Leader's Compass 38 - Mindset and Daily Flow

In her book Mindset Dr. Carol Dweck shares her research about what she calls a "Fixed Mindset" and a "Growth Mindset." Dr. Dweck shows through the book how those who adopt a fixed mindset struggle more in life. When depressed the fixed mindset group feel worse than the growth mindset group. The growth mindset group become more focused, more determined to use the state of depression for it's purpose - to slow life down, evaluate and re-create our future.

Those that adopt a growth mindset have a paradigm of change and believe that talent, skill, ability are, at the very core changeable. Those that adopt a fixed mindset, however feel like they can not change who they are, what talent or ability they have and are only happy when they are validated and things come easy.

In the quintessential book on personal development Stephen R. Covey taught that the problems we face are, at the very core problems with paradigms, beliefs or frames of reference. Working on our mindset is as the saying goes hacking at the root of evil, rather than the branches.

Recently in our book club we have been studying and discussing the book Flow by Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (chick-sent-me-hi). Dubbed "The Father of Flow" Dr. Csikszentmihalyi discusses and lays out the conditions for getting into the flow or optimal state. Unfortunately for most they feel that this state is elusive and/or it only happens by chance. In the book Dr Csikszentmihalyi talks about how there are three areas of life where we spend our time and that in each of the three areas we can develop patterns and habits to get into the flow state.

• Work. We spend much of our day in work. Students work is their studies, professionals work is their job. Finding flow in the work time is important because we spent so much of life here. 
• Maintenance. Maintenance time is the time spent in basic maintenance activity - brushing your teeth, preparing food, etc.
• Leisure. Leisure time is the time where we read, exercise, watch TV etc. Anything that we choose to do when not working or maintaining our life. 

Creating flow in each area can lead to a fulfilling and very liberating life. Far too many of us however "work for the weekend" because we have not created flow opportunities in work. Leisure, on the other hand escapes some because they don't know how to have an engrossing and flow experience and find themselves diving completely into the day to day of work. These people tend to be very flat, one dimensional individuals who have much more of a fixed mindset.

Growth mindset individuals work to create flow in each area of life. They know the power of creating an optimal experience and are conscious and intentional about how they plan and execute their life. They are the true architects and engineers of their lives.

So how do they do it? How do the growth mindset individuals create flow in all three areas of life. Let's explore a few ideas.

• Work Flow. Growth mindset individuals carefully assess the tasks, responsibilities and projects in their work that get them into a flow state and work to do them more often. they find that the challenge of the flow state is rewarding and gives them growth. The growth mindset individual also challenges the mundane by making a game of it. Need to make 50 sales calls? The growth mindset seeks to make a fun game out of it and rewards herself when the goal has been accomplished. 
• Maintenance Flow. Growth mindset looks at the maintenance times of life as great opportunities to create a life of meaning in even the smallest things. One of the requirements of flow is the need for goals and challenge. "How do I challenge myself in the basic, mundane and routine things in life?" you may ask. Set goals. When getting dressed in the morning a growth mindset lays the clothes out and carefully, and with great elegance and dexterity dresses himself. He understands that careful attention in this small area can provide great feedback that will help his overall quality of life. 
• Leisure Flow. Certain activities are inherently more flow friendly. Rock climbers, artists, readers tend to get into a flow state more often that those that watch TV. This is because flow requires goals, attention and a certain amount of focus and challenge. Growth mindset individuals are very careful and selective about the activities they chose to participate in when not at work. 

The growth mindset and flow go hand in hand in the long run of life. That's not to say a fixed mindset individual can not enter in a state of flow. The fixed mindset will,  however have a more difficult time in the long run getting into consistent flow states.

Here's to developing a growth mindset and living in a more consistent flow state! Lead on!

Leader's Compass 37 - Never Give Up

Failure is an interesting concept. It's not the same as losing. Losing happens all the time. In a football game the clock runs out and there is a winning team and a losing team. Failure however has an element to it that is in our control. We don't fail when we lose. We don't fail when we stumble. We don't fail when we fall, mess up, make a mistake or even make a bad decision. We fail when we give up.

Fear is one of our most basic emotions. We all feel fear for one reason or another. Fear is what can paralyze us from action if we let it. Fear has many disguises, many false faces. Often it is fear that leads us to fail because we determine that our loses will continue to be loses and we stop trying.

A Death by a Thousand Cuts
The coward fear, rarely comes at us all at once and in bold ways. Like all cowards fear tries to get us by creating "death by a thousand cuts."

"You can't do that." "That's silly." "It's not that important anyway." "I don't need to be that bold, that strong, I can get by with just doing what I've been doing."  

Fear tries to get us to not take action when the better part of us knows that actions both big and small can eventually lead to our success. 

The Clock

Fear, the coward tries to get us to quit when we fall, make a mistake, bad decision or have an action, project or venture that falls flat. Fortunately, however life is not like a football game...it's an entire season of games and we can restart any time we need. The clock doesn't run out as often as we think it does. When the clock does run out we are empowered to begin another game. We have the ability to look at a loss and start again. Until we are six feet under we have the opportunity to get moving and try again. The season is over when we sing our last breath and our heart plays it's last beat. 

Awareness

Failure happens in life far too often because we lack awareness in one or both areas:

• Self Awareness
• Social Awareness

Lack of self awareness can cause us to ring the bell early, call it quits before our time is up or simply talk ourselves into inaction. As Polonius said in Shakespere's Hamlet:

"This above all: to thine own self be true

And it must follow, as the night the day

Thou canst not then be false to any man."

When we are self aware we understand that the constant voice of the coward fear will be in our head, yet we need not heed his hideous words. Too often we believe the self doubt, the self effacing, the self sabotaging thoughts and act in ways according to fear's false message.

Social awareness, our ability to be aware of our social settings, how people feel, what they need and how they are thinking is another essential key to quieting fear's fretful message. Lack of social awareness leads us to gauge our life off of a ghost - the ever elusive target of "others" and what they think or may think. 

Show Up

Success comes only through one way - work. Some may argue or debate this. "But what about the person that wins the lottery?" "What about the lucky?" What about those that are born with greater privilege, more money, better looks, more talent?" It's true that some come easily into perceived success - money, fame, etc. with less effort than others. Some won the "looks lottery," the "talent lottery," or a number of other lotteries. However, winning something that you didn't work for can never really been seen as success. Did you know that most people who win a financial lottery are broke within just a few short years? How is this success when the prize flees so soon and the receiver of the reward has not developed the skills necessary to replicate the results?

Showing up means doing the work, whatever the work because:

1. Doing the work develops you into a better, more skilled person
2. Doing the work forces you to face and confront your fears and doubts
3. Doing the work can, by the nature of doing it with focus can lead to a flow state, a state that is inherently self rewarding
4. Doing the work in the long run feels so much better than the lies we tell ourselves for not doing the work

The other day a good friend had a family member pass away. When we told him that he didn't need to come to a work event where he is typically the central figure he responded "Brett Farve played the day after his dad died. It's rough, but I'll be there. The group is counting on me" And he was. Not only was he there physically but he showed up mentally and delivered his best. He showed up, he worked with focus and intent and made a significant impact on those that were in attendance.

The Process is the Reward

Talk to any "successful" person and they will tell you that there is much more joy in the journey than in the actual destination. The process of work and striving is, if done consistently the reward. Anything that makes you stronger, better, more skilled and more focused becomes the inherent reward for the work we put in. 

Remember that in life you and you alone determine whether or not you have failed. Haven't achieved your goal yet...join the club. Not quite where you want to be? Good. Keep going. until you decide that the bell has rung, the clock has run out and the game is over you haven't truly failed. Refocus, reevaluate and don't retire until you win. Cheers to your journey! Lead on!