Growth Mindset For A Girl Boss
Hey Girl Boss Collection community! I’m delighted to be sharing my thoughts with you today on growth mindset. I’m a wellness blogger that helps people build successful healthy habits, so mindset is something I focus on quite a bit. Grab your favorite cup of coffee or tea, pen and paper to take notes, a cozy spot on the couch, and let’s get started!
Growth Plan
This seems obvious to most people, but very few actually follow through on a yearly, monthly, and weekly basis. I use a blank notebook and start very broad with a few things I’d like to accomplish in one year and work backwards from there to make the monthly and weekly breakdown. An example of mine this past year were grow my habit tracker brand into more customers and cover designs, grow and foster relationships with my online community, and grow my Youtube subscriber list.
I try to tie them to actual quantitative data to measure some sort of progress. I break them down into monthly goals, such as running sales for the habit trackers, increasing my engagement on social media, and creating amazing videos that will educate and inspire people on Youtube. Then, I go even further as to write out the steps it’ll take to get there, such as time spent commenting on Instagram and video shoots, and schedule them into my calendar each week. This does take effort every Sunday, but if I skip it I’ll cheat myself out of progress I could be making. I actually made a video on this topic on my Youtube Channel that you can find by clicking here.
Take accountability
As an entrepreneur, especially just starting out, we do everything on our own. And to this day, for what I’ve accomplished, I’ve always figured out a way around even the hardest road blocks. What often steers us off course is assuming we aren’t qualified to do something and not taking the necessary steps to learn. Some road blocks take me longer than others to figure out, but with the help of friends, YouTube tutorials, and any other source of free information I can find, I take responsibility to figure things out myself. By saying a problem is too big to solve or will take too long is an excuse, and I have a “No excuses” standard for my life in ALL facets. The only way out is through, and you can spend the same amount of time dwelling on a problem as you can finding the solution through trial and error.
There are always going to be problems, by the way. That’s the sign of a healthy business. Trying to remove every problem isn’t an efficient task worth pursuing because as you reach new levels, you encounter new difficult things to handle. An action plan to help with your mindset around problem-solving is to lean on a few good people who’ve been where you’ve been and want to go. I have a few close friends who are entrepreneurs that are a few steps ahead of me, and I’m incredibly thankful for them. Try joining a networking group or meeting people online who you can develop a relationship with and lean on for support. My circle is friends whom I already have relationships built with so I feel comfortable asking questions like this. My advice is to build real friendships or mentorships with people before you ever ask them for advice or help!
Healthy Habits
My entire brand is focused on building healthy habits, so I’d be doing you a disservice not including this portion. Taking good care of yourself in a way that benefits your mind, body, and soul is crucial to growing into a stronger version of yourself and achieving your goals. I take 5 minutes to plan my healthy habits every day in the One Ray habit tracker to set myself up for success. I determine my daily intention, create a small gratitude list, plan nutritious meals that are plant based and wholesome (aka mostly from the ground), move my body, and drink a ton of water. Not only does my body feel stronger prioritizing these things, but I wake up clear headed. My brain functions faster and more efficiently. I have the energy to get through a long day of high-energy tasks.
Try planning your habits for 30 days. Start simple with a 10-minute walk and adding carrots and hummus to your lunch. I’m a big believer in starting small to stay consistent as if you set the bar too high, you’re more likely to give up quicker (sound familiar “diet starts Monday” people?). My favorite book on this topic is called Atomic Habits by James Clear (highly recommend!).
Patience is key
One of the things I’ve been working on is reminding myself that it will take longer than I want or expect for what I’m building to grow. One of the things a stronger version of myself has mastered is the art of working my butt off for virtually no instant reward for a very long time. Creating free, valuable content for my audience, trial and error with product launches, listening to what the audience wants from me, and keeping tabs on what’s working and what’s not is what I focus on day to day. It takes time, more time than you think. I like to read or watch other successful people’s stories to be reminded how long it took them to build their brand from the ground up. If I were in this for the wrong reasons- such as attention and money- I would have given up by now. The mission is so much stronger that I’ve come to expect it will take a long time. I’d rather my brand be built on a solid foundation of learning how to do things the right way (finances, customer service, website, ads, etc.) vs too much demand too quick that I don’t know what to do with.
Something I’ve started doing is finding small ways to remind myself daily that what I’m doing to build my brand is going to work. I used to doubt myself so much it would take up time and mental energy that I could be putting toward making progress in my business. So, every morning, I start my day with a Post-it on my laptop that says “Your hard work will pay off, even if you can’t see the destination yet. Keep going, it’ll be worth it.” I know it sounds cliché, but that’s what helps me believe that it’s going to work. I’m a firm believer in being your own biggest cheerleader when it comes to goal setting and achieving. Also, if you don’t intuitively, with everything in your being, believe what you’re doing is going to work, it probably won’t. I’ve been on career paths I knew deep down were truly not meant for me, so this is a for-sure kind of feeling. It doesn’t mean it’s easy or you don’t have days where you want to give (because I definitely have those), but it means you’re willing to do the incredibly hard work it takes to achieve the milestones of your dreams.
Keep working, dreaming, and believing you will get there! Having confidence in yourself isn’t a “fake it till you make it” mindset, it’s a fall down seven times, stand up eight. Keep going, even after you fail or something didn’t go as well as planned. Keep going even if you don’t see instant results. Keep putting yourself back in the ring because it’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.
xoxo Maria Fitnezz
