself enough to walk away.
Personally, I’m a goal-setter. When I need to change my mindset, I come up with goals that throw me in at the deep end. When I wanted to become confident at networking, I volunteered to run my local Business Club. When I wanted to become a better public speaker, I applied for and appeared on two television programmes.
It’s that old chestnut about feeling the fear and doing it anyway. And you know what? It works.
So what can YOU do today to change your mindset? Perhaps it’s something as simple as putting your vision for the future on the wall and making every decision based on whether it takes you closer to or further from that vision.
The important thing is that you remind yourself what makes you special, unique, and the driving force behind your business.