How to shift your mindset, the action-based approach that actually works.

A mindset shift will not come from reading an article. I know, the irony isn’t lost on me.

Stay with me, because what I’m about to share could be the difference between staying stuck and actually moving forward.

The gap between knowing and doing

You already know what you want to do. Deep down, there’s something calling to you, that career pivot, that difficult conversation, that leap you’ve been postponing.

The real question isn’t what you should do.

It is this:

Are you giving yourself the time and space to actually admit what you want?

Here’s the thing, the minute you genuinely choose to take action, you will. Not soon or someday. Not when conditions are perfect, but now.

You can’t think your way to a new mindset.

As I have seen, as a life coach for nearly 20 years, your mindset doesn’t change in your head. It changes in your body, in real time, when you step into the arena and do the thing that scares you.

Consider this- Has any amount of positive thinking ever compared to the feeling of actually surviving something you thought would harm you?

Your mindset shifts when you build a bank of evidence.

Your mind wants evidence that you took the risk and that you survived. It wants evidence that the thing you feared wasn’t as bad as you imagined.

Each time you take the initiative when it feels a bit risky, you’re making an MPD – ‘Mindset Positive Deposit’. Over time, those deposits compound. That’s when transformation happens and you’re more inclined to ‘take the bull by the horns’ and Do The Things!

Here’s what psychologists call ‘Threat Prediction Error’. We predict something will be far more threatening than it actually turns out to be. When you accumulate experiences where the outcome is less scary than you imagined, your brain recalibrates. This is called Threat Prediction Change, and it only happens through lived experience, as this 2022 research demonstrates.

And the brilliant Brene Brown shares here, how getting your ass kicked is an inevitability, so why try to avoid it?

Enter your co-pilot

This is where I know coaching becomes invaluable.

A coach isn’t directing you, they don’t drive for you. You’re behind the wheel, this is your journey.

Instead, imagine having a co-pilot in a rally car. A coach’s role is to hold you accountable when you want to pull over. Create the space for you to finally think clearly about what you actually want. Guide you through the metaphorical bends, build your confidence, so you hit the road at the right speed, have the courage to accelerate or brake when needed and don’t hit the trees you can’t see coming.

You’re still doing the driving. The courage is still yours. But you’re not white-knuckling it alone anymore.

Over to you

You can close this tab and go back to just thinking about mindset change. Or you can take one action, right now, that moves you toward what you actually want.

It doesn’t have to be big. Just an honest step forwards, that you actually want.

Learning to care less about what might happen and more about what you actually want, is a game-changing skill. You will get your (metaphorical) ass kicked, or you won’t – either way, get less bothered about that and it will all feel less scary.

If you want a co-pilot who can help you navigate the terrain ahead, someone who’ll hold space while you build that bank of evidence and overcome fear, to show you you’re already totally capable of more than you think – look no further.

I have had my ass kicked numerous times, literally (I have a black belt in kickboxing) and metaphorically in life and business. But, honestly, without getting in the arena, you won’t know the feeling of survival and get used to that feeling – quickly.

I am your co-pilot and navigator.

Ready to stop reading and start doing? Book a free discovery call and let’s talk about life coaching and actual mindset change, where you want to go and what’s really keeping you from getting there.