On our ‘Engaging People, Powering Companies’ podcast last week,

Amrit spoke about the importance of mindset. He raised first off, that when we talk about mindset, we might immediately think about Professor of Psychology, Carol Dweck, who first coined the phrases ‘growth mindset’ and ‘fixed mindset’. These things have become buzz words over recent years, and for good reason. A growth mindset suggests an understanding, and belief of the fact that our abilities can be developed, that effort is key in helping propel someone’s learning, and that setbacks are opportunities to learn more, rather than reasons to give up.

On the flip side of that is a fixed mindset, where learning is more about looking smart, where challenges are avoided in attempt to limit mistakes, because this underlying belief says, ‘I’m not going to be any good at this, I don’t have this innate ability, others are born with it, and I was not’. Important to say here, that we are not purely one or the other, and there will be different situations that can either prompt us to think in a way that keeps us open to learning and growing, or that closes us down to it. Although, we can learn to become aware of our tendencies at any given moment, and therefore choose which way to lean.

The research in this area suggests that having a growth mindset as much as possible can improve mental health and resilience against stress, enhance learning and performance, allow for stronger self-regulation and a stronger sense of self-esteem, and help with adapting to change. So, keeping a positive, growth mindset is worth working on. We don’t really need research to tell us this though. If we really reflect on our best and worst days, and question where our mindset was in these times, we will have felt these benefits. How often do we reflect though?

On the podcast, Amrit described his week. It was, as always, a productive and varied week, and we had been travelling and delivering together. On the plane on the way home, out of nowhere, Amrit started experiencing pain, in his eye, jaw, and the side of his face. He was in pain, and unlike him, he took pain killers, which didn’t help. If you know Amrit, you will know that he doesn’t wallow, and as his travelling partner, I would not have known had he not said.  

There were no emergency dentist appointments available, however Amrit often says ‘someone is watching over us’ and for good reason. On this occasion, his wife had a dentist appointment the very next day! Amrit was able to use this appointment and get himself a prescription for antibiotics. He reflected on his mindset on the before and after of having a prescription in his hand. Amrit noticed that before he had even taken one tablet, he had started to feel better. What had changed in his situation? Nothing but his mindset. The reassurance of that bit of paper in his hand, helped his mindset go from one of uncertainty, to knowing that he had taken care of what he needed to.

Having the space, time, and resources to take care of things, or make sense of things, really helps with mindset. How many of you will relate to working on the run up to a holiday, where everything feels challenging, tiring, impossible even. So much going on and you just can’t see the wood for the trees. Then the holiday comes, and we get space. A chance to switch off. On the return to work, where those same challenges and workload exist, we find that we have a renewed view of the tasks ahead, which can result in more motivation and energy to complete them. What has changed? We have. We have had the time away, the space for our brains to reframe situations, to see them differently, to reflect and find solutions.

A key skill of those more experienced in the workplace is one of reflection. Taking the time to think. Take yourself back to when you were new to the role, or if not, think of new recruits now within your business. A problem arises and panic sets in. The noise of all the ‘what if’s’ and/or ‘am I good enough’ take up the space in the brain, and the mindset is one of trepidation. It is very hard to see solutions from this place. Experience teaches us that it’s futile to allow the mind to go down such a path. There is a wisdom from experience, that brings comfort, and an ability to remain in the moment and not panic.

However, if we don’t take the time to reflect on how we are, what our mindset is like, what lessons we can take from situations, what we have made something mean and what else it could mean, then we run the risk of forever churning things round in our heads, which impacts the mindset we are able to cultivate. Reflection is a tool that gives us the space, time, and creativity to think differently, and to become aware of any beliefs we may hold that are limiting us, or any self-talk or negative language that might be fuelling an unhelpful mindset.

What beliefs do you hold around what is and isn’t possible? Amrit shared that he believes that everything can be solved, provided we can remain calm and see the solutions, rather than that thick fog that fills our brains when panic sets in. He often, as I mentioned earlier, talks about ‘someone watching over us’, another helpful, positive belief!

He once turned up without his laptop to a session where he was facilitating for a group of trusted clients! Admittedly this is something that is far from ideal, and there is a lot of self-talk that would have been understandable, but not in any way helpful. Had he have gone in to panic or berating mode, he would not have found a solution, or at least not as quickly.  As it was, he remembered the cloud, borrowed a laptop, and got on his way!

Our travels the week before last, coincided with the elections in America. We spoke about how many people were grief stricken with the outcome, and clearly going through the stages on the change curve – anger, grief, disbelief. The noise of the aftermath had people saying, ‘that is it, I am done with politics’ or ‘what’s the point’. Others saying ‘OK, time to roll up our sleeves and get to work’. This is a great example of mindset. It dictates how we perform or if we even perform or not!

How we are feeling emotionally about something, or how we are feeling physically (tired, toothache etc.) impacts our Core Affect which we talk about often here at &Evolve. It can be translated loosely to our mood at any given time, and the beauty is, if we are aware we can nudge it into a better place. To let it rule us, unaware, impacts our mindset, stress and essentially our resilience. Whether we can continue on, clear headed and motivated, or whether we give up. Or maybe we crack on regardless, pushing and pushing, but on the path to burn out. Taking the time to notice how we are, what we are thinking and feeling, and how we are fuelling ourselves (physically, mentally, and emotionally), is critical in managing mindset.

Dr Tara Swart defines stress as “when the load that you perceive on you physically, mentally, emotionally or spiritually is too much for you to bear”. Your brains perception of what is going on has a cascade effect on the rest of your body. It literally changes our chemistry. Perhaps one of the best things we can do for our resilience and our stress levels is to build in the time to think, to reflect, and to just be, rather than do, do, do all the time. Thinking through things so that it doesn’t get to the stage where we believe what is going on is too much for us to bear is good for us. Now I am obviously not talking about stress that occurs through traumatic events. This is more about the general routine of life.

Have you ever heard of the Japanese water experiment, primarily associated with Dr. Masaru Emoto? It is controversial and widely considered pseudoscientific by the mainstream scientific community, however, he claims that human consciousness could affect the molecular structure of water. His experiments involved exposing water to various words, pictures, or music, good and bad, and then freezing the water samples as to examine and photograph the resulting ice crystals. Emoto claimed that water exposed to positive thoughts or words formed visually pleasing, symmetrical ice crystals, whereas water exposed to negative intentions yielded "ugly" or distorted ice formations.

Now, the scientific community has largely rejected Emoto's work for reasons such as lack of proper controls, and insufficient peer reviews. I still find it fascinating though! What energy are we putting into our own circumstances? What words are feeding the situations we are finding ourselves in? How will we know if we are not allowing the time to notice. And as the old saying goes, where focus goes, energy flows. Where are we putting our energy? On the good or the bad? The helpful or that which hinders us?

Is there time in the diary for you to take stock? To reflect, to think, verses being caught up in the doing and the stress. Do you even have lunch? If you do, do you enjoy it slowly or wolf it down so you can crack on? This is not a judgement, rather an invite to notice what is true for you. We must give our brains time to think, and to notice. It is happening anyway, in the background, running the show. Helpful or not, no one knows but you. If we want to be successful then we must make the time to focus on our mindset.

Too often our leaders and managers are expected to help employees see the wood through the trees, and to praise and recognise them despite not even being able to catch themselves doing great things. Maybe they are caught up in feeling like the job they do is a just a thankless task, where their mindset is somewhere that they can’t even find something good in their own days let alone that of others. If we can’t see it for ourselves, how can we be expected to do it for others?

Our days are governed enough by the sheer volume and pace of work. Let us develop the skills and commitment, to build in mental breaks so that we can balance this out and take care of our stress levels, reframe things and find the solutions. Our brains are ours to stand guard over, and to choose where we want to focus our mental energy. I am routing for us all!

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