Warren Buffett is a billionaire investor. Nick Saban is a college football coach. What do they have in common? Off-the-charts success! They are both at the top of the mountain in their respective occupations. What else do they have in common? They both use an incredibly powerful tool to help them develop and keep their winning mindset. In today’s episode of The Winning Mindset Mastery Podcast, April talks about this powerful tool, the “inner scorecard.” She contrasts it with the outer scorecard and tells us why focusing on the inner scorecard is easier, more powerful, and ultimately produces more results. And she tells how you can harness its power for yourself!
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Listen to the podcast here
Feel Like You’re Failing At Life? Use This Scorecard And Start Winning Big
I am excited about the concept that I’m going to share with you. It is something that most people who have a winning mindset are already practicing. I bet you haven’t heard it explained this way. You probably don’t know how to explain it to someone else. It’s incredibly powerful. I have done this on my own for years but had it explained by a good friend on LinkedIn, Teddy Mitrosilis. He added some things to it that I wasn’t aware of. It made it so much more powerful for me. I absolutely want to share it with you.
It is the idea of an inner or outer scorecard. How are you measuring your life? How are you measuring the things that you’re going after? To throw out some other great names who happen to use this technique, one of them is a little-known gentleman by the name of Warren Buffett. He is just a billionaire, super humble and successful. Why would we listen to him? Another is an incredible sports coach, Nick Saban. Whether you’re a fan of his team or not, you cannot deny the repeated success he’s had. Although he calls it something different, an inner scoreboard and an outer scoreboard, he talks about the exact same thing. This is incredibly powerful.
When you think about that outer scorecard, it is basically everything that has to do with how everybody else thinks about what you’re doing and how you feel about how everyone else sees what you are doing. Whether that is fame, money, your rank in your sales organization, recognition, accolades, and any of those things, these are all indicators from the outside in. They’re very fickle. You may have those indicators that you’re very successful when you’re not showing up 100%.
On the flip side, you could be doing all the right things and be showing up in an incredible way, but just be in the early parts of your journey and not yet have those outside indicators. It’s important to understand the difference between the two. It is powerful to value the inner scorecard more because that’s about the process and the things that you can control. It’s not those outside fickle influences that don’t necessarily indicate anything about who you are and how you’re performing.
Measuring Life: It is powerful to value the inner scorecard more because that’s about the process and the things that you can control.
A lot of people who do great get those outside indicators. They get them mostly because they’re focused on that internal scorecard. That inner scorecard is the effort that you put in every day. How you’re showing up, your values and principles, and the way that you behave align with those two things. It’s consistency. I probably said it before, but I’m going to consistently say it because it makes a big difference. We’ve talked about this before, but think about it. When you go after something with big massive action, but you only do it for 1 week or 2, you don’t get a lot of great results.
When you go after something with massive action but only do it for a week or two, you don't get a lot of great results. Share on XAmazingly, if you can find small consistent actions that you can do over time continuously and easily, you’ll be amazed at the way those stack up. Those small consistent actions are also part of your inner scorecard. Another is your personal performance. How do you feel about the way that you are going after the things that matter to you? It matters so much more than the way other people see it. When you’re measuring yourself by this inner scorecard, and you’re not paying attention to the way that other people react and what other people think, it is incredibly freeing.
If you think about it, it’s almost as if you’re running a race. When you’re measuring yourself by that inner scorecard, you’re paying attention to your breathing and pace. Are you hydrated? How’s your body feeling? How are you doing? Versus looking around you and seeing who’s running faster than you and who might be doing better. None of those things are going to ultimately impact your performance the way you’re paying attention to yourself.
Measuring Life: When you’re measuring yourself by that inner scorecard, you’re paying attention to your breathing and pace versus looking around you and seeing who’s running faster than you and who might be doing better.
When I talk about my work and the things that I do in business and with people, I talk about measuring the H, not the M. Measure the people Helped, not the Money made. This isn’t because money isn’t important or it doesn’t happen. It absolutely does, but the money is that external scorecard and the people helped are the internal scorecard that I can control. The more that I focus on that, the more that all of the scorecards will fill up.
I believe in this strongly. There are times that I’m working on metrics and KPIs for sales organizations. Early in the game, when you’re building a sales territory, you’re building your presence, and those sorts of things, I have those sales teams measure how many people they help today because what you’re doing by selling is offering to and helping your potential clients. Measuring those activities encourages those consistent behaviors for the internal scorecard that are going to make the best habit behaviors, make the best impression on potential clients, and ultimately, make the most successful sales team.
My challenge for you is to evaluate for yourself. We’re all measuring by a mix of an inner and outer scorecard. Could you possibly measure yourself only by that inner scorecard? What would that look like? What are those things that matter to you? Could this be the key to you enjoying the process of your life and going after your dreams? If you don’t have to have that outside scorecard result in order to be happy, how much more powerful are you going to be at pursuing those goals? I’m asking the question, but I already know the answer.
Measuring Life: We’re all measuring by a mix of an inner and outer scorecard. If you measure yourself only by that inner scorecard, what would that look like?
I want you to give this a try and let me know how it goes for you. Don’t forget, you can always go to the website, WinningMindsetMasteryPodcast.com. At the very bottom, you can Ask April so you can ask me a question personally in your own voice. Even more importantly, you can tell me how you’re doing with these mindset techniques and how a winning mindset is impacting you because I would love to know. I will answer you myself personally and privately as well. Give this a shot. Tell me how it works for you. I can’t wait to find out. Here’s to your success.
Important Link
- Teddy Mitrosilis – LinkedIn