Building A Strong Success Mindset Pt 3

In the first post in this series, you learnt about the importance of believing in yourself and you can find that post here

And, in the second post you learnt about testing your ideas to ensure that they are worthy, and that post is here

Next, we will look at the importance of learning from your mistakes. This is a key skill to master because mistakes can quickly paralyse you and stop any momentum you had going.

What’s Your Inner Critic Saying About You?

The key to success is taking that annoying, critical voice in your head and turning it into something positive. That might seem impossible, but I promise – you can do it. It all starts with listening to that little voice.

You see, a lot of times you might simply dismiss it – or let it stop you without really listening to it.

Today, I want you to listen. REALLY listen. And then, write down what that little voice says to you. It might be awful. It might tell you that you’re a failure or that your goals are out of reach.

It might even tell you that you’re stupid. Write it down. Don’t read it over again. Just record it and put it away. You’ll probably think about it during the day but try not to dwell on it.

Understanding Your Inner Critic

Are you ready to get to the heart of what your inner critic is trying to tell you?

Pull out that notebook from yesterday and read over what you wrote. Think about how you felt and what immediately came to mind.

I’m willing to bet it’s negative. Maybe even hurtful.

The important thing to remember is that this voice is part of you. You can’t escape it, but you can certainly control how you respond to it and how it affects your ability to be successful.

Ultimately, it’s trying to protect you – even though it might not seem like it a lot of the time.

Your job today is to look at what that voice says and figure out what it really MEANS.

For example, if your inner critic tells you that you shouldn’t try to start a business because you’ll fail, there are two ways to look at it:

Your inner critic has no faith in your ability or skills, and wants you to give up;

or –

Your inner critic is really consumed with the fear of failure and wants to protect you.

Which of those two do you think is the most likely? I’ll save you the suspense. It’s the second one.

Take a minute and figure out the subtext of what your inner critic is saying. Why do you really feel this way?

How are these thoughts and feelings impacting your business? And more importantly, how can you mute that critic so you can focus on your strengths and what you bring to the table?

Learning From Your Mistakes

Every cloud has a silver lining – and so does every mistake. It’s a bit cliché to say that mistakes are learning opportunities, but the fact that it’s a common saying doesn’t make it untrue.

Just like failure, mistakes show us who we are. We all make them. It’s what you do with them that marks the difference between success and failure.

Why Start-Ups Fail

It’s not easy to get a start-up off the ground. When start-ups fail, it can be for any one of several reasons. Here are some of the most common:

Not focusing on customers and solving their problems
Lack of focus
Scaling too quickly
Not building a success team

We’ve already talked about focusing on customers. If you do that, you’ll be halfway to success because you won’t be thinking about yourself, you’ll be thinking about your audience.

Focus problems happen when you try to do too many things at once. Simplifying goals on focusing on one product or idea will help keep your eyes on the prize.

Scaling is something that can send any entrepreneur into a tailspin. Allow your business to grow organically and scale only when you’re ready.

We’ll talk about how to build a success team later – but suffice to say, you can’t do everything yourself!

Reframing Mistakes as Opportunities

Nobody likes making mistakes. It’s no fun to be wrong. But every successful entrepreneur needs to get comfortable with it – and learn to see mistakes as opportunities.

What happens when you mess up? If you pay attention, you can learn something! Everything you learn now will help you with your next goal.

When you make a mistake, take a deep breath and ask:

What can I learn from this?

Then, once you’ve identified it, use the lesson to create your next opportunity. Once you get in the habit of doing it, it’ll be easy.

Tightening Goals

We already talked about SMART goals. When you don’t achieve a goal, it’s easy to feel disheartened. Often, it’s just a sign that your goal was too big.

If you’ve ever made a to-do list, you may have noticed how gratifying it is to cross out the items on it. Some people even put simple things on their lists because they know they’ll be able to complete them quickly.

When you set goals for yourself, take every long-term goal and break it down into the smallest possible steps. Focus on what you want and narrow your goals to help you achieve it. You’ll be far more likely to get where you want to go if you have tight, achievable goals.

How To Find The Lessons In Experiences

Everything you experience is a lesson. When you make a mistake or fail, it’s natural to be upset.

Take time to be upset. But then, step back. Ask what you did wrong, and what you would do differently next time.

If you lack information, go find it. Read, study, talk to other people in your industry – and then take what you’ve learned to heart and use it in the future.

Split Testing

One of the best ways to refine your goals and fine-tune your products is with split testing. Split testing involves taking content or an ad campaign and testing different versions until you get the best results.

The key to split testing is testing only one element at a time. Not satisfied with your Facebook ad? Test two different headlines, choose the one that performs better, and then split test your call to action.

Tip: Use Genius Lander to tap into the powerful A.S.P.A formula to turn your landing pages into lead-generating powerhouses.

Creating Your Plan B

It’s always a good idea to have a Plan B. If your first idea doesn’t work, what will you try next?

There’s no shame in having a back-up plan. In fact, part of the reason that successful people become successful is that they have a back-up plan!

Coming up next, we’ll talk about how to keep focused on your customers, so you don’t get off track, so until next time…

As you can appreciate, changing the way you think can have a huge impact on your life, and if you want to know more about developing an inspirational mindset for success, please click on the featured resource below for a free Strong Mindset report; download, read it and take action 😊