Your Most Neglected Asset: Your Mind
We chase credentials. We attend conferences, sign up for trainings, organize team-building retreats, devour books, and master new technologies. These development experiences keep us sharp and relevant.
Being relevant isn’t enough.
Here’s the truth: None of these fundamentally change how we approach our world. They don’t give us capacity to take on greater challenges. They keep us current, but they don’t unlock what’s truly unlimited within us.
There comes a point where you can’t do more. You can’t work harder, schedule another meeting, or squeeze one more book into your routine. You think you’ve peaked—but you haven’t. You haven’t even begun to explore the facet of you that has no ceiling: your mind.
Our mental agility is paradoxically our most important yet most neglected career asset. What we think, how we think, and why we think is a treasure trove of exploration because ultimately our thoughts become beliefs that become behaviors.
If you keep hitting a brick wall in your pursuit of promotion, turn to the internal barrier. Maybe you don’t believe you’re ready. Maybe you’re approaching it all wrong. Maybe there’s another way to achieve it you haven’t considered.
Or, if you’re in a difficult relationship, maybe the other person isn’t the difficult party … maybe it’s you. Perhaps you haven’t given time to consider how you might rebuild credibility with this person, or how you could approach them differently to improve collaboration.
For myself, I’m constantly working on having a healthy mind. A few things I do consistently that help me clear out the mental garbage that can hold me back:
I go to counseling on a steady basis. I think many of us go to counseling when there’s a problem. While that’s important, what about counseling when you’re in a good place? That allows you to do the work on you while you’re not in a threat zone.
I cold plunge and take cold showers. Not everyday. Enough, though, to get a big boost of clarity from this endeavor.
I journal and have a daily gratitude practice. Both activities have been proven to improve your overall happiness – who doesn’t want that?
I’m always working on my calendar as I try to find the right zones for me to be at my peak energy.
If you’re feeling as if you neglect your mind, here are a few immediate practices you can try:
Practice mindfulness at work. Pay attention to your reactions in real time. Notice where your mind goes under pressure. Then, take a 60 second break to close your eyes and just listen to your breath. It helps!
Be curious about why you feel the way you do—not judgmental. Ask yourself what’s driving your emotional response. Curiosity opens doors; judgment slams them shut.
Talk less, listen more. You learn nothing when you’re speaking. The space between words is where understanding lives. It allows you to be present – less reactive, more in response mode.
Your mind is your most powerful leadership tool. Develop it with intention today.
**This Blog originally appeared on Angie Morgan’s Blog.
