Have you ever felt like you’re destined for more, but something keeps holding you back?
Maybe you’ve seen some success, but you know you could achieve more. You look at others on social media getting bigger roles, hitting bolder goals and a voice whispers: “Why not me?”
Think of the caterpillar and the butterfly. Obtaining a leadership mindset is about becoming a new version of yourself.
That’s the kind of transformation we’re discussing today.
What’s a Leadership Mindset?
To understand what a leadership mindset is, you must grasp the concept of power.
I define “power” as the capacity to cause movement. If you have a leader mindset, you have the ability to move things.
Maybe you’re moving a project forward, moving a person out of their comfort zone or moving your entire organization toward a future vision.
The most important tool in this movement is communication. Using your words and your story in a way that inspires others to act—not for your benefit but for reasons that benefit them.
The Hidden Price
The biggest obstacle to developing a leadership mindset isn’t external; it’s internal. When I coach clients, I challenge them with a tough question: What’s the benefit you’re getting for holding onto that doubt?
People struggle with this, but every time we peel back the layers, we find safety, comfort or the ability to blame something external for lack of progress.
The belief of “I’m not ready” is often a comfortable shield against the fear of failure. My job in leadership mindset coaching is to get you to look at the other side of that equation: the price.
What’s your doubt costing you in terms of your potential, your opportunities and your ultimate fulfillment?
Recognizing this hidden cost is the moment your true mindset transformation begins.
The Great Resistance
Once you see the price of limited thinking, you hit the next barrier, which I call “habit gravity.”
Taking the first step is brutal because your brain’s basic function is to conserve energy. That primal part of your brain resists anything new. It interprets change as a massive, unnecessary expenditure.
Think about a rocket. Most of its fuel is used to escape Earth’s gravity. You face the same struggle.
To create a new leadership mindset, you must embrace that you will have a period of higher expenditure and focus and greater discipline.
This initial push is what’s required to convince your brain that this new way of thinking and acting is permanent.
This is where leadership mindset training helps you build necessary discipline.
A Leader’s Armor
If you’re going to sustain a leadership mindset, you must accept that adversity is part of the process.
There’s no such thing as success without challenge, but that doesn’t mean you can’t go in without armor.
A leadership mindset supports long-term personal growth by enabling resilience. We can’t prevent obstacles, but we can control how we react to them.
Practice avoiding the three P’s of low resilience:
- Don’t take it personally—the setback isn’t a reflection of your worth.
- Don’t let it be pervasive—a failure in one area doesn’t mean failure in all areas.
- Don’t view it as permanent—this is a bump in the road, not a brick wall.
For years, I felt like I had to show up perfectly but the work of unburdening is the work of becoming. It means embracing all the sides of yourself: the mistakes, the regrets, the parts you wish were different. That radical self-acceptance is what allows you to lead with authentic integrity.
Excellence Starts Here
Now that we’ve walked through this together, I want you to sit with one thing:
You’ve faced those internal whispers, you’ve wrestled with habit gravity and you’ve committed to the mindset transformation that enables you to cause movement in your own life.
That is a profound achievement.
You have a voice, you have wisdom and you have experiences that someone else needs to hear to break free from their own self-limiting beliefs.
You’ve been on the journey; now it’s time to light the path for others.
You’ve done the internal work. Now, let’s turn your experience into a framework and your wisdom into a service.
My advice? Channel your experience into a certified profession through the SUCCESS Certified™ coaching program. We give you the frameworks, tools and authority to help others.
[Enroll] SUCCESS Certified™ Coaching
Photo by Jacob Lund/Shutterstock

