It's all in the mind

The possibilities for success are limitless - once you transform your mindset to accept ideas you once thought impossible

Think beyond the obvious and you will see that, for many of us, success is a mindset issue. What is mindset? A mindset - and we all have one - is like a fixed set of ideas that we have about a certain subject which determines how we will react to certain situations.
For example, "I'm no good at accounting so there's no point trying to learn the business accounts". With this ?attitude and state of mind, even if you try, how successful do you think you can be? With that attitude, we would have talked ourselves out of success before we'd even tried. Yet, many people successfully learn new business skills.
Where do mindsets come from? As children, we learn about the world from what we hear and see going on around us, and what people tell us about ourselves. Influences come from home, school, media, community and friends. In other words, from all the stimuli around a growing child.
As we mature, we sift through all the information we've taken on board, and come up with our own opinions about ourselves - but these basic mindsets, learnt as children, are entrenched and can survive well into adulthood unless we do something about them. If you were told by your mathematics teacher at school that you were no good at numbers, then you'll understand where that mindset about accounting in general comes from.
How does a mindset interfere with business success? How can we change a mindset?
The good news is that our mindset is not a blueprint for our life - it can be changed. All successful people acknowledge the role that having the right mindset plays in their success. Great sports people don't just have physical ability and training; they have the mindset to win. Renowned musicians don't just possess talent and the perfect pitch; they have the mindset to share their gift with the world.
You have to be aware of what your mindset is when ?it comes to your beliefs about business and financial success. Some of your beliefs can be limiting you and you ?need to know what your limiting beliefs are, because, until you do, you can't find ways to change them.
Here are some indispensable strategies you can employ to develop a healthy mindset:

• Acknowledge that change is possible. You learnt those 'beliefs' through the experiences you've had in the past. If you learnt them once, it means you can learn new ones to replace the old and support you in your current goals. You can't unlearn something, but the brain can build new neural pathways to override the old. When reinforced by new ?behaviours, this is like a river changing its course; the old course of the river becomes silted and eventually dries up, whilst the new watercourse flows fast and free along its newly carved river bed.
• Take control of the situation. Don't allow yourself to believe that the power lies with someone else (like your customers), because they decide whether to buy what you are offering or not. Turn it around and see yourself in control because it is within your power to tweak your solution until it is the right solution for their problem.
• Be authentic in what you are doing. Always be yourself! In your job or business, keep doing those things that make the business uniquely your own. When you are being yourself, your energy and enthusiasm will be felt by everyone around you, as people can see that you are true to yourself. That is what makes people relate to you and want to do business with you.
• Be confident about what you have to offer. The imp-licit understanding is that it is up to you to have that confidence to portray your value. Is your time worth Dh300 an hour or Dh1,500? It comes back to your judgment. This is your statement to the world about what you are worth.

When you transform your fixed, limited belief system, you will activate your life with endless opportunities for professional and personal success.
(Oksana Tashakova, founder of Wealth Dynamics Unlimited, is a personal branding expert and entrepreneurial educator.)

• Life Coach