Three Mindset Shifts for Next Level Performance
Newsletter in Brief
Three mindset shifts required to move to the next level - in your career and your life.
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We talk a lot about strategy in career transitions - clarifying your direction, refining your brand, learning new skills, building visibility. All of that matters. But there are two critical elements that rarely gets the attention they deserve.
Most transitions don’t fail because of a lack of ambition.
They fail because the person didn’t have the support systems to hold the transition during it’s most fragile moments and the support networks to stretch them into the next version of themselves.
Today, I want to break these two apart, because mastering them is the difference between hoping for a successful transition and sustaining & realizing one.
Shift 1:
Embrace Support Systems: The Structure That Holds You
A transition is both: an identity as well as operational shift. If your daily life doesn’t support that shift, your transition becomes a constant uphill battle.
We know from Greek mythology and the story of a king Sisyphus. He got punished by Gods for lying, exposing their secrets, cheating Death, and refusing to stay in the underworld. His punishment was to push a huge boulder up a hill forever, only for it to roll back down every time. This was meant to show that no matter how clever he was, he could not win against the natural order.
To avoid such ending, we need support systems as they are the invisible architecture that makes the change possible. They look different for everyone:
For a parent, it might mean securing childcare & some housekeeping help so there is actual space to prepare for the new role or build the new business.
For someone starting a company, it might mean building routines, tools, and processes that let you move fast without burning out.
For a corporate leader stepping into bigger roles, it might mean creating a system of delegating the low-value tasks that drain your energy and take bulk of your time.
In other words: systems turn intention into momentum.
This includes:
Routines that you can repeat effortlessly
Tools that create predictability
Boundaries that protect your energy
Delegation or outsourcing that frees you up to focus on what matters
Processes that help you scale your effort without doubling your workload
When your system is tight and serves your needs, your transition gains stability. You stop fighting your life and start moving with it.
Many leaders I work with struggle with the idea of implementing such support system, because they are not used to asking for help. What got them to this point is doing everything alone and by themselves and just an idea that they would be outsourcing, paying someone else to do the work, hiring someone to help feels very much ‘out there’ - this is the first mindset shift that needs to happen for transition to work successfully.
Shift 2:
Your Network: Let go of Nay-sayers
The second shift is harder to talk about because it involves people and people bring their own fears, hopes, and anxieties into your transition.
Broadly, there are two types of people you’ll encounter:
Those Who Pull You Back and those who pull your forward.
People will pull you back not because they’re bad people.
Often, it’s because your growth triggers their anxiety.
Your change reminds them of:
What they’re not doing
What they’re afraid to try
The discomfort of leaving familiar territory
And most often -the fear of never reaching their own potential because they’re afraid to try
Holding you back becomes their way of holding themselves together and thus coping with their own anxiety.
If you rely too heavily on this group’s opinions, your transition will fail. Not because you’re not capable, but because you’re plugged into the wrong emotional mood and are listening to the wrong group of advisors.
Shift 2 is to move away from these people and limit your contact with them as much as possible.
Shift 3:
Embrace New Networks, especially Those Who Pull You Forward
There will be people, groups and even entire communities that will see your potential clearly, sometimes way before you can.
They will challenge you, mentor you, guide you, and normalize the version of you that you're stepping into.
For me personally, the start of my transition was initiated by few people who were close to me and encouraged me to follow this path I am on now even when I was not fully ready to do it myself. At the time they could see in me the potential I was failing to see myself. Without their guidance, I likely would not have even started. It is at upmost critical importance to identify such people and stay as close to them as you can through reciprocity and also gratefulness for their guidance and advice.
Last week, during the INSEAD’s Personal Board of Directors webinar, we spoke about this intentionally: building a board of advisors around you - challengers, mentors, coaches, peers - each holding a different seat at the table of your next chapter.
This isn’t optional.
It’s essential.
Because you cannot become someone new while being constantly surrounded by people who only know the old you. You also can’t step into your future you can’t quite see it yet and this it is so important that someone else can see it for you and guide you along the way.
When you spend time with people who already operate at the level you want to reach, something powerful happens:
You stop seeing your next level as a stretch.
You start seeing it as your new normal.
For entrepreneurs, this might look like communities where success is normalized, where others are launching, building, scaling.
For corporate leaders, it’s circles where strategic conversations and complex challenges are everyday talk not a one off event.
For someone building a consultancy, it’s proximity to people who have already built what you’re building and you can observe their way of being.
When your environment shifts, your identity recalibrates. The yesterdays ‘impossible’ becomes todays ‘norm’ and tomorrows stretch target becomes yesterdays goal.
Would you like to re-imagine your leadership and career story?
Join the 45min webinar on Dec 10th.
The Bottom Line
Career transitions aren’t just professional shifts, they’re psychological upgrades. And upgrades require infrastructure. Upgrades also require mindset shifts. And – they require behavior shifts and none of those will ever happen in a vacuum – they happen with right systems and right people around you.
People stretch you.
Systems stabilize you.
And together, they shape your capacity to succeed.
If you're navigating a transition or preparing for one, don’t only ask, “What am I aiming for?” – that’s not good enough recipe for success.
Ask, “Who and what is holding me up as I move forward?”
No one transitions alone.
And no one succeeds by accident.
Connect Deeply. Evolve authentically. Impact profoundly.
Live Beyond the Ordinary.
Curious to learn more?
1. For more articles, tips, and insights, connect with me on LinkedIn and ring the bell on my LinkedIn profile to be notified every time I share my top tips.
2. Reach out to me at hello@sanitapukite.com to explore the possibility to bring High-Impact Leadership Lab series into your organisation.
3. Looking to scale up your influence to move from performance to presence. Book a discovery call.
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BEYOND is a state of continuous growth and transformation. It’s about stepping out of the ordinary, redefining what’s possible, and leading boldly. Here, we explore leadership fundamentals - self-awareness, presence, mindset, behaviors, strategic decision-making and influence. BEYOND is for those who refuse to lead within expectations and instead choose to go further, think bigger, and make a lasting impact.