Why success needs more than just hard work

Do you believe that if you work harder, you'll be more successful; and if you are more successful, then you’ll be happier?

In fact, data shows (see Shawn Achor's TED Talk below) that 90 percent of your long-term success and happiness is predicted not by the external world,?but by the way your brain views and processes the world.?

How you show up as a leader, team member or with clients or customers really comes down to the mind.

Take a moment to pause and think back to your last interaction.

• Were you present – or was your mind wandering?
• Were you open to hearing new perspectives – or did you think you already knew what the other person would say next?
• Were you caught up in your own inner critic – or feeling confident, credible and clear?

We all have inner voices that like to chime in when we are under pressure.

?Below are the four most common themes. Which one do you default to when the stakes are high?

Managing your inner critic

You might be wondering ... what is the difference between your inner critic and your inner guidance.

While the inner critic is very black and white, problem-focussed, and can use shame, guilt and fear to motivate, your inner guidance is more open to recognising complexity or grey areas, is solution-focussed, and uses positive states such as compassion to motivate. It recognises what is possible and what feels good, rather than honing in to a feeling of lack, scarcity or never being good enough.

If you’ve identified any mind-made stories that add another layer of stress to an already challenging situation, try this alternative instead:

Befriending the inner critic, using radical acceptance

• Acknowledge that your inner voice may have developed in a bid to keep you safe
• Thank it for its role to date, but let it know that it is no longer helpful
• Ask if your inner critic would be willing to step down, or at least sit in the back seat, the next time you are dealing with a challenging task or situation
• Try to view your?thoughts neutrally —?knowing that thoughts are not reality and you?can focus on what you choose.

At Potential Project, we help leaders and teams unlock powerful and positive changes and create more human worlds of work – by starting with the mind.? ? Through research with academic partners and years of work with exceptional leaders from global organisations, we’ve developed and validated three fundamental mindsets and 15 core qualities that drive caring performance and happier teams.

Please get in touch with me if you'd like to find out about our Inner Game of Performance program — available for the remainder of 2023 as a 3-session mini-program or half-day workshop for leaders and teams.

Or to enquire about our longer 5-10 session programs or multi-day deliveries?that can take your people to the next level of success in leading themselves, others and systems.?

You can also find out more about the critical attributes that constitute a new model of human-centric leadership, in?our Human Leader reports?here . These bi-annual studies are based on data from 5000 companies across 100 countries and?provide ground-breaking insights into how leaders can relearn how to be more human at work.

Here's proof: Your mind creates your success

Before I go, I wanted to share this?very funny and very informative 12-minute TED Talk on The Happy Secret to Better Work by psychologist, researcher and author Shawn Achor.?With more than 25 million views — Shawn must be onto something.

He reminds us that:

• Only 25% of job successes are predicted by IQ
• 75% of job successes are predicted by your optimism levels, social support?and ability to see stress as a challenge instead of as a threat?
• We can?improve?business performance and wellbeing by training our mindsets.

Do yourself a favour and watch it through to the end – if only to find out about Amy the Unicorn and how she broke her arm.?