204: 4 Thought Patterns That Can Skew Your Perception About Your Business

Welcome to the She Thinks Big! Podcast. Get ready to level up your thinking and expand your horizons. I’m your host, Andrea Liebross, your guide on this journey of big ideas and bold moves. I am the best-selling author of She Thinks Big: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Guide to Moving Past the Messy Middle and Into the Extraordinary.

I support women like you with the insights and mindset you need to think bigger and the strategies and systems you need to turn that thinking into action and make it all a reality. Are you ready to stop thinking small and start thinking big? Let’s dive in.

Hello, my friends, and welcome back. How are you this week? What's happening in your world? We are now into December. Can you believe this? We're now into December and you may be looking at the facts of the past year.

I don't know if you realize this, but I release episodes in a certain order for a reason. I try to time things, so they're time-ly, I'll call it. I try to time things so that the topics might be hitting you at the best time when you really need them. Today's topic is about what we're making the facts mean. I think right now, beginning of December, is a time when we all look at the facts of the past year and we start to write or create some stories around them.

I don't know if we're always doing this for the bestest of our, not to the bestest of our abilities, but are we making these facts mean useful? Is the story we're creating serving us? Okay, these are questions that I'm asking my clients constantly, and as a matter of fact, the reason I am recording this episode is based on client story.

This client came to me and told me that she did not hit a revenue number. In order to carry a line of furniture next year, she had to hit X number in sales this year. She did not hit it. She came super, super, super close, but she didn't hit it. She was making the fact that she didn't hit it mean all sorts of things. Namely that she wasn't good enough, that she should have done something different, that maybe she should be putting more energy into it, maybe she needs a different line. I mean, tons and tons of stories.

That's what made me want to record this episode about what are we making the facts mean. I'm recording it now or sharing with you now at the beginning of December because as you think about the facts around 2024, what are you making them mean and is it serving you? Is it useful? Is your story about these facts useful? Remember, facts are facts, we have thoughts about them. I mean, that's the beauty of having thought options that we can make these facts mean so many different things. But today, what I want to share is I want to share with you four common, I'll call them thinking patterns that can skew our perspective around the facts.

This is really something every business owner needs to master, understanding how our own perceptions can sometimes mislead us. So this is for you. This is for everybody. I'm going to break it down to the four common thinking patterns that can skew our perspective and give you some examples that you might find all too familiar. All right, you ready? Here we go.

Number one. I'll call it biased thinking or in layman's terms, I'll call it seeing what you want to see. Now this can go either way, by the way. You could have a bias to make that mean something amazing. So for example, you have launched a new product line, let's pretend, or you've created a new offer. Early feedback is mixed. You've gotten some people thinking it's amazing. You've gotten some people thinking, “No, thank you, not for me.” You've gotten some people saying, “Could this be different?”

Your biased thinking is having you focus on only the positive reviews and you're ignoring the constructive criticism that can help you improve your product. This is like selective attention and it may feel comforting but it also can blindside you into some valuable insight that really could help you sell even more.

So you're looking at the sales that have happened, which I have applauded you on that but are you looking at the criticism or feedback you've gotten on the sales that haven't happened, and are you taking that into consideration? So number one is biased thinking, seeing what we want to see. That is a common thinking pattern that can skew our perspective one way or the other.

You also could be thinking, "Oh, my gosh, I've only made X number of sales." And you're not looking at the sales you have made and what information that's giving you. So seeing what you want to see.

All right, number two, the fancy word might be emotional distortions and the layman's term might be making mountains out of molehills. Let's say you have pitched your offer or your service to a potential client and they have asked for more time to decide.

Now this is a common thing. They want time to think about it, to decide. Side note and tangent, I would always ask them what exactly are you thinking about. But if I come back—we'll save that for another episode—if I come back, you have made their request to think about it mean that they're not interested or they're going to be a no.

You started to catastrophize almost even this, "Hey, I just need to think about it. I need a little more time to decide." You're immediately assuming that they are not interested and that's going to lead you down a path. You might actually miss a possible client because you're not going to reconnect with them.

Or if you use emotional reasoning and try to get in their head, “This is what they must be thinking,” you might think that they're just going to say no because you're anxious about it despite the fact that you know that they would be a perfect client and that you can help them.

You're making a mountain out of a molehill, you're making their small request mean so many things, distorted types of things, and that is not useful or serving you. So that's the second way we can go astray when we talk about what are we making the facts mean. This is also what my client was doing, making it mean that she would never have another product line in there again. She now has a bad reputation, yada, yada.

Okay, this leads to number three. Over-generalization. She did not hit this number, but if we talk about percentages, she didn't hit it by 2%. It was a huge number. I forget the exact details, but let's say she had to get to 100%. Well, she got to 94%. All right, so it's not like she was only at 4%, she was at 94%, but she took this personally.

She went in and then started criticizing her marketing strategy saying, "Oh my gosh, my marketing strategies are never going to work. I'm never going to get to 100%.” Which isn't true, by the way. If she does start to believe that, it's going to hinder her further marketing initiatives.

Then she turned it into personal. “I am not good at marketing. That's why we didn't reach the number.” Instead of looking at potential other things, like, “Oh, but you didn't sell that product, but did you sell the guy the other thing that you carry?” Oh yeah, reached her numbers beyond, she went past the number she was supposed to reach with the other product.

She wasn't looking at external factors or the specific aspects of what happened like the 94% as it relates to 100% or selling more of product B than A but she went beyond with product B. She wasn't looking at that. She was just over-generating and taking things personally. That is another third thing that can happen when we start to create stories around facts. Are you doing that? Not helpful.

All right, fourth thing. Fourth thing is what I call black-and-white thinking and really the storytelling. Perhaps your business has faced some financial challenges over the past year. Now black in my thinking might lead you down the path of viewing your business as a complete failure, in ignoring the areas you did grow and where you do have potential.

Storytelling here, what are you making the facts mean? Could have you believing that these challenges here or not reaching the number, means that you're not cut out to be an entrepreneur. It weaves you into this tale of doom and maybe you should go back to corporate or maybe you should just stop this business altogether.

It really overlooks your capabilities as a business owner and really the cyclical nature of a business. Sometimes people are coming to me two years into business and telling me it's not working because we haven't driven up, or created a profit. You're really not supposed to be profitable until after year three.

Black and white thinking is like, either we're good or not good. Storytelling is making things mean sometimes, things that it's not that are not helpful or useful. I'm going to challenge you to put this book here that you've written that's not serving you or not useful. This book is full of your thoughts. The facts are in there, but you have thoughts about the facts and the story isn't helping you. The thoughts aren't helping you.

I want you to recognize and challenge your storytelling abilities, challenge your thoughts, give yourself some different options, and make some different decisions. I want you to foster some resilience here. I want you to drive your business with clarity and confidence.

This is all about seeing the full picture, my friends, and adjusting your lens to reality or turning the dial to a different channel, not just the channel that's filled with fears or not just the channel that's filled with La La Land type of wishes. I want you to focus in, move that lens so that it is focused and I want you to create stories or thoughts around them that serve you, that are useful, that help you move forward.

That was a lot that I smooshed into a little bit of time, but for reasons again, biased thinking or seeing what you want to see. Number two, emotional distortions are making mountains out of molehills. Number three, over-generalization is taking things personally. Number four is black-and-white thinking and storytelling.

Let's only read the books that help us move forward. Let's either throw the other ones away, donate them to Goodwill, or put them back on the shelf. However you want to think about that. Okay, thank you for tuning in today. As you prepare for your 2025, I'm here to help. I'm here to help.

Now even on my website, you have got options where you can just click and invest in coaching or we can set up a call. I can tell you what it all entails and what I think is best for you. You've got options. But today we've tackled some powerful—I'll call them cognitive shifts, and this can really help you navigate this journey.

Remember, being an entrepreneur is really a journey and personal development disguised as an entrepreneurial adventure. This is part of the journey. If you understand these things, you're going to be way more effective on the journey. Every challenge, it's a chance to grow. It's an opportunity. Every setback is a chance to grow and an opportunity to excel.

Keep aiming high, and we can do this together. All right, my friends, I will see you next week. I hope I hear from you before then. Message me, set up a call, let's do this. Let's write some new stories together. See you soon.

Thanks for tuning into the She Thinks Big! Podcast. If you're ready to learn the secret to unleashing your full potential, don't forget to grab a copy of my book, She Thinks Big: The Entrepreneurial Woman's Guide to Moving Past the Messy Middle and Into the Extraordinary. It's available on Amazon and at your favorite bookstore.

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