🌓 Your skills exist on a continuum

One of the biggest mistakes I see business owners make is thinking in binary terms. It is very rare that something is black or white, right or wrong, one or the other. Most things exist on a scale, a continuum. This is true for your skills too.

You are not unable to do sales, you just currently have low skill on the sales skill continuum. You are not lazy, you are just finding it difficult to complete x task and are to the left of the motivation or discipline continuums. You are not bad with computers, you are just early on the continuum. You can improve.

This is an important distinction. The language we use to describe ourselves has a major impact on our worldview, and our self esteem, and our ability to succeed. This is well researched and underpins many forms of therapy, like CBT.

Simply describing yourself as unable, or incapable, of doing something damages your cognitive function. It makes it harder to perform or to improve. Life is often hard enough as it is. Why makes things harder for yourself?

It can be difficult to change at first, but the first step is starting to notice when you are describing things in binary terms. Whether you voice that opinion or just think it internally, try to notice the binary thinking and remind yourself that the situation is not binary. The situation is fluid, on a continuum, a scale, and the situation can change. You can improve.

Changing your thought patterns like this takes time, but it is worth it. It will significantly help you improve your ability to analyse situations, which is critically important for your business. You will find it easier to spot opportunities for improvement and to find the motivation to implement positive changes. If you only do one thing this week, make a conscious effort to spot binary thinking and challenge it.

I shared this in my Work Smart Wednesday newsletter. Want the full set of related insights? You can read them here: https://worksmartwednesday.substack.com/p/work-smart-wednesday-september-6

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