How to Accelerate Your Growth

I'd like to ship you a free copy of my book Habits of High Performers. If you come and join the 2026 goal setting workshop, I will ship you one of these today. The link is in the notes. Please come and join me to set up the very best 2026 you could imagine. If you've set up goals in the past or New Year's resolutions and they haven't substantiated, I'm here to help you across all the key pillars of your life nail your goals. I'll see you there. Welcome to Lead On Purpose. I'm James Laughlin, former seven time world champion musician and now executive coach to global leaders and high performers. Each week I'll publish a solo cast where I'll share my top high performance habits and methodologies to supercharge your life and career. If you enjoy the show, please take a short moment to subscribe and leave a rating and review. I'd greatly appreciate it. Thanks for taking the time to connect today and investing in yourself. Enjoy the show.

How can you accelerate your growth? And that could be accelerating your learning speed, it could be accelerating your wealth, it could be accelerating your relationships, but moving towards more abundance. Moving towards a growth mentality. Well, look, it's a decision. You're not born with it. It's an absolute decision. And you know what, I want you to write this down. Take a moment just to write this one down. A growth mindset is the belief that intelligence or skill sets can be developed. Okay, I'll repeat that. A growth mindset is the belief that intelligence or skill sets can be developed. And look on the flip side. A fixed mindset is the belief that intelligence or skill sets are fixed traits that are set in stone at birth. Now that's a vastly different belief system. Some people innately have a fixed mindset. I certainly know lots of those people. Others have a growth mindset. The growth mindset mentality enables you to accelerate towards your outcome, accelerate towards your growth, accelerate towards the ultimate achievement. And it's a decision. Look, I want to just share some of the key differences. Here's a fixed mindset. Effort is bad if you're smart, you shouldn't have to work hard. Growth mindset would say, effort is good, it's how you get better. If we looked at, say, motivation, a fixed mindset would say what matters is looking smart so you can prove your ability. Whereas a growth mindset would say what matters is learning so you can improve your ability. So one is, you know, looking smart to prove your ability. The other is learning to improve your ability. Maybe let's say a behavioral response to setbacks. Fixed mindset would be helplessness. Setback is a sign that you just don't have what it takes. Whereas growth mindset would be resilience. Setback is a sign that you need to work harder or try a new strategy. And last but not least, failure. What's the meaning of failure? Well, for those with a fixed mindset, failure is the end of the story. Time to give up, move on, you're done. Whereas growth mindset individuals, failure is the beginning of the story. Time to try again. So I want you to really think about what what you have. Do you have a fixed mindset or a growth mindset? You sit somewhere in between or in certain parts of your life. Are you fixed in mindset? Is it in your relationships? Is it in your academic ability? Is it in your ability to read books and retain what you've read? Where does the fixed mindset grow up? Is it in your physical self? Your ability to work out, exercise, sweat, push yourself? Is it in your career? Is it in your ability to lead? Do you think you could be the CEO of a Fortune 500 company? I do. You're listening to this, which means you have an appetite to learn. Look, I want to share some research. And this research was done by Claro Pounescu and the one and only Carol Dweck. And they recently examined the relationship between students mindsets and performance on a national examination. This is fascinating. Students who held a growth mindset were three times more likely to score in the top 20%, whilst those with a fixed mindset were four times more likely to score in the bottom 20%. Now, I don't know about you, but my mind is blown by that piece of research. And for those that haven't read Carol Dweck's book, please get that book. Growth mindset. It's just incredible. So definitely a great book to read, but I'll read that again. Students who held a growth mindset were three times more likely to score in the top 20%, whereas those with a fixed mindset were four times more likely to score in the bottom 20%. What do you want to be? Do you want to be a high performer in the top 20% in those key areas of your life that actually matter, Your career, your family, your health, your relationships, your wealth. You know, you shouldn't have 10 areas of your life that you're measuring. There should be three to maybe six at most. Buckets, pillars, columns, areas, whatever you want to call them. What are those key parts of your life that you want to be in the top 20% of to do that. Embracing a growth mindset is going to really allow you to accelerate and to multiply things much, much quicker. Now, look, as always, I want to give you tactics. So if you've got pen and paper ready, please write these down. If you're driving, please make a mental note or pull over and write these down. But want to give you three really powerful tactics to help you accelerate your growth in whatever area of your life you're passionate about. So, number one, cultivate a deep belief in a growth mindset. You've got to believe it, right? You've got to believe that a growth mindset is a thing. You've got to believe that you can embrace it. You've got to believe that it's actually going to help you. If you don't believe any of those things about the growth mindset, then it's not going to work. So the first things first. You got to believe that you are malleable, that you can learn, that you can level up, you can improve. Test number one, you've got to cultivate a deep belief in a growth mindset. And that starts right now. Where in your life have you got a little bit of that fixed mindset? Where are the excuses or the story showing up? The yes, buts, the oh, I should have, could have, would have, right? Where is that showing up? Are you being a should head? I've been a should head in many areas of my life. Should have done this, should have done that, shoulda right. But it's what matters is highlighting. Where am I coming up with a story? For me, it was with my running and I have an ankle injury from when I was a child. It keeps niggling and like, ah, something's not quite right and I'd keep avoiding the run. Well, I've now vowed that I'm going to run and if it gets injured, I'm going to do physio and strength and conditioning. And then if it gets worse, I'm going to go and get the surgery or the support that I need to move forward because that's a growth mindset. Do I believe now that I can run the half marathon? Yes, I do. Am I going to do everything in my power to learn and grow and improve? Yes, I will. So that makes me just honest and very imperfect. So I'm moving towards that goal. Okay. Number two, move towards the edge of your comfort zone. It's at that edge when you get there and you reach the edge of Your comfort zone, and you move past it. That's where you create the new normal. You create your new comfort zone. Your comfort zone or your sphere of influence starts to expand. You want to stretch that comfort zone. So that's a crucial part of it. You need to find out where you're being too comfortable and get into that discomfort. Maybe it's a difficult conversation, maybe it's asking for that pay rise or that bonus. Maybe it's, you know, coming up with a really creative, ingenious idea to take your company or your team to the next level. Maybe it's in your relationships, maybe it's with your own physical health, but it's important that you move towards the outer edge of your comfort zone and try and stay there. Come back in, take a rest every now and then, but don't live in the center of your comfort zone. Nothing great was ever created from the comfort of your couch, from the safety of your own home, from your warm, cuddly bed. No great things happen when you get out into the world and you're courageous and you're vulnerable. Okay, last but not least and before I share this little gem that's going to really help you to accelerate your growth as a leader, as a leader of your family, as a leader of your team, as a leader of your organization, as a leader of your own life. I want to ask one thing very quickly. To help me continue to share my message on lead on purpose and to bring in the incredible guests, the prime ministers, the presidents, the formula one teams, the incredible thought leaders, the neuroscientists. I need you to help me. Please take a moment to leave me a rating and a review and hit subscribe on whatever you're listening to, whether it's Apple, podcasts or Spotify. That's what helps me to continue to impact more incredible leaders like you. And I want to thank you for leading on purpose and taking this micro moment out of your day to really invest in yourself. And just remember this, your daily habits represent your life in miniature. That's right, your little daily moments, these habits, they are reflective of your life in miniature. So when you look at your entire life, 80, 90, 100 years, and you get a magnifying glass, you'll see what you did every day dictated how your life turned out, the opportunities that were given to you. I once heard of a multiple time world champion be told that they were lucky, you were just lucky. I disagree. You create your own luck. And you know what? My experience is this, the harder I've worked, the luckier I have got. There's a correlation there. Nothing happens through luck. Hard work is what creates your greatness. Look, last but not least, number three. If you want to really accelerate your growth in whatever area of life is important to you, you need to install the habit of daily learning. Right? All great leaders learn. You've heard the saying leaders are readers. You're probably rolling your eye going, oh my God, I've heard it 100 times. But actually, the more you consume, whether it's in podcast form, audiobook, YouTube, reading a physical book, your Kindle, or any other way that you learn that is daily learning and make it a habit. If you decide on what you want to become world class at, and you commit one hour a day to that for the next three to five years, you will definitely find yourself in the world's top 20% of that one thing very few people are willing to make the sacrifices to be bif. When you're best in field, you know, you've done the work, you've showed up daily and you've really embraced that habit of daily learning. So look, I really hope this has served you. This has inspired you to really focus on what it's going to take for you to improve that growth mindset. But for now, as always, please get out there and lead your life on purpose.

Thanks for tuning in today and investing in your own personal leadership. Please hit that subscribe button and I'd love if you'd leave me a rating and review. I've got some amazing guests lined up for you in the coming weeks. And leaders, it's that time to get out there and lead your life on purpose.