Whenever the concept of mindset is addressed in the context of business and entrepreneurship, it refers to personal beliefs and how they influence one’s journey to success. Business leaders, SME owners, and decision makers with a growth mindset are more inclined towards putting efforts to achieve something, even when it is challenging.
People with a fixed or self-limiting mindset, on the other hand, are comfortable with their status quo. They believe that what they have now is enough for their business to succeed and that it is unnecessary to increase efforts in pursuing a goal. This mindset is often enough to limit your results from sales initiatives and prevent you from fulfilling your true potential as a business.
While businesses across the world continue to struggle with the adverse effects of the coronavirus pandemic, it is business owners with a growth mindset that will continue to seize opportunities to grow and thrive. Like anything, a mindset is a learned set of skills and behaviours, so how do you cultivate a mindset for business growth?
Having a low-productivity mindset, and operating within your comfort zone is the number one limitation to growth. This is why it is fundamental to recognise your weaknesses – as a business and as a manager – to overcome hidden obstacles. People with a self-limiting mindset are not lazy or unsuccessful. It’s simply that, over time, people accumulate self-limiting beliefs, habits and assumptions which – although untrue – frequently go unchallenged.
People are creatures of habit, and there are sound evolutionary reasons for this. Our ancestors who anticipated the worst – e.g. by spotting the face of a predator in the long grass even when one was not present – were the ones who survived. Habits that let you survive quickly become ingrained, and you carry them out as second nature. This is positive, because a habit for optimistic thinking can quite easily become a way of life if you recognise and capitalise on opportunities.
On the other hand, it is easy to fall into a negative mindset, in which you make predictions based on the outcome of past events. This limits your potential to see opportunities in the current situation, and in business, may lead to missing sales prospects and new market niches.
The most extreme example of this self-limiting mindset is pessimism. This is the mentality of ‘there is nothing that I can do about it’, or of assuming the worst outcome to every situation. Pessimism can make business leaders reluctant to make important investments, to take chances, launch new products and embark on ambitious sales and marketing campaigns.
It is possible to change your attitude and adopt a mindset that will move your business forward, and there are several proven hacks that can help you do this. The first is acceptance of your current situation as it is and the acknowledgement that it presents both opportunities and threats. Recognise that the actions you take are as likely to turn out positively as negatively, so long as you engage in informed decision-making and strategic goal setting – and follow through on your decisions.
At JDR, we provide a broad range of digital marketing support services to help businesses achieve their growth objectives. Our background is in business coaching, and we apply this experience to the way we work with our customers. Our goal is to help you achieve and exceed your expectations for your business, building new revenues and sales opportunities – but in doing so we aim to help you and your team achieve your full potential too.
To find out more about our unique approach, and to equip your business with the tools and mindset to thrive in the digital economy, please call 01332 343281 today.