Cathy's blog

Who do you think you are?

What do you believe about yourself?

What do you know to be true?

Most of us have a static self-image. "This is who I am." Full stop.

I'm an expert, but I'm not a leader.

I'm good with people, but I'm not someone who could sell anything.

I'm a hard worker, but not ambitious.

I used to believe that I was shy & awkward. I tried to make myself as invisible as possible. 

But , as a kid, I'd been too loud, too present, too visible. 

So I learned to hide myself. 

Invisibility became my story, and through repetition, it became my identity.

We all have parts of ourselves that we consider to be "us", that are not.

They're learned behavior.

So they're a choice, not a given.

When we have a fixed mindset (we believe that we are who we are, and nothing is going to change that), we'll probably stay stuck in that assumed identity.

But when we adopt a growth mindset, we give ourselves permission to develop into the best version of ourselves. 

You may believe you have a growth mindset already.

And you do, we all have a growth mindset in some areas of our lives.

Maybe you believe that studying hard will make you smarter. Or practicing speaking in public will make you a better speaker.

But - like it or not - we all have a fixed mindset, in other areas, as well.

Maybe you believe that real great musicians are born with a talent. Or that being a good salesperson or a great leader is not for everyone. 

How do you adopt a growth mindset?

Experiment with things that you'd like to do or be, but that don't come naturally to you.

Challenge your current thinking with the following questions:

• What can I learn from this?

• What if this would "be me", how would I approach this differently?

• How could I make this work for me?

• How can I use this challenge to grow?

These questions will help you do 3 things:

1. Discover where you are holding yourself back, because of a static self-image.

2. Help you get unstuck in areas that you find particularly challenging (even if your self-image is correct).

3. Grow your maturity.

You got this!