Hello Friends!

One topic that I find myself talking about more and more is mindset. How much your mindset influences everything: your performance, your energy, your impact.

Mindset is a huge thing for me. Something I have worked on a lot, and continue to actively think about. I have a quote from Henry Ford in my front hall that I refer to almost daily: “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right.” It’s mindset that determines outcomes.

How about you? Is mindset something that you actively consider??

The growth mindset pioneer and author of Mindset, Carol Dweck, put it best when she wrote:

“Developing a growth mindset is really a journey. It’s a lifelong journey of monitoring your trigger points and trying to approach things in a more growth mindset way of taking on challenges, sticking to them, and learning from them.”

GROWTH MINDSET: Trying New Things…

I am a huge proponent of trying new things. Especially as we become more experienced and viewed more as an expert, I think it’s critical to your mindset – and your empathy and compassion – to try new things and remember what it feels like to be brand new at something. 
 
Eleanor Beaton interviewed author and Silicon Valley guru Guy Kawasaki on her podcast Anchored Intelligence recently and the episode was full of remarkable mindset shifts. Kawasaki talks about learning how to surf in his 60s – and what that taught him. How he also took up hockey and was humbled by it. The episode was filled with funny and inspiring anecdotes.

SPONGE MINDSET: Applying Your Learnings…

There is gold in every episode of The Long and the Short of It podcast. It’s one of the few podcasts I listen to religiously, regardless of topic. I always glean something new out of it, or have a new perspective. Always worth the listen!!
 
One recent episode was entitled Sponge Mindset. It captured to concept of growth mindset combined with the application of learning into such a tangible and easy-to-grasp visual: the sponge.
 
As host Jen Waldman said, “I wanted to talk about…adopting a sponge mindset, where it’s like, “I just want to take in as much as I possibly can. I’m in learning mode. I’m in growing mode. I’m in expanding mode. I’m in dripping with information mode… my sponge got so full, and I just kept filling it filling it filling it, until finally I was like, “I’ve got to do something with the information that I have learned. Time to squeeze the sponge.”
 
I could relate so much to this because this really used to be my M.O. Learning and learning and learning, but just for the sake of it. Never without any intention of actually applying the learning, which is the key!!

MINDSET: Putting Yourself in Someone Else’s Shoes…

A lot of my coaching clients come to me to work on their Executive Presence. Sometimes that’s because they need to present on stage and in front of large audiences. And sometimes it’s that they want to have more executive presence in a room, a meeting, a situation. What is almost always at the root of their challenges with this is their mindset around what other people might be thinking of them.

This quote really hit me when I read it. As someone who also struggles with her Inner Critic, this was a real wake-up call regarding my mindset!

Isn’t that powerful?!?
 
One of the most inspiring people I’ve ever heard speak on the subject of presence and mindset on stage is Megan Washington. She is a highly successful Australian singer. And she managed for years to hide the fact that she stutters. By visualizing herself in different situations, by putting herself in other people’s shoes, and by tricking her mind and voice, she managed to avoid stuttering in public for years. In her TED Talk, Megan describes how she did this – and also how her mindset changed to allow her to live more authentically, and as her true stuttering self.

I find mindset shifts and new perspectives so inspiring and fascinating!! Hope you do, too!

WHAT I’M READING…

One of my high school classmates realized her dream of writing a novel before she hit 40. She self-published her first book, and it was such a success that she ended up getting a book deal with a publishing house and going on to write two more novels! 

She has now teamed up with another Canadian author to co-write a cozy mystery called Bury the Lead. I was looking forward to reading it, both because I love a good cozy mystery [a genre of mystery novels that are not too dark, have less gore and trauma than “regular” mysteries, and delve more into character development. Think The Thursday Murder Club.] and because I wanted to support Kate. 

I raced through the book and couldn’t put it down! The story is set in the fictitious cottage-country town of Port Ellis, where the star of the local theatre, Elliot Page, is murdered on opening night. The story was compelling, witty, and magnificently feminist. I loved it. I’m thrilled that Cat Conway will have future adventures in Port Ellis and look forward to reading the next installment of Kate Hilton and Elizabeth Renzetti’s work!!

Suddenly it’s May and we are just a few weeks away from the start of triathlon season and the local beer festival here in Erlangen. Lots going on and much to look forward to!
 
Wishing you a wonderful week ahead, and hopefully lots of sunshine!

Be emotional. Stay healthy.

Hugs,