The Power Of The Words Not Yet

There is great power in the words “not yet”.

I remember Carol Dweck gave a TEDx talk about a high school in Chicago. Students had to pass a number of courses to graduate and if they didn’t pass the course they got the grade “not yet”.

Which is fantastic. Because if you get a failing grade you can automatically believe that you have achieved nothing and you are going nowhere. But if you get a “not yet” you understand that you are on a learning curve and a path into the future.

What I love about this story is that it demonstrates the start of ensuring that the children have an approach to life that will enable them to grow as they develop.

I am sure that you have heard the word mindset many times. Your mindset describes your approach, motivation, productivity and feelings towards your business, personal development and sports.

Your mindset is your most important asset when it comes to running your accounting firm. It determines your attitude to everything that gets thrown your way, and it will determine whether you embrace opportunities or bury your head in the sand when there is a fundamental shift in the landscape.

Your mindset is just a belief, and because of this you can change it.

In fact, I never even want to hear you think about mindset again. I want you to change your thoughts to Mindgrowth.

Mindgrowth is just like the words “not yet”. Just as the high school students knew that there was a path into their future, you too have a path into the future.

Your key is to understand that you can grow every day, every week, every month.

Your life is not set the way it is now. By shifting your thoughts to Mindgrowth you can access your hidden potential and the hidden potential of your accounting firm.

Here is a 4 step process to tap into Mindgrowth:

Listen to your fixed mindset “voice” – “What if I fail” you may hear inside your head. “If only I had the talent to achieve this” or “I know it’s too risky” or “I don’t have the money” you may tell yourself on a regular basis. When you here these thoughts you know that your mind is fixed.

Recognise you have a choice – you can interrupt this thinking by being aware that you are stuck in a fixed mindset and that you need to shift the thoughts and reframe your voice.

Talk back to your voice with opportunity – As your voice says “ I am not sure I can do it, I don’t know how” you can change the voice to “ I am not sure I can do it, but I can learn with time and effort”.

Change all actions to match your Mindgrowth – once you hear the fixed mindset and respond with a growth mindset you then need to take action. This might mean taking on a new challenge, learning from setbacks, persisting in the face of adversity, not giving up on ideas and saying “I will give it a go”, instead of saying “I can’t”.

Here are some questions to help you work on your “Mindgrowth”

• What can I learn from this?
• What steps can I take to help me succeed?
• Do I know the outcome or goal I’m after?
• What information can I gather? And from where?
• Where can I get constructive feedback?
• If I had a plan to be successful at [blank], what might it look like?
• When will I follow through on my plan?
• Where will I follow through on my plan?
• How will I follow through on my plan?
• What did I learn today?
• What mistake did I make that taught me something?
• Is my current learning strategy working? If not, how can I change it?
• What did I try hard at today?
• What habits must I develop to continue the gains I’ve achieved?

Remember, it’s not about what you go through in life, it’s about what you GROW through.