Who Would Ever Have Expected This? | Accelerate Success with Lorraine Moore

Recognize the power of mindset. I have written of this before; it is so powerful that it bears repeating. Over the past couple of years, a dear friend lost both of her elderly parents; now her mother-in-law is in palliative care and her father-in-law is in poor health and is not expected to live very long. When she was speaking with one of her grown sons, he said to her, “Of the four of them (grandparents), who would ever have expected grandpa to live the longest?”

Her father-in-law was first diagnosed with an aggressive cancer 25 years ago. He had a bone marrow transplant and other challenging treatments over the past many years. We talked about his longevity and she referenced “his nine lives.” She attributed his longevity to his consistently positive outlook and mindset. No matter what the circumstances, he rose to the challenge and had a never-give-up attitude. He embraced and held on to life with optimism and a prevailing belief that he would overcome and prosper.

During a 2019 study in the Boston area, scientists confirmed that the most optimistic people lived 11-15 percent longer than their more pessimistic peers. I am not espousing ignoring your feelings and putting on a false happy front, no matter what. But I encourage you to pause, consider your mindset when making important decisions, and assess your assumptions.

In the case of my friend’s father-in-law, he assumed he would recover, even when the prognosis was not good. In a 1995 interview, Steve Jobs recounted his philosophy, “When you grow up you tend to get told that the world is the way it is and your life is just to live your life inside the world. Try not to bash into the walls too much. Try to have a nice family life, have fun, save a little money. That’s a very limited life. Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact: Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you. And you can change it, you can influence it… Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again.”

My most successful clients, my most satisfied and engaged friends and colleagues, have an internal locus of control. While they recognize that there are immutable factors at play, there is an unlimited opportunity to respond.

As I write this, many executive teams and boards are conducting board retreats and strategic planning sessions. While these are often annual exercises, access to vaccines for the current pandemic and a return to normal in the U.S. seems to be driving an urgency to reset and restart. Execution of one’s strategy, rather than the brilliance of the plan, is always the larger contributor to outcomes. As you contemplate a resurgence of business, respond to lagging revenues, or update your plans for the next quarters, ask the following questions of yourself and/or your team:

On a scale of 1-10, how optimistic (10) or pessimistic (1) are we when we consider our business prospects for the balance of this year?
If I was to ask friends, family, co-workers, would they most describe me as a realist (and sometimes pessimist) or as a leader (and person) who aspires to greatness and sets a high bar? How do you think of yourself?
What is the culture of your board or your executive team? Look at the evidence. Are goals set at a level that is likely to be achieved (to generate confidence, some leaders will tell me) or are goals set at a level that would “take people’s breath away” (an adage of one of my clients)?

There are no purely right or wrong answers. But the “prize”, be it longevity, joie de vivre, a successful business, an inspired career, or highly satisfied clients is much more likely to be the outcome of an optimistic, even take-no-prisoners approach to life and business.

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