To find strength as you adopt a vital mindset habit for growth, look within. Remember that alignment, agency, and inspired action stem from your self-trust—you’re the one who will help you rise to the top.
I discovered that the beauty isn’t out there, it’s down here, with all of us.
William Shatner, describing his trip to space
I wonder how many times a day we entrepreneurs and creators think a version of the following thought: Everyone else has it all figured out except me.
A dozen? A hundred? More?
It is understandable, of course, that our minds generate such painful thoughts—its evolutionary job was to crank out fears of “there’s not enough.” This served us well when we were trotting around as early humans on the savannah in danger of being eaten or starving to death. But they don’t serve us as we attempt to nurture an important mindset habit that opens us to internal and external growth.
Fear As an Icy Obstacle to Your Growth-Forward Mindset Habit
Like our tail bones, fears of lack are a vestigial remainder of an ancient heritage. In our modern lives, such fears can keep us stuck and filled with agonizing self-doubt.
We’ll scan the electronic horizon on social media, looking for evidence that our limiting thoughts are true. Falling into a trance of believing that the varnished portrayals represent reality, we’ll turn back to our own sense of self and judge harshly:
I am not as good at x as so and so
I should force myself to get better at x
Even though the idea of it fills me with dread, I really should start doing x like so and so
All of this outward-looking and punitive self-talk keeps us spinning in a No Go Zone. It is a place of being under siege by a mind that churns icky blurts on repeat making us nervous, anxious. The doors to our imagination and intuition shut, one by one. The once colorful rooms brimming with problem-solving and fresh ideas grow dark and cold.
We quickly sink into grief not unlike what William Shatner experienced during his trip to space.
Shatner admits that what he thought he would find in space was all wrong: “… when I looked in the opposite direction, into space, there was no mystery, no majestic awe to behold … all I saw was death.”
All of our focus on and fascination with forcing What Everyone Else Is Doing onto our tender souls and brains launches us into a frigid void like the darkness Shatner encountered.
On the contrary, our best, most creative, joyful, and lucrative paths forward are blazed by coming home to our authentic selves and working in alignment with who we truly are, what we love, and what brings us alive. This is the mindset habit to ardently seek.
Bringing Warmth to Those Frozen Mental Spaces
To create room for a growth-forward mindset habit, it’s important to do the work of thawing that mental “outer space” of fear. Take a moment and bring to mind the painful thoughts you are having right now that are rooted in being “other-focused.”
- Write each thought down in your journal, capturing all of its stinging glory. Ask yourself: What is it that I think I should be doing that drains the very life force from me? Get it all down.
- Next, take ten minutes to do some free writing around the Beauty that is not “out there,” but rather residing within you.
- Consider: What is it you love to do and how can you do more of that? What is it that you loathe doing and how can you stop doing such tasks?
- Consider: How do you naturally attract clients? Can you go narrow and deep on deploying those marketing strategies?
- Consider: Where do you effortlessly always close the deal, make the sale? Who has been among your favorite clients? Could you seek referrals and introductions to new opportunities from them?
Our most powerful mindset habit is to remember that alignment, agency, and inspired action are unparalleled in their power to generate success.
It is when we embrace our essential natures, putting ourselves daily into playpens of delight, fun, and adventure that our efforts land, resonate, and transform.
