Switching Up Your Mindset

Dr. Cristina Yang of Grey's Anatomy knows about mindset. She knows many of us, like her bestie, Meredith, don't always recognize how talented we are and what we could become if we just permitted ourselves. As she tells Meredith, "Don't let what he wants to eclipse what you need. He's very dreamy, but he's not the sun. You are!"

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Here are "3 Tips for Switching Up From Mindset" and unlocking and unleashing your potential.

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‍Tip 1: Understand Your Inner Voices.‍

‍‍You need to have honest conversations with yourself about what is holding you back in your career. What steps should you take, and what is holding you back from taking them? What do the voices in your head say? What are the ramifications of listening to those voices? Look for patterns among the voices and, when they come out, what they say and your reaction.

‍Tip 2: Evaluate your Voices‍

You need to decide how rationale your thought process is. Is your brain overweighing the potential adverse outcomes and underestimating the rewards? In doing this, consider asking others for additional input, process the information, and take emotion out. You should reach out to your personal board of directors, mentors, or managers to evaluate the real impact of the voices on your career. Are the inner voices helping or hurting? We often believe that our inner voices are protecting us when they are hurting us.

I have heard from many clients they have found out that they took a backseat to others, thinking that would offer them protection, and it did not. Some were let go because they needed to bring in more revenue, and some stayed stalled as individual contributors because they needed to demonstrate leadership.

Tip 3: Develop a Plan

Once you have the information and assess it, you need to develop a plan to address it. So you can move forward. Mindset is a habit we have held on to for a long time - so you need to be highly intentional in changing that mindset and acting even when the voices say to stay still.

This may include having mantras or other ways of handling the negative voices and acting despite the saboteurs. And the more you act contrary to the voice's instructions, the more comfortable and less dangerous situations become, and you will hear the voices less. You give less credence to their words.

The world is full of people who fail to execute development plans, and one of the reasons is they continue to listen to those voices. You want to make sure that you build in ways to get feedback, celebrate success, and help with accountability.

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By understanding what is holding you back and developing a specific plan to move forward, you can go from sitting on the sidelines to quarterbacking significant matters and clients.