Are limiting beliefs holding you back from reaching your true potential? Learn about the growth mindset and how can you shift your mindset towards it.
Roadmap to a Successful Online Business – Part II | Growth Mindset Secrets of Successful Solopreneurs
If you are toying with the idea of building your own online business but are feeling totally lost and don’t know where to start – you have come to the right place! 🙂
My mission is to help you get out of that confusion and overwhelm and break things down for you, so you can follow along easily.
My Roadmap to a Successful Online Business blog post series will take you through all the major steps of building your online business. Download your FREE overview business guide and let’s get going!
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What is Growth Mindset?
Today, the biologist in me is giddy with excitement, because today I’m going to take you through a quick neuroscience lesson! 🙂
Don’t you worry though, it’s not going to be a University lecture. Just a few amazing facts about your brain that you might not have known before.
More than three decades ago, Dr. Carol Dweck, a psychology professor at Standford University studied the connection between students’ academic achievements and their attitude towards failure.
She found that – in contrast to former belief – neuroplasticity (= the ability of the brain to change throughout one’s life) wasn’t limited to one’s childhood. You know the old saying: You can’t teach an old dog new tricks? Turns out, you can. It’s all about shifting from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset.
Apparently, your brain is far more malleable than you might think. It’s just like any other muscle you can train and strengthen.
Simply by shifting your mindset towards believing your efforts will pay off and will make you smarter, you change how you approach challenges, which in turn results in higher achievements. I think that is really remarkable!
If you’d love to read more on this, check out this free article “Why do beliefs about intelligence influence learning success? A social cognitive neuroscience model” by Dr. Carol Dweck and colleagues or her book “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success“.
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How Does a Growth Mindset Help you Succeed?
Ok, now that we’ve touched on the science behind this, you might wonder how a growth mindset applies to you and your solopreneur journey. Let’s take a closer look.
You are about to face a great challenge trying to create a successful online business all on your own. No doubt, this is huge.
How does this thought make you feel? Excited, full of energy and itching to get started or overwhelmed, stressed out and discouraged?
If the latter rings true for you, you are probably stuck in a fixed mindset. That’s gonna limit your chances of success.
Shifting Your Mindset Towards a Growth Mindset
Let’s teach that old dog some new tricks, shall we? 😉 Start by identifying your limiting beliefs. How do you do that? Go back to thinking about the challenge you are facing and explore the emotions this triggers.
Are you feeling discouraged? Why? What are the beliefs that the little devil in your head whispers into your ear?
Is it “I’m not good enough to make this work.”, or “I don’t even know where to start, I feel so stupid.”. Whatever it is, take note, don’t judge. It’s important to acknowledge those thoughts because they determine how you feel about your challenge.
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5 INSPIRATIONAL AUDIBLE AUDIOBOOKS TO CHECK OUT NOW
It’s absolutely normal for most if not all people to have these negative beliefs. It wasn’t until I discovered the growth mindset theory, that I
Sometimes it’s things, your family or friends told you ages ago and that just stuck in your head until you accepted them as an unchangeable truth.
Maybe your parents told you, you were too messy to ever be successful and you just resigned and accepted that as your truth.
Here is the thing: You can turn things around and change those beliefs! It takes time and commitment, but it can be done.
Growth Mindset Exercise
I’ve got a little growth mindset exercise for you. I want you to take your negative beliefs and write them down.
When you are done, add a positive statement to them. For example “Despite being messy, I will find a way to structure my workload and make this work”.
How does this make you feel now? Relieved and empowered? Isn’t it incredible what impact a few words can have? Now go through your list of all your limiting beliefs and turn them around!
Another thing that can help you shift your mindset towards a growth mindset is positive affirmations.
Again, get out your pen and paper and write down at least ten positive affirmations that resonate with you. I’ll give you some examples:
If you can, take a few minutes each morning before you start your day, to go through that list.
Over time, your brain will rewire and change it’s default settings.
Before, every time you faced a difficult situation, your brain might have told you “I’m not good enough.”. By doing this exercise of going through your positive affirmations, you can change that to “I am good enough.”.
This is no quick fix, as it will take time to rewrite your negative beliefs and turn them into positive ones. Still, well worth your time, I’d say.
Keep on Learning!
Remember, learning is what shapes your brain. So never stop learning!
Head over to Skillshare*, the online learning platform with thousands of classes on every topic you can possibly think of. Ok, maybe not EVERY topic, but with over 21,000 classes to choose from, I’m sure you’ll find something interesting! 😉
Usually, Skillshare costs $10 a month, but because you’re my valued reader you can get two months FREE when you use my link. 🙂 During these months, you’ll have access to all the classes on Skillshare, without having to pay for any of them. Knock yourself out and learn as much as you want!
Conclusion
To become a successful solopreneur you need to identify, acknowledge and change your limiting beliefs.
You can rewire your brain. By believing that this is possible – and science says it is! -, you change how you approach challenges and in turn will be able to achieve more than ever before.
What do you reckon? Are you ready to give it a go? What are your limiting beliefs? Let me know in the comments below.
Wanna know what’s next in the Roadmap to a Successful Online Business series? Sign up for my newsletter and I’ll let you know when the next post is out. 🙂
I’ve got a feeling you need fresh content to pin to your wonderful Pinterest boards… Oh well, feel free to share this beauty of a pin with everyone you deem worthy. 😉
Talk soon! Until then:
Happy experimenting!
Yours,
Related reading:
Prelude: DO YOU HAVE WHAT IT TAKES TO BE A SOLOPRENEUR?
I: WHAT IS A NICHE AND HOW TO FIND YOURS
III: HOW TO WRITE A SERIOUSLY HELPFUL BUSINESS PLAN
IV: BRAND YOURSELF – BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO BUILDING AN AMAZING BRAND
V: HOW TO CREATE A PROFESSIONAL WORDPRESS WEBSITE ALL BY YOURSELF
VI: THE FIRST 5 THINGS TO DO ON YOUR NEW WORDPRESS BLOG
VIII: WHAT’S THE BEST KEYWORD PLANNER IN 2018? – ADWORDS AND ALTERNATIVES
IX: HOW TO WRITE A BLOG POST YOUR AUDIENCE LOVES
X: ULTIMATE BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO CREATING AND OPTIMISING BLOG IMAGES
XI: THE NUMBER 1 MARKETING & PROMOTION STRATEGY TO BOOST YOUR BLOG
XII: MONETIZATION STRATEGY – 9 PROVEN WAYS TO MONETIZE YOUR BLOG NOW
XIII: 6 WORK-LIFE BALANCE TIPS FOR SOLOPRENEURS
STOP PROCRASTINATION – HOW TO BREAK THE HABIT AND BE MORE PRODUCTIVE
SMART MOM ENTREPRENEUR IDEAS: HOW TO EARN MONEY FROM HOME
Great post! I think growth mindset is key to personal and professional growth because we never know it all, right?
So true! 🙂 Glad you enjoyed the post!
Nice work
Thank you! 🙂