Tips to Stay Positive In Your Business
Shane Cradock’s gave a presentation to the Dublin City Enterprise Network for Women in July. He started off by emphasising the importance of your mindset.
He works a lot with entrepreneurs to help them improve their business and he says that it is the mindset that determines how well people do – this is especially the case now. Sportspeople tend to recognise the importance of mindset but businesspeople are only just beginning to see this. He described it as the “inner game of business”.
In the current environment, businesses need to adapt quickly and entrepreneurs have the advantage of being flexible and adaptive.
Your mindset determines how you respond to situations. It is unconscious – comes from habit (same as how you fold your arms, etc). Your mindset determines your attitudes which in turn determines your behaviour. Success is down to mindset – his own experience of a personal crisis taught him how he could affect his own mindset and has made him passionate about this.
Changing habits can be hard (such as how you fold your arms) but with practice can become your new habit. The unconscious mind is very powerful. 95%of what we do is unconscious.
Example of Horse and Jockey – which is in charge? It is always the jockey but the horse thinks it’s in charge. We are the same, feel like we’re in charge but our unconscious mind is actually in control. We need to understand this unconscious mind. It operates in terms of Pictures and Feelings rather than just words. He recommended the website www.mindmovies.com from the people who wrote The Secret – Law of Attraction book, to help you visualise.
The unconscious mind tells the conscious mind what’s possible from your previous experiences.
How do you change this?
Shane mentioned the book “Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't” by Jim Collins. This is about a study of common threads between the Fortune 500 companies. Certain traits emerged including a certain determined mindset.
One of the people interviewed was Jim Stockdale and he spoke of his coping strategy during his period in the Vietnamese POW camp. He described the balance between being determined to persevere to get out and live a good life again and confronting the brutal facts. This applies to companies when the economy takes a hit.
The people who didn’t make it as POWs couldn’t envisage a good outcome and were overotimistic. You should not think that having faith that you will prevail precludes you from facing the facts. A combination of faith and honesty are important. Mindset affects the people around you be aware of energy boosters and sappers. Energy is real!
He used the image of Chicken Little. The sky is not falling down but if you keep focusing on the threat, you might get into trouble – watch out for Foxy Loxy. Things are different now and you need to change the way you do business. He described a client who was badly affected by a negative event and needed to work hard to get his mind straight again. Even smart people can have their mindset affected.
- Make sure you’re in your business fully, not just doing business.
- Focus on your goals. Our minds are goal seeking mechanisms.
- See your mind as a projector playing a film. Vivid images work best for the unconscious mind.
He spoke about the Achiever’s mindset and used the quote from Einstein “Think Different”. They have a clear picture of what they want – as though it has already happened. They visualise goals and are one directional.
Think of a time of great satisfaction and success and focus on this with visuals and strong feelings. Try to manage your memories and burn negative things.
Only focus on what you want.
There are no failures only learning.
He commented that men are more negatively affected by failure.
Top Tips
- Be clear on goals
- When in work, focus on what you’re doing
- Take time to clear your mind. Go for a walk, especially when you’re stressed.
- Remember that the goal is to keep on learning.
- Energise your mindset every morning.
He described a successful guy who visualised what he wants to happen every morning over a quiet few minutes. He sees his mindset as his armour against the flak that he wil take during the day.
He finished with an inspirational Nelsen Mandela quotation:
"Vision without action is only dreaming, action without vision is only passing time, vision with action can change the world".
Find out more about our Dublin City Enterprise Network for Women and Join Today.