1. What do I stand for?

Authenticity

I know it sounds a cliche, and what is it anyway?... but the relentless pressure to fit in, to appear "good enough", to have the right collection of assets (cars, houses, clothes, holidays, social media followers) drives all our behaviour.

To work out what you are about and how to stand comfortably in your own skin, my take on authenticity, is the Gig.

And it's not easy - but what else is there at the end of the day?

2. What I know to be true that many others disagree on?

That Success is not out there when you've "made it"

Having "made it" in life and business, and "lost it" too.

I've learnt the hard way, that success is when you can master your thoughts and your attitude, despite the prevailing situation you find yourself in. (easier said than done of course!)

3. Is the day of the traditional lead magnet really coming to an end?

When you put out a lead magnet what generally happens? People click the link to buy into the great promise offered, but the e-book or tips series is downloaded but left for later to digest - which never happens. This means there is little engagement and its value is limited.

Survey based, self-discovery, self-assessment type lead generating approaches will increasingly take over as they are more interactive, useful and engaging.

My Personal Mindset Strategy

The Five A's

If business strategy is about setting a clear vision and taking relentless baby steps towards it, then for me mindset strategy is a way of being.

To keep things simple and memorable I put this down to 5 A's as follows

AWARENESS - most big shifts in life come from a change in perspective, the more you develop your sense of awareness the more possibilities you have for a shift in perspective.

ACCEPTANCE - as discussed in Yvette's post in this series, resistance is futile, what is, is what it is. It is very tempting to think that getting worked up about something not being the way you want it is being constructive but it's not. It's more constructive to channel that energy to make a change that you can influence.

APPRECIATION - it's easy to find fault in things, (as an engineer who likes to fix/improve things this is an Achilles heel for me) but as we focus on appreciating more and more from each moment of the day we develop our sense of gratitude and joy, and that's where from a neuroscience perspective is we are our most creative selves.

AFFECTION - in outlook and in touch (when appropriate!) to others and ourselves. We all need plenty of TLC, give people the benefit of the doubt, we are all trying to the best we can with what we've got, and if we could do better right now, we probably would do.

ADVENTURE - when we have an outlook of life being one long adventure we can develop our sense of curiosity, our sense of fun and wonderment. get the enthusiasm and adrenaline juices flowing, create new experiences, grow and develop, and rest and recover and lick our wounds when things pan out differently