The month of October is dedicated to the growth of your business and I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about a healthy mindset for growth within the scope of this month’s topic. As one resource put it, there are essentially two (2) types of mindsets. A fixed mindset or a growth mindset: “In a fixed mindset, people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits. They spend their time documenting their intelligence or talent instead of developing them. They also believe that talent alone creates success—without effort. They’re wrong.
In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment. Virtually all great people have had these qualities.”
Determining your mindset and its health takes some heavy inner reflections. You must begin by acknowledging your current mindset and determining if it is helping or hindering your ability to grow your business. Ask yourself how you feel about your current financial situation, your ability to take risks, your aptitude for excuses, and your ability to delegate. Ask yourself how well you follow through on commitments or if you tend over commit. Do you have clear goals laid out or do you jump at any opportunity that sounds good?
Being brutally honest here will give you a base line to start assessing your mindset. Some of these thoughts you probably haven’t attributed to your failure or success, but upon taking the time to really think through them, you can begin to ask yourself if you are in a healthy place when it comes to these outlooks and behaviors that follow.
Changing a mindset is like changing a habit. It’s not easy to switch the way you think and thus takes some dedicated effort and time to shift not only your thoughts, but your actions in order to back up your new thought process. One of the first assessments I would recommend making is being honest about your ability to follow through. If you find that you don’t have a great track record of following through on your commitments, you must first find a way to overcome this challenge. As I stated before, just be frank with yourself. No one will know! This self-assessment is for YOU!
Here are some ways to actively work on your mindset:
- Have an accountability partner – Find someone who will actually keep you accountable. Your bestie or spouse is NOT the best person for this role.
- Find a mentor – Check out my video on mentorship.
- Use a tracking system – Here are 6 apps to help you
- Join a coaching group – I’ll be offering one in January, contact me if you’re interested in learning more
- Reading – There are a lot of good reads out there. I will begin posting my book recommendations to this blog to help you in this area. In the meantime, I recommend this book that really works on some key areas in building a mindset for a sustaining business.
- Workshops – Workshops and training can help you with essential tools and ideas to help keep you focused on the changes you are looking to make. These are valuable investments.
The start of growing your small business begins and ends with you and ultimately the mindset you have to take action and create the future you want. If you have any helpful tips on how you’ve managed your mindset, don’t forget to leave a comment below. Your tip may help another entrepreneur on the way!
~JMJ
