Watching the 32nd Marathon yesterday got me thinking about what contributes to success and the impact mindset has. There’s more to attaining success than simply hard work, it requires having a mindset that will drive and sustain you in the long run.

One of the celebrity marathon runner was Nell McAndrew and I was impressed. She was brilliant finishing in 2 hours 54 Minutes-  amazing! She demonstrated determination, commitment, desire to achieve her ‘under 3 hour’ goal.  But she also highlighted a key factor for developing a success mindset, that of

Knowing your why and having a reason for it…

Her why was in raising funds for Cancer research. Nell has now competed in six marathons to raise money for Cancer Research after her father successfully fought non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. She said that the charity had been ‘really struggling’ to raise donations in the current environment.

Success is mostly achieved in your mind first and in business mindset is where it all begins and having a reason, a why is essential.  How powerful is your why?  Will it enable you to run the marathon of achieving your goals – your under 3-hour marathon equivalent? Will it get drive, motivate and sustain you in the long run.

Another key factor for developing a success mindset for business is in having a strong belief in yourself.

Believe in Yourself and Confidence

A strong belief in yourself and what you have to offer the world will take you through as you confront the challenges and frustrations in business that you will inevitably face.

Confidence is crucial to happy an fulfilling life and influences your success in business – it is one of your greatest assets.  One tip to build your confidence is to think like a confident person.  As you do so, you feel more confident and act more confidently. Sometimes all it takes to take charge of your life is a single thought.  Confidence and believing in yourself determines the level of your potential which in turn drives your actions which then determines the results you achieve.  Those results then build your confidence and self-belief.  The mindset of belief that drives your success.

“Men often become what they believe themselves to be.  If I believe I cannot do something, it makes me incapable of doing it.  When I believe I can, I acquire the ability to do it even if I didn’t have it in the beginning.” Mahatma Ghandi

So to develop a mindset of success – 2 key factors are

1. Have a reason and know your why.
2. Believe in yourself and be confident.

To be continued…

The happiest people and most successful are those with a growth mindset.  They believe things change and can be changed.  They determine their own future by pursuing opportunities to learn and grow.

I believe we are responsible for our own destiny and if you want change and success you have to change your mind.

Change your mind about who you are; who you want to be; what you want to do and what you believe you can do. Until you change your mind about it, you cannot achieve it. You will never be successful until you believe it is possible and make up your mind to do it.

My question however, is there a difference between men and women in their mindset of success?

What do you think?

More on mindset…

Get motivated about improving your mindset by joining next week’s FREE webinar.  “It’s All in the Mind: 7 Strategies to Change Your Thoughts to Reap a Better Life”

]]> http://www.kamaka.co.uk/blog/2012/04/20/a-mindset-for-success/feed/ 0 http://www.kamaka.co.uk/blog/2012/04/18/handle-change-with-grace/ http://www.kamaka.co.uk/blog/2012/04/18/handle-change-with-grace/#comments Wed, 18 Apr 2012 16:38:26 +0000 Marcie Buxton http://www.kamaka.co.uk/blog/?p=1076

I spoke with one of my business coaching clients this week and I have to say I was immensely impressed.  He was experiencing huge changes in his business – some of his own creation and others completely unexpected and out of his control. He told me about them, expressed concern, shared the pressures they caused and then simply went onto tell me how he had already begun to work through some solutions.

• He had recognised opportunities.
• He was learning through the process.
• He was focused on achieving some great positive results despite the challenges.

I was impressed and as a business coach and friend very pleased for him.

Throughout life, change will always be our constant companion. We will have changes that we make happen, and changes that are thrust upon us and are out of our control.Despite its inevitability, change still makes us feel anxious and uncertain. It’s not that we need less change in our lives, but instead, we need to learn to adjust our perspective about change so that we can effectively manage it when it happens.

Here are a few tips for handling life’s changes with grace and ease:

• Realise that change causes stress. Therefore to minimize the stress, identify what you can control and what you cannot, and take steps to minimize what you can.
• See the change as an opportunity rather than a bad situation.
• Keep your eye on your long-term goals. The circumstances of the present situation can distract you from your goals. So remind yourself that things will be different once you get through the change.
• Be open to what can be learned from the change, and ask yourself “What can this experience teach me?”

The one change you can expect is that things are going to change. Using these few simple strategies can help you smoothly navigate your next change.

So the next time you are faced with another inevitable, out of your control change – how are you going to respond?

Affirmations (positive statements about things already happening) are a great tool to take you along your journey of success.  In my last post I talked about ways to create your affirmations.

To help you with that process, I thought I’d give you a few examples – 17 in fact.

1. I am peacefully allowing my life to unfold.
2. I am breaking through old habits of behavior and moving forward in my life.
3. I am a person of worth and value and I am enjoying my success.
4. I am powerful, I am loving and I am loved.
5. I am living on purpose creating my dream business.
6. I am rich in relationships, wealth and love.
7. I am making positive choices about what I do.
8. I am successfully attracting success and successful people around me to be ‘my people’.
9. I am celebrating and enjoying my business
10. I am a person of value and behave as someone of value.
11. God is my infinite supply, and large sums of money come to me quickly and easily for the highest good of all concerned (Jack Canfield)
12. I am effectively communicating my needs and desires.
13. I am confidently managing my time, enthusiastically getting things done!
14. I am lovingly supporting my family to express their gifts and talent.
15. I am confidently depositing a windfall into my bank account and excited about how I will be helping my family
16. I am making positive decision and choices about what I do with my money.
17. I am focusing on my many blessings and I am grateful.

Create or select those that feel right to you write them in your diary or an ‘affirmation’ notebook as a reminder. Read them out loud.  Repeat them regularly throughout the day, to change the thoughts in your mind and reap positive outcomes.

Now a strong reminder of the point I made in my previous blog post about affirmations – use them a positive tool to change thinking and shift your mindset – but add action!

Jim Rohn said. “ …affirmations without action can be the beginning of self-delusion”

Change your thinking and act!

Successful people have understood that the key to creating the change they desire in their lives, career and business is more than determined willpower-  it is also about the inner game.

Successful people “have a word”. with themselves.  They let go of negative and limiting self beliefs and instead develop a habit of creating new thinking about themselves and their situation.

Taking responsibility for negative self talk  is key to success.

Negative self talk hinders and sabotages.  It prevents us from taking positive action and leaves us comfortable in our comfort zones – often as a ‘victim’ and powerless.  However, we have the power to change that thinking that threatens to sabotage the achievement of our goals.

You need to create a mental fertile environment for your success – focusing on new thinking, build motivation and beliefs consistent with the great success you what in your outer world.

One way to do is through affirmations.  Here are some guidelines and explain on how to create and use affirmations.

7 tips to creating powerful affirmations that will change your thinking and motivate you achieving you goals.

1. Begin with the words “I am”
2. Use the present tense
3. State in positive terms and make them dynamic.
4. Keep it simple and brief
5. Include at least one emotion and action words to make your affirmations powerful enabling the outcome you desire i.e words ending in -ing.  Imagine the emotional state you would be feeling if you had already achieved the goal. For example – celebrating, proudly, happily, excitedly, lovingly, enthusiastically, joyfully – you get the picture.
6. Be specific.
7. Make your affirmation about you and your behaviours.

Now the ultimate key to using affirmations is in taking action.  Affirmations will encourage, motivate and bring about a shift in thinking and your mindset – but they are a tool – a tool to create positive action.  A tool for you to make things happen and bring about positive results.  Faith without action serves no useful purpose.

So have the intent, decide, fuel that intent with emotion, affirm yourself and take action today.

Does your mind ever get the best of you?

Do you sometimes wish you could just STOP thinking so negatively?

Do you feel your mindset is messing with your success?

Well, you are not the only one.  This is perfectly normal.

Your mind is one of the most powerful tools on the planet. Every day, people use their brains to solve problems, write books, draw up blueprints for skyscrapers, invent new technologies and make money.

It is through our thoughts that we create the world we live in.  We can alter our worlds by changing our thoughts.  If we change our thoughts we can change our lives. If we become aware of and understand the potential and power for our minds – we can consciously create greater happiness, and a greater sense of freedom. It’s all in the mind.

By understanding it is our mindset and thinking that creates our outcomes and experiences, we can realise how much control we have over our circumstances, business, career and our lives.  It is up to us what seeds we plant in our mind and therefore the ‘crops’ we reap.

If you plant seeds of confidence and success in your consciousness through you intentions, thoughts, attitudes and beliefs, actions and words and keep them well nourished…you will grow, your success will grow and you will reap your desired outcomes.

The greatest thinkers and teachers have always taught that improving the quality of your mindset and your thoughts will allow you to reap a better life.

• King Solomon: ‘As a man thinketh, so shall he be.’ (Bible)
• Socrates: ‘ To find yourself, think for yourself’

When you think as a positive, future focused and confident person your attitude, character your behaviours will reflect this mindset.  Positive thinkers are the happiest and most successful. Henry George said,

Unless there be correct thought, there cannot be any action, and when there is correct, right action will follow.

Our negative small talk – that inner voice that constantly judges, condemns, and complaints – on the other hand, sows doubt and unbelief and creates obstacles.

So, here are two questions to ask yourself?

• What has my negative mindset brought me so far?
• How different would I be if I were more positive in my outlook?

I’ll be taking this further discussing the truth of the mind at my next webinar- understanding the mind and impact of your mindset has on your success and circumstances.

Title: “It’s all in the Mind – Strategies to Change Your Thoughts to Reap a Better life”.

When: Wednesday 25th April, at 2.00pm GMT/9am ET

Discover the potential of a fertile mind.  Take charge of your mindset and change your thoughts to reap a better life and achieve success.

Registration: https://www4.gotomeeting.com/register/596632423

Success includes many factors, but the quality of your mindset has a definite impact on your desired outcome regardless of how great the other success factors may be. So it is essential to change your thoughts and mindset.

As long as you can keep thinking as you’ve been thinking, you’ll keep feeling as you’ve been feeling, doing as you’ve been doing, and getting what you’ve been getting. (Marcia Grad)

Hope to ‘meet’ you on the webinar.

Here are those registration details for you again.

Title: “It’s all in the Mind – Strategies to Change Your Thoughts to Reap a Better life”.

When: Wednesday 25th April, at 2pm

Discover the potential of a fertile mind.  Take charge of your mindset and change your thoughts to reap a better life and achieve success.

Registration: https://www4.gotomeeting.com/register/596632423

To your success

Marcie

I was reminded of a past client, who wasn’t sure what she should be doing with her life.  She wasn’t clear on what her ‘passion’ was.  She shared she was just doing what she had to do in a 9-5  job she hated.

I was saddened by her story as she had spent so much of her life unhappy with her situation, but I was pleased by the fact she knew now something had to change…and the time was now.

One key thing for her was to figure out who she was ‘being’ and who she wanted to become.  Here’s a great story that helped her begin that process…The story of the chicken who wasn’t…

One day, a naturalist who was passing by a chicken farm was struck with curiosity.  He noticed an eagle, the king of all birds, living among the chickens.  He asked the farmer, “Why do you have this eagle confined to live in the barnyard with the chickens?”

”Since I have given it chicken feed and trained it to be a chicken, it has never learned to fly,” replied the farmer.  “It behaves as chickens behave, so it is no longer an eagle.” “Still,” insisted the naturalist, “it has the heart of an eagle and can surely be taught to fly.”

After talking it over, the two men agreed to find out whether this was possible.  Gently, the naturalist took the eagle in his arms and said, “You belong to the sky and not the earth.  Stretch forth your wings and fly.”

The eagle, however, was confused; he did not know who he was.  He was comfortable with his life and was content with the farmer providing his food and being in the company of the chickens.  Seeing the chickens eating their food, he jumped down to be with them again.

Undismayed, the naturalist took the eagle on the following day up on the roof of the house and urged him again, saying, “You are an eagle.  Stretch forth your wings and fly.”  But the eagle was afraid of his unknown self.  He was afraid of the world he did not know.  He was scared to fly.  He jumped down once more for the chicken food.

On the next day, the naturalist rose early and took the eagle out of the barnyard to a high mountain.  There he held the king of birds high above him and encouraged him again, saying, “You are an eagle.  You belong to the sky as well as to the earth.  Stretch forth your wings now and fly.”
The eagle looked back toward the barnyard.  Then he looked up to the sky.  He still did not fly.

Then the naturalist lifted him straight toward the sun.  The eagle looked up to the sky and began to tremble.  Slowly he began to stretch his wings.  He looked back once more to the barnyard and then fixed his gaze toward the sky.  At last . . . With a triumphant cry he soared into the heavens.

From that moment on, the eagle was living life as an eagle.  Now it may be that the eagle still remembers the chickens with a certain fondness and nostalgia.  It may even be that he occasionally revisits the barnyard.  But as far as anyone knows, he has never returned to the barnyard to live the life of a chicken.  He truly was an eagle, even though he had lived the life of a chicken.

Successful people have a confident view of themselves and they are continually moving into their true self.  Their journey to success was a journey of challenge, self awareness and becoming who they were meant to be.  The person who could live with, work with and enjoy the success they had created.

For my client she was in a process of discovery and so I asked …

“Who are you becoming?’

This turned out to be an ‘aha’ moment for her. She realised she could become the successful person she desired to be on her terms and she begun by thinking and believing she could be that person.

So when you are about to make a decision to take yourself, your career or business to another level – think about who you are being now and who you need to become to succeed.

Ask yourself…”how would the person I am becoming do the thing I am about to do?”

In the various meetings, seminars, workshops and networking scenarios I have led or been part of, one issue that constantly comes up is that affects confidence – that of comparing ourselves to others.  We all do it. We compare ourselves and then tend to undervalue our skills, expertise, life experience and gifts.  Clients have explained they are too embarrassed to raise their fees.  For example, ‘why would anyone want to pay little ‘ol me, I’ve only been in business for 18 months’… Says the woman with 20 years experience as an accountant in the corporate world!

We all compare ourselves to others around us, thinking others know more or are more skilled.  My pre-school son, would use his own word – “good-er”.  Others are not necessarily “good-er” than you. Comparison has an unhealthy impact on confidence and consequently on what we want to achieve in business or our life goals. Instead, I urge you to focus on being the best you can be.  You are excellent in your own right.  You are talented, gifted and uniquely skilled.  Only you can be you.

‘We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be?’

Marianne Williamson

Decide and make up your mind to be an excellent speaker, make your mind to be the confident strategic consultant people seek, make your mind to be a great business person with something to offer a large audience. Whatever it is, be confident, be you and quit comparing yourself to others. Believing in yourself is a choice.  Your confidence is your responsibility.  Choose to believe you can do anything you set your mind to and act as if it is possible. Believe in yourself because other may not.

If having others believe in us and our dreams was a requirement for success – would we achieve it?  Probably not.  Base your decisions on what you want and on your goals and desires – not the opinions and judgments of well meaning friends, parents, partner and colleagues.

Follow your dream.  Let go of worrying about what others are thinking or not thinking about you, ‘have a word” with yourself and get on with being your very best.

You will be better spending your time, energy, creativity on your goals and ideas than worrying about what other people think about you.

What others think about you is none of your business!

I was recently asked if I had always been confident. I had to admit, that I wasn’t always confident and still don’t always feel confident.  I would often wear my insecurities on my sleeve. And as a result I would sometimes be taken advantage of or not achieve a particular goal. I’d worry what other people thought of me and was greatly influenced by external factors.

I have tried to remember if I had an epiphany or heard a great motivational speech that had made a difference to my level of confidence – I couldn’t.   I realized ultimately it was about decision and what I chose to believe. I had to decide who I wanted to be and how I wanted to be for my success, achievement of my goals and to live a fulfilling life.

A recent quote by Carrie Wilkerson, strengthened my view on this.

“… Until you change your mind about who you are and whom you chose to impact and what you want to be and what you want to do, until you change your mind about it, you cannot achieve it. Until you believe it, you cannot achieve it.”

Confidence is crucial to a happy and fulfilled life.

Confidence influences all areas of your life and a healthy self-image and belief in yourself is the greatest asset you can have.

People who lack confidence and self-belief always underachieve.  They are less willing to try something new, less likely to be realise their potential and to be their best self.  They tend to be prone to stress, anxiety problems and low self-esteem is a causative factor in mental health and family breakdowns.

It doesn’t matter at what point you are starting from. What matters is that it is never too late to be the confident person you want to be – you can decide and learn to be more confident today.  Otherwise, consider the alternative.  Professor Maslow stated,

” If you deliberately plan to be less than you are capable of being, then I warn you you will be unhappy for the rest of your life.  You’ll be evading your own capabilities, your own possibilities.”

You have the power to become more confident in your life, career and business – but begin with making a decision and believing you have the power to achieve and be successful.

Choose confidence.

KAMAKA Action Tip

Here’s an exercise to help you get you focused on being the best that you can be:

Consider your skills, experience and expertise and record three “I AM’ statements, reflecting positive attributes, your skills, gifts and how you want to be known.  Compliment yourself. Remind yourself of who you are and not what you think others think about you.
3 »I AM Statements:

I AM _____________________________________________

I AM _____________________________________________

I AM _____________________________________________

“What you think, so you will become.” — Napoleon Hill

If you limit your choices only to what
seems possible or reasonable,
you disconnect yourself from what
you truly want, and all that is left is a compromise

(Robert Fritz)

As we begin another New Year, like many others you may be reflecting on 2011 and how successful a year it was?

Did you achieve the goals you set for yourself?  Was it a year with many challenges and frustrations?

Whatever, 2011 had for you, it’s now the time of year many of us look forward to the future…creating new plans and setting goals.

But, one essential factor we often miss is the mindset we have and take into the New Year…

“ Oh well let’s see how this year goes, can’t be worse than last year”.
“Let’s just go with the flow and see what life brings us…”
“There is nothing we can do, we are after all in a recession…”
“It’ll be another 10 years before I’m out of debt”
“I’ll not be getting my promotion this year.”

Well, that’s one approach.  But a negative one.  It’s easy to complain.  In fact, its almost a given in our society to complain and be happy with being discontented.  Are you really comfortable with being discontented?  Are you OK with not quite reaching your goals?

So how do you achieve the success you want?  How to you achieve great things in your business?  Until you want change enough and are desperate enough – you will remain comfortable in your discontent.  Change requires decision – a change in mindset.  Make up your mind to achieve your goals and be successful. First and foremost, you have to choose and believe you have the power to do it.  That’s mindset.

It’s what successful people do.  They decide enough is enough. They choose a business motivation mindset that will help create the success, desired future and achievement of goals.  Having a Mindset for Success is key and is shared by many successful people.

Successful people have a mindset that tells them that it can be done.

• It’s a mindset that enables clear vision, a commitment to hard work, persistence and action.
• It is a mindset that doesn’t make comparisons because what other people think about you is really none of your business!
• It’s a mindset focused on your own goals and not those of other people
• It’s a mindset of the business owner – one who takes responsibility and believes in themselves.
• It’s a mindset that believes in action.

It is the way you think that will enable you to achieve the success, business and income you want and deserve. So with a mindset of a successful person begin firstly by letting go of any negativity of 2011, acknowledge and celebrate your accomplishments  instead.  The more you acknowledge your successes the more confident you will be in taking on new challenges, accepting new stretching goals, successfully achieving them and getting out of being comfortable with discontent.

It’s what successful people do.

KAMAKA Action Step

As you begin setting your goals:

1. Write down 5 things what you learned during 2011.
2. Make a list of the successes you achieved during 2011?
3. Make a list of successes you’ve achieved throughout your life.

You can find our more on how to develop your mindset at the next Kamaka seminar on MINDSET for SUCCESS.