Mommy Mojo: Winning the Inner Game of Entrepreneurship – Top 10 Motivation and Mindset Tips of 2011

The inner game of entrepreneurship is a complex blend of dealing with guilt, maintaining motivation and staying in a positive mindset! In 2011, our experts covered them all – and more!

Top 10 Motivation and Mindset Tips of 2011

Protect Yourself from Toxic People! Dabney Porte on how Mean People Suck Your Energy: “Step Back – As with any toxic chemical, you must first limit your exposure to this person to prevent toxic side effects. Use this time to gain clarity and release yourself from any guilt or fear you may have of hurting the person’s feelings. Engaging with a toxic person adds stress to your life and damages your self-esteem. You must stop giving of your time and self to a person who brings no value to you. It is time to put you first.”

Let Go of the Guilt! Lisa Garber with tips on Getting Rid of Mom Guilt: “Get used to uncomfortable feelings. We all have to live with discomfort. Fear is a great example. Sometimes we just have to act even in the face of fear. Guilt is the same. When you make a decision to really take care of your own needs, you will feel guilty. However, the more you keep taking action, and the world is still spinning on its axis, the easier it is to take action the next time. One day, you might even lose the guilty feelings altogether. That is true freedom.”

Recognize Judgmental People! Aly Pain with advice on dealing with Mrs. Judgey-Judgerson from Judgementville: “Ultimately, there are a million ways to do any one thing and we will all have our own preferred methods without any one being ‘right’. Be confident in your methods with an open mind to what else is out there and you may learn and benefit from others when you choose to.”

Get Comfortable Asking for What You are Worth! Carolyn McCray on Owning Your Ambition: “Whatever You Do, Do NOT Apologize – Through each and every step of the way, do not be SHY. Do not hesitate to discuss pricing. Do not undercut yourself by apologizing or mumbling or looking away when you talk about your product or service.”

Recognize the Importance of Language! Aly Pain talks about The Most Dangerous Words “I’m JUST a Mom”: “It’s important to understand the role language plays in constructing our mental lives, and thus the results those beliefs manifest around us. The more you diminish what you do, the more smallness, disrespect and low-level people you attract. That plays out in the clients you connect with and the employees you bring into your business.”

Let Go of Perfection! Renee Walker on Ignoring the Negative Thoughts: “Whenever you start to feel “not good enough” recognize the stress you are feeling and look for ways to release it. Go for a walk, take a few long, slow deep breaths or put on the music and have everyone dance.

Stick to Your Goals! Sarah Robinson recommends Making Them Irresistible: “There’s a ton of information out there on setting and achieving goals. Make them SMART, break them down into small doable steps, create a vision board, etc. But here’s the thing about goals, if they are not utterly irresistible to me, I don’t care how SMART they are or how pretty my vision board is, I’m not going to do them.”

Ignore Your Inner Critic! Carolyn Ellis shares tips on Quieting Your Inner Critic: “Flip It: request your internal critic to give you its feedback in the form of questions instead of damning statements. Strong declarative statements like “You are never going to succeed!” just don’t take you anywhere productive. However, flipping that into a question like “How are you going to succeed in this?” can be very helpful. Why? The brain loves to answers questions! When asked a question, your mind will immediately start working on coming up with all of the things you would need to have in place in order to be successful.

Stay Out of Overwhelm! Yulit Price on dealing with Being Overworked, Overtired and Overwhelmed: “Stick to Self-care – As soon as we go into overwhelming times, we tend to drop our support lines. The ‘I can do it alone’ mindset often brings out the mother-as-martyr archetype, leaving you feeling bitter, resentful, and sacrificial. If you are engaged in a support group, therapy, coaching or counseling, do not drop out or let it go. Stick with it to help you navigate overwhelming times.”

Set Clear Boundaries! Aly Pain on Training People How to Treat You: “Just as the untrained puppy pees on the carpet completely unaware of any wrong-doing, the untrained client continues to make last-minute requests seemingly unconcerned that his little request forced you to cancel weekend plans to make the unreasonable deadline. Training people is most effective using clear and simple requests, similar to the blunt commands used to train puppies.”