As a business owner, you don’t only carry the responsibility of running your own company; you often assume the role of a leader that has to bring direction, guidance and ambition to others in order to build a successful business.
You act as a role-model to staff. You influence those around you. You create impressions that last.
That’s why it’s so important to be aware of the mindset that you carry, as you come to affect not only those around you, but your own behaviour, as well.
Indeed, constraints and obstacles will have an effect on your vision and can become a nuisance to accomplishing your goals, however, your perception will ultimately shape your reality and determine whether you fail or succeed as an entrepreneur.
Why Mindset Matters
I’ve coached many business owners over the years and while personalities certainly differ, a common theme that I’ve come across is that of the two mindsets that people have: The scarcity mindset and the abundance mindset.
There’s always a problem or obstacle to face when running a business – unfortunately, it comes with the package. Being an entrepreneur is hard-work and nobody said it would be easy, but the way that some business owners go about solving particular problems can be ineffective, to say the least, and that’s often due to the limiting beliefs that come with having a negative mindset.
Based on the way that they approach a problem, there’s a level of pessimism and cynicism that ends up blinding their thoughts and governing their decisions.
Although we’ve become somewhat desensitized to those terms, being the pessimist or the cynic is a very dangerous path to choose. It doesn’t only have a negative impact on yourself, but bleeds through to others and can be harmful to business and personal relations.
So much research has been done to prove how powerful the human mind is and how our mindset, philosophy and thought-processes can affect the behaviours and the decisions that we make.
It’s important to understand that we’re not like magnets; positive doesn’t attract negative and negative doesn’t attract positive. It’s quite the opposite, actually. If you remain positive in your approach, you’re far more likely to attract positive outcomes – the same applies with being negative and attracting negative outcomes.
Call it the law of attraction, a self-fulfilling prophecy or whatever you choose; at the end of the day, we are affected by what we think and the mindset that we carry with us on a daily basis.
Mindset matters. It shapes our interactions and achievements. It shapes the world that we live in.
The 4 Constraints In Business That Affect Our Mindset
With certain clients that I coach, I often come to recognise a mindset of scarcity and take the time to figure out the best way to understand where they’re coming from, so that I can help provide a solution to their problem.
Whether it’s a matter of strategic thinking, or day-to-day problem solving, they start from a negative standpoint, saying, “we can’t do that, because…”.
Often, the “because” is due to certain constraints.
“We can’t do that, because we don’t have the people, or enough people, or the skills in our people; we don’t have enough money to afford solving the problem; we don’t have the time to tackle these issues.”
The four biggest constraints are always around resources (lack of technology, skills, etc), people, time, and money.
These constraints can be problematic, but there’s always a solution to be found. So when I coach clients that deal with these issues, I start by recommending that they forget about those four constraints.
The Magic Wand
I like to use the hypothetical scenario of a magic wand that could wipe away all of those constraints with immediate effect and ask them what they would choose to do in their business and how they would go about it.
This usually brings about different thinking and solutions that they were previously unable to imagine.
It shifts the perspective from “how do we solve that thing?” to “how do we raise the money or find the right people to do that thing?”; creating a segue that changes their stance from reactive to proactive.
This brings about new ideas and changes the approach from scarcity to one more focused on the abundance that comes with solving the initial problem.
What I tend to find during this process is that there is no real shortage of solutions to the problem they’re facing, but rather that solutions were needed around those constraints. In my experience, solving the constraints opened the door to solving the initial problem.
This approach is based around an abundance mindset – one that seeks solutions through positive thinking. It motivates and allows you to think about problems differently and find answers from a different perspective.
Adopting An Approach To Abundance
By adopting a mindset based on abundance, you begin to change your idea of life and business, as a whole. You see the advantages within the disadvantages and constraints; you find a silver-lining in everything that you approach.
It works itself into the way that you handle, influence and work with people. You’re seen as more positive and uplifting, rather than an emotional wreck that harbours problems and struggles to find solutions.
It prevents you from playing the blame game and invites you to take responsibility and accountability.
Scarcity acts like a leech on your thought processes and behaviour, while abundance acts as a catalyst to being a better, more productive individual. Again, we’re not like magnets in the sense that opposites attract; like attracts like, love attracts love, good attracts good.
Try it for yourself. Do the research.
And if you struggle, then fake it until you make it.
Struggling to find that silver-lining? Struggling to pick off all of the leeches that drain the optimism out of you? Worry not. I’m here to assist.
If it’s becoming so bad that it has an impact on your business, then get in touch with me and let’s discuss how I can help you move forward. I’ll bring all of the abundance you so desperately need and who knows, my cheerful attitude might just rub off on you – shifting your gear from scarcity to abundance.
Call me, Whatsapp me, contact me, today:
+2783 253 3339
