096: Strengthening your sisu AKA my approach to "mindset work"
If you feel like you have to force yourself to get things done, and you’d rather have internal motivation to do the things, I hope this episode gives you some things to think about.
Last week I talked about two things that bother me about how mindset is often talked about in online business.
In this episode, I talk about how I approach “mindset work” with my clients and my work in general.
Spoiler alert: I'd rather help you find ways to increase internal motivation, instead of just trying to get you to think differently.
(That being said, I 100% acknowledge that sometimes you may benefit from working on your actual mindset. The deeper the need, the more careful I would be about who you work with – a therapist may be a good option.)
Episode 066 on increasing your resilience
Episode 030 on Failure Fatigue’s role in business burnout
Episode 031 on Fatigue Failure’s role in business burnout
Productivity Ecosystem summary
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Show notes
“Mindset work” belongs in the sisu part of the Productivity Ecosystem
The productivity ecosystem is the framework I lean on to help business owners keep at this business thing in a sustainable, human-friendly way. The three parts of the ecosystem are wholeness, design, and sisu. A good balance of these three helps you be productive without pushing yourself so dang hard.
What makes my approach to “mindset work” different
The difference between how many people in the online business space talk about “mindset work” and how I approach strengthening your sisu, is that I want to help you find ways to increase internal motivation instead of trying to push yourself or force yourself to think differently. (Because like I said in that previous episode, changing your mindset is not like just flipping a light switch)
Like, if someone said they’re not a morning person and can’t do their deep work in the mornings, some people might say “You just have to start telling yourself that you’re a morning person, and then do the things”. While I’d encourage them to either figure out ways to help themselves become a morning person (if that’s something they really want) – OR I’d help them structure their days around not being a morning person.
We Finns are proud of how we can get through anything with sisu – but I’d argue that you still need a good basic level of wholeness and design to be able to get through something with “just sisu”. Or – we can push through with sisu periodically, but we can’t rely on sisu alone long-term.
Strengthening your sisu could look like…
Re-evaluating your goals, or finding a sense or purpose in what you do. Or shifting the way you operate to something that feels more purposeful or more closely matches your values.
For example, a client of mine no longer felt motivated by the purpose of “leveling up.”
Finding ways to make your work feel challenging in a good way – not in a way that you resist.
For example, I switched from creating YouTube videos to podcasting, because I felt a lot of resistance and pressure while creating videos, while I enjoy creating podcast episodes – even when it’s challenging.
Rethinking how the business fits in with how you want your life to look like.
A client of mine felt the need to work until bed time because she felt that bringing in money would be her contribution to her family. But actually, her family wasn’t dependent on her making a lot of money, and instead she started seeing her time spent with her family as contributing.
Finding ways to feel validated that aren’t tied to making money. How much money we make is not an indication of how well we do our job; it’s a measure of how good we are at marketing and selling our businesses.
I’ve encouraged clients who are in a “dry spell” to find ways to get the same joy they get from client work, so that they can still get that feeling of accomplishment outside of making sales. You also see me doing this when I do a free consult call giveaway etc – I’m gifting myself the troubleshooting of 1:1 work I really love.
Genuinely seeing things from a different perspective instead of trying to force a different way of thinking.
A client of mine was a bit worried about having outlined how her work would look like on a monthly rotation, only to “abandon” her plan after two months to work on a big project she wanted to do. But when I suggested that maybe pivoting to the big project was just her prioritizing something that was more important than this plan – and that the plan is just a tool she can pick up when she needs it – she felt better about her choice.
Finding ways to honor what your capacity is right now, so that you’re not trying to push through with more sisu than you have.
I had a call with someone who went through some major transitions in her life in the past year, and hasn’t shad much bandwidth for her business. Since turning her attention back to the business, she’s been expecting *so much* of herself right out the gate. We discussed ways to match her business actions to where she’s at capacity-wise, so that she can ease herself in and still make meaningful progress.
To note:
A lack of wholeness or design can also manifest itself as decreased sisu, so the solutions to motivational problems aren’t always found in the sisu part of the ecosystem. Because if you’re not feeling well, or if your systems and practices don’t support you, it’s hard to stay motivated and keep going.