If I were to ask around on what the foundation of a successful business is, common responses would likely be…

• Innovative Marketing
• Quality Product or Service
• Evergreen Programs
• Better Leveraging your Time and Team
• Efficient Operations

Those are all important, no doubt.

What if I told you that was all wrong?!?

Or maybe not completely wrong, but one thing was more important.

MINDSET is the critical key to SUCCESS.

Getting your business brain and thoughts in order is where you build the most solid of foundations.

I know this might seem odd for someone who lives her life designing and managing operations for small businesses to be saying.

Hear me out now, and let’s go outside the business world to unpack this.

Let’s travel to the world of health and the desire to have a fitter body.

If I were to ask around on what the foundation of a fit person is, I’ll bet the most common response would involve exercise.

The brain immediately equates being fit with putting time in at the gym, being active, breaking a sweat, moving the body in some intentional way.

While exercise is an important component, it’s the hands-on tactic. It’s actually the smaller part.

Yep, experts say that losing weight is 20% exercise.

The larger portion is the one that so many people struggle with and almost forget about.

People forget about what you do the other 80% of the time, the hours and minutes outside of the gym.

You can go to the gym 45 minutes a day, 3 to 5 days a week, but you still might not see the progress you’re hoping for because you might not be eating the best foods.

And what controls your food intake?

You and YOUR THOUGHTS.

You’re making those choices.

The key to the food part is about making better choices about what to put in your body.

I want you to pay really close attention to the CHOICE piece of it.

You get to make the choice, you get the opportunity to say what goes into your body, what fuels your day.

But so much of what we eat is is wrapped up in thoughts, emotions, memories.

That why the food part is so challenging.

Some people will say that they just need willpower to go to the gym, not to have that second helping of pasta or not dive into the chips and dips.

Willpower isn’t a figment of the imagination that some people are simply born with, while others aren’t.

It’s the thoughts that we’re thinking just before we go to grab the pasta bowl or bag of chips.

Think about it like you’re looking to get fitter in your business, how you’re going to grow your business, reach that next level.

The marketing side and what you’re going to do to get more clients is the tactical piece. And it’s important.

It’s actually small in comparison to getting your business brain in order, noticing and understanding the thoughts that are swirling around and driving those actions.

Nope, approach it differently, with more curiosity.

Ask:

What’s my thought here?

What’s it trying to tell me?

What assumptions am I making?

How might my thought be holding me back?

Is it keeping me from crossing the next threshold?

Where might I not be paying enough attention to my thoughts and focusing solely on the tactical part?

 

Photo by Alora Griffiths on Unsplash