How to Step into a Growth Mindset as a Hairstylist
Patterns can quickly become daily practices. When we look at a stylist who wants to grow in their career and perhaps adjust their clientele, there is often a significant fear of changing these patterns.
The mind instinctively seeks to keep you in what it perceives as a safe place. It resists any notion that change is possible because it's simply trying to protect you. However, this mindset can keep you stuck in a stagnant role at work. Predictability seems easier than unpredictability, which is why self-doubt, procrastination, or self-sabotage can creep in.
It's crucial to learn compassion for yourself during this process. The more frustrated you become and the more you resent certain aspects of yourself, the more these recurring patterns persist. Life will continue to present the same challenges until you learn to choose and react differently.
Your mindset matters! We've heard countless times that a positive mindset is key, but it's important not to confuse this with ignoring or avoiding your feelings. A positive mindset is not about dissociating from your current emotions. In fact, it's quite the opposite! Identify the feeling, experience it, and move through it. For instance, if you often feel anger or are easily triggered, it could actually be grief. When we experience anger and sit with it, it can linger or even intensify. By sitting with the grief, you may uncover the true emotion. Grief needs to be processed so the anger (often a mask for grief) can dissipate.
This can manifest in various ways in the salon. Suppose you want to try something new or change your ideal client to build your business differently. There are many voices telling you which direction to take or even sabotaging your desire to change. So, you stay in the same cycle repeatedly. Ultimately, this shows your body that other people's opinions matter more than your own intuition. This can lead to anger or resentment toward others because you are essentially seeking support for your inner child and help to grow. You're looking for someone to affirm that it's safe to make changes and move forward in a different pattern. Maybe you want someone to reassure you that breaking patterns is okay, or simply that you are completely worth it. Even if things don't work out, they will lead you to where you need to go.
Generally, from a young age, we are taught what is safe and what is not. Words and actions from parents or older adults can stick with you for your entire life unless you help your body realize it is safe to make decisions independently. By neutralizing the decision-making process, we allow for breakthroughs and unattached outcomes that can be truly marvelous.
Embracing challenges and falling in love with learning as life unfolds helps avoid tying outcomes to self-worth. It's not about your abilities but your willingness to learn differently. It's a new process, so how could you know everything from the start?
You must be willing to become a beginner before becoming an expert. While talent can be taught, cultivating a growth mindset and openness to development is a personal responsibility.
If you frequently have thoughts about what your life could be or wish it could be, consider asking yourself, "How can I show up differently each day?" What small changes can you make to your day, mindset, and reactions to help you achieve that dream you envision? Who is the person living that dream, and how much effort have they put into their learning process to become who they are?
I guarantee that if you reflect on these thoughts daily, you'll identify small adjustments that need to be made. Sometimes, the leap from who we are now to who we want to be is too overwhelming to grasp all at once. Smaller steps become the building blocks of our future selves. You must build the foundation first.
One of the best places to start is by understanding your current boundaries and how they impact your energy, emotions, and respect for others. Protecting the person you are becoming will require changes in how freely people access you. If you're feeling burnt out from the salon, the Hairstylist Boundary Reset online class is just for you. Gain access to this class through the link below, and let's embark on the reset journey!
