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Legendary Ideas Group

Legendary Ideas Group

How Mindset Affects Entrepreneurship

Are you sabotaging your business without even realizing it?

We all want success. I mean, we started a business so we could be our own boss, make money, and be successful. 

Did you know that it is incredibly common for entrepreneurs to self-sabotage – without even realizing it?

Mindset is extremely important to the ultimate success of your company. You can have the best ideas in the world, but if you have a negative mindset and tell yourself it’s never going to happen, then it WON’T. Think about it: the more you tell yourself you can’t do something, the more you are going to really believe it.

Many people fall into a pattern of negative thinking without even realizing it. It’s easy to think you can’t do something – so why bother trying?

Recognizing self-sabotaging habits like negative self-talk is important. Once you’re aware of the habits, you can work to change them.

Focusing on only the negative leads to decreased motivation, procrastinating more, and even mental health issues. Also of note, it can also lower your ability to even see or act on new opportunities. By contrast, positive thinking leads to increased life span, lower stress, better resistance to colds and better cardiovascular health, and lower rates of depression.

Fun fact: Positive self-talk has been shown to be a great predictor of success! (Check out these two studies for more detail: Effects of Self-Talk: A Systematic Review and Effects of Self-Talk Training on Competitive Anxiety, Self-Efficacy, Volitional Skills, and Performance: An Intervention Study with Junior Sub-Elite Athletes.)

When stuck in a negative mindset, even small tasks can feel like huge obstacles. 

How To Stop the Negative Self-Talk

Try one or more of these at a time to catch yourself and stop negative self-talk and form a more positive mindset:

  • Catch yourself. Notice when you are being negative or critical to yourself and immediately choose to stop. 
  • Focus on what your inner voice is telling you and realize that these feelings are not always reality or the truth.
  • Start changing the language. Instead of going from negative talk allllll the way to positive, try going for more neutral language. Instead of “I can’t handle this,” try “This is difficult.” Instead of “I hate xyz about myself,” try “Xyx is something I want to work on.”
  • Ask the inner voice questions. “Why do you feel that way? Have other people told you that? Why can’t I do/say/be that?” Challenging that inner voice is a great way to get to the root of why you feel that way.
  • Be your own best friend. The way your inner voice talks to you…would you EVER say that to your best friend or your sibling? If not, why would you say it to yourself and accept it as truth?
  • Practice positive self-talk. Think about things you are thankful or grateful for. Think and focus on your positive qualities. Instead of “I am a terrible writer,” reframe it as “I have great ideas and can pay someone to write it for me.” Reframe your negative self-talk into more positive thinking. Sounds silly, but it really works!

Other Ways Entrepreneurs Self-Sabotage

Two major ways we humans self-sabotage is with procrastination and perfectionism.

With procrastination, it sounds so simple, right? Just do the thing. There’s a thing, you need to get it done, so go do the thing.

Obviously, it’s harder said than done! 

Here are a few ways to fight against procrastination:

  • Get organized! Organize your workspace so when you sit down to work you aren’t distracted by clutter or messes. It also helps put you in the right mindset to work!
  • Write a to-do list. There is little in life more satisfying than checking off a task from a physical list.
  • Have a dedicated workspace. Don’t work from bed. Have a specific “work zone” so you train your brain to know that when you get in that area, it’s time to work.
  • Use time management techniques. My favorites are timeboxing and the Pomodoro technique, both of which I use to focus on one task at a time and just get it DONE.
  • Delegate. If you’re having trouble getting something done because you just dislike doing it, pass it off to a team member or freelancer.
  • Turn off distractions. Close the Facebook window, mute your phone, and get off Instagram. You’ll find it easier to focus and get things done when you remove distractions and focus on one thing at a time.

Perfectionism is another habit that leads to people self-sabotaging their success.

If you wait for the ‘perfect time’ to do something or can’t move on from it because it isn’t absolutely perfect, you end up wasting a lot of time on things that aren’t actively moving your business forward. 

Perfection is impossible. Accept that and work toward getting things DONE instead of getting things perfect. 

That’s not to say you shouldn’t strive for greatness in your tasks. One way to combat this is to have a skilled employee review the work and give feedback or make revisions. Having more than one pair of eyes on something will help you feel like it is the best it can be. 

Your Mindset Affects Your Business

As the leader of a business, your own mindset and habits can trickle down to your work and your employees. Focus on being less critical on yourself and more positive about your work and the people around you. You have so much to give the world!

When you find yourself ready to kick butt and hit the gas on your next great idea, let’s talk about how I can help you and make the process more fun and enjoyable for you, so you can focus on other things and put the pedal to the metal in your business!

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