80: Nina Cooke, Mindset Secret To Overcome Procrastination

Daniel Giordano

SUMMARY:

Entrepreneurial success requires more than keen business skills and strategy. This episode of All-In explores another essential component: Mindset. With his guest Nina Cooke, a coach who specializes in uncovering self-limiting beliefs, Dan explores the intersection between what we tell ourselves and what we’re able to achieve as a result. When the inner monologue is full of self-doubt, feelings of unworthiness or fear of rejection, we are inevitably going to wind up holding ourselves back.

Negative self-talk is unquestionably damaging, but many of us aren’t even aware of it. Nina’s practice is built around helping high-level executives, many of whom have already had business coaching, access another core element of growth and long-term achievement: Conscious and unconscious thoughts. Once brought to the surface, Nina helps people examine the roots of their inner monologue and consider alternative mindsets.

Drawn from her own early upbringing in England (and some of the patterns she developed that did not serve), as well as the journey she took to becoming a self-confident coach, Nina explains why she went “All-in” with this particular specialty and how intentionality changes not only careers but lives.

Interested in learning more about where you are with your own mindset? Nina is offering a free Millionaire Mindset scorecard here. And episodes of her podcast are available by clicking here.

KEY TOPICS:

Nina shares a bit of background about her early family life and the ways in which it shaped her. She grew up feeling a sense of isolation, lack of agency, withdrawal and fear of authority. As she grew older, she often felt herself faking confidence.
Nina started out with a people-pleasing mindset that felt inauthentic. In having children of her own, she saw an innate confidence that made her curious. She wanted some of that same natural self-esteem!
It took some time but when Nina found the right process, she was transformed:
- Instead of feeling that it was unsafe to be visible and that she wasn’t enough, she flipped it and embraced beliefs that were just the opposite.
- She’s remains a work in progress, but the difference in how she shows up for the people in her personal and professional life has been remarkable.
How was it that Nina made the transition from getting coaching to becoming one: It happened when she realized that many business executives were being held back by mindsets or self-imposed limitations similar to those she’d overcome.
Nina shares a challenge she faced along the path to being “All-in” with her current coaching practice. Early on she wasn’t getting the penetration she wanted. People weren’t interested in her services. Solution? She stopped showing up as if on a sales call and started approaching prospective clients for a personal chat.
Some of the most common blocks Nina can trace to negative mindsets?
Imposter syndrome: In which an entrepreneur erroneously believes there is something about them that leaves them vulnerable to being exposed.
A self-limiting belief that rejection is scary: Some would-be entrepreneurs don’t get out of the gate for fear that someone will say no and crush them.
Persistent feelings of unworthiness are a close corollary to fear of rejection.
Does Nina have a typical client or common area in which business owners struggle? Generally they come to her when they realize that business coaching in and of itself will not be enough to remove the deeper mental blocks that are an impediment to growth and moving forward.
Nina offers her key piece of advice: Pay attention to your thoughts. Unless brought to the surface, what you are thinking shapes all kinds of choices, and not necessarily in ways that you’ll like. Write down your thoughts, get them out of your head and let go of any that are not serving you.

KEY QUOTES:

“I thought I wasn’t likable and I wasn’t lovable, so I would try to get people to like me by trying to figure out what they wanted me to say and how they wanted me to behave.”
“I thought I could show entrepreneurs that they could start showing up in a bigger way, start raising their prices, reach out to people.”
“If we have a self-limiting belief that rejection is scary, we’re going to do everything within our power not to be in a position where someone can say no to us.”
“If you ask your client why they can’t have something, it will often come down to why they don’t feel they deserve it.”
“Get out of your head, get it down on paper and tell yourself: ‘I’m making it all up.’ Once you know it’s a lie, you’re not going to carry on buying into it.”
“I wish a limiting belief would dissolve forever, but often it will come back … but at least you’re becoming aware of where you’re holding yourself back.”

About Nina:

Nina Cooke helps 6- and 7-figure coaches, consultants and experts to build authority and boost their profit by creating an unstoppable mindset. She has worked with 100s of established entrepreneurs, helping them to increase their profits by up to 800%. The host of “Entrepreneur’s Inner Game Podcast, she has interviewed world-class entrepreneurs and best-selling authors. She’s been featured in Entrepreneur magazine, on BBC Radio, and on top podcasts.

Follow Nina:

Website: www.ninacook.co.uk
@Facebook
@LinkedIn
@Insta

About the All In Podcast Show:

The All-In Podcast Show presents top Entrepreneurs, Innovators and World Changers willing to share their breakthrough moments and how they are changing the world. Focused on being “All-In” on the four areas of life: faith, family, finances, and health, host Daniel Giordano invites mentors who exemplify balance and a commitment to building a bold life of excellence.

Previous Episodes: https://www.allinpodcast.com