5 Ways To Upgrade Your Leadership and Scale Your Business

To scale your business from six-figures and reach for eight as a business leader, some upgrades are necessary — and not just in systems and strategies.

You know the saying, “what brought you here won’t take you there.” It is a cliche that is also true: To get to your current level of success, you had to build your reputation and expertise, and gain the confidence to reach your achievements. But to get to the next level, ultimately, who you are will also need an upgrade, mentally and emotionally.

This article will help you understand the upgrades you can make to progress toward your next level of business growth, and inspire confidence in your ability to lead starting from the inside out. Follow these principles to upgrade your leadership presence and get ready to scale with more ease.

Let’s review the basics…

You already know you need to take care of yourself as much as possible, eat well, exercise, and surround yourself with the best people and things. How you fuel your mind and body have a direct impact on your energy levels and ability to be creative and execute in your business. Once those steps are mastered, there are five more nonnegotiable high-performance strategies to implement.

1. Reframe Failure

Failing isn’t a destination, nor is it your enemy. It’s a process that allows us to gather information. However, fearing failure can paralyze us and keep us playing small. When in fear, we may avoid new challenges and risks or not trust our inner guidance because we emphasize the possibility of a negative outcome.

The truth is growth requires failure. It is HOW WE LEARN. The key to not letting failure stop us in our tracks is to remember that even if you fail, you will rise again — and you will rise stronger and better equipped because of what you learned. You get to decide if your goal is more important than your fear and take the necessary steps forward.

2. Have your own back

I recently saw a viral video of Jennifer Lopez (JLO), saying even when she was having success as a dancer, actress, and singer, she still had naysayers telling her that her dreams weren’t possible. She proved them wrong. She did it by choosing to pursue her dreams, regardless of the naysayers.

In the early stages of any journey towards a big goal, it is normal to feel fear. Even well-meaning friends and colleagues will share their concerns and unintentionally try to dissuade us by sharing their concerns and stories of doom.

In order to stay on track with pursuing your goals, you have to have enough faith in your strategy and process to go all in. That means not letting anyone — including well-meaning friends and the voices in your head — talk you out of what you have your heart set on accomplishing. Become your biggest supporter.

3. Think big and follow-through

There is a goldmine in committing to follow-through. It builds confidence in your ability, validates your courage and inspires respect and admiration from others who you might want to join or support your cause. However, to make this really work, you need to take small steps and celebrate your wins along the way. Each milestone is an indicator of progress. And progress is the foundation of happiness, courage, and confidence.

This is one of the reasons that a constant focus on the goal-setting and feedback process is essential to leading a high-performance business and life.

When you have a big goal and you see yourself chipping away at it, you will feel pride, and the energy to keep going. Your confidence will begin to build like a giant within. So create your big dreams and strategies, but start small and celebrate your ability to follow-through at each milestone.

4. Build Your Character

Humans believe what we see and what we feel more than what we hear and think. If there is any incongruence in how we present ourselves in speech, demeanor, and how we present our ideas, we will fail to influence and persuade.

Presenting yourself with integrity and demonstrating a track record of achievement is one part of the equation. The other is being in total alignment with the aspect of yourself that has complete clarity and confidence in your chosen endeavor. This alignment allows you to take the actions, say the things, and become the influencer and leader that is able to progress your ideas, from the inside out.

If you are taking all the steps to reach your next level and move the masses, and there is still slow or stagnant momentum, I recommend working with a friend or coach to give you objective feedback on how you come across as you present yourself and your ideas. They might be able to give you a perspective that you cannot see objectively.

5. Cultivate Your Flow State

Dr. Mihaly Chentmihalyi is a leading authority on positive psychology. His extensive research in the 1960s on what makes a human happy led him to discover and coin the term “flow state.” According to his research, flow is the place we go when we become one with what we’re doing, by being completely present and focused on the activity in the present moment.

This is also the foundation of mindfulness and the key to entering a state where ideas flow and we feel capable of high performance with a natural sense of ease. This is the space where you are aware and awake, but not striving to accomplish. Studies were done on athletes in “the zone” — the state of flow — show their brain waves operate similarly to the brain waves of those in meditation.

One way you can enter the flow state and turn on your peak performance and the highest level of creativity — is to practice a daily meditation that focuses on your breath. Breathing to a count of 4 or 6, in and out breaths, for at least 3 to 5 minutes takes you there. It requires no distractions and awareness in the present moment.

In summary, bringing these high-performance mindset principles and practices to your daily life will help you reduce stress, overwhelm, and anxiety — all of which are commonly caused by wanting a specific outcome, rather than focusing on the steps you can take today to reach your destination.

Do you want to scale your business without sacrificing your relationships, health, or original vision to take your business beyond the million-dollar mark?