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Understanding your mindset

Most people understand that mindset refers to your way of thinking, your attitudes and your approach to the world. But many might not truly grasp the vital influence mindset has on every part of our lives, the power it has to shape our entire existence – something Michelle is quick to emphasise. ‘Mindset impacts absolutely everything in your life, everything in your world,’ she says. ‘So to understand how to control your mindset, to master it, means that you get to impact every area of your world.’

But before you can master your mindset, you need to understand it. Michelle and the Being More Human team help people do this through their Mind (re)Set Model, helping you identify the current state of your mindset and applying a roadmap for change that enables you to shift from one mindset to the next.

Michelle identifies two key actions for those wishing to gain a deeper understanding of their mindset and activate their potential for change: ‘One is to understand what your internal thoughts are saying – what you’re saying to yourself. The other is to pay attention to your language – what you’re actually saying externally,’ she says. ‘Through those two mechanisms, if you understand the mindset model, you can usually have a good idea about what stage you’re at.’

Optimising your mindset

With understanding comes the opportunity for positive change. Michelle is the first to reassure anyone who might feel stuck in their way of thinking – so if you’re concerned about the state of your mindset, don’t panic. ‘Mindset is changeable,’ she says. ‘It requires a set of decisions and a set of actions, but it’s totally changeable. You’re not stuck.’

It’s here that the process of optimising your mindset begins: a chance for you to use what you’ve learned about yourself, your thoughts and your language to drive a complete transformation.

‘Once you’ve observed your own thoughts, and once you’ve got clear on your language, the way that you shift is by using those two things,’ Michelle explains. ‘You eliminate certain words from your vocabulary, or you phrase things differently; you choose different thoughts. [It’s about] having the awareness that you’re talking to yourself like that in the first place, and then having the ability to change the language that you use with yourself and also with others.’

Mindset: the ultimate competitive advantage in business

It’s easy to see how optimising your mindset can shape you on a personal level – but what about in a professional capacity? Well, for the team at Being More Human, these things are one and the same. They don’t tease out the difference between personal and professional, preferring to take a general view of everything that’s involved in humans living their lives, from the workplace to the home and everywhere in between.

The holistic approach makes a lot of sense, particularly for entrepreneurs and small business owners. After all, as Michelle points out: ‘Your small business is a direct reflection of your mindset. If your mindset is messy and you think negative thoughts about yourself all the time and you’re highly anxious, that comes through in every element of your business.’

A focus on mindset also makes sense for leaders of every persuasion. A leader’s mindset can directly influence success through its impact not only a business’s strategy, branding and operations, but also its employees. ‘Leaders drive culture in an organisation,’ says Michelle. ‘So if you’re the CEO or the business owner, every time you open your mouth – and even when you’re not opening your mouth – you’re communicating messages to your people.’ It goes without saying that these need to be the right kinds of messages. There’s a trickle-down effect that shapes every SME; a little like that old expression, ‘Be the change you wish to see in the world’, leaders must be the change they wish to see in their business.

As well as fostering a positive culture, something as seemingly simple as a shift in your mindset can also introduce a significant competitive advantage for your business. How, you might ask? Well, according to Michelle, it all comes down to the power of your individuality, your unique potential. ‘If you think about it, everything else in business, you are able to replicate. If you have a new system or a new idea or a new program, all of those are things someone else can copy,’ she explains. ‘The only thing that it’s not possible to copy is someone’s mindset. Therefore, your mindset is your only true competitive advantage.’

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Being More Human is a collaborative consulting social enterprise whose goal is to help maximise human potential. Working with individuals, teams and organisations, Michelle and the team offer a range of services including executive coaching, leadership development, team transformation programs and keynote speaking.

If you’re looking for a new space to help you refresh and revitalise your mindset, why not give Dashworks a try. Book your 5-day free trial today!