While we were reviewing about the winner’s mindset last week, we said that there are eight essential steps and techniques to achieve such a winner’s mindset. We discussed three of them: non-negotiable goal, focus and leverage of time. We continue from that point.
4. Being responsible
The winner’s business mindset requires t he leader t o take full responsibility for all his decisions and actions. There are no more excuses for a successful leader, just solutions to be found. Successful leaders take total responsibility for the business results and adjust their decisions and actions consequently. They structure their lives to stay in control of their results, including learning from mistakes as well as successes.
The opposite of winner’s mindset is the victim mindset. There are a few techniques to avoid the victim mindset. (1) Identify t he conflicts. What makes you step back from your goals or challenges? Is it your education, your beliefs, etc.? For example: Do you want your business to make so much a month in income but you’re concerned about the lack of your experience in the field. (2) When a negative thought surfaces, understand it and let it go. Align your life with what you really want to achieve, with what you really value and make success a non-negotiable goal. (3) A tip for a useful practice: Train yourself to stay in control of your dreams. They are nourishing you and helping you to be a better person.
5. Make money
The ultimate goal of a career is to make money to lead a comfortable life for your family. A leader with a winner’s mindset will be passionate about providing excellent services in return for the reward of income.
The key is to always think of making money as ‘being i n balance’. I’d like to share a great quote I learned during my university period: “Be a generous giver and an excellent receiver.” You deserve to be rewarded for your services that others are enjoying.
6. Strategist
A successful leader with t he winner’s mindset is taking actions that are in harmony with his plan. He is also open to opportunities that will enhance the value of his business. Every business decision is studied and evaluated with respect to the main goals. When problems arise, the winner’s business mindset prepares him to react positively, look for the lesson or opportunity in the problem and pivot into a favourable situation.
7. Celebrate
A successful leader has a business mindset and will recognize every success, small, medium or large and celebrate them like great achievements.
- Remember your mind, like a muscle, needs an ongoing programme of exercise and training, in order to stay in shape. If you want your business mindset to be that of a winner, you need to give it little successes to celebrate... so that it acquires the habit being in a joyful mood.
First, list three to five successes on a regular basis (I recommend you to do this once a day).
Examples of success: - I executed my list of tasks today. - I talked to three new persons about my business today. - I took a 15 minutes’ walk and got great marketing ideas. - I acted in spite of my mood today, etc.
Share your successes with your beloved or a good friend. Consider having a special dinner in honour of your successes of the day.
The idea is to experience and enjoy the feelings of being successful. Anchor this feeling in your mind and body, so it will help you hunger for more successes. Success brings success.
8. Positive attitude
A winner’s business mindset requires a positive attitude at all times. A successful person will always see the best side of everything.
By having a positive attitude on a daily basis, you more than likely will not experience anything really negative. Good thoughts bring good experiences. Adopt the habit. Here’s some recommendations: create positive thoughts and follow them with positive actions. Always focus on the abundance surrounding you and recognize your good fortune. Choose to be around positive people; take some distance from negative thinkers and you will notice quickly that you feel much more productive and creative. Read inspiring success stories to help you feel good.
Failing elegantly
There are two basic operating modes for organisations under highstakes execution pressure. One is the mentality of winning. The other, less obvious to the untrained eye, is the disease of failing elegantly. The second is a very sophisticated and veiled set of coping behaviours by individuals, the purpose of which is to avoid the oncoming train of embarrassment when the lid comes off the result that no one prefers to see.
The successful leaders intervene with urgency before this stage appears and act with strength of conviction to get everyone on the high road – which we call the winner’s mindset. This is the set of actions that offers the best chance of arresting the decline of faith, saving the game and pulling out a victory. In the absence of this intervention, the momentum of failing elegantly will rule the day. What is left will be a painful failure or shortfall and a big box of stories and justifications absolving everyone on the field any responsibility for this dismal outcome.
What the leaders should understand is t he harsh reality i n business organisations – there are no style points for second place.
Tolerance may be one those nice concepts in the society. But in business organisations, it is a dangerous word. Leaders are not expected to allow themselves to tolerate a little sloppiness, a little imprecision in their subordinates’ work. High-reliability organisations never allow sloppiness or imprecision because they know it equals death. Sloppiness is 100 percent preventable.
The ‘nice’ guy in the team wants to avoid the recognition of being a hardcore ‘uncommitted’ team member will cut a corner, present a report incomplete, politely look away when a customer issue erupts or pass some shoddy work as acceptable. There is always a veiled blame of everything outside his control.
Shoddy work and sloppiness always stem from being lazy or not having enough pride in the finished work. Have no mercy! Leaders must remind their followers that they get paid to do high-quality work. This is the minimum acceptability.
