start with taking ownership and adopting a growth mindset!
Most people with whom I worked with in my career wanted to get ahead and become a leader.
However, many expected this to somewhat automatically happen to them. If they would just work long enough in their position and become more senior, getting promoted would then eventually just be inevitable and others would look at them as leaders, right?
You probably already know the answer!
If you want to be a leader, you have to first take full ownership of what happens to you and adopt a growth mindset:
Be responsible for your own career
You probably heard this before, but you really are the CEO of your own career, no one else can do this for you.
Some of us are fortunate enough to have great mentors who push us out of our comfort zones, and help us move along when we didn’t see the path to success or had no intention yet taking it.
That said, a career does take planning, and it sounds insane that most of us have never even bothered taking the time to write down a two-year, five-year plan and think about future goals in realistic and achievable steps. ‘Failing to plan, is planning to fail’, right?
Plans can change a thousand times, but it’s important to have at least thought about your career once so that you know that you have a roadmap and that no matter how fast or slow, you’re walking in the right direction.
Otherwise you may always feel like that what you’re doing is not enough, or that you should really be doing something else right now.
Even more so when one of your peers gets promoted, and not you – how does that feel? If you have your own career plan and you’re on track with your set timeline, you’re probably going to be ok and calm, but if you don’t have any career plan, you’re likely to feel rushed, unsatisfied and might even take another job that seemingly looks like a promotion, but really does nothing else but derail your career all together.
Be responsible for what happens to you
It is too easy and all to human to blame someone else, if something doesn’t go the way we want to, and then rationalize our own behavior and doing just to be in the right, even though we failed anyway.
And yes, it’s also possible that it is entirely someone else’s fault if something goes wrong – but does it help you that you’re right if the team failed?
Putting yourself in the victim role when something unfair happens to you that you’re not responsible for is all too easy, and as comforting as it may seem, it really doesn’t change the outcome and doesn’t get you where you really wanted to be. You’re just end up being bitter and upset at everyone else.
If, however, you take ownership for all that you can control, and if you then take the approach of looking of what you could have done differently to better persuade the others around you for a better outcome, you’re suddenly back in control, and can take charge of what you can influence.
Always remember that life is 10% what happens to you, and 90% how you respond to it (your attitude towards the 10%). Don’t get frustrated and discouraged by what you cannot control and focus all your energy on how you respond to what happens and what is in your control.
Be responsible for how you approach life
Take a conscious approach on how you take on every day and make the most out of every interaction with others. Make a conscious effort to have a positive impact on the people around you.
The past year and a half have been such a rollercoaster for all of us with too many hardships, losses and uncertainties. For those of us who are in a position of leadership or influence, we must take this opportunity to take on responsibility and support our teams to be there for them and focus all of our attention and energy on what we can control and our attitude.
Developing a growth mindset and mindset of responsibility really goes hand in hand.
What feels better? Saying ‘I’m either good at it or I’m not’ or saying ‘I can learn anything I want’, and I’m responsible for it – I don’t have to wait for anyone else to open that door for me or give me permission.
Reading until here, you possibly feel that you’re already doing everything to take ownership with a growth set. Is this also the impact that you have on others, and how they perceive you?
Ask people you know, both friends and coworkers, to describe you with three attributes. Does their reality of you also match with who you think you are? If it doesn’t, it’s worth listening to more feedback.
All of this, taking ownership and a growth mindest, can start today, and it’s as easy as flipping that internal switch.
Who do you want to be?
If you enjoyed reading this post please don’t forget to subscribe to my blog for the newest posts and updates!