What is a mindset coach?
Sam is a mindset coach for entrepreneurs. If you’re anything like us, you’re probably wondering what a mindset coach does. “When I first decided to be a mindset coach, I honestly had no idea what such an individual does. When I started as an entrepreneur, I followed my own rhythm. I didn’t even realize what I was doing was what mindset coaching is all about. I help people struggling with mental blocks, negative beliefs, and destructive thought patterns. This helps my clients avoid habits that prevent them from succeeding in whatever field they’re looking to go into. Basically, I help people avoid the pitfalls of burnout.” On the surface, mindset coaching sounds a little “woo woo.” However, we can all admit that mental blocks and negative self-talk are common hurdles for any person. From that perspective, mindset plays a pivotal role in our personal growth. “Mindset plays a massive role, in my opinion, in everything we do. It plays such a key role in our day-to-day decisions and choices. Mindset isn’t just about careers or entrepreneurship. It influences our personal lives as well. “Most mindset issues I see stem from a lack of confidence. When anyone starts something brand new, it’s natural to lack confidence because you’re not yet competent at that new thing.
“Underneath that fear of incompetence is a lack of clarity on how you define success. There’s a great quote by Tony Robins that I live by. The concept is that when you’ve done something from the lens of maintaining confidence, you’re severely limiting how much you can achieve.
“We hold ourselves back when we dwell on self-doubt. It can manifest as procrastination or ‘imposter syndrome.’ I personally experienced this when I worked for someone else. It was like walking on eggshells. I constantly experienced this suspicion that I’d be fired or I wasn’t doing as good a job as someone else.”
We’ve eluded to the pervasiveness of self-doubt in previous articles. It’s something all of us feel at one point or another. Some even turn down positions if they think they lack experience in that kind of work. As Chloe Thurlow said:
“You can’t fail if you don’t try. If you do try, you may fail anyway. But better to have failed than to have never tried at all.”Common indicators a burnout is on the horizon
Sam is passionate about burnout because he’s personally struggled with it. He believes that a lack of boundaries is at the center of burnout. “I see a lot of entrepreneurs burn out because they haven’t set realistic expectations about when their day starts, what they can realistically achieve throughout the day, and when their day ends. There aren’t enough boundaries in place to avoid burnout. Just look at the data on how many people suffer burnout.” According to a Deloitte workplace survey, over 77% of respondents have experienced burnout. “Entrepreneurs are even more susceptible because we’re more passionate about what we do. We tend to work alone, and we work all the time. When you work long hours without having expectations or boundaries set to put a structure around your workday, you’re setting yourself up for burnout. In turn, your stress and anxiety will translate into health issues and/or impact personal relationships. “People who experience burnout often have a fixed mindset.” We’ll pause here because we’d never heard the term. People with a fixed mindset believe that certain traits, like intelligence or talent, are “fixed” traits. It doesn’t consider the potential for growth through practice or necessarily see that someone good at a task is proficient because they worked at it. In other words, the opposite of a fixed mindset is the acknowledgment that development can change the quality and quantity of our output. “A fixed mindset leads people to believe they need to work a lot harder to meet rigid goals. They want to finish tasks quickly and are disappointed when they aren’t done at the end of the workday. They’re essentially trying to burn themselves out without being conscientious about it.
“It’s healthier to acknowledge that a workday has ended and the task will still be waiting for them to complete it tomorrow.”
We’ve all heard that it’s healthy to set boundaries, but rarely does someone take the time to explain what healthy boundaries look like in our context.
“Establishing boundaries is more straightforward most people think. The word ‘boundary’ may seem a bit confrontational. Setting boundaries is all about communication or setting clear expectations of what you do and do not want to experience in the workplace.
“Communicate as clearly as possible. The goal is to eliminate the potential for misinterpretation. If you send an ambiguous email, your message will be interpreted differently than if you had that conversation face-to-face.
“When I communicate a boundary, I always pause and ask, ‘Does that make sense?’ If I see someone is confused or if they say they don’t understand, I try to think of a different way to explain my boundary. Taking that extra bit of time makes a huge difference. I guarantee people will respect you a lot more because they’re going to feel like you are about what they think. They will feel heard—listened to.”
It should be noted that Sam recommends having “the boundaries conversation” with others when you’re not in a bad mood or dealing with something oppressively negative. In other words, establish your boundaries before you experience adverse effects (if possible). That said, the most important person to have an honest dialogue about boundaries with is yourself.
“Setting internal boundaries can look like searching for healthier ways to conduct a workday. It might be as simple as time blocking for specific tasks and recognizing that humans need regular breaks to be productive. Don’t force yourself to do something for 4 hours straight. It’s all about understanding what healthy time management looks like for you.
“Sometimes a lack of control around time management is the issue. For eample, do you have time to spend with your loved ones, or are you always on call? If it’s the latter, it’s very easy to veer into burnout territory.”Self-care 101
Many people get annoyed when the word “self-care” comes up in any conversation. It was overused. “Self-care” is associated with going to a spa or taking a long bubble bath (who has time for that?). However, self-care is essential to stay balanced, but it means different things for different people. There is no “one size fits all” for finding ways to find balance. “You can make self-care as simple or as complicated as you want. A couple of years back, I was struggling with debilitating anxiety. My therapist used to tell me, ‘We need to get you more self-care.’ I thought, ‘What does that even mean? I’m here, aren’t I?’
“Self-care is so much simpler than most of us think it is, and it’s specific to each person. I could tell everyone to spend ten minutes reading a book. That isn’t self-care for people who hate books. It will feel more like punishment! People who hate to meditate, they may get more value out of reading, mindfully preparing a meal, or watching a movie. It could be as simple as treating yourself to a five-minute break and taking a walk outside to get some sunshine.
“What you do for self-care should map to the healthy things that make you happy. Personally, I love to take a walk, walk my dog, or simply step away and lie down for five minutes. I need five minutes to rest my body—rest my mind—and then come back and attack what needs to be done.
“Use your time wisely, but don’t spend all your time working. Making money is fine, but don’t you want to enjoy it? We need to take care of ourselves because no one else is going to do that for us.”Listen to the full Revenue Marketing Report episode at the top of the article or anywhere you podcast for more tips and tricks for managing your day and setting boundaries.
