What is mindset - and why is it important?

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can't - you're right.” Henry Ford

You can’t go online these days without seeing a post or an article about ‘mindset’. And it seems that many people equate mindset only with inspirational quotes, positive thinking, journaling, and creating vision boards.

Yet mindset is actually so much more than the things that we've been led to traditionally believe. 

While a lot of coaches work on the process or outcome level, I work on a deeper, mindset/identity level. That’s because I believe this is the only approach that can create a rapid, lasting 'inside-out' transformation in not only perception but also behaviour, resulting in an outcome where we are able to build our future truly on our own terms. 

This form of coaching is so powerful because success - in business/career or life - is 90% mindset and 10% strategy. In other words, you could have the best strategy in the world, but you'll never be successful without the mindset to back it up.

And that's especially important for my clients (professional services consultants, working in-house or running their own businesses), who, on a daily basis, need to show up fully and credibly to sell themselves as a service, ensure a high return on investment for their clients and, ideally, develop not only a one-off but retained business relationships over the long term - all happening in a tough, competitive and, what often feels like, unforgiving environment.

What is mindset?

Mindset is the way we interpret our most basic qualities, what's happening to us and around us - and what's possible for us. 

Mindset is really about a combination of your thoughts, emotions, your habits, strategies, your behaviours, the shadows of those behaviours, your beliefs, your history, your values, your experiences, your memories. 

These elements come together and form the basis of your mindset and - and ultimately, your identity. You need to be aware and able to control all those different elements to achieve your goals or create the business or future you want for yourself.

To create the business/career/life that you want, you not only need to have awareness of where you are right now and what you want - but also who you need to be in order to achieve your goals.

But the best part is that you can become that future you right now. If you have a goal - start acting as the person who has already achieved that goal. 

• Define the thoughts they are thinking. 
• What habits do they have? 
• What emotions do they feel?  
• What skills and capabilities do they have? 
• What values do they have? 

Look at the composite of all of those things and know that you don't have to wait.

Why is it important?

Whether we are aware of it or not, our minds are always monitoring and interpreting what's happening to us and what it means. 

Depending on how our mindset has formed, the interpretation can be empowering or discouraging; you might have been programme for growth - or survival.

The main way the interpretation is expressed is through the way we think - and ultimately - talk to ourselves. Our internal monologue may be focused on judging ourselves and our performance; or the opposite - on finding positives and strengths even in most difficult of situations. And that's what ultimately defines whether we will succeed or not. 

The good news is that however strong the mindset, it can be changed.

“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life, and you will call it fate.” Carl Gustav Jung

Over the coming weeks, I’ll be doing a deeper dive into these different elements of mindset, and how they play out in the work I do with my clients - and providing you with some immediate tips that you can apply to your circumstances, so stay tuned!