Written by: Cheryl Thacker, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
There are plenty of things that can make it hard to reach your full potential in your life and business. But your mindset shouldn’t be one of them. If you suspect you’re getting in your own way, here’s how you can shift your thoughts and actions to create a mindset for success.
Fixed Mindset versus a Success Mindset
When people start to stall when achieving their goals, personal or professional, it’s often because they’re stuck in a fixed mindset. A fixed mindset is the idea that people are born with or without certain abilities, talents, or qualities. A fixed mindset might rear its ugly head in thoughts like “I’m not good at social media. I just don’t have the knack for it.”
The problem with a fixed mindset is it keeps you penned into the skills that come easily to you. This limits your achievements and can affect every area of your life. If you’re building a business this can be the difference between a thriving business and a struggling one.
The antidote to a fixed mindset is creating a growth mindset – the perspective that, while not everyone has certain qualities innately, people can develop skills with time and effort. “I can take a class to learn how to market my business” is an example of a growth mindset in action. A growth mindset opens you up to new opportunities and frees you from the limitations your subconscious has set on you.
Luckily, you can develop a growth mindset with time and a bit of rewiring your thoughts. Here are a few ways to go about it.
Practice Gratitude
Acknowledging the skills, achievements, and advantages you already have opens you up to a different mindset – one that’s more pliable and optimistic. By reflecting on what you already have going for you, you’ll also come to realize that the good things in your life weren’t always there. Many of them, you had to go out and get yourself. Acknowledging this makes it much easier to envision yourself developing new skills, since you’re reminding yourself that you’ve already grown in the past.
Celebrate Your Wins
This is closely tied to gratitude. As a culture, we often think of go-getters as the type of people who are never satisfied. But in reality, that’s a recipe for burnout. If you never stop to celebrate your achievements, you’re creating a discouraging dynamic that discounts tasks the second you complete them. When you accomplish something, even if it’s small, acknowledge the effort you put into it and appreciate how you’ve grown.
Acknowledge Your Imperfections
This doesn’t mean you should criticize yourself constantly; it means you don’t have to pretend to be perfect – nor should you try to be. A lot of fixed mindset comes from the idea that if you’re not instantly an expert at something, you’ll never be able to become good at it. When you acknowledge that you (and everyone else around you) is a work in progress, that makes it easier to identify areas where you’d like to grow. Then, you can face them head-on.
It might seem difficult to develop a growth mindset, especially for entrepreneurs. But in training your mind to see problems and challenges and dreams as goals, you’re giving yourself practice already. For a free workbook to help you design your success mindset go HERE. For more tips and resources visit my website, connect with me on Instagram and LinkedIn and visit my Podcast.
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Cheryl Thacker, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Cheryl Thacker, PCC, BCC is a master board certified coach and the founder of Successful Coaches Enterprise LLC where she works with emerging coaches and solopreneurs to build their dream life and business. Cheryl believes that every coach has a unique gift to present to the world and it is her mission to help them gain the confidence, skills and knowledge needed to master their business. In every aspect of her business and life, Cheryl’s passion for helping others has always shined through. Utilizing her business background of 25+ years and her extensive coach training, she is able to help coaches make a massive impact in the world while growing successful, sustainable, and profitable businesses.
