A Winning Mindset digging a little deeper

A winning Mindset – Digging a little deeper.

Back in April, I published a post on the Three Pillars of Sustainable Business Growth https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/3-pillars-sustainable-business-growth-safaraz-ali-pathway2grow-?trk=mp-reader-card

What was interesting was that both in the responses to that blog and also in my discussions with people after publishing the article, people had different areas where they felt most comfortable.

As such, I thought I’d dig a bit further into one of the areas and explain further the “winning mindset”.

When I first mentioned Winning Mindset I stated it as being a softer skill perhaps, having emotional intelligence, being self aware, seeking growth, taking ownership. Essentially things that are defined by how we think, and then the actions that follow. So how is a  winning mindset developed?

The first thing to look at, is an accurate self image. There’s a host of research that suggests despite changes to the results we get or the things we achieve, very often our own internal image of ourselves doesn’t change. Having a realistic and positive self image, defined not by what others have said we can and can’t do, is actually vital in realising our true potential.

We’ve all have heard the famous Henry Ford quote: “Whether you think you can or you can’t, you’re right” – so in order to develop a winning mindset, we need to start by being self aware and confident. I’m aware that’s a big statement in just a few words, but it’s the basis on which everything else will stand.

Having a purpose

There’s much talk in business circles that a business without a real purpose lacks a reason for being and therefore fails to motivate its staff. If we apply that thinking to individuals, if we don’t have a purpose in what we’re doing, how is our motivation likely to be?

 Purpose gives direction to everything we do, it gives our ambitions a purpose, it gives our careers a purpose, and as leaders of businesses, having that purpose ourselves, and for our business reflects out to others in our organisations who take that forward themselves.

A purpose also, ensures that the positivity we can feel from a winning mindset, doesn’t get wasted on positive thought, but becomes positive action. Having said that, the next thing to think about is…

Positive thinking

As business leaders we’re often subjected to a whole range of negative external influences. This could be staff difficulties, costs, cashflow, government regulation etc., and while all of these things need dealing with, as a business leader it is often our role to be the person who leads and projects positivity to the wider team.

This isn’t just about saying the right things, but by making positive things happen within our business. The power of seeing positive results from positive thinking, can have a significant impact in our businesses, and this is contagious.

But positive thinking is not always a natural skill and is something that needs to be worked on. You will need to invest time in thinking about the positive elements of your business, developing them, communicating them and encouraging people to talk positively around them.

 Passion

I don’t want to cover clichés, however it’s quite common in the UK particularly in an office environment that a word like passion can be derided. We like to be reserved rather than outwardly excitable, there’s sometimes mocking of those who are really fired up and excited – ‘calm down it’s only business…’

For me that does us a disservice, when we first started our businesses, how passionate were we about it? How much did we bore our friends and colleagues about it?! Then as we grew our knowledge and we learnt more about how to run our business and how things worked, slowly but surely, we can see the passion knocked out of us.

By being passionate about our business, we create a winning mindset. We go to work every day truly gripped by our business and what we’re trying to do, and when we combine this with positive thinking and having a purpose, all of a sudden we are creating the drive for our business to succeed.

In summary, a winning mindset is not made up of one thing, but rather consistently working and focussing on the elements that create a winning mindset.

I’d be delighted to hear what you think helps create your winning mindset or how you go about nurturing purpose, positivity, passion and self image.

As always I’m open to suggestions and to hear opinions. Thank you. Comment below or tweet @SafarazAli