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Is Your Mindset Fostering Success for You?

By Maria Khalife

Republish: EasyPublish™ Published: 12Mar2010 Word count: 841 Viewed: 215 time(s) Get Free Content For Your Site

"The way we see the problem is the problem." ~ Stephen R. Covey

Each one of us has an internal monitor which keeps track of what is going on in our lives at all times. It functions like a judge, a courthouse consultant, and a jury. But sometimes, the interpretation of events can become a bit skewed, and our sense of events drains off into negative feelings, like anger, depression or superiority.

What happens inside of your mind is called a mindset. It's the sum total of the thoughts you think, the feelings you feel, and the self-talk you generate as a result. If your mindset isn't governed and guided, your success can be seriously limited.

An undisciplined mindset can sit in judgment on you and here's what that looks like inside your mind. "You lost the opportunity in that deal. This means you are a loser." "My boss' criticism is stinging. This means I'm not good enough at what I do." "John talks like a fool sometime; this means I'm better than he is."

When you are focused on Be the Change, your mindset switches to growth mode and it sound like this inside your mind. "Her presentation looked more professional than mine. What can I learn to improve?" "My teammate isn't making his quota this month. What can I do to help him do better?"

If you traditionally permit your mindset to be in Judgment Mode, I'd like to encourage you to Be the Change and switch to the Growth Mode style. You will be able to maintain the motivation and thus achieve your goals more easily. You'll become a business success in less time. Here are some ideas to help you achieve the switch.

Step 1. Tune in to Your Inner Voice

When you encounter a challenge at work, does your own inner voice tell you things like "Your boss will think you're incompetent" or "It's going to become obvious really quickly here that you have no clue what you're doing" or "Keep a low profile and they'll never know how incapable you are."

Listen to what your Inner Voice is saying to you. Write the words down. See if you can classify them objectively - like, critical, accusatory, blaming or fearful. You don't need to do anything yet, simply observe and classify.

Step 2. Make Yourself Aware that Your Thoughts Can Change

Once you become aware of how you are talking to yourself, and if you realize it's some form of judgment, you can make the decision to sweeten things up by consciously deciding to learn how to switch into Growth Mode. Simply ask yourself "How would I view this if I was trying to learn from it?" "Or what is the I-can-grow-from-this lesson for me here?"

Step 3. Practice Making the Switch

Here are a few examples of a Judgmental Mindset reaction and the change to a Growth Mode mindset.

JUDGMENT: We're in an expansion mode and I'm so pushed for time!

GROWTH: I've got additional responsibilities these days. I wonder how I can streamline some other processes, or maybe delegate responsibilities to others on the team to meet the expansion goals?

JUDGMENT: Joe's behavior is dragging the team down. Can't he see how he's holding us all behind?

GROWTH: I can see that Joe doesn't understand how he's impacting us. I'll take him out to lunch and find out what the real problem is. I'll bet I can help him catch up.

JUDGMENT: Our Fourth Quarter Sales forecast is falling behind. What did the boss have in mind setting it so high in this economy?

GROWTH: It's obvious we're coming in short on the forecast for this quarter. I think I'll get the team together to brainstorm innovative ways to exceed it that we haven't thought of yet.

Step 4. Creating the Growth Mode Mindset habit

If you consciously adopt this Be the Change from judgment to growth, your mindset will form a new habit. Over time, you'll work more from an "Let me have that challenge. I can do it" perspective. You will be in full learning mode. Your job will reflect how you are willing to give it another go and improve on your first attempts, and trust your internal monitor.

As an member of the senior staff, you can see the value of employing more of a Growth Mode mindset. I want to remind you that it isn't necessary for you to go it alone. All corporations have staff that support the vision of the CEO. For you to play the best role you can in this, simply determine that you will be a learner, that you will persevere, that you will always be improving your contribution at work and that you'll help those down line from you to learn this too.

" The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing." ~ Stephen R. Covey

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