Once again, we are sharing one of our favorite recent reads that have impacted us as businessmen and leaders. As a leader it is critical to constantly be working to better yourself, and reading is a chance to gain new tools and learn new techniques to make that happen.  This week we are exploring ideas that are applicable not only to your restaurant but to your life as well with the book “Mindset” by Carol Dweck.

Synopsis

Although the book starts off a little heady, it goes in depth about how one’s mindset can affect their success and gives valuable advice on how to foster achievements in others. The mindset you have about your capabilities and the capabilities of others largely impacts outcomes and performance. With the right mindset you can not only learn how to motivate your children (which is largely what she focuses on in her book) but also your employees, partners and yourself.

What We Got From It

So, you might be asking yourself: Why should a restaurant owner care about what a psychologist has to say about what mindsets look like? How can reading this book help you with your business? Here’s how.

I Can’t Do It vs I Can’t Do It Yet

That one little word holds a lot of power. Having a fixed mindset of “I can’t do it” limits you and puts you in a box that you can’t see past. The second you understand that you just can’t do it yet, but you are constantly improving and one day can, you take the top off that box and open yourself up to all the possibilities out there. Getting caught up in the disappointment of not hitting whatever goals you had at that time can lead to a defeatist attitude. This leaves your restaurant stagnant and you wallowing in self-pity. However, when you can turn your situation around and say “No, I’m just not hitting my goals yet-but I can get there if I make some changes.” You then are deciding to be productive and proactive in your company, and form resilience within yourself that will help you overcome any obstacles thrown your way.

Change Your Mindset, Change Your Outcome

If you tell a busser they are only ever going to be a busser at your company there is no room for growth, they then are not motivated to work hard. Being able to provide room for growth and progression within your company, or offering some sort of incentive for those that do consistent good work will change the attitudes of your staff. When they know they are working toward something then their mindset changes to accommodate a goal and they will push harder to achieve it. This shift in mindset can help improve morale in the work place and improve productivity.

Growth Mindset

In a growth mindset, people believe that their skills can be improved upon with hard work and dedication. Those with this mindset found success by doing their best and constantly learning. So how does this apply to your restaurant? Having the mindset where you take every experience as a learning experience means that you are constantly growing, and in the restaurant business if you are not growing you’re dying. Being able to try, learn, grow and make it better the next time means you are constantly improving and constantly making your establishment a better and more efficient place. In this process you are also teaching your employees the value of growth and resilience and fostering a staff that is more positive, efficient and hard working.

Skills Can Be Cultivated Through Efforts

We aren’t born with a static set of skills that can’t grow over time.

The view you adopt for yourself will profoundly affect the way you lead your life. Most people don’t know this but Michael Jordan, one of the most celebrated basketball players, was so bad that he couldn’t even make his high school team. Instead of giving up he practiced and worked hard and became a famous NBA player. This same mindset can be used in all aspects of life as well as your restaurant. So, if you aren’t the most popular place-yet-that doesn’t mean with some hard work, better training of your employees and some experimentation on what works for your brand that you can’t be packed most nights.

Notable Quotable

If you don’t get the chance to read the book. Here are a few quotes that we thought you should know and what we thought about them.

“What are the consequences of thinking that your intelligence or personality is something you can develop instead of a deep seeded trait.” The word consequences really caught our attention here. So few of us really think about the consequences that our thoughts have on us.  If you don’t think you have the capability to change, you never will. One small change within your own thought process can change your outlook on life, then change how you treat others and in turn it will make their day better and they will then go spread positivity. It really is a chain reaction, so make sure that you’re starting that off positively.

“Why waste time proving over and over how great you are, when you could be getting better. Why hide deficiencies when you could be overcoming them?” When you are constantly living your life trying to prove that you are something, instead of just showing what you are-you are doing yourself a disservice. Be honest about what you need to work on and surround yourself with people that have those qualities, and maybe are better than you. This will push you to better yourself and live your life for yourself instead of just saying you are the best at something and settling into complacency.

“The fixed mindset makes you concerned how you will be judged, the growth mindset has you concerned with improving.” If you are always seeking approval from others you will never be satisfied. If you set goals within yourself and have a solid barometer of gauging your own self-improvement you will become more fulfilled and become a better person.

When you start to change your mindset and work toward bettering yourself, your servers, bartenders, bussers and so on will also start to work toward being better. You set the tone for how the business will be run, so make sure you are setting the right mindset for yourself and your team.

This book is full of some powerful advice that will help improve yourself and your business. Buy a copy of “Mindset” by Carol Dweck here.

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