What comes after skill development? MINDSET. Never work on one (skill) without the other (mindset). A timeless rule for personal development!

As we develop new skills, we start to internalise the rules that govern their most effective use in our chosen field. We learn which rules can be bent; and which can be broken. We get evermore creative and expansive in our thinking, as we look to apply our new skills in ways that have the kind of impact that holds the most meaning for us.

This is the natural path of skill mastery and (I believe) innate to all of us.

What will temporarily hamper – or even permanently prevent – this natural evolution is not a lack of talent or a yet-to-mature level of proficiency, but mindset: our thoughts, beliefs, attitude and character.

Without a strong and purposeful mindset, our anxieties and insecurities will get the better of us. We’ll become timid, conservative and restrictive in our thinking and behaviours, limiting the full expression of those skills we worked so hard to embed. They’ll regress, sit dormant, and fade.

Instead! Make it your habit always to combine skill with mindset.

Do this by never allowing yourself to become complacent about what you know. Revisit the fundamentals. Share your learning with others. Aways look to stretch your skills, further and further. Seek out application in new fields and/or in novel ways. Look for connections with other skills. Stay fluid and multidimensional in your thinking.

A final thought: do the same for those who work with you and for you.

When you’re leading, delegating, conducting a review. How could you incorporate into the conversation not just the topic of necessary skills, but the topic of necessary mindset?