Pivot Your Practice To Flourish in The Future – Mindset reset - 3 Reasons Why People Don’t Chase Their Dreams

Mindset! What is it and why is it SO important when you are a coach or therapist? 

This is the first article in my Mindset Monday series and these are the questions we will be answering in the series. But I will also be giving you many tips for bringing about mindset shifts in yourself and with your clients. Let's face it 'mindset' is one of those things that we can all do with exploring and working on to make it support the life we want to live instead of subtly sabotaging us into the life we don't want.  

One thing I can say for sure is that there is nowhere in my life where I have been more challenged on my mindset issues than in my practice! And that happened at several levels. Different clients each highlighted some of the deeply unconscious beliefs and associated thoughts and feelings I held. Sometimes these were helpful ones and many times they were ones that held me back in the same way that the client was experiencing! 

I was also hugely challenged at the level of building a business and what I strongly believed had to be the conditions under which it would be successful (work incredibly hard, master every business skill there is like the skills of bookkeeping, business strategising, marketing and more).

Then there was the really big one - what did I believe about my value and the fees I could charge? I had no idea before I began the Practice that charging for a session with me would be as complicated and difficult as it was. 

The big downside of Mindset is that it can torpedo our dreams. And the upside of it is that it can skyrocket them to sparkling reality. Do you still have dreams of a lifestyle you’d love to attain or the work you felt heart-drawn to do, or the kind of practice you’d like to start? Do you remember how to dream big like our kids do?

As we grow, we often grow into the mindset that we have to work hard - all the time and we can’t take chances (ie., chase dreams) because we have to be responsible, especially if we have a family to support. Mindsets are usually established unconsciously during childhood, when we hear parents or other adults continuously repeating their thoughts about work, life, other people, your capacity and any other thing they can comment on. Those thoughts will be either positive or negative, helpful and permission giving or unhelpful and limiting.  

Mindset simply refers to “the established set of attitudes held by someone”. Not everyone has the same mindset and if one person is a risk taker in one part of their life, they may not embrace the same risk in another part of their life. 

Ultimately, one’s mindset plays a huge part in whether you follow your dreams or not. But even more importantly now it will play a huge part in how you tackle the changes and challenges Covid 19 has brought. Is your mindset open, flexible, creative and excited by challenge? Or is it fearful, stiff, slow to change, over cautious and not creative because it is too limited to let your inner imagination fly? 

Here are 3 typical mindset beliefs that might be sabotaging you, your Practice and your futureproofed future. And I have added some permission giving perspectives to balance them. 

1. You think you’re too old. But age is just a number and in your mind, if you think you’re too old to do something, then you won’t do it. Of course, if there is a physical limitation or risk of doing an activity, then err on the side of caution, but if you think you’re too old to pivot your practice and change the way you make money from it, think again.

Need some inspiration? Look up the stories of Ernestine Shepherd and Josefina Monasterio. Both women are grandmothers who have won hundreds of trophies as body builders. They didn’t let a negative mindset get in the way of reaching their goals and they started their training at ages 58 and 59, respectively.

2. You’re afraid to fail. Failing and succeeding are two inevitable results in life, two opposite ends of a spectrum. They just 'are'. There is no way you'll live through a lifetime where everything is successful. In fact you will learn far more when you 'fail'. Because it is far more helpful to see everything you do as an interesting experiment and whatever the results are tell you something, give you information and make the next experiment much more like to be successful. If you’re afraid to fail, you’ll never know if your idea was a good one or not. You may be haunted by the “What would have happened if…?” questions for the rest of your life, which is horrible.

As the famous Thomas Edison is quoted as saying, “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work.” Edison is one of the preeminent inventors of our time and if he didn’t overcome the mindset of giving up or not being good enough, we probably wouldn’t have had the lightbulb, phonograph, or motion picture cameras which lead to all the versions of these we have today.

3. You lack confidence. You’ll always have the little devil on your shoulder telling you to give up because you’re not good enough or there’s someone better than you. Here's the other way of thinking about it - no one is perfect! Thank goodness! 

And competition in your local area from other therapists or clients is a sign that there’s money to be made in that market. And the local market is no longer your marketplace! Competition from others whom you perceive as being very successful is a good sign; you just have to figure out how to stand out by being different to them to win your clients.

Did you know that Walt Disney was fired from his first animation job at the Kansas City Star newspaper because they said he lacked imagination? Now the Walt Disney Company assets are worth over 98 billion dollars. So much for “lack of imagination”!

My point is, you are your own worst enemy. If your mindset is holding you back from starting a Practice or pivoting and rebuilding the one you have there are ways to change those negative mindsets into positive ones. Join my next webinar if you want a hand with this. Learn 5 Mindset Shifts You Must Make To Successfully Pivot, Change and Futureproof Your Practice

You’ll get off that training and have actionable tips to implement immediately. These shifts won’t happen overnight but when they do start, you’ll relish in the new freedom. Join my list here for notifications of all my livestream trainings and webinars. See you there! https://forms.aweber.com/form/76/1704509576.htm

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This is a series for coaches and therapists who are passionate about their work and their clients but struggling to find a way to make things work post-Covid as clients melt away and money becomes an issue for most people.

This is a time when most of us are scared. Nothing is known or predictable and many of us are dithering about what to do. In fact, this indecision is something we all experience. Trouble is, it can become a habit. And it’s a habit that will derail your business success with your practice. Therapists and coaches who are successful are people who have learned to do two things. One is be flexible enough to pivot their business to what will work now - and the other is to break through enough of the fear barriers to get productive again.

Need More Happiness, Freedom and Success? Join My Free Webinars…

If you want quick and easy steps to setting yourself up for a safe and happy future doing the work you love, join me for my free webinars. I usually give at least 5 tips for moving forward and implementing in ways that will move you forward in all of my webinars. Each is about a certain angle on the issue. They, on their own will have an immediate effect on your mood and your outlook on life with your business. Get off the hamster wheel and take some time for yourself with my webinars, learn and act, learn and act – that’s the way to start flourishing. Join my list and be the first to know when I'm live online. https://forms.aweber.com/form/76/1704509576.htm

"Just imagine if the next 5 years is like the last 5 years? How are you keeping yourself financially secure, happy and living your life of purpose by helping other people people succeed?"

Elizabeth specializes in helping you Get Your Coaching or Therapy Practice Back On Track. Sign up for her highly-acclaimed free challenges and webinars to find out how to Pivot that Practice to FutureProof Yourself.

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