Brandi Watterson is the owner and CEO of Brighton Academy.
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In the early days of running my business, I struggled with a poor outlook and a negative mindset. I had limited beliefs about my capabilities; in fact, I walked into most situations scared. While I tried to hide it on the outside, what was happening on the inside was limiting not only my growth as a business owner, but also the growth of my business itself.
It took longer than it should have, but I eventually took action to develop positive thinking habits, and it changed my life and my business for the better. A negative mindset is one of the worst traps business owners and their teams can fall into, and I want to provide a few tips to help you avoid the same struggles I faced.
Negativity Wreaks Havoc
Having a negative mindset can wreak havoc on your life. As noted in VeryWell Mind by wellness coach Elizabeth Scott, negative self-talk can lead to limited thinking—“the more you tell yourself you can’t do something, the more you believe it.” It can also “lead to a lowered ability to see opportunities and a decreased tendency to capitalize on these opportunities.” If you gloss over worthwhile possibilities, telling yourself that you’re not capable, you might quit early and miss out on building the biggest success story of your life. You risk losing the opportunity to have maximum reach and impact.
Knowing and understanding the toll a negative outlook takes should fire you up, strengthening your desire to mitigate it. Otherwise, you’ll fall victim to its power and the repercussions that come with it, which will affect your personal life and business as a whole. I firmly believe that life and everything in it goes in the direction of your thoughts. You just have to be determined to flip the switch in your mind. The change starts with you.
Change Starts With You—And Will Benefit Your Life
When everyone on a team has a positive mindset, they can achieve more. But before you start helping your team members cultivate a positive approach, you first have to shift your own mindset. As the adage goes, “It starts at the top.” If you, as the leader of the company, limit your own growth and abilities because of your poor outlook, it will trickle down and affect your employees. If employees see you backing down from opportunities due to a lack of faith and confidence in yourself, don’t be surprised when they do the same. It is, after all, the behavior you are modeling.
As a business leader, it’s important to constantly evaluate yourself. Be willing to take courageous steps in the right direction. Don’t worry if the steps seem small. Progress is progress. In my first few years running my business, I reached an inflection point. I felt alone, trapped in a cycle of negativity and limiting beliefs. I knew something had to change, so I started reading leadership and self-help books. I listened to podcasts and started attending conferences, where I discovered others in the business world who were struggling with limiting beliefs. I realized that I wasn’t alone in what I was feeling—and that if I had those negative thoughts about myself, I wasn’t leading as effectively as I could.
The loudest and most prevalent voice is our own. It doesn’t matter what everyone is saying around you if the voice in your head is negative. You’re going to believe that voice, not other people. So, I started practicing positive thinking. Every time a negative thought entered my head, I countered it with two positive truths. Even if I didn’t buy into what I was saying at first, I was reframing and retraining the way I allowed myself to think. While this seems like a small thing to do, it comes with a powerful punch. Eventually, my limiting beliefs were lifted, giving me the courage to step into intimidating endeavors—and I started to see success, little by little. And you know what it did? It slowly built my confidence, and a shift in my mindset occurred, putting me in a better position to help my team members do the same.
Help Your Team Think Positively, Too
As a business leader, you can have tremendous influence in helping your team members get rid of self-limiting beliefs that hinder their growth and replace those beliefs with positive ones—which will enable them to unlock their potential.
I started helping my team members shift their mindsets by meeting with them one-on-one and in groups. In both settings, I emphasized the importance of believing in themselves and their abilities. I also stressed the importance of learning from past mistakes. It’s how we become better! In these one-on-ones, I noticed a tendency for some team members to say “I don’t think I can handle that” and “I’ve never done something like that before” when faced with new opportunities. So, I began giving them special projects that would help them succeed in the areas in which they didn’t feel capable. These projects weren’t make-or-break ones for the business. Rather, they were meant to build employees’ confidence and self-esteem so that down the line, when I would ask them to take on more responsibilities, they’d have the confidence and mindset to successfully tackle them.
Consistency is key when helping your team cultivate positive mindsets. To keep positive thinking at the forefront of my employees’ minds, I hold monthly vision casting meetings where I highlight our annual goals, progress and wins that each of us has had. It conditions a positive mindset despite the challenges faced. I also provide tools for my team members, such as the Full Focus Planner, which they can use to break down their quarterly goals into weekly and daily ones. At the end of each quarter, they do a quarterly review, allowing them to see their wins and the goals they’ve achieved. As they examine their success, their confidence grows, as does their motivation to tap into more of their potential. It’s amazing what belief in oneself can do!
I am also big on personality tests. They not only give me insights into how I can best communicate and work with my team, but they also allow everyone to learn more about themselves, providing further opportunities for insight and growth while highlighting the positive attributes they bring to the table. Seeing their strengths complements the process of building a positive mindset. The knowledge these personality tests have given me has also helped me create a more positive work culture.
The discipline to remain consistent in these approaches is the key to generating positive change, growth and future opportunities. And as you grow and scale your business, understand that you may need to tweak some things along the way, and that’s okay. It shows that there is healthy growth. Transforming your mindset and your team’s mindset ultimately brings transformation not only personally but also to your business.
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