Mastering Your Mental Facet: Harnessing the Magic of Your Thoughts for Profitable Leadership
In today’s episode we are diving into a fascinating topic: the mental facet. In our exploration of holistic leadership, we have previously covered the physical and energetic facets. Now, it's time to unlock the power of our minds and understand how our thoughts and intelligence play a crucial role in our ability to lead and navigate the complexities of life.
As leaders, how we see ourselves is crucial in shaping our leadership style and approach. I introduce two powerful assessments to help you gain clarity and understanding: the enneagram and the Fascination assessment. The Enneagram allows us to comprehend our nature and motivations better, while Fascination reveals how the world perceives us and our brand. By aligning these perceptions, we can truly become authentic and effective leaders.
One important aspect of the mental facet is the concept of mindset - specifically the difference between fixed and growth mindsets. A fixed mindset limits us, making us believe that we are either naturally good or bad at something, leading to a fear of trying new things and taking risks. On the other hand, a growth mindset enables us to view mistakes and failures as opportunities for growth and learning. With a growth mindset, we embrace challenges and continuously strive to improve. However, our mindset doesn't just impact us; it also affects our team and, ultimately, our revenue. When leaders have a fixed mindset, their team may hesitate to bring ideas, solutions, and observations to the table. By adopting a growth mindset, we create an environment that encourages innovation, collaboration, and continuous growth, which leads to increased revenue and success.
So grab a notepad and get ready to explore the power of your mind in this episode of Pleasurable Profits. Let's unlock the mental facet and unleash our full leadership potential.
00:01:35 Our mental power: mindset and self-perception.
00:03:34 Enneagram and Fascinate: Knowing and Perceiving
00:08:11 Growth mindset: embrace challenges, learn, grow.
00:10:31 Advocate for customers, and create new products.
00:15:31 "Nurture your mind; transform your world.”
Find me on Instagram or LinkedIn or email me at hello@lesliedlyons.com.
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Transcript “Mastering Your Mental Facet: Harnessing the Magic of Your Thoughts for Profitable Leadership”
Leslie:
Hey, boss. I am Leslie Lyons, your embodied leadership and sales coach, and this is Pleasurable Profits. This podcast is ideal for owners and leaders of tattoo shops, cannabis businesses, movement studios, sex toy shops, and other industries too often left out of the leadership conversation. If you're looking for no BS approach to defining your strengths and values, designing a business that supports you, and creating a soul driven and, of course, a pleasurable plan for profitability, then let's get started. Hey, party people. It's Leslie. I'm doing well. How y'all doing? Thank you so much for asking.
Leslie:
I said that backwards this week, didn't I? I normally say, how y'all doing? And then you ask me virtually how I'm doing. I mixed it up. That just goes to show you where my mind is today. Which brings us to what we're talking about, my dear. So we are talking about the five facets of our being and how that leads to holistic leadership, right? And so the previous two weeks, we talked about first, we talked about our physical facet. Then last week, we talked about our energetic facet. So this week, I want to talk about our mental facet. So what is the mental facet of your being? Well, beloved, it's the part of our being where the magic of our thoughts and our intelligence resides.
Leslie:
It's the realm of our thinking abilities, our capacity to solve life's puzzles, and how we engage our beautiful minds to make sense of our crazy world. In simpler terms, think of it as, like, the extraordinary brain power we all possess. It's our gift for making choices, setting intentions, and understanding the tapestry of our experiences. Okay, so when we speak of the mental facet, we're diving into the wondrous realm of our thoughts, our learning, and how we harness our minds to gracefully navigate this journey of life, my dear. So where do we want to start? Where do I want to start with this? Let's talk about mindset. Okay. Let's talk a little bit about mindset and self perception. I think that's a good place to start.
Leslie:
So how we see ourselves as leaders is probably one of the most important things that you need to learn to develop. Having a realistic purview, if you will, of your strengths and your weaknesses, it will significantly impact how you lead. And so that's why, when people initially start working with me, I give you two assessments. The first is the enneagram, and the second is an assessment developed by Sally Hallshead called Fascination. The enneagram is a mirror to who you are. So this goes right in alignment with self perception. Who you are is a combination of nature and nurture. Okay? And you walk away with that assessment with a clear view of, this is who I am.
Leslie:
But more importantly, this is why I do what I do. A lot of times, we might know ourselves, but we don't know the motivation behind the things, why we say what we say, why we show up the way we show up, why shit triggers us, why do I respond in certain ways to certain things? The enneagram can help unpack that for you. And then conversely, fascinate is about how the world perceives you. So if the enneagram is how you perceive yourself, fascinate is how does your team look at you, even? How does your customers perceive your brand? Because sometimes it's important to know who we are. But we also need to know how do people receive us? Because if we don't have a good handle on that, you might be showing up authentically as who you are, but people might not be perceiving. It the way that you think you are giving information. So fascinate helps you to discern that from a branding perspective. So when I think about a simpler way to talk about our mental facet, I also say here's a simple question just to ask yourself do I have a fixed mindset or do I have a growth mindset? In a fixed mindset, mistakes or failures can be seen as bad things and we make it mean that we're not good enough, quite frankly.
Leslie:
So people with a fixed mindset may avoid trying new things or taking risk because they want to stick to what they already know they're good at. Man, this reminds me of a story when I was taking private lessons with a postcard named David and there was a move. It was like a little roundhouse kick move. It's super sexy, super fluidy, but the way that your girl's hip flexors are set up. I hated doing that move because I knew I couldn't get the range required to make that move look elegant. And so every time I would be in a private lesson, david would throw in one of these little roundhouse kick wavy things and I would fuss till there was no return. I hated it. And some days I would downright refuse to do it.
Leslie:
And so I was having one of those days where I was downright refusing to do this little brownhouse kicky thing, right? And David, being an intuitive trainer, said to me, I was like, I hate this move. I just don't like this move. He was like, do you not like this move because aesthetically you don't like how it looks? Is there something about it that what about it don't you like? He was like, because I believe you don't like this move because you ain't good at it. Cherry bombs, flashes of light from the sky literally came out because that's what it's like when you have a fixed mindset, you will only attempt to do things even if they're things that you actually aspire to. Like, if you know me and my dance style, I love a flowy fluid movement. Like, I love that. And so I would have loved to be able to incorporate that move into my movement repertoire. But because I had a fixed mindset around that I didn't even want to try it.
Leslie:
And how do we get better at something, even so, even something you desire, but if you don't think you're going to get it, you won't try it. We have to be willing to try things. Okay, so what is the opposite of a fixed mindset? It's a growth mindset. And so growth mindset is when you believe that your abilities and your intelligence can improve with effort and practice. Just like that round kick, wavy thing. From that point forward, it made me look at that round kick, leg wavy thing differently. I wanted to put effort into it and I embraced practicing it because I wanted to grow. That's the power of a good coach.
Leslie:
Bringing something, asking a question that takes you into a deeper level of awareness. And so, instead of thinking that you're either naturally good or bad at something, I want to invite you to understand that you can get better over time. All right? So people with a growth mindset, leaders with a growth mindset like to challenge themselves. And they don't get discouraged by mistakes or failures. We see mistakes and failures as opportunities to learn and to become even better. This way of thinking, y'all, helps you become more resilient and it makes you open to taking on new challenges. When you have a growth mindset, you believe that your abilities can develop just like muscles that get stronger when you exercise. So you're more likely to keep trying, you're more likely to keep learning, and ultimately, you're more likely to keep growing throughout your life.
Leslie:
And whichever mindset you choose to stay in, whether that's a fixed mindset or if you choose to adopt a growth mindset, whichever one you currently adopted, you need to realize that it not only impacts you. Your mindset not only impacts you, but it also impacts your team. And if it impacts your team, it ultimately impacts your revenue. Right? So, in studios and shops where the leader has a fixed mindset, you'll often find that their team rarely brings ideas to them. They don't bring up new solutions, they don't give suggestions, and they oftentimes won't even share things that they are observing. Like I always tell my team, you're closer to the customer than I am. At this stage in my business, I operate at a CEO level. It is very rare that I am front facing with a client inside of my space.
Leslie:
So you are the eyes and ears for me. You are the advocate for the customer. So when we hire a front desk person, I always tell them that I'm, like you, are the advocate for the customers. So that means you bring back what you hear customers saying to me. Does that make sense? And if you have a fixed mindset as a leader, and that's seeped into your culture, which undoubtedly it will, they won't advocate for customers. You won't know what's going on with your people. And if you don't know what's going on with your customers, how are you going to create new products? How are you going to improve products? Newsflash, you're not, right? So when you're in those environments, you've got to change your mindset so that your people feel free to bring ideas and suggestions and critiques to you. Because if they're not, they won't waste their time because ain't nobody going to bring ideas to you or try to bring you feedback if they feel like you're not going to change your mind or be open to change anyway.
Leslie:
People got better stuff to do with their time, y'all, than to be coming up against your fixed mindset. All right? So I know you're probably asking yourself now, like, Leslie, all right, you sold me on the fact that I need to have a growth mindset, but how do I do it? Oh, dear one, you asked such great questions. I'm happy to give you that answer. The answer is cognitive fitness, y'all. Cognitive fitness is, I need you to take your mental fitness. So cognitive, meaning mental fitness, as seriously as some of y'all take your physical fitness. Y'all got mantras on y'all mirrors like, Never miss a Monday. Well, I need you to never miss a Monday when it gives you an opportunity to fucking think, to grow, right? Like, I need you not to miss a Monday when it comes to your cognitive fitness.
Leslie:
So, dear one, cognitive fitness is akin to tending to the garden of your mind. Just as we nurture our bodies, like I said with exercise, cognitive fitness involves activities that nurture and strengthen our mental prowess. It's truly all about keeping our minds agile and vibrant. When you engage in cognitive fitness, it's really like you're giving your mind a loving workout. Yeah, that's a good way to say it. And so how do I work out my mind in a loving, self, compassionate way? It could be something as simple as, like, solving puzzles, reading different types of books, embracing new learning experiences. One of the things that I do to get my cognitive fitness in, and it's in alignment with something that brings me pleasure, which is travel, is I'm learning Spanish, and I'm not taking classes or anything like that. I'm using an app called Duingo.
Leslie:
But I know that by trying to learn a new language, it fires my brain in different ways to have to figure things out. And when your brain gets used to figuring things out and learning something new, such as a new language, it will also show up in your business. It'll help you figure out solutions to crazy problems that are in your business. It'll help you come up with creative marketing ideas. Your brain is a muscle that is adapting. And so if I can adapt it to learn a new language, I can adapt it to try a new strategy to bring in new customers. Does that make sense? So these practices keep your mental faculty sharp, helping you think with clarity. Overall, it helps you make wise choices, and it even helps you remember stuff, okay? And so I always say it's like cultivating that garden again with your mind.
Leslie:
It just ensures that you remain robust and ready to flourish in the face of not only your business challenges, but also your life challenges, my dear. Okay, so as we come to the end of this episode, I really want you to remember that your mind is a precious garden. I've said garden like 50,000 times, right? And that's probably because I'm building a new brand, soul Flow Chicago. And that's the vision that I really feel like the spirit gave to me about the branding around this. It's floral. It's a garden. And so I'm probably going to be winning that garden. Word out, y'all.
Leslie:
But I just want you to remember, your mind is a precious garden, and tending to its growth and vitality is truly a sacred duty. Just as we nurture our bodies and our spirit, our mental fitness deserves our utmost care and attention. So, my dear ones, I encourage you to embrace the practices we've explored today. I want you to cultivate a resilient and thriving mind. Know that your ability to sharpen your cognitive fitness is within your grasp, and it holds the power to transform not only how you navigate your business world, but also the world in which we live as we part ways today, may you continue on your journey of self discovering growth, always tending to the garden of your mind with love and intention. And remember, you have the strength and the wisdom to bloom beautifully in all seasons of your business life. So, until we meet again, take care of yourselves. Grace and peace.