Is your Mindset Helping you or Holding you Back from Success in your Business?
08/17/20 • 13 min
Mindset is defined as a person’s way of thinking and their view of the world.
How’s your mindset helping you to stay aligned with your goals in life and business?
The psychologist Carol Dweck has been investigating the questions – Why some people with no apparent exceptional skills or talents become successful while others don’t. She wrote the Mindset book in which she examined this topic in depth.
Her and her team did an experiment. They worked with students and divided them into two groups. One group was praised for their ability while the other group was praised for their efforts.
When the ability group solved a problem, they were told “You did this so well! You must be really good at this!”
And the group that was praised for the effort were told “You did this so well, you must really have worked hard on this!”
After a while, the group that were praised for their efforts continued to excel while the group that was praised for their ability declined in their progress.
Professor Dweck explains that we have either growth mindset or fixed mindset.
Someone with a growth mindset, believes that they can accomplish anything with some hard work and effort. While someone with a fixed mindset believes that we are born with a set of abilities that determines how successful they are and there’s really nothing they can do to change it.
How do you know what kind of mindset you have; growth or fixed?
Think about something that you did that didn’t work out as you hoped or planned. What was your thoughts about that? Did you think that you were just not good idea and you should just not do that and focus on other things? Or Did you think that there was something you can do differently to get a better – more desired outcome?
What if I have a growth mindset vs fixed mindset? Why does it matter in my business?
Well your mindset could be either helping you get ahead or holding you back! If you believe someone is just a “natural born public speaker” or that you “just can’t speak in public” you’re holding a fixed mindset. With a fixed mindset, you avoid new challenges because you’re afraid of being judged.
In a growth mindset, you believe you can develop any ability through dedication and hard work. Because of this belief, you have a desire to learn. This enables you to embrace challenges and persevere when setbacks happen during the learning process.
How can we change our mindset from fixed to growth?
Step 1: Become aware of your fixed mindset
Listen to your fixed mindset “voice”. When you’re working on your business and trying to find opportunities, you might hear your inner voice saying “if I only had this ------------ ” or “If I was good at --------------- things would be a lot easier”. Recognize it as your fixed mindset voice.
Step 2: Recognize that you have a choice to change your fixed mindset self talk
When you hear your fixed mindset voice, you have the choice to interpret it as challenges, setbacks and self-criticism (fixed mindset) or as an opportunity to challenge yourself and learn something new, explore strategies for better results and continued growth.
Step 3: Talk Back to your fixed mindset voice
As you approach a challenge, your fixed mindset might say “Are you sure you can do this?" Answer with your growth mindset voice “I am not sure that I will get it right the first time, but with some experience and learning I will be able to know how to run a successful business”.
Step 4: Take consistent growth mindset action
Take consistent growth oriented actions. In time, this will help to reprogram your fixed mindset to shift to growth mindset.For more, visit www.theboundlessmindset.com
Mindset is defined as a person’s way of thinking and their view of the world.
How’s your mindset helping you to stay aligned with your goals in life and business?
The psychologist Carol Dweck has been investigating the questions – Why some people with no apparent exceptional skills or talents become successful while others don’t. She wrote the Mindset book in which she examined this topic in depth.
Her and her team did an experiment. They worked with students and divided them into two groups. One group was praised for their ability while the other group was praised for their efforts.
When the ability group solved a problem, they were told “You did this so well! You must be really good at this!”
And the group that was praised for the effort were told “You did this so well, you must really have worked hard on this!”
After a while, the group that were praised for their efforts continued to excel while the group that was praised for their ability declined in their progress.
Professor Dweck explains that we have either growth mindset or fixed mindset.
Someone with a growth mindset, believes that they can accomplish anything with some hard work and effort. While someone with a fixed mindset believes that we are born with a set of abilities that determines how successful they are and there’s really nothing they can do to change it.
How do you know what kind of mindset you have; growth or fixed?
Think about something that you did that didn’t work out as you hoped or planned. What was your thoughts about that? Did you think that you were just not good idea and you should just not do that and focus on other things? Or Did you think that there was something you can do differently to get a better – more desired outcome?
What if I have a growth mindset vs fixed mindset? Why does it matter in my business?
Well your mindset could be either helping you get ahead or holding you back! If you believe someone is just a “natural born public speaker” or that you “just can’t speak in public” you’re holding a fixed mindset. With a fixed mindset, you avoid new challenges because you’re afraid of being judged.
In a growth mindset, you believe you can develop any ability through dedication and hard work. Because of this belief, you have a desire to learn. This enables you to embrace challenges and persevere when setbacks happen during the learning process.
How can we change our mindset from fixed to growth?
Step 1: Become aware of your fixed mindset
Listen to your fixed mindset “voice”. When you’re working on your business and trying to find opportunities, you might hear your inner voice saying “if I only had this ------------ ” or “If I was good at --------------- things would be a lot easier”. Recognize it as your fixed mindset voice.
Step 2: Recognize that you have a choice to change your fixed mindset self talk
When you hear your fixed mindset voice, you have the choice to interpret it as challenges, setbacks and self-criticism (fixed mindset) or as an opportunity to challenge yourself and learn something new, explore strategies for better results and continued growth.
Step 3: Talk Back to your fixed mindset voice
As you approach a challenge, your fixed mindset might say “Are you sure you can do this?" Answer with your growth mindset voice “I am not sure that I will get it right the first time, but with some experience and learning I will be able to know how to run a successful business”.
Step 4: Take consistent growth mindset action
Take consistent growth oriented actions. In time, this will help to reprogram your fixed mindset to shift to growth mindset.For more, visit www.theboundlessmindset.com
Previous Episode
Living the Dream - Sessie Naidoo | Business Financial Advisor
I had the pleasure of chatting with Sassie Naidoo as we discussed some of the options WOC have for financing their businesses, the importance of money management in business and the ingredients for WOC to succeed in their business.
Sessie has over 4 decades of diverse experience in finance, education, and sales. She shared her passion of helping her clients to explore options that best fit their financial needs while supporting them to increase their financial literacy. As an experienced financial advisor, Sessie minimizes the guesswork of finding the best financial product for her clients. She’s well versed in the key requirements of lenders to help her clients secure their financing goals.
In our conversation, Sessie talked about her own journey on how she achieved her lifelong dream of starting her own business and what helped her get there. In Sessie’s words “I am rewarded when my clients learn the tools to help them achieve their financial goals”.
Here’s how you can connect with Sessie:
Website - https://sessiefinancial.caLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sessiefinancial/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/sessie.naidoo.5
Resources:
- Four step guide to starting your business: https://www.theboundlessmindset.com/landing-page/
- Business Development Bank of Canada: https://www.bdc.ca/en/pages/home.aspx
What are you doing to increase your money knowledge so that you can reach your financial goals?
Next Episode
Starting With Your WHY for Your Business
Why is it important to know your why when you are creating your business?
Simon Sinek talks about the golden circle in his first hugely popular Ted Talk with over 51 million views. He explains that people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it. He uses Apple as one of his examples, and talks about how Apple is able to communicate their why so effectively. Which is the reason for Apple's strong brand loyalty.
So What's your WHY for starting your business?
If your answer is "To make a lot of money" - That’s not enough!
There's nothing wrong with wanting a lot of money and luxury things, but your WHY should be part of your purpose, your calling, the gift that you want to offer the world through your business.
Knowing your WHY will give you a sense of purpose and direction. It will guide your business and allow you to inspire others who resonate with your WHY. Creating your own tribe - people that believe in why you do what you do.
Your WHY will sustain you when the going gets tough and doubt starts to set in. It will give you unwavering commitment to continue on your path of living your purpose through your business.
My WHY helped me gain the courage I needed to walk away from my job and put everything on the line for living my purpose through my business.
My WHY is: Helping ambitious WOC to become an empowering force and launch a lucrative online business they’ll love.
I could’ve chosen any business serving any target market - So why WOC and why Online Business?
The obvious reason is that I am a woman of color. But more than that is that I can relate deeply with the struggles and the experiences of WOC. I believe their ability and their potential. Beyonce says "girls run the world" - WOC are the backbone of the workforce. We bring so much dedication, hard work, creativity and heart to our jobs. Yet less than 4% of WOC are in leadership positions.
Why is that? We are often overqualified but yet we’re undervalued and underrepresented in the workplace. We watch the people we train get ahead of us. We’re lucky if we make it to middle management level, that's where the glass ceiling becomes so difficult to break!
In addition, we're exhausted trying to make ourselves “acceptable” by hiding parts of ourselves and identity in the hopes of not making anyone feel uncomfortable.
I believe that WOC deserve more than that! We want to show up big and bold, proud of our culture and identity - That’s the black girl magic!
Having your own business can give you exactly that. You can exercise your unique ability and creativity to establish a business that’s truly you! That lets you gain your freedom to do what you want, when you want and with whom you want! Gaining your freedom and financial independence - Sharing your gift and being an inspiration to yourself, your family and your community.
That’s my why - What’s yours?
For more, visit www.theboundlessmindset.com
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