The link between personal growth and business achievement

Whether you are an entrepreneur just starting a new business or a seasoned business leader with years of experience, personal growth is critical to your individual development and business success.

Personal growth is an essential human need. Without it, we become stagnant and lose our passion and drive. Without growth, there is no joy in life, and growth is also essential to your business development.

How is your own personal development critical to the success of your business?

Because the number one chokehold on any business is always the psychology and skills of the leader.

You may think that cash flow, systems, competition or resources are holding your business back, and they may contribute, but 80% of success is psychology. Until you’ve mastered your mindset and leadership skills, you are the weight holding your company back from its true potential.

Mindset matters

Psychology consists of a leader's beliefs, perceptions, emotions, values and actions. Contrary to what many people believe, leadership psychology is not something that some leaders are just born with. It is a skill that can be learned and developed.

Leaders who master their psychology can inspire others with their vision, overcome obstacles, bounce back after failure, learn from their mistakes, influence and empower their team and propel their company forward.

Conversely, leaders who ignore their personal development will struggle to unite their team around a common goal, will be bogged down with limiting beliefs and will crumble under pressure or when they face failure.

Every company and every leader will experience failure and face challenges at some point. The companies that survive and thrive are led by resilient, innovative leaders who see opportunities where others see obstacles.

Developing an unstoppable emotional state

How do you develop that rock-solid leader psychology? Start with your STATE.

Your state is your moment-to-moment emotional, mental and physical condition. Mastering your state is key to peak performance, decision-making, personal growth and leadership.

How you feel and act at any moment isn’t based on your circumstances but on your state. And you get to determine what that state is.

You can’t control the events, but you can control what they mean through your thoughts, focus and language—and what you do about them.

You can break your state down into three separate elements and take control of each one of them.

1. Physiology

There is a real physicality to transformation and growth. Your physical state signals to your brain how you should be feeling; it is influenced by your posture, breathing, energy and movement. When in a high-pressure situation or when facing challenges, you can prime your brain by altering your physical state.

Change your body and change your mind

Regularly getting enough sleep and exercise will enable you to feel better and function at a higher level. In critical situations, such as before making important decisions or going into a job interview, you can use physical movements to get yourself into a positive state. Stand up and move, listen to some music, strike a power pose or pump your fists. Your state will shift instantly.

2. Focus

What you pay attention to and the meaning you give it will alter your experience of life. Focus shapes your state.

Where focus goes, energy flows

If you focus on what you are missing, you’ll experience scarcity.

If you focus on what you are grateful for, you’ll experience abundance.

If you focus on your shortcomings, you’ll experience failure.

If you focus on your capabilities, you’ll experience confidence and growth.

When you face failure and focus on all the things you did wrong, all you’ll see is more evidence of why you failed. Or, you can choose to focus on what you can learn from the failure, and you’ll see all the ways you can improve, progress and succeed.

3. Language

Language matters, and your external and internal language will alter your state. The language you use to describe your experiences becomes those experiences.

When you say “I’m in over my head” to yourself or to others, you’ll feel overwhelmed and underqualified. That is an entirely different state than if you say, “This is a challenge, and I’m learning and growing to meet it.”

Never stop growing

Personal development is a lifelong process. You’ll never reach a point where you are finished growing and learning.

Everything is either growing or dying.

That is true for you and for your business. Businesses need to constantly adapt and innovate to stay ahead of the competition and continue to meet the needs of their customers. As a leader, you must continually learn and progress to be the leader your company needs.

How a personal development coach can boost your business achievement

Coaching for leadership development can fast-track your personal growth so you are prepared to guide your company to geometric growth. A coach can work with you to develop the psychology and mindset today’s modern leaders need. With the help of a coach, you will uncover the limiting beliefs that are holding you back. You will learn to see setbacks as opportunities. You’ll gain the skills to master your state.

High-performing leaders don’t leave their emotions to chance. With the help of business and personal coaches, they train themselves to create a resourceful and resilient state on demand.

Sara Blakely, the founder of Spanx, used mindset coaching early on in her career to deal with fear and rejection as she built her company from the ground up. She now advocates for coaching for all business leaders.

Bill Gates famously said, “Everyone needs a coach. We all need people who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve.” Gates relied on mentors like Warren Buffett and personal coaches to sharpen his decision-making skills, develop his leadership and improve his focus.

Learn to master your state and develop your psychology, and you’ll see massive results in your business. You are your company’s greatest asset—investing in your personal growth is an investment in your business’s future success.