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If you have ever tried to get any business coaching, you already know that every course speaks about importance of reflection. Today we will explain why is it such an important thing not just for your business, but also you as an individual. 

Do you ever get a feeling that you’re running in circles? That no matter what you do, you’re not moving forward and you seem to be repeating the same mistakes? Don’t worry, we have all been there. Possibly this is the very reason you’re researching business coaching right now, landing on this article.  

Basically, to analyze what is holding you back, you need to reflect on it. There have been many studies of benefits of reflection. For example, it’s proven it took employees to increase their productivity by 23% in 10 days alone by simply adding 15 minutes reflection session to their schedules.

Additionally, the commuters that used their travel time reflecting and planning their day rather than entertaining themselves in other ways have a bigger rate of being less burnt out and overall happier. Reflect on that. 

Actually, reflect on it. Get yourself a time slot when you can do that regularly, undisturbed. It can be first thing in the morning, or what you do before going to sleep. If you have a lengthy commute, put the phone away and reflect instead. Even a lunch break will do. 

You probably have a question brewing up by now – what do I reflect on?
Don’t worry, we have your back. 

• Reflect on good things 

Positivity takes you places. Think back about your success and little things that contribute towards reaching your goals. Acknowledge them, be grateful for them, no matter how little they are. Business coaching always focuses on reaching goals and thus it important you study the ones you have reached. Reflecting will let you see the patterns of your success, allowing you to replicate it. 

There is no coincidence in success, no miracle. You have reached it yourself and now you need to know how you’ve done that. If you’ve made it happen, you want to make it happen again. 

• Reflect on bad things 

It’s impossible for everything to go great all the time and this is fine. No one is perfect and not every day is filled with sunshine. If something has not been going to great in either personal, professional or business life, you want to dig into it. Analyze what was your role in a buildup to misfortune and point out the mistakes.
 

Acknowledge the flaws and action on them. Problems and mistakes are a learning opportunity you don’t want to miss. Dwelling on bad things is never pleasant, but you want to learn from them instead of forgetting they ever happened.  

• Reflect on your feelings 

All you may care about is your business, and most of business couching courses often forget that at the end of the day every business has a person behind it. You are that person. You need to reflect on your feelings, what causes them and how do they affect your life. 

If you keep pushing yourself and don’t stop to reflect on how you’re feeling, you’re endangering yourself to forget why are you doing what you’re doing. Or worse – you will burn out. Give yourself as much attention as you give your business. 

• Reflect on your thought process and attitude  

Here’s a hard pill to swallow: the way you feel depends solely on you. The world provides many different circumstances, some less favorable than others, but how you feel about them depends on you. Your interpretation of the situation is what influences your feelings. 

Reflect on the way you think and how do you paint certain situations in your head versus what they truly are. This will let you quickly access the facts rather than the meaning or the story your mind came up with. 

Overall, reflection comes in many forms. Gratitude, planning, analyzing – all of these are reflecting. In it essence it is looking back and spotting patterns, later learning from them and acting based on things you’ve learned. This is how we grow and develop. 

To have a winning mindset, it sometimes requires time and effort as it involves changing ideas and assumptions that no longer serve us. The power of mindset is not just about talents, it mainly involves changing and improving. It also involves awareness and a ‘we’ attitude to create better environments for ourselves and for our organisations. The main traits to adopt a winning minset are: being aware of cognitive biases, cultivating a growth mindset and to improve our conversation intelligence.

1 – Being aware of cognitive biases

According to different authors in the field of behavioural economics, the human brain contains different cognitive biases and heuristics which clouds judgment and reasoning. The most common biases are the framing effect, anchoring, overconfidence, loss aversion and hindsight bias. These biases affect our decision-making progress leading to undesired outcomes.  

Many people  in the business sector are not even aware of the mental shortcuts generated by our brains so many cannot even distinguish between a subjective and an objective thought. For instance, overconfidence is something that is commonly heard in the business world. The idea that a person considers their judgement as much more reliable than the objective accuracy of those judgements. In other words, thinking that statistics do not apply to you or to your business only to others is a common mistake. 

 2 – Cultivating a growth mindset

In her book Mindset, Professor Dweck explains why it’s not our abilities and talent that bring us success – but whether people approach their goals with a fixed or growth mindset. A fixed mindset mainly consists of believing that one person’s talents and abilities are fixed and unchangeable. On the other hand, a growth mindset is all about improving our abilities through practice.  

If we use this perspective to observe our organisations, we will soon notice that leaders with a fixed mindset believe they are superior to others and they must affirm that they are superior through words and actions. This, in turn, creates and reinforces an environment of distrust. On the contrary, leaders with a growth mindset make the effort to create a supporting environment where no person or role is either superior or inferior which increases levels of trust and cooperation. 

3 – Conversational intelligence

According to Judith Glaser, author of Conversational intelligence, conversations have three dimensions.  

First dimension – Biochemical  

At this level, people are not communicating, their thinking gets clouded by assumptions, judgements and aggression. There is a lot of frustration and there in very poor listening. 

Second dimension – Relational  

This level is about sharing needs and aspirations with other who listen and are in a state of reciprocation. Ot is about connecting with others at a relational level. 

Third dimension – Co-creational  

This level is about co creating a new reality where both parties feel happy and satisfied. This goes beyond reaching goals or meeting needs. It is also more about engagement and influencing others at a transformational level. 

In conclusion, putting these ideas in practice will help you managing your organisation with the right mindset. However, if you need further assistance with integrating these ideas in your business, do not hesitate to book a consultation with us.

From personal hardships to the world wide pandemic, we all face crises from time to time. The worst is that we never expect it nor are ready to face it. Yet the only way of tackling it is to stay productive despite the hardships you are burdened with. 

The dangerous thing about any crisis is that it leaves you feeling as if you’ve lost control over anything. However, this is what your mind is telling you – you need to talk back and say your dedication of perfecting yourself is still completely up to you. Working hard to achieve your goals, believing in your cause – these and many more things are still in your control, no matter the crisis. 

Crisis is not an excuse. Crisis is an opportunity. And these are the tips of how to stay productive in order to seize the said opportunity.  

1.Don’t sweat about the things you can’t change 

There are things we can and cannot change. To stay productive, you need to learn to tell them apart and treat them accordingly. If the situation you found yourself in is a problem – look for a solution. Brainstorm, think outside the box and look for alternatives. The creative and unlikely solution may be the key. 

However, if the situation cannot be changed – let it go. You can’t stop Corona Virus, for example. This is a crisis we are all facing and you nor anyone else has no control to change it. So, don’t waste your energy worrying about it. Accept it and adapt. 

Learning to accept and an ability to work in less-than-ideal circumstances will ultimately make you a better person. 

2. Leave your comfort zone 

To grow you need to leave your safety bubble. Repeating same practices day in, day out won’t bring you success. Whereas changing the course of action to something you have not done before will. Even if it backfires, you will have reaped a lesson and thus ended up winning regardless. 

Crisis is the situation where you most definitely need to step out of your comfort zone. View the situation from a different angle and include the possibility you might consider being wrong. 

Expanding one’s thinking and critical assessment is vital. It won’t affect your business alone, you will see positive changes in your life overall. 

3. You control your emotions. They don’y control you. 

Crisis sure triggers many negative emotions, but to stay productive you must keep them under control. The number one crisis management rule is staying calm. Sure, it is a challenge of its own. Try and keep your emotions in tact by answering the following questions: 

• What happened / what is happening? 
• How did it happen? 
• When did it happen? 
• Where did it happen? 
• Who was involved? 
• What can I learn from this? 
• What can I do about it? 

Answering these questions will clear your mind and put it to peace. Additionally, you may end up with a new batch of solutions to take on board. 

4. Stay Optimistic  

No matter how bad the situation is, always try and find something good in it. Remember, happiness can be found even in the darerst of times if one only remembers to turn on the light. 

When facing a crisis, take a step back from your worries and try to find a positive in the entire situation. Finding the good in an unfavorable situation will heighten your spirits and help you stay productive. 

5.Don’t stop moving 

Crisis is not an excuse to procrastinate and sit doing nothing. It is actually the critical time when you need to get your act together and keep on moving forward to achieve your goals despite the odds. 

It’s all good to sit down and plan or discuss, but this should not take up the entirety of your time. You need to make a decision and act. Set your goals and map out what immediate actions could move you closer to them – and then move along. 

Now is the best time to act. Carry on completing your tasks and stay productive no matter what.