Written by: Alejandro J Tornato, 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.
Let me start with a statement by Trent Shelton, a former NFL wide receiver for the Indianapolis colts in 2007, who then moved to the Washington redskins and to the Seattle Seahawks before he left the league completely to become a motivational speaker, really caught my eye and I want to share it with you:
“I had to create possibilities for myself when no one wanted to give me an opportunity. I turned my pain into progress”.
This is what it is to have the mindset of a champion, not staying in the pain but transforming it into progress.
To that end, I will share with you five key traits of a champion mindset, and let’s jump into the first one:
Commitment
The first key trait to a champion winning mindset is the ability to stay loyal to what you said you were going to do. To stay committed to something, there has to be a reason of meaning. For example, if you want to start your own business, what is the reason behind it, it could be that your current 8-5 job is no longer fulfilling for you, perhaps it doesn’t provide any possibilities for advancement and you feel stuck… and let me tell you that I was stuck in the past and it is not a good place to be in. Another reason may be that you want to earn more money to provide a better lifestyle for your family.
The stronger and more compelling the reason, the more likely you will stay committed to the process. Remember that when you have a real reason to do what you desire to do, you will not give up.
Many people are more interested than they are committed. What do I mean by this? Well, they are only interested in their dream of starting their own business, of changing people’s lives with a new product or service, in what life may look like when embarking into this project, however, they operate with the simplicity of interest only, and therefore they are not committed to it from start to completion. They make a promise to themselves with words, but a real commitment is a promise to yourself with actions.
The second trait for cultivating a champion mindset is:
Discipline
In this mindset, you will choose to give up some things that you are used to having, and you will choose to do things that you are not used to, simply because you know it will lead you to something greater in your life.
Champions are strategic in what they do and also in what they allow into their lives. Some of the strategies around discipline may be changing your environment because it’s vital to your success.
Remember that “mindsets are contagious”, and who you surround yourself with will determine who you will become.
Ask yourself this question: “does your present environment add value or deplete from your goals?” Have the daily discipline to put yourself within reach of people who make you better. We have to put ourselves in a growth environment. the question is: “How do we build a growth environment?”
1. Removing the bad seeds
In order to get to your next level, you would need to eliminate your distractions. You can either be consistently distracted and enjoy your distractions, or have the mindset of a champion, but you cannot do both. Failure to remove the root issues and dig up those bad seeds will affect you in a negative way. Please, stay away…far away from the following kinds of people:
a. Negative people (people with a negative attitude toward everything)
b.- Fixed mindset people (as supposed to growth-minded people)
c.- Cannot do people (consistent excuse-makers)
d.- Ungrateful people (mostly compulsive complainers)
e.- Consistent takers (rather than being givers)
Remember that sometimes the best way to add to your life is to subtract from it.
2. Plant new seeds
Be intentional about your life and put yourself in the right kinds of environments. Develop better daily habits and rituals, and have a consistent and relentless attitude to maintain these habits for the long run.
3. Water those new seeds
Join the mindsets that will elevate you higher and better than you currently are. Intentionally put yourself in environments where you know that you are the least accomplished. Get a mentor in the area that you want to grow in, and don’t be afraid to ask lots and lots of questions. (One of my mentors, john c maxwell wrote a book titled “good leaders ask great questions”, where he expands on the importance for effective leaders to ask deep and impactful questions).
Consistency
I already covered commitment and discipline, but it is not enough to be committed and disciplined if you are not consistent.
Consistency can be applied to anything that you do, no matter what. As a matter of fact, John Maxwell often during his presentations will mention that some people will not have success in business because they underestimate the compounding effect of consistency.
I shared it many times in keynotes that we are experiencing what I refer to as a “microwavable generation” because people want and expect results fast and if they don’t see them, they give up on the efforts and move on to something else. There is no consistency.
If you plant seeds every day, if you trust the process every day, then every day you will grow even if you don’t realize it.
However, even with great consistency, you will not achieve your biggest and most audacious goals right away, and as you keep getting closer you will suffer setbacks.
Then, how do you keep your champion mindset? then, we come to the next trait which is faith.
Faith
Champions understand that the process must be trusted and that you cannot take shortcuts in the process.
What you are working on is not going to change immediately; now don’t take me the wrong way, it can certainly change very fast, but the experience clearly shows that any kind of process takes time to produce results.
Let’s take the example of a gardener or a farmer. they both have faith in the process of gardening and farming. They know they need to plant the seeds, take care of them, nurture them, and be patient. Above all, stay committed and consistent, and at some point, results will show up.
As a leadership development coach, I talk to many people and one common thread as to why some of them do not reach the success they really want, is not for lack of talent, skill or ability, but simply because when they have an idea for a new business, a new project, a new service, and begin taking action they fail to trust in the process, to keep doing daily activities toward the goal and give it time to mature. Instead, they throw in the towel and move to something new and keep repeating the cycle.
Now, commitment, discipline, consistency and faith will create a champion mindset you need to reach your goals and dreams, and the following and last trait will hold them all together.
Heart
Heart is finding the strength to give more even though everything else in your mind is telling you that you have nothing left. Heart is looking at life like a marathon and not a sprint. Those who actually win marathons apply each one of these traits I spoke about. They are fully committed to run the whole marathon from start to finish. They trained and are very disciplined eliminating all distractions that do not serve them. They know they cannot sprint to the finish line and so they put faith in every step, and as they are approaching the end, their heart pull everything together to get them over the finish line.
You will reach the point in any endeavor you are pursuing, where you have done everything you can, your back is against the wall and you feel you have nothing left to give; and even though it doesn’t look too good, this is the moment you break through, and create new limits you did not think were possible. This is what heart is all about. It’s saying to yourself: “I am giving all I have, my very all, no matter what it is or looks like, I am going to keep pushing”.
Heart is also about staying true to yourself, to who you are.
As you begin to access your champion mindset, and apply it to everything you do in your life, you will notice a change, and you will start to see a shift in who you become, you will see positive results.
Your thinking will change from “can I do this?”, “can I really take this on?” to “I am doing this and it’s working”.
And finally, your whole attitude will shift to the thought that there is absolutely nothing you cannot do if you are intentional in applying these traits, and you will become truly limitless.
Alejandro J Tornato, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Alejandro J Tornato is the Founder and CEO of "Alejandro J Tornato Global", offering Motivational Speaking, Leadership Coaching and Personal Growth & Development Training. Alejandro is a powerful and dynamic sought-after International Speaker and Coach Certified through The John Maxwell Team Organization. He is also one of the Founding Directors at "Have The Edge", with a mission to provide the most comprehensive coaching and training programs for business leaders and entrepreneurs. Alejandro's teachings and communication style immediately connect with individuals and groups from all backgrounds. Alejandro is the author of "Create Terrific Teams", and the host and producer of "The Alejandro Tornato Show" and "Have The Edge" Podcasts. Alejandro is a Top Mentor on Wisdom, the world's largest mentoring platform.
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