See Something, Tag Something
M is for Mindset, and Mindfulness
M is for Mindset
The first pillar of the MVP Framework is Mindset.
The first shift is simple to say, but hard to live: you must learn to see differently.
Mindset isn’t just what you believe. It’s how you see.
The Problem Mindset brain = survival mode. Scans for threats, risks, flaws. Fast, efficient, negative.
The Opportunity Mindset brain = creative mode. Looks for patterns, possibilities, openings. Slower, expansive, curious, generative.
Which one you feed is the one that grows.
The Human Toll of the Problem Mindset
Back in Chapter 1 I said, “your body keeps score.” Living in the Problem Mindset keeps your body locked in stress mode. Cortisol spikes. Sleep suffers. Energy drains. Your attention shrinks. That toll shows up in your health, mood, and decisions.
That’s the cost of the wrong playbook.
Being a solopreneur is hard. Not “occasional late nights” hard. Not “corporate deadline crunch” hard. It’s the kind of hard that creeps into your bones, stalks you in the middle of the night, and makes you wonder if you’re really cut out for this.
The Problem Mindset makes it worse. It whispers: “Solve one more problem. Earn one more badge. Grind one more day.” It piles on exhaustion, overwhelm, and autopilot until your opportunity radar goes dark.
Stress is sneaky. Under pressure, your brain doubles down on what it already knows. Scientists call it autopilot. I call it rowing in circles. You keep moving, but you’re not moving forward.
I’ve lived it. Sleepless nights, staring at the ceiling. Waking up already tired. Checking my phone before my feet hit the floor. That’s the human toll of the wrong playbook.
Autopilot and Awareness
Autopilot isn’t bad in itself. It’s why you can drive home without remembering the turns. It’s why you can make coffee half asleep. But autopilot becomes dangerous when it runs your whole business.
On autopilot, you stop noticing. You blow past signals of opportunity. You ignore the patterns shifting around you. You miss the window.
Here’s the kicker: stress accelerates autopilot. The harder things get, the more your brain defaults to old loops. For solopreneurs, autopilot becomes the default operating system. It numbs awareness, hardens old patterns, and blinds you to the signals that could change your future.
Everyday autopilot looks like this:
Driving home and forgetting the last five turns.
Checking one notification, then scrolling for 20 minutes.
Making coffee without thinking — useful in the kitchen, deadly in business.
Answering email first thing in the morning because “that’s what I always did at work.”
Accepting every meeting invite without asking if it’s worth it.
In business, autopilot is doing busywork because it feels safe while ignoring the bigger shift that could carry you forward. One founder I knew kept “clearing email” as his morning ritual. By the time he surfaced, the hours when he could have been creative and strategic were gone. He was rowing hard, but in circles.
That’s what I mean when I say the body keeps score. You don’t just feel tired. You are tired, mentally and physically.
The Promise of Neuroplasticity
Here’s the good news, the same brain that locks you into autopilot can also break free. That’s because of neuroplasticity. The brain’s ability to rewire itself.
In other words, what you pay attention to changes what your brain pays attention to.
Spend your days scanning for problems, and your brain becomes a problem-hunting machine. Start looking for opportunities, and your brain begins to rewire itself to notice them.
That’s why I say: “change your mindset, change your future.” It’s not just a slogan. It’s biology working in your favor.
M is for Mindfulness
M is for Mindset, but M is also for Mindfulness.
Mindfulness isn’t about apps or breathing exercises. It’s about noticing where your attention goes and what it does to your brain.
Psychiatrists define mindfulness in simple terms, paying attention to the present moment, on purpose, without judgment. Not zoning out. Not reacting on autopilot. Just noticing.
In my coaching, I talk about “No Judgement Zones.” These are the times when your brain needs to be free to observe, create, and imagine. Later comes the “Judgement Zone,” when you put on your executive hat and make decisions. But for mindfulness, it’s no judgment.
David Allen, the creator of GTD, put it this way: “Pay attention to what you’re paying attention to.” That’s the starting point of clarity and the end of autopilot.
I once saw mindfulness in action at Marvel during the bankruptcy to buyout days. A whiteboard with lots of W-questions scribbled in marker. “Why are we still doing this? What does this mean? Where do we go from here?” It forced whoever saw it to stop, notice, and see differently.
After 9/11, New York subways were plastered with “See Something, Say Something.” Don’t walk by on autopilot. Stop. Notice. Tag it. See Something, Tag Something. That’s mindfulness. That’s how you build an Opportunity Mindset. That’s the keystone practice we’ll cover in the next chapter.
My Three Lifelines
For the last fifteen years, I’ve carried the toll of solopreneurship. What kept me afloat were three lifelines:
Opportunity Mindset Practice: I began to practice the “See Something, Tag Something” keystone practice that changed my mindset and changed my future.
Getting Things Done (GTD): Being organized enough gave me the clarity and stress-free productivity to innovate myself.
Kolbe A Index: Knowing my volitional MO (4-4-9-1) showed me what gives me energy and what drains it.
Each came at a different moment. When stress tempted me to spiral, my keystone practice snapped me back. When my head was cluttered, GTD gave me clarity. When I doubted myself, Kolbe reminded me how I was wired to win.
Without these, I might have gone under. With them, I’ve been able to see differently, stay afloat, remain focused, and keep moving forward.
See Differently, Win Differently
Here’s the shift:
From autopilot to awareness.
From reacting to problems to noticing opportunities.
From stress running you to mindfulness guiding you.
The body keeps score. But the body also keeps score of opportunity. When you train your attention differently, the score changes. You see differently. You act differently. You win differently.
Seeing differently isn’t optional. It’s survival. If you don’t retrain your attention, autopilot will run you.
In the next post, I’ll show you the simple practice that rewires your brain for opportunity: #hmm, #ouch, #wow. If you take nothing else from this series, take that.