“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” Wayne Dyer
“Why not?” A life mantra by Sharon Lechter. ‘Why not’ as a life mantra helps bring about an inquiry into your belief and how just changing one’s beliefs can result into different results and life experiences.
Mindsets as a way of seeing and acting separates the best from the rest.
For any woman to achieve a stellar life, they need to adopt to some change. They need to be able to challenge their thinking and actions every day. They need to pivot their courses of action when the time comes, just one more time. This means never giving up. The women in the Stellar Woman magazine demonstrate how they changed their thinking and actions. They have challenged themselves to go where they didn’t know they could go. These women have all challenged my beliefs, my thinking and my actions. Whatever it is that you’re aspiring for there is a woman in here who will talk to your soul.
Let’s start by looking at the current BMX Olympian Gold medallist Bethany Shriever who had to work part time as a teaching assistant, resort to crowdfunding to keep her BMX dream alive after UK Sport decided to cut the funding for women’s BMX after Rio 2016. She could have taken a different course of action but she didn’t. She won the first female gold in BMX in Tokyo 2021. Even if the door closed, she still believed and found options.
Listen to the Bossbabe podcast Tuesday 3rd August 2021 -Morning routine of any Olympian, where Olympian Heptathlete Louise Hazel takes you through her mindset shift. In 2008 when she was grieving the loss of her father, and was still completing her university degree, she underperformed and her Rotary funding (sponsorship) was taken away from her. Whilst she felt like the whole world was pulled under her feet, her thought process pulled her into a different direction. She decided to continue on her pursuit. She had to take on two part time jobs and train twice a day with no sense of entitlement and was ready to do whatever it takes. She went to World Championships in 2009 and got her personal best and in 2010 won gold medal in the Common Wealth games. Louise affirms that the way you react when the going gets tough can be so defining. In her interview she called athletics and entrepreneurs to level up in the tough moments as these are defining moments. Lean in and be your very best.
“The test of success is how you react when you’re losing not when you’re winning.” Louise Hazel
How can you level up for success whether you’re an Olympian, entrepreneur, home maker, social worker or other professional… ? You require a growth mindset. Of course, it goes without saying that you also have to define what success means to you!
Our cover woman Sharon Lechter – a multimillionaire, entrepreneur, author, business mentor and corporate and inspirational speaker has achieved a lot by just changing her mindset. Some people might look at her success and come to a quick conclusion like “it’s so easy for her to say that.” However, Sharon has not had it easy all her life and has had to change her thinking to be the woman she is today. She grew up scrubbing bathrooms to help her parents with their business which made her hate entrepreneurship and went on to become a professional chartered accountant. However, later on, she pivots to entrepreneurship. This followed an opportunity which came her way and made her ask the question “Why not.” Sharon emphasises taking action in her interview with Stellar Woman magazine. Taking action amidst your fears will change your results.
Sharon is still pivoting today to make a great impact to the World. Her mission is a key guide.
I hope Sharon’s knowledge and experience inspires you to the challenge of continuous change. Below are some quotes by Sharon.
“We are all where we are today based on the choices we made before today. If we want something different, something better in life, we simply need to start making different choices TODAY! The choices you make today will determine your tomorrow.” Sharon Lechter
“Sometimes you have to close the door so that a new door can be opened.” How many of us are ready to leave our comfort zones to enter into new challenging and unknown territories?
Progress comes from a shift of mindsets. It is good practice to continuously explore your mindsets as this leads to more self-discovery. My work on overcoming fear and being limitless is underpinned by the knowledge that the only thing that is keeping us where we are is our thinking, which thinking is influenced by our beliefs and perceptions. We can change this by clean slating and changing our story. Let’s explore below what fixed mindsets and growth mindsets entail and see how we can move forward with this knowledge.
Fixed and growth mixed mindsets
The understanding of these two aspects is from the work of Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck.
“For twenty years, my research has shown that the view you adopt for yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life. It can determine whether you become the person you want to be and whether you accomplish the things you value. How does this happen? How can a simple belief have a power to transform your psychology and as a result, your life?” Carol Dweck in www.brainpickings.org.
According to Dweck (2015), “In a fixed mindset, people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits. They spend their time documenting their intelligence or talent instead of developing them. They also believe that talent alone creates success – without effort.”
On the other hand, “In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work – brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment.” (Dweck, 2015)
Fixed and growth mindsets are related to nature vs nurture. The fixed mindset is the most common and the most harmful.
Let’s explore the differences
People with Fixed mindsets
They desire to look smart and are known to avoid challenges at all costs. They give up easily when they meet an obstacle along the path.
They have a tendency to see effort as fruitless or worse.
They ignore useful negative feedback and feel threatened by the success of others.
They believe if you’re romantically compatible with someone, you should share all of each other’s views and everything should come naturally.
When people are in this state, they hide their flaws so that they aren’t labelled as failures.
In fixed mindset you stick to what you know so that you seem confident.
Dweck also says that in the fixed mindset people spend time looking inside to find their true passion and purpose as if this is a hidden inherent thing.
They focus on outcomes and thus if they fail, it means all your effort was wasted.
In the fixed mindset failures define you.
Accordingly, Dweck affirms these people plateau early and achieve less than their potential.
People with growth mindset
People with growth mindsets flourish on challenge and see failure not as evidence on unintelligence but as a promising catalyst for growth and for extending our abilities.
According to Dweck, people in the growth mindset believe that anyone can be good at anything as our abilities are a result of our actions.
People with growth mindsets take it that intelligence can be developed and have the desire to learn and a tendency to embrace challenges, persevere in the face of setbacks, see effort as the path to mastery and learn from criticisms, find lessons and inspiration in the success of others.
Consequently, confidence is built by pushing into the unfamiliar, to keep you on the learning journey.
People with such mindsets commit to mastering valuable skills regardless of the mood they’re in, understanding that purpose and passion come from doing great work from which their expertise and experience will sprawl.
They see failures as temporary setbacks and never permanent.
You believe that lasting relationships come from effort and working through the difference.
As a result, these people reach ever high levels of achievements and all this is for a greater sense of free will.
The growth mindset is all about the process.
How do you personally think or process situations as they unfold before you?
My personal experience – from fixed mindset to growth mindset on using social media.
On reflection for a long time since the development of social media, I had a firm view “That’s not for me.” I viewed social media with a closed and fixed mindset. I had been fearful of putting myself out there. I had several questions that couldn’t be helpful to anyone and these included; what if I make a mistake? What if I don’t sound well? What if I cannot answer someone’s question with clarity? What if they don’t like my posts? Of course, my first experience of social media in particular Facebook wasn’t helpful. Seeing how people used it to either disrespect themselves or others. I later realised that different people used social media differently. This is when my mind started to open up. This wasn’t helped by the fact that I have a tendency to be reserved and a perfectionist in some area of my life. So, I related to failure with a fixed mindset. I needed certainty and going live to a unknown audience doesn’t give that. It puts you out with all the possibility of failing to sound or look perfect.
I remember my first Facebook live I couldn’t even press my own phone start button.
A friend offered to go live with me and had to press the start button as my brain was focusing on who could be there and what I needed to sound like and if I didn’t sound like that, what it could mean and so on and on. However, today the same friend cannot believe how often I go live. Way more than she does. I had to ask myself what is the worst that could happen? Then who would I like to become? Who would I be if I continue doing the same thing that I have been doing? These questions were different questions. They made me level up to my call.
A feeling of the deep calling to share what I know and deep desire to change women’s mindset made me evolve to start not only sharing my knowledge in text format but also going live on Facebook, Instagram, Youtube and now club house. Today I go live in an instant which I would never have done before.
Today I get to do the work that I love which is to inspire women to be more and to live fully. I have met many people who have just tapped into my social media lives, participated and asked for collaborations. I wouldn’t have met these people if I had remained with the same belief that I held for so many years.
How do you approach life?
Are you able to move towards change? What changes have you made recently? In what areas are these changes? Are you choosing areas that provide you with certainty of success? How are you going to approach adversity going forward? What have you learnt today? What else is there for you to learn? What would life look like if you took up a new challenge in a totally unfamiliar area? What mistakes have you done today that have taught you something? How did you feel about the mistakes?
Go out, take action and find out who you truly are and what else comes after…