Embracing Your Full Potential: Overcoming Limiting Beliefs and Thinking Big in Business
When we talk about leadership, we inevitably end up examining our limiting beliefs that walk alongside our leadership skills. No one is immune to this, not even me.
But I know that thinking bigger if one the critical keys to building more successful businesses.
How do we embrace the idea that we can build our businesses a brighter future? Where do we begin?
A common tendency I see is that so many women leaders I know downplay their ability to change. They are simply thinking too small. They downplay how big their business CAN be–or they aren’t even aware of it in the first place.
(And I’m not talking to those who legitimately want small businesses. Some founders don't want anything more than just a one or two person show - that's totally okay, too.)
This is not a manifesto on: let's make the biggest multi-country conglomerate that we can make.
That's not really the point.
The goal here today is to figure out how can we empower each other and empower ourselves to embrace our full potential.
Vision and Ambition: Driving Business Growth
Vision and ambition are tied together. They really are the drivers of business development and growth. Having clear goals and knowing where you actually want to go is essential to your business.
So many of us are overwhlemed and just struggling to doggy paddle along–the freestyle isn’t in the cards. It's difficult–if not impossible– to do big picture thinking when you’re in survival mode and I've talked about that before. Creating your business and life vision is something that you have to make space for.
We spend so much time on task-oriented things. It feels like when we are taking a break to step outside into the garden when we are walking around the block, we're not getting anything done. But what we actually are doing is creating the space to be creative.
We are so caught up in the day to day that we rarely take time to process and digest our business and it’s trajectory.
I encourage you to take the time to write a vision for your business and what it looks like in a very real way. When writing you vision is it essential to write as if it IS happening. This is what my life will like in one year. These are the changes that I've made. This is how I will get there.
Having that vision as your guiding map as you grow is how you ensure that you're going to the right space that you're not just spinning around in circles, that you're not just walking around the block when you really want to be driving down the road.
Breaking Free from Limiting Beliefs
One of the biggest reasons that we don't reach our full potential and stay small is that we all have limiting beliefs and limiting mindsets. So what are some common limiting beliefs that we all share as we grow our business?
Things like:
I'm not good enough.
I'm an imposter and someone's going to find out that I don't actually know what I'm talking about.
I'm so afraid to fail because of what others might think.
I'm too old or young to do this.
I have to always make others happy. Otherwise, bad things will happen.
I failed in the past so I will fail again.
I need to be perfect before I can achieve my goals.
I should always prioritize other others needs over my own.
I am not worthy of financial abundance or recognition.
I can't handle success. It's too overwhelming.
These are just a few limiting beliefs that so many of us face when we're looking at growing our businesses. More often than not, these are very well hidden — they're buried. We don't even know they're there, but they’re impacting our lives in really serious ways.
To push past these limiting beliefs and make new mantras for us to believe and follow is going to take a growth mindset.
It might be uncomfortable at first, but you need to take some time to uncover those limited beliefs and learn how to move past them. Luckily, there are so many exercises on the on the internet that you can use to uncover some limiting beliefs and mindsets that you have.
But most of all? Know know most of these are 100% self-imposed and not rooted in truth.
Unlocking Your Untapped Potential: Thinking Outside the Box
We all have untapped potential. It may be tamped down and restrained because of circumstances — you're so busy during the day you don't even have time to do the one thing that you need to be doing that you're actually good at. Or maybe you are in charge of something that would be better suited for someone else.
Your agency is being limited by your circumstances.
So what can we do to untap and unlock your untapped potential?
Do the things that only you are really good at and make time for it. Delegate everything else. Are you great at selling your services or products? Begin actively prospecting. Are you good at storytelling? Dedicate time to develop your content.
Step outside of what is familiar and try something new. This does not mean start a new side project This means: how do you get your business to the next level? Do you need to add streamline your services or add in something that your clients want? Does your team need additional training? Are your people in the right job? More on this below.
Make a plan and stick to it. Make adjustments along the way, of course, but use your vision to guide the way forward.
Breaking Free from Comfort Zones: Embracing New Possibilities
One of the biggest things we can do is break free from our comfort zone.
We all get into the flow. It's working, but it's not growing. This is when you need to begin to ask yourself: what are some ways that we can shake things up and get us past this plateau? A plateau is a decline. It is the thing that precedes, the decline.
Businesses and people are not meant to plateau.
We want to always grow and see growth in the right direction.
Refer back to that vision you created. Keeping that in your back pocket is really really helpful to make sure you aren’t going off course.
For example, knowing that you have to bring in new business every month is not the same as knowing you need $20,000 in sales. It's a very different goal. And when you have a concrete goal, you act upon it differently, right? Try to have as much specificity to your goals and vision as possible to ensure that they actually happen and they get done.
Personally, I thrive heavily on seeking and cultivating relationships with mentors, supportive networks and people. For a long time I didn't prioritize and focus on connecting with other women in business because I was too busy running the day to day.
My networks of mentors and other women was the antidote to thinking and staying small.
Once I started prioritizing, building and cultivating a supportive network of women, I was amazed at how much my business has changed and grown because of it. It has encouraged me to think bigger, to look at what they're doing to get ideas that I wouldn't have had otherwise and to share in the struggles and successes of being a business owner.
Find the new possibilities you and your business need for it to succeed.
A Final Note
I encourage you to celebrate your victories big and small.
I encourage you to focus on the journey and the destination.
It's difficult to balance it all but it's critical in finding happiness in your business. You can have a business that is decently successful, but you aren't personally fulfilled by it. Ask yourself: what is it going to take for you to be financially and personally fulfilled by your business?
It might involve you thinking bigger and going bigger with the vision that you have.
I'm rooting for you every step of the way.
