I am a big believer in mastering your mindset. The place we lead from ultimately determines our effectiveness and success.
In a crappy mood? Inner critic running rampant? Full of fear or self-doubt? All of that impacts your interactions and, therefore, effectiveness. And not in a positive way (stating the obvious here… forgive me.)
In a great mood? Feeling confident? Feeling optimistic and excited about your work and life? That also impacts your interactions and effectiveness. In a positive way (more obviousness here…)
Life is going to throw curveballs. Things are not always going to go according to plan.
The challenge is that our brains are hardwired for negativity. We are genetically programmed to be on the lookout for threats and predators.
Each curveball coming at you provides your brain an opportunity to revel in the negativity, rejoice in the rumination, and frolic in self-sabotaging messages.
Here’s a quick mindset-shifting strategy:
When you feel your inner critic is getting ready to pounce, ask yourself one, some, or all of these questions:
- “What’s the gift in this situation?”
- “What opportunities does this situation create?”
- “What’s possible now that wasn’t possible before?”
- “What’s another option I hadn’t considered?”
- “In what way does this outcome help me grow?”
Each of these presents an opening to change your perspective and, therefore, your mindset.
Need a real-world example? Here you go.
You may have seen that I was recently promoting a group mastermind program for women in leadership. Guess what? I ended up pushing it out!
There are a number of stances I could have taken when I realized it wasn’t going to happen in the way I envisioned.
If Melvin (my inner critic) had his way, I would have spent precious time beating myself up about what I did wrong, why it was a stupid idea, to begin with, etc. Not the best use of my time. Definitely not good for my mindset.
Instead, I opted to look for the gifts and opportunities to grow. And there were many! To name a few:
- I created new systems for my business that will serve me regardless.
- I got reconnected with old friends and I made some new friends.
- I learned A LOT (that’s a whole other newsletter.)
- I stretched myself in uncomfortable ways.
So while the outcome is different than what I planned, I am not sitting here beating myself up about it. Instead, I feel great about the outcomes I did have!
How about you? What’s something that hasn’t gone to plan and how can you adopt a new perspective about it?
