CEO Mindset: Being vs. Doing

“I’m not showing up as a CEO.”

That’s what my client said this morning as we started our first mindset coaching call. I asked what she meant and she said:

• She feels stalled, not landing as many new clients as she’d like and not enough of her ideal clients.
• She feels guilty about charging too much, especially if she’s not working really hard and over-delivering.
• She’s stretched thin with trying to do “all the things,” and isn’t sure how to most effectively use her time and energy.

Any of that feel eerily familiar? Then ponder this question that I asked her:

Who do you need to be to create the business you want?

If you’re like most people, your first response will be about what you need to do. My client, as an example, answered that she should change her messaging to attract the right people.

I let her talk it out and, eventually, she shifted from the external to the internal, from action to belief, from doing to being.

It became clear she needs to be unapologetically authentic, brave, empathetic, and creative.

When she is, things fall into place. When she isn’t, she falls down the rabbit hole of self-doubt and overwhelm.

The Lesson

When we get laser focused on outcomes, we tend to fixate on actions.

This is why so many business owners think the key to next-level success can be found by taking one more course, learning one more strategy, or hiring one more business coach.

They do everything…and seem to get nowhere.

I’m all for action. After all, it’s easier to act your way into believing than it is to believe your way into acting.

But action for action’s sake is far less effective than when doing is aligned with being.

That means knowing your deeper why and understanding your values. It means getting really clear about who you need to be when you begin to do.

How we feel becomes what we exude and create. If we want the external results to change, we need to start with the internal beliefs.

So before you jump into doing mode on your next big goal, take a beat and ask yourself who you need to be to accomplish it.