What I Allow, I Become

By Tricia Scott. 

Last week, I was asked to give a talk to creative media students at a local college (which was all kinds of fabulous). While preparing a slide deck for the event, I reflected on my journey to becoming The Female CEO and what worked and didn't. I was surprised by some of the things that stood out as integral parts of the journey that I hadn't considered in depth before. The biggest of those were mindset and environment. 

I mean, I know working on our mindset is essential; I have the excellent Jenn Baron on my editorial team! However, I hadn't considered how much of a difference mastering my mindset had made to my entrepreneurial growth.

Our physical and mental environments are HUGELY underrated when it comes to how we perform as people. When I say environment, I mean everything we experience through our senses. Everything we come into contact with influences our thoughts and feelings and, ultimately, our response/ action and how we show up in the world. 

Our physical environment includes anywhere we regularly inhabit - our home, office, vehicle, daily route, etc. 

Our mental environment includes what we see, read, and watch, who we surround ourselves with and what we commit to.

It's that second one that really got me thinking this week. I have intentionally become super careful about what I let into my brain, and that one thing has probably made the most significant difference to my life experience overall. 

Pretty big, huh? 

I first became aware of the role my mental environment played in my life thanks to my Nana many years ago. Seemingly simple things such as scary movies or the evening news were among the first to go. Anything that caused me to stress out (that I was taking in by choice) was sidelined in favour of anything that made me laugh or that I found fun or exciting.

That first baby step started years of transition for me. I would consider everything that came my way and run it through my internal happiness meter. Would this thing ultimately bring me more joy? If so, I went ahead; if not, I carefully considered the long-term implications of allowing it in. 

It sounds simple, but as we know, simple aint easy! There were crossovers. What about overcommitting? My internal people-pleaser wanted to always say YES to everyone, but the maths just didn't stack up. Exhaustion didn't make me happy! And what about the people I surrounded myself with? Did they make me feel uplifted and supported? Or did they bring my mood down with constant complaints and negative words? What then?

Like most things, it was a process. In time, I learned that we can't rid ourselves of everything that doesn't make us 100% ecstatic, but we can tip the scales in our favour. We can outweigh the not-so-good with the great, and the results were far beyond anything I could have imagined. 

If this resonates with you, I encourage you to consider your physical and mental environments this week. You don't need to do anything drastic; just commit to thinking it over. 

Baby steps all the way. 

I believe in you (always).

👉🏼If you want to journey with me through 2024, I email our Hello CEO mailing list every Monday. If you want to join in, head to The Homepage and sign up! 

Tricia Scott is a passionate startup business mentor and the Founder and Editor of The Female CEO - Create Evolve Overcome, a platform and digital magazine holding the space to showcase female entrepreneurs from all over the world. 

The Female CEO is gaining global recognition daily and Tricia is able to bring her own level of expertise as a start-up mentor and multi-company director to her very exclusive table along with her team of brilliant Guest Editors and Contributors. You'll usually find her with her MacBook in one hand and a coffee or a glass of something fizzy in the other Reach out anytime!