Today, everywhere you look you’ll find “growth hacking tricks guaranteed to turn you into a millionaire overnight.” But what if the best growth hack is your own mind?
Dr. Craig Manning, Performance Psychology Consultant and author of The Fearless Mind, frequently works with extreme and high-performance athletes like the US Ski and Snowboarding teams. He also works with individuals in the corporate world, helping them to reach their full potential as well. During his monthly meeting with GOLDPoint Systems employees last week, Dr. Manning taught about the importance of our mindset in productivity.
It’s no secret that success in the business world and company growth is correlated with increased productivity. Just about every growth hack tip ever is centered around becoming more productive. And according to Dr. Manning, there is one step to becoming three times more productive:Changing your mind.
Change is a word that often has an intimidating connotation. When we hear about changes going on in our workplace we might feel uncomfortable, nervous or inadequate. Changes in our personal life might make us feel unstable or confused. Being told or encouraged to change your mind about something is often frustrating.
However, we each possess a unique ability to consciously make decisions. This includes how we choose to think about things. In fact, in many situations, our thoughts are the only thing we have any control over.
Dr. Manning explains that when evaluating a negative situation our minds can do one of two things:
The first option is the product of having a reactive mind. When we have a reactive mind, we will initially think of the bad in every scenario. This actually prolongs the problem-solving process. People with reactive minds spend a lot of time dwelling on the issue and what makes it an issue before they begin to figure out how to fix the issue.
The second option is the product of having a proactive mindset. Having a proactive mindset allows you to immediately begin problem-solving, making you three times more productive.
This sounds a lot like what people call the “power of positive thinking.” And the truth is, it’s very similar. However, Craig Manning isn’t suggesting that we walk around with rose tinted glasses on. Instead, he is saying that yes, we can admit that sometimes things don’t go our way. But we actually can learn from and take away good things from every experience.
Of course, any of us who have ever tried to change something about ourselves knows that it’s a lot easier to talk about than to implement. Dr. Manning says that the ultimate key to changing how we think and therefore becoming more productive is in the details.
We need to be more specific. As humans, we have a tendency to be vague and to think in broad terms. What we actually need to do is break down every situation and look at the specifics, then figure out how to change, solve, or simply benefit from each specific aspect of the situation.
It’s also helpful to realize that we actually can benefit from every situation we find ourselves in. As long as we are learning from every setback we experience, those setbacks ultimately have benefitted us.
So, the next time you face a business or personal setback, don’t spend any time fretting over the issue. Instead, go straight into specifically figuring out how you are going to overcome it and even benefit from it.