Mental Fitness: The Make-or-Break Factor for Consulting Success
Nov 25, 2024
Most consultants fail not because of skills or market conditions, but because of what's happening between their ears.
If you want to earn six or even seven figures in your consulting business, you must build a solid foundation of mental fitness first.
I speak from personal experience.
Over the last few years of my 35 year consulting career, I somehow got it into my mind that I had failed as a businesswoman – despite an abundance of evidence to the contrary.
I believed this because I never managed to break $100K in income. I made high five-figures every year…
But my definition of success was an income of more than $100 K…
So I considered myself to be a failure.
My foundation of mental fitness was unstable (although I didn’t know it at the time.) I didn't know that I lacked mental fitness.
What I did know is that self-doubt was my constant companion. Every time I wrote a blog post or gave a speech or made a sales call, I would second-guess myself. I felt inferior to the big market research companies which made me tentative and hesitant when I was meeting with prospective clients. My insecurity, self-doubt, second-guessing, imposter syndrome – in other words, my lack of mental fitness – caused me to miss so many opportunities and leave so much money on the table.
Getting mentally fit was a game-changer for me. I would not have been able to let go of my belief that I was a failure if it weren’t for mental fitness training. I would not have been able to finally launch my coaching business last year.
That is why I am convinced that getting mentally fit is THE single most important thing you can do if you want to succeed as a self-employed consultant.
Why?
A key difference between consultants who succeed and those who fail or quit lies in their ability to handle challenges, setbacks, failures, and problems.
Consultants who succeed are able to handle challenges, setbacks, failures, and problems with courage, resilience, and a positive attitude.
Those who fail fall apart, run away, or quit when faced with challenges, setbacks, failures, and problems.
Consultants who succeed are mentally fit.
When you’re mentally fit, you can handle the challenges of your business without getting hijacked by stress, self-doubt, Imposter Syndrome, discouraged, frustration, or other negative emotions.
Have I convinced you that you must get mentally fit if you want to make it as a self-employed consultant?
If so, the next step is to assess your current level of mental fitness by taking this short assessment.
The assessment reveals your mental fitness level by measuring the ratio of time your mind is working positively (serving you) relative to the percentage of time it is working negatively (sabotaging you).
This ratio is your Positive Intelligence Quotient (PQ for short).
If you have a medium or low PQ (PQ Score of less than 75%), your mind is sabotaging you more often than it is serving you. When your mind is sabotaging you, it triggers negative emotions – stress, anxiety, self-doubt, anger, fear, shame, guilt, and blame – when you are faced with challenges, obstacles, and problems. These negative emotions make it difficult, if not impossible, for you to handle business challenges well.
If you have a high PQ (PQ Score of 75% or more), your mind is working positively (serving you) far more often than it is working negatively (sabotaging you). When your mind is serving you, you are able to meet business challenges with acceptance, curiosity, creativity and positivity rather than fear, anxiety, self-doubt, and discouragement.
I must warn you: Chances are, you have a medium or low PQ. I had a medium PQ Score (52%) when I started mental fitness training. Everyone I have worked with over the past two years has had a PQ Score of less than 60%.
Research has shown that 80% of us have a PQ of less than 75%. We human beings are hard-wired for negativity as a survival strategy passed down from our ancient ancestors. What this means is that our default way of thinking and feeling is negative although we may not be aware of it.
You will get your results by email.
If your PQ is less than 75, book a call with me to dig deeper into the results of your assessment and how you can get mentally fit. This one-hour coaching session is free, my gift to you for taking the assessment.