📄 Mindset, Method, Skillset

Where it comes to how you run, operate and grow your business, there's three fundamental areas to consider, to cross the gap between 'here' and your goals:

Mindset, method, and skillset.

You might want to spend some time reflecting on your goals, and where, in each of these three areas, you ought to make improvements.

Mindset is about how to think, how to look at the playing field, the decisions to make, the things to say no or yes to.

It's about your attitude, how you hold yourself, the way you show up to the job of being an entrepreneur.

It's about how you curate your energy. It's the overarching ‘how’ of the way you run your business.

Effectively, mindset determines how you will react to events, and no matter what happens to you: the reaction you choose determines what the event represents in your life.

Method is straightforward, hands-on, measurable. It’s about planning, strategising, and steps to take, in such an order that one thing can build on another.

In other words, it’s the ‘what’ of being in business. What to do, in what way, what next, what not to do, what to measure, and what assets to leverage in order to create a thriving business.

Strategy, measurement, tracking, leverage: all these are part of a methodical and thoughtful way of running and growing thins.

Skillset is, as the word says, about capabilities: the specific skills you need to bring to your game in order to actually make things happen.

It's important to choose what skills to develop, because all too often we buy a course or training on something that feels like we're learning useful and important skills, but that instead don't really contribute to your growth, or not in a leveraged way. (If you're the owner, improving your selling skills is useful, but nowhere near as useful as learning about strategic planning, or how to leverage your existing marketing and business assets).

When you want to grow, and incrase your chances of hitting your goals, you'll need to work with all three areas, because it’s like a three-legged stool: if one leg is missing, the thing will fall over.

You may have an excellent method and strategy, and crazy good skills at marketing or delivering your work, but if your mindset says "It’s pointless, the economy sucks, people just don’t pay what I deserve", then method and skillset don’t do you much good.

If your mindset is "I can do this, I know I can find the people who do want to pay good rates", and your method for finding them is great - but you don’t actually have the skills required to find those people, it won’t work either.

As you can see, you always need all three, for whatever goal you have.

If mindset needs improving, work on yourself. Read books, get a coach, go to workshops and retreats. Learn to make your mind work for you, instead of against you.

If method is undefined or underdeveloped, straight-up learning and education are in order, especially in terms of strategy, measurement, and systems.

If skillset is lacking, train yourself. Be it in copywriting, or selling, or SEO, or using social media or building your list: there’s things you can do and do well, provided you train yourself in how to do them.

So take a moment to think, list out your three most important goals, and ask yourself for each of them:

• Do I have the mindset, and method, and skillset that I need, in order to reach this goal?
• Historically, in what way have I missed similar goals - due to which lacking element?
• What's the minimum required level of upgrade that I need, in the lacking area?
• When will I start working on that?

This exercise isn't necessarily fun - it can be a tough job to park optimism and take a cold hard look at where you're lacking.

However, the kind of entrepreneurs who have the humbleness to accept shortcomings, and the decisiveness to do something about it, are the ones who most stand a chance of winning big.