Is Your Mindset Helping You or Hurting You?

Apr 10
11 min read

You can have the best systems in the world. But if the mind running them is working against you, none of it will matter.

I want to be honest with you about something.

Everything I teach — the systems, the delegation, the assessments, the frameworks — all of it is built on an assumption. And the assumption is this: that the person implementing these tools is working with a mindset that supports their success, not one that quietly undermines it.

Because here's what I've seen over forty years of building businesses and mentoring entrepreneurs:

You can hand someone a perfect roadmap, and they'll still find a way to stay stuck. Not because the map is wrong. Because something in their thinking keeps pulling them back to where they started.

Fear dressed up as logic. Doubt disguised as caution. Old beliefs about money, worth, and what's possible — running in the background like software nobody installed on purpose.

When you think about the next level of your business — the growth, the freedom, the version of success you actually want — what's the first thing that comes up? Excitement? Or a quiet voice that starts listing all the reasons it probably won't work?

This week, we're talking about that voice. Where it comes from, what it costs you, and what I've actually done — personally — to keep it from running the show.

Part 1: The Day I Asked the Wrong Question

Early in our entrepreneurial journey, before Hawaiian Vacations, I was running a small marketing consulting firm in Anchorage, Alaska. I had grown from being a solopreneur to having a small team. We were busy. We were working hard. And I was terrified.

The bills were mounting. The income felt unpredictable. We were doing everything right — or so I thought — and still couldn't seem to get ahead. The fear was real and visceral. There were nights spent imagining worst-case scenarios, the kind of catastrophic thinking that hijacks your sleep and follows you into the morning.

Out of desperation, I attended a workshop in Anchorage I couldn't really afford — led by Robert Kiyosaki, years before he became the famous author of Rich Dad Poor Dad. The workshop was called 'Money and You.' And through that experience, I connected with a consultant named Lee Berglund, who became a mentor.

One cold winter afternoon, I sat with Lee in her mountain home outside Anchorage, beside a crackling fire. And I asked her the question that had been burning in me for months:

"How do I make more money?"

Lee listened. She looked at my business financials. She looked at every piece of that young, struggling business. And then she said something that stopped me cold:

"It's clear you know how to make money — just look at your gross revenues. Your problem is not making money. It is making a profit."

The light bulb went on instantly. I had been so locked onto revenue — the top line, the number that felt like proof I was doing something — that I had stopped paying attention to the bottom line. I thought the problem was 'not enough money.' The real problem was 'not enough profit.'

Same situation. Two completely different diagnoses. And only one of them pointed to a solution.

If you are not crystal clear about what you REALLY want, you will not reach your true goal.

That afternoon with Lee was one of the most important mindset shifts of my entrepreneurial life. Not because she gave me a new strategy. Because she helped me see that I was asking the wrong question— and that the wrong question, repeated long enough, becomes its own kind of trap.

Is there a problem in your business right now that you keep trying to solve — but the solution never quite sticks? Is it possible you've been asking the wrong question about it?

This became one of my favorite practices when hitting a wall: Redefine the goal. Step back. Make sure you're aiming at the right target before you pour more energy into pulling the trigger.

Part 2: Clarity Leads to Power — But First, Honesty

Robert Kiyosaki taught me something in that first workshop that I've carried ever since:

"Clarity Leads to Power."

I believe that completely. But here's what nobody tells you about clarity: getting clear requires a level of honesty with yourself that is genuinely uncomfortable.

It means looking at what you're actually doing — not what you tell yourself you're doing. It means asking whether the goals you're chasing are truly yours, or whether you've absorbed them from someone else's definition of success. It means noticing when the story in your head about why something isn't working is protecting you from a harder truth.

I have a personal example of this that has nothing to do with business — but everything to do with mindset.

For years, I struggled with weight. And for years, the goal was the same: be thin. Look a certain way. Chase an image. And no matter how many times progress was made, it never held. The goal felt wrong in a way that was hard to name, and the motivation kept evaporating.

The shift came when I finally stopped and asked the real question: What do I actually want?

The answer wasn't thin. It was healthy. Healthy enough to be active. Healthy enough to be present for children and grandchildren for a long, long time. That was the real goal — and the moment I named it honestly, everything changed. Not overnight. But the direction became clear, the motivation became genuine, and the progress finally started to stick.

If you're ready to get honest about what you actually want from your business, start with my free 6 Principles training → [Get access here]

Sometimes you need to redefine the goal to make sure you're aiming at what you actually want — not what you think you're supposed to want.

The same principle applies to your business. Are you building toward something that genuinely excites you? Or are you grinding toward a version of success that looks good from the outside but doesn't actually feed you?

Does your business still feed your passion? If someone asked you why you do what you do — not the polished elevator pitch version, but the honest answer — what would you say?

Part 3: Does Your Business Feed Your Passion?

This is a question I ask every entrepreneur I work with, and it's the one that tends to create the longest silence.

I asked AI once what 'feed your passion' actually means, and the answer was worth keeping:

"Feed your passion means to actively engage in and dedicate time to the things you are most passionate about — nurturing your enthusiasm and interest, allowing it to grow and flourish. It's about actively pursuing what you love and making it a part of your life."

Now sit with this question honestly:

If your business doesn't fuel you and feed your passion — why are you doing it?

That's not a rhetorical question. It's the most practical mindset question an entrepreneur can ask themselves. Because a business that doesn't feed your passion will eventually drain your mindset — no matter how good the systems are, no matter how smart the strategy.

I've seen it happen. Entrepreneurs who built something technically successful but emotionally hollow. Who showed up every day and did the work, but felt the vitality slowly leaving. Who started saying 'someday' about the things that actually mattered to them — the freedom, the family time, the pursuits that lit them up — while the business consumed everything else.

We lived a version of that ourselves in the early years. The boat sat on a trailer while the business demanded our attention every hour. The vacations that never happened. The 'when things slow down' that never came.

The mindset shift that changed everything was deciding — deliberately — that the business existed to serve our lives, not the other way around.

And we also recognize this: values shift over time. What drove you in your twenties may not be what serves you in your forties or fifties. The passion that launched the business may have evolved into something new. That's not failure — that's growth. But it requires periodic honesty about whether your business is still aligned with who you actually are now.

As you do your periodic business assessments, also take stock of this: Is what you're doing still in alignment with your values? With your goals for your life? With who you are today, not who you were when you started?

If something has shifted, it might signal the need for a pivot. Only you can decide that. But you can only decide it if you're honest enough to look.

Part 4: Yes, We All Have Fears and Insecurities

I want to say something here that doesn't get said often enough in entrepreneurship conversations, especially by people who have built something that looks successful from the outside.

We all have fears. We all have insecurities. We all have moments of doubt that don't match the confidence we project.

Every entrepreneur does. The ones who tell you otherwise are either not being honest with you, or they've simply learned to keep moving despite it, which is a completely different thing from not having it.

Mindset work isn't about eliminating fear. It's about not letting fear make the decisions.

Here's what I've found, personally, that helps:

Invest in your own development — consistently, not occasionally

Every year, I devote significant time and resources to personal development. Tony Robbins events. Mastermind groups. Books. Podcasts. Online courses. Not because I've figured everything out and just need a tune-up. Because the work of keeping a healthy, growth-oriented mindset is never finished.

I do it to keep nurturing the kind of mindset that will keep me moving forward — and not get bogged down by my own fears and insecurities.

This isn't a luxury. It's maintenance. The same way you service the engine of a business that you want to keep running, you have to service the mind that's running it.

Take your physical health as seriously as your business health

Your mental state is as important as your physical health. I believe that deeply — and I've lived it.

For many years, exercise wasn't a priority. The business came first. Personal health came somewhere after that, in the time that was left over, which most days was almost none.

It took time to understand that this was not a sustainable equation. If you're not healthy, it's hard to lead a successful business, much less enjoy the life that business is supposed to be building toward. Taking care of yourself isn't selfishness. It's the foundation everything else stands on.

I am not yet where I want to be physically. But with commitment and persistence, real progress has been made. And the difference it makes — in energy, in clarity, in the capacity to lead — is not small.

Find your people — the ones who tell you the truth

One of the most powerful mindset tools available to any entrepreneur is a community of peers who are honest with you. Not cheerleaders who validate every idea. Not critics who deflate every attempt. People who see you clearly, believe in what's possible for you, and are willing to say the hard thing when you need to hear it.

That might be a mastermind group. A coach. A mentor who has actually done what you're trying to do. Whatever the form, the function is the same: to give you an outside perspective when your own thinking has gotten too close to the problem to see it clearly.

Who in your life currently challenges your thinking — not to discourage you, but to sharpen you? If you can't name someone, that's a gap worth closing.

Part 5: What 'Livin' the Dream' Actually Means

I want to close with something personal — because this topic, more than almost any other, calls for it.

'Livin' the Dream' is not just a brand name. It is a philosophy. And the most important thing about it is this: it means something different to every person. You get to define it for yourself.

For us, our definition includes financial and personal freedom. Time with our daughters and grandchildren — not occasional, not rushed, but real, generous time. The ability to travel where and when we want. The health and vitality to enjoy all of it for a long, long time.

And woven through all of it: gratitude. Living in gratitude — daily, genuinely — is the spiritual dimension of 'Livin' the Dream' for us. Not a practice we perform, but one we mean.

That vision didn't come from a business plan. It came from honest conversations — about what we actually wanted, what truly mattered, what kind of life we were trying to build, and why. And it became the north star that every business decision got measured against.

When the business was consuming everything, the boat sat on a trailer, and the vacations kept getting postponed, we knew we had drifted from the destination. And knowing that clearly was what made the course corrections possible.

You have to know what 'Livin' the Dream' means to you — specifically, honestly, yours — before you can build a business that actually gets you there.

What does your version of 'Livin' the Dream' look like? Not the vague version — the specific one. Who is there? Where are you? What does a Tuesday feel like? What have you stopped waiting for?

Write it down. Put it somewhere you'll actually see it. And let it do what clarity is supposed to do: give you power.

This Week's Exercise: The Mindset Audit

Set aside thirty quiet minutes this week — no phone, no interruptions — and work through these questions honestly. Write the answers down. Don't edit yourself.

What is a goal I keep setting but never quite reaching? Am I solving the right problem — or have I been asking the wrong question?
Does my business currently feed my passion? If the honest answer is 'not really' — what has shifted, and what would it take to realign?
What fear or insecurity shows up most often when I think about growing my business? What decision has it been making for me?
What am I doing to take care of my physical health — the foundation everything else runs on?
What personal development have I invested in recently — books, courses, events, communities — to actively nurture a growth mindset?
What is my definition of 'Livin' the Dream'? Can I write it in three sentences or fewer?

There are no right answers here. Only honest ones. And the honest ones are the only ones that will actually move you forward.

Above all — don't settle. You can do whatever you set your mind to accomplish. GO FOR IT.

Podcast Spotlight

Brave and Becoming with Kimberly Wirfs

In this episode of Brave & Becoming, I share my journey of building businesses, facing fear head-on, and choosing courage at every stage of life.

From Alaska roots to climbing a 50-foot pole at a Tony Robbins retreat and walking across hot coals, this conversation is a reminder that bravery is a daily choice—not a personality trait.

Listen Here: Brave is a Verb: Living the Dream at Any Age

Final Thoughts

The business is only as healthy as the mindset behind it.

All the systems, all the delegation, all the strategy — they are tools. And tools work only as well as the hands holding them. If the mind driving the work is clouded by fear, chasing the wrong goal, or grinding away at something that no longer feeds it, the tools won't save you.

But here's what we know to be true, after forty years of doing this:

Mindset is not fixed. It is built, tended, and rebuilt — with intention, with good people around you, with the humility to keep learning, and with the honesty to look clearly at what you actually want and whether you're actually moving toward it.

You deserve a business that feeds your passion. You deserve a life that reflects your real values. And you have every capacity to build both.

Don't settle for the comfortable version. Don't keep asking the wrong question. Don't let the fear that's dressed up as logic make one more decision on your behalf.

Get clear. Stay clear. And go for it.

With love and clarity,

Ral West

Livin' the Dream