Is Your Mindset Sabotaging Your Progress?

Welcome back to the 55th issue of Disrupting Conversations!

We’re nearing the end of January, and the New Year’s honeymoon period is officially over. 

For many, this is the time of year when something new and different is needed. The flaws in your plan are like cracks; they start to expand. Motivation and intensity felt strong enough to help you start the journey and endure the initial struggles, but not experiencing the expected level of results has you rethinking. I didn’t say giving up, but you now know you need something more. 

You're not alone in this. Most people hit the same wall right around now, when the distance between good intentions and real transformation becomes glaringly obvious. 

So, why does this happen? The issue is often the wrong focus. If you continue to focus on “what” you want to accomplish, you’ll get lost in the emotion of the “ups’ and “downs” of the results. The focus should be on the change - what you are trying to do that is different. I talked about this in my last newsletter.  

Today, I want to address what happens in your head when you're actually trying to implement those changes—especially now, at that inevitable moment when motivation fades, and you're face-to-face with the real work of transformation. 

At this point, your mindset is wired to sabotage your efforts when it comes to maintaining the new behaviors, routines, and actions needed to hit your goals. Here are five mental patterns that need to shift. These adjustments in thinking can turn the friction you're feeling right now into fuel for sustained progress.

– Dan

Breaking Sales is my podcast to connect with those who are ready to break free from the chains of old sales methodologies that don’t work.

Title of Episode: Do You Feel Like You’re Chasing The Day?

🎙️ What do you do when you feel like you’re constantly playing catch-up with your goals? When it feels like all you can do is just tread water, let alone make real progress toward where you want to go? 

This episode breaks down why high performers often feel overwhelmed and behind when chasing success. Dan and Kristie explore the psychological pressure that comes from trying to control outcomes instead of focusing on what’s actually within your influence. You’ll learn about three key factors that are actually within your power to change—including how much you let your role define who you are—to reduce goal-related anxiety and stress. 

If you’re hitting that late-January slump where good intentions meet the reality of trying to maintain sustained effort, this episode is essential listening. 

Here are five thought processes that will strengthen your resolve, build patience, and reduce the self-judging that often leaves you disappointed and frustrated. For example, what is your natural response when you hear the words “New Year's resolution” or “goals” - do you cringe, roll your eyes, and admonish the thoughts?  

Here’s the thing - you need to change your thinking and perspective. The same thinking while trying new behaviors or habits equals struggle. New thinking aligned with new habits equals progress. Notice how each of the following supports and builds off the other. 

1. “How” over “what”: Everyone knows what they want. Far fewer people know how they'll get it. They'll declare bold intentions while maintaining the exact thinking and behaviors that created their current results… often defaulting to simply doing more of the same.  

As I discussed in my last newsletter, if you want to achieve something you haven't achieved, you have to change what you're currently doing. Remember, if what you were currently doing was going to work, you’d already be there. That means a daily focus on the specific changes in thinking and behavior that represent the ‘how’ you will produce the outcomes you want. 

Take prospecting, for example: If your goal is to do more prospecting, you’ll need to first focus on how you view the activity and how you speak to yourself about it. This is your foundation. Your attitude has to move from "I have to prospect" to “I get to prospect; or "Nobody wants to talk to me," to “there are people that do need to talk to me.” The brain only knows what you tell it. 

2. Consistency over intensity: Using this prospecting example, intensity is a wave of energy that feels good, but it’s not sustainable - for example, being angry or feeling like you have to prove yourself can be great short-term solutions, but it wears out. You need to focus on consistency. Is the prospecting pre-set in your calendar at least a week in advance? Do you schedule a few minutes prior to strengthen your mindset and self-talk? Do you remind yourself that it’s not about the immediate results, what, and it’s really about the how - your process?

Remember, intensity is showing up Monday and making fifty calls, but consistency is making ten calls every Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday each week, whether you feel like it or not. 

3. Avoid making decisions on how you feel in the moment: These are the moments when you are tired, have less focus, and your intensity has worn out. It’s the temptation to put the hard work off - procrastinate because you're “not feeling it.” Well, of course, you’re not feeling it - you’re in this new process of strengthening your mindset/ self-talk, taking new actions, and creating new habits, so you can accomplish something new. 

These are the moments where you want to remind yourself that everything you want to create is on the other side of this decision. Pushing the prospecting off (or whatever activity) keeps your performance and results where they already are, but sticking with it and staying consistent moves you toward where you want to go. 

4. Visibility over pressure: Most people avoid accountability because they think accountability is about pressure. They won't share their goals or track their progress because they're scared of the pressure they’ll feel to succeed when they do. They worry about the judgment they’ll experience—from others or from themselves—if they fall short.

But here’s the thing: accountability is about visibility, not pressure.

When you write down what you're doing and track it daily or weekly, when you share what you want to accomplish with others, you get clear visibility into your choices and actions. Are you on track? Why or why not? Where do you need to improve? That's valuable information, not punishment. And armed with those insights, you can make informed decisions about where to direct your effort rather than hoping things will improve on their own.

5. Mistakes are a privilege: Yes, you read that right. When you stretch yourself, you should acknowledge the action and not the result. Doing something different is a journey, one that teaches you about yourself and helps you find that next best version of yourself - more than likely the version you’ll need to accomplish your new desired results. 

Remember, your mind creates your actions, and your actions create your results, so if you want different results, start by thinking differently about change. That’s how you stop spinning your wheels and start moving forward.

QUOTE

“The greatest revolution of our generation is the discovery that human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.”

– Attributed to William James, psychologist and philosopher

Thanks for reading!

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