Episode 58: The Art of Being a Good Employee - Create Your Mindset

Hello my friends, welcome to episode 58. I wanted to continue on from last week’s episode and share with you some ideas for creating your mindset. We can see that mindset matters in creating our experience in our jobs as well as how much we can accomplish and even the speed at which we get things done. How do you change your mindset? And How do you create a new one.?

How to change a mindset?

Here are my three simple tools for changing a mindset.

1.      Figure out what the old mindset is.

2.      Challenge it

3.      Practice.

This requires you to become aware of your mindset.

Most of us are not aware at all. So simply getting curious about how you think and how others around you think will reveal things about your mindset.

Asking questions of ourselves and writing down what we are thinking can help bring some of these things into view.

Working with a coach who can point out and reflect back on those questions can be very powerful in helping us see things that seem unquestionable to us.

We really think that the way we see the world is the way everyone sees it and the way that it is.

Sorry friend, this is not the case.

The way we see the world isn’t always the way everyone else sees it – it is just one perspective.

The way we see the world isn’t always the way it is – again it’s just one perspective.

And perspective is a powerful tool!

Jacko Willnik/ Andrew Huberman podcast – military maneuvers – where they seemed backed into a corner and the person who looked around could see things differently than those who were solely focused on the threat. That person could see things and direct the team differently. This only worked when there was a team because you do need people looking a the threat but we also need guidance out.

We can do this in so many ways – push back from the table in the board room.

Climb up on the fence at the feedlot.

Climb down off your horse in the pasture.

Step away from the computer screen at your office.

Listen to someone who carries a different worldview than you and simply consider what the world looks like and what their experience of it is from their perspective

All these things are part of challenging your mindset.

All these things are part of expanding your mindset, and your capacity for differences, and will give you an advantage in any position.

Now getting a new mindset to stick in an old familiar situation can be a challenge.

But there are so many simple exercises that you can try that will help you start to see and hear these new mindset statements in any situation you find yourself in.

Louise Hay – she had a theory that any pain or disease in our bodies had an accompanying belief that was contributing to the cause. Now whether you believe in her theory or not – her mantra statements are incredible tools. She has a book where she has a new statement that you can practice which corresponds to each type of pain. I was recently experiencing pain so out of curiosity I looked this up in her book.

It recommended I practice statements like

I know that life always supports me.

I love and approve of myself.

Life supports me and loves me.

A pretty different mindset than me thinking that I am not supported or that I didn’t have the help I needed.

Finding resources like this. Small statements that resonate with us. That we can practice by simply reading them every day has a powerful impact on our mindset.

My coach Jody Moore often talks of having a positive statement that she says to herself each morning as she brushes her teeth.

Mel Robbins talks of giving yourself a high five every morning in the mirror.

Dr. Amen says to say “Today is going to be a great day before you get out of bed every morning.

This simple reinforcement of positive beliefs is powerful in setting up your mindset for the day and ultimately your experience for the day. 

Other things you can try:

Passwords that are positive statements

Gratitude – we have talked about this in a couple of episodes – it’s simple, it’s powerful.

Track the effect of positive things.

Test out your statements.

Rewrite some of your old stories. – Make yourself the hero.

Acknowledge others Acknowledge yourself – this might feel foreign at first, others may be awkward but acknowledgment is so powerful.

Give yourself permission – permission slips from Brené Brown. Have you ever given yourself permission to be happy?

Vision boards/vision journals

Spend time with positive people

Spend time with people who think differently than you do.

See the good.

Choose what you are going to think.

Mindsets are malleable.

Good employees choose a mindset that supports themselves and supports the company that they work for.

What will you choose?

It will be fun.

Have a wonderful week.