5 Steps To Developing A Mindset For Success
/If you have lost your motivation and confidence in achieving your goals, here’s a 5 step process to developing your mindset for success.
1. Do you have the foundations of a successful mindset?
Simon Hartley is a sports psychologist who has spent over 20 years studying and working with world class individuals, teams, leaders and organisations. Simon believes that the key to a successful mindset is consistently doing the basics excellently.
Most coaches will tell you that everything you do starts with your Why; but, Simon believes the foundations of a successful mindset starts with your Why AND Focus.
(Read my article on How To Avoid Negative Thinking to find out what happens if you let your focus slip)
By working with world class people and organisations, Simon has discovered that it’s important to keep the end in mind, such as winning that Gold medal, becoming the CEO or winning that international recognition award.
However, the key to greatness and success is focusing on performing the daily processes consistently and to a world-class level.
For example, Formula 1 Driver Lewis Hamilton recently won the Spanish Grand Prix. Hamilton didn’t smash the race because he was focusing on the end goal - first place. He smashed the race by focusing on executing each corner and part of the race to the best of his ability.
As Simon says, it’s not where the ball goes, but it’s HOW you hit the ball.
2. You Need Positive Evidence
Once you start focusing on the right thing at the right time and performing these activities to the best of your ability, you will begin building a mountain of positive evidence that shows you that you can do this.
It’s important to use the right kind of positive evidence - evidence that you have influence over.
For example, if your positive evidence was being consistent on Instagram by posting one high quality picture a day with 20 #hashtags and a short caption and 5 stories a day for 3 weeks and you nailed it, this shows you that you can be consistent and create great content, which builds your confidence and encourages you to do more.
You don’t want to use outcome based evidence e.g. number of followers on social media, feedback from people, first place etc., because you can’t control the results. You may put in 10 hours of hard work on Instagram in 1 week and only grow by 20 followers; subsequently, you lose your motivation and confidence and are likely to stop because you didn’t achieve the results you wanted.
I believe it’s helpful to talk to a supportive friend, family member or coach about the kind of evidence you want to use.
3. Next Comes Confidence
By focusing and seeing your positive evidence building up, you will feel more and more confident. This is a very resilient place to be, because it is you who is influencing your level of confidence
If you let outside stuff influence your confidence, such as subjective feedback from others, profit or the amount of social media followers, you inhabit a very vulnerable and fragile place. This is because you have no or little influence over the outcome nor what people are going to say to you.
It’s critical not to judge your positive evidence, but to evaluate your positive evidence objectively and honestly. This will help you understand what you need to do next to take your confidence levels even higher.
4. Motivation Follows
Your motivation will come from the positive evidence and confidence that you’ve been building, by focusing on the right tasks and performing them to the best of your ability, achieving your small goals along the way.
Motivation also comes from your Why, which we’ll talk about creating now.
What is your ultimate goal and why does it matter?
For most people, their Why is earning money, but this isn’t enough.
If money is your only motivator and you experience a dip in your income and/or the economy experiences a downturn, will you then lose your motivation, confidence and focus? Most likely - if it’s your only driving force.
You need a tripod or pyramid of Why’s that will empower you to weather a storm, such as a financial downturn, and get back up again when you’ve been knocked down.
What will make you get out of bed on a cold, dark and rainy wintery day?
[In my blog, How To Achieve Your Dream Goal, I share with you an effective 3-step method to help you create and achieve your ultimate goal].
5. This is where you take off!
Once you have these 5 things (focus, why, positive evidence, confidence and motivation) your mindset is set to help you achieve the levels of success you dream of. You’ll start to love living outside of your comfort zone and reach new heights.
Remember to continue to focus on the small things, because by performing these small daily processes to the best of your ability, you will be able to achieve your goals. If one of these things goes amiss, even for a short time, this will impact your results.
Remember your Why and stay Focused on the Right Things at the Right Time! And Good Luck!
