During my football days, I had many coaches tell me, whether it was before a game or before my studies too, “Get your mind right.” What they were really saying was something needs to happen in my mind first, in order for me to have success on the field or in life. Mindset is truly a game changer.

One key reason why some people don’t achieve their dreams is because they want changed results without changing their mindset first. You can have all the talent and skills in the world but if your mental game (mindset) isn’t right, you won’t succeed.

Having a positive mindset is a requirement for good results, success. There is essentially a 1:1 ratio between the quality of one’s thinking to the quality of their results. Good thoughts produce good results.

James Allen, author of “As a Man Thinketh” wrote, “Good thoughts and actions can never produce bad results; bad thoughts and actions can never produce good results.” You will never get an apple tree from an orange seed.

As John Maxwell has stated, “If you don’t like the crop (results) you are reaping, you need to change the seed (thinking) you are sowing!” You reap what you sow therefore, I want to challenge you to sow a positive mindset.

There are three key things we will focus on when we think about our mindset.

Good thoughts produce good results.
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3 Ways Your Mindset Can Lead To Success

1. Receive It

Unload The Negative

Our first key focus is to receive it. I believe that if you renew your mind the rest of you; your beliefs, body, and behaviors will follow. But in order to receive you have to make room for positive results by getting rid of negative thoughts.

What are you feeding your mind? Who are some of the people and some of the things that you listen to, that you’re watching? What are some of the external influences impacting the way you think on a daily basis? External influences can play a key role in killing your dreams.

External influences aren’t the only culprit to killing dreams, are you killing your dreams with your own internal negative thoughts? Maybe something negative someone has spoken into your life in the past, is spinning a lot on your internal record player?

I believe that those negative thoughts that you’ve received whether it be external or internal can be replaced with positive things by tuning into different programs. Listening to different podcasts or reading different books to feed you mind with things that are going to help build you up and not tear you down.

Renew your mind and the rest of you; your beliefs, body, and behaviors will follow.
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Advocates Over Adversaries

Surround yourself with advocates and not adversaries. Think of it as supporters and not haters. Maybe even think of them as believers and not doubters.

People pour into us each and every day, whether it’s spiritual leaders, bosses, teachers, parents or whoever they may be. You need to make sure you surround yourself with people who have your best interests in mind.

Sometimes true advocates are going to tell you the truth and not everything that you want to hear. That’s completely okay.

Surround yourself with people who have your best interests in mind.
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Reject The Negative

Unloading the negative is all about getting the negative out of you. Rejecting the negative is all about keeping it out of you. Think of it as a filter system.

Just like a fish tank has a filter system to ensure the water is at a level the fish can survive and removes the waste to make sure that the fish don’t get sick, you need to have a mental filter system.

Ask yourself, “Is this going to help me improve and grow or not?” If it is, receive it. If it’s not, reject it. The next time you get constructive feedback from different people in your life, it may hurt, it may not be what you want to hear. If it’s something that can help you, receive it. If not, reject it.

2. Believe It

Head To Heart

It doesn’t stop at receiving it and thinking it. Now you have to believe it. You have to be able to receive it in your mind before you can believe it in your heart. How can you believe something that you can’t receive?

Ideas don’t necessarily lead to change, beliefs do. You may have had ideas of becoming a doctor or a lawyer, but your beliefs didn’t quite match up to those thoughts. Maybe you believed that you didn’t have the financial support or resources, you were not smart enough, or what have you.

Ideas don’t necessarily lead to change, beliefs do.
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Belief Impacts Behavior

Your beliefs need to match your ideas. A good example is a guy who tells himself he wants to be the heavyweight champion of the world with boxing. If his idea of being a boxer matches his beliefs – he believes that he’s going to be a champion – you’re going to see a behavior change.

He’s going to do some things that he wasn’t doing in the past. He’s going to make sacrifices, train like crazy, stop hanging out or doing certain things (let eating certain foods) that he would be doing if he wasn’t training to be heavyweight champion.

To truly say that you believe something, your belief should impact your behavior. Or another way to look at it is your behavior should reflect your belief. Ideas alone won’t get you change. Your ideas have to match your belief, which motivates you to make the change.

To be a champion, your behavior should reflect your belief.
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3. Achieve it

Application Is Key

Now that you have it in your mind and believe it in your heart, let’s focus on the final point which is “achieve” it. We’re going to borrow some wise words from the guru himself from Star Wars, the great Yoda. “Do or do not, there is no try.”

This is where application comes in. Knowledge is internal, it’s what you know, but wisdom is external, it’s what you show. “Application” is the key. It’s going to take applying the right habits, behaviors, and beliefs to fuel your positive mindset into success.

So you receive it, you believe it, now you’re going to achieve it!

Do or do not, there is no try. -Yoda
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Power Of The Will

The great Colonel Sanders from KFC heard over 1,000 no’s before he got his first yes to get his recipe approved to start a business, which we now know is a very successful franchise. It only took one yes. He had this belief in his idea of being a great business in the face of countless disappointments, his belief (mindset) and his willpower, drove him until he got that first yes.

When you truly believe in your ideas, willpower is what drives you to achieve it. That’s what you’re going to need in order to truly change the game with your mindset; willpower. Like the Colonel, when you believe in your dreams, failures are inevitable on your journey to success.

You will get some no’s, have some bumps, but you have to keep on pushing, keep on striving to achieve whatever it is that you want to achieve.

When you believe in your dreams, failures are inevitable on the road to success.
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Don’t Impress; Impact

When you are striving to achieve your dreams, having the right motives are important. You need to seek to impact others versus impressing them. You can’t please everybody. That’s something you just have to deal with.

Trying to impress folks causes us to put on an act. When you’re acting that only leads to temporary change because you’re only temporarily adapting or changing just to suit that situation.

But, when you’re impacting people, when you’re serving people, that leads to permanent change. That is what we’re seeking when we talk about this whole mindset game changer. We want to not just impact our lives, we want to impact those who are around us too.

Seek to impact others, not to impress them.
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In order to change the game, you have to get your mind right. Replace the negative thoughts with positive thoughts; receive it. Make sure that your behavior matches what you think of yourself; believe it.

At the end of the day, it’s either do or do not, there is no try. Let your willpower push you to impact others and not focus on impressing them; achieve it.

What are some positive reinforcements you are finding your mind with? Please feel free to comment below.

The post WHY A POSITIVE MINDSET IS GOOD FOR YOUR SUCCESS appeared first on Steve Messam.

I’m sure you can agree with me that each and every week before you start your work or your school day one of the toughest and probably most important decisions you have to make is, “What am I going to wear?” Your image.

Your appearance, how you look and how you feel plays a big role on how your day turns out. Although your outward appearance is important, I want to challenge you to focus more on your inward image versus your outward image.

Before we jump into the three ways to focus more on your inward image vs your outward image, let’s consider these definitions of “image” first. The first one being appearance. Think of that as how you are described, or your outward image. Then we have character. Think of that as how you can be defined, or your inward image.

As a leader, you should focus more on your character (inward), before worrying about your appearance (outward). When a leader wakes up in the morning, their focus should be on their attitude before attire.

When a leader wakes up in the morning, their focus should be on their attitude before attire.
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I’m going to challenge you to create a “tailor-made” image from the inside out because it’s going to be a key factor in you impacting and influencing others and you achieving your goals.

3 Ways to Focus on Inward Image

I can think of at least three “tailor-made” ways to improve your inward image and grow as a leader.

1. Alter It. This begins with attitude before attire. Before you decide what shoes, shirt, pants, blouse,  or skirt to wear, you need to decide what type of attitude you’re going to be wearing today. Are you going to be wearing a good attitude or a bad attitude? A humble attitude or an arrogant attitude? You must decide what type of attitude you’re going to wear today first before you decide your attire.

Your image, your attitude, can either help or hinder your ability to impact and influence others as a leader. In order for you to alter your character, you must alter your attitude. Having the right attitude does your character good.

Having the right attitude gives your character a strong foundation to stand. In leadership, character counts. Your character is so important that it’s what God uses to truly look at you, unlike man who focuses on the outward appearance (1 Samuel 16:7).

JP Morgan, one of America’s great bankers once said, “A man’s best collateral is his character.” Character counts and you can take that to the bank.

A man’s best collateral is his character. -JP Morgan
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2. Brand It. You are the total package inside out and your brand, your name, is your legacy as a leader. The wisest man to ever live on earth, King Solomon, once stated that “a good name is better than precious ointment and should be chosen over great riches.” (Proverbs 22:1)

As a student athlete, I took great pride in the name that was on the front of my jersey, Central Michigan Chippewas – “Fire Up Chips!” – and the name on the back of my jersey, Messam. I bought into the values, beliefs, coaching, and all of the things tied up in that brand, Chippewas, and my name, Messam.

As a leader always remember that your name is your brand. What do you stand for? Who do you stand for? Your beliefs, your values?

How you carry yourself – your attire, your demeanor, your manners, or your appearance – and how you conduct yourself – your actions, your attitude, your behavior, or your character – together that’s the total package, that’s your brand, that’s your name.

Your legacy will far outlive your appearance. Leaders like Martin Luther King and Mother Teresa were great proponents of not judging the appearances of others, the skin color and all of those things, they put more value into the content of folks’ character. A leader’s character is very difficult to build up and it’s very easy to tear down.

Character is very difficult to build up and it’s very easy to tear down.
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3. Check It. You’re probably asking yourself, “How in the world do I check my character? How do I see my inward image?” It’s easy for me to see my outer appearance, I can look in the mirror, I can even ask someone how I look.

Here’s how you check your character. If you check your actions, you check your character. People can’t see your heart or your inward image, but they can see what you do.

Another way is to ask someone. Ask someone how’s your attitude, have someone who you trust check you when you maybe stepping out of bounds with your attitude and actions. People may long forget what you said, even what you may have worn, but they will always remember how you made them feel.

If you check your actions, you check your character.
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Let’s make good character fashionable as leaders. Let’s put on love, humility, meekness, kindness, patience, and forgiveness. Let’s make all of those great qualities and characteristics fashionable. It will never go out of style.

What Type of Attitude Did You Decide to Wear Today? Let us know in the comments. 

The post HOW TO FOCUS ON YOUR IMAGE AS A LEADER appeared first on Steve Messam.