All of us are born with unique talents. However, talents do not mean anything unless we put work and experience into it. Many of us would be familiar with the concept of ‘growth mindset’ but what exactly is it and how does one succeed in any aspect of their lives?
According to Harvard Business Review, a ‘growth mindset’ refers to individuals who believe their talents can be developed through hard work, good strategies, and input from others. They tend to achieve more than those with a more fixed mindset (those who believe their talents are innate gifts and do not see the need to put effort in it) as they worry less about looking smart and they put more energy into learning and executing.
To reveal the secrets behind how one can develop a growth mindset, Marketing in Asia caught up with a young and upcoming social media content creator, and growth mindset influencer, Sadiq Hussain from the UK who started off a marketing career right here in Malaysia. He shares about his discovery into personal development, habits that changed him, and his advice for marketers and entrepreneurs to develop a growth mindset.
Hi Sadiq! Thank you for being on Marketing in Asia and we are thrilled to have you on this interview. To kick off, tell us who is Sadiq Hussain, his background, career and passion.
I did as any normal ‘cultural’ parent tells us to do which is go to school, college, university then ‘get a good job.’ I skipped the university part but still managed to get a good job working at Morgan Stanley in London where I was born and raised. I’m one of the lucky few people in the world who have been gifted with the blessing of having a lot of natural, crazy energy. I believe this is what really makes me unique from others and allows me to connect with people and build meaningful relationships.
My biggest passion in life has always been to inspire and help people feel amazing. I was raised to love for others what I love for myself so I did my very best to always be kind and offer my help wherever needed. This was instilled into my character so as I got older, I learnt to master this and continue to spread love, peace and positivity into as many hearts and souls as I can.
You were once a shy and introverted young boy where you spent your days playing computer games with your friends after school. Today, you are a TEDx speaker, a social media content creator and podcast host. What was the turning point?
Yes, I was actually super shy and introverted at the time. In fact, I was so shy, that I couldn’t speak to women! I was so afraid of what they’ll think of me and how they will judge me. While I was in college, I had eight friends, played Call of Duty (video game), ate, slept and repeated this life every single day without knowing I was actually wasting a lot of my valuable time. However, I’m a massive believer that everything in life happens for a good reason and we must learn from our mistakes and failures but not repeat them.
The real turning point for me started on the 12th of Sept 2014 at 5:33:18 pm. Yes, there’s a reason why I’m being so specific because that day and time was the moment I had my first ever paradigm shift that changed my life and shifted my Mindset forever. I met a friend who introduced me to the world of Personal Growth and Business. The rest was history.
Tell us about your gig with QNet Marketing, a Hong Kong based multi-level marketing company and how it led you to where you are today? What have you learnt about the marketing profession, and how one can succeed in today’s environment.
As I discovered more about the industry of Network Marketing, I started falling in love with the concept of residual income and leverage. QNET came into my life through a friend and I dedicated so much time and effort into improving myself and learning more about business so that one day I could become successful like the people whom I looked up to. It allowed me to travel to places like Malaysia and Dubai to experience a different lifestyle and to connect with new cultures and perspectives which helped me become a more open minded individual.
Most of us were never taught this in school, which is why I became so passionate about self-education and personal development as it teaches us more about real life and what’s relevant in the current environment rather than just painting everyone with the same brush and style of learning. Also, I became really good at marketing through the skills I learnt around psychology and sales which helped me gain so much more trust and credibility with the people I connected with despite being so young.
At this year’s Tedx University of Kent Medway, you shared about the idea of ‘Consistently Taking Action’ and three things that are holding us back from achieving success. Walk us through it.
I truly believe these are the three most important obstacles stopping most people from taking more action in their lives because they certainly were stopping me, that’s for sure.
Limiting Beliefs – majority of our childhood, we all hear the word ‘No’ more than the word ‘Yes.’ We hear sentences like ‘you cannot do this’ and ‘stop wasting time.’ Those beliefs and thoughts have been instilled in our subconscious mind which grew, and as a result, stopped us from taking more action and believing in ourselves more because we have made those stories from the past real in our minds, when they’re not.
Fear of Judgement – frankly, we all care too much about other people’s opinions and judgement on us which again, forces us to NOT take action in case people ‘laugh’ or tell us we are being ‘ridiculous.’ Those thoughts come from our insecurities and limiting beliefs trying to convince us internally that we’re not ‘good enough’, when let me tell you now, we ARE! When we truly learn to ignore the ‘noise’ and ‘negativity’ out there, through consistent personal growth, things in our life become much clearer and focused.
Procrastination – most of us repeat the same mistakes every single day. We know we need to get something done, but we make excuses and procrastinate by using our favourite word ‘tomorrow.’ The truth is, ‘tomorrow’ never comes and is not promised! So, stop wasting your valuable time and ask yourself, what would the ten times BOLDER version of YOU do. They would get up and go get things done!
With the coronavirus pandemic, brands and marketing professionals are battling with an uncertain future and have cut their marketing and advertising budgets quite massively. In your view, what should be the mindset about branding and content strategy in 2020 and beyond?
The world is moving more towards online and technology so I believe personally, we have to all focus on building our business and personal brand using Online Marketing strategies and Social Media which has a massive role to play when it comes to marketing and branding in today’s world. We are now our own media channels which means we must continue to put out quality content that adds value, educates and gains trust from our current and future clients. The key is to adapt to change and focus on bringing the most value.
What is your marketing and personal branding strategy?
My strategy is simple but not easy for most to consistently take action on because it requires time, effort and dedication every single day to show up in front of my audience and add value or inspire them towards greatness. I post a minimum of twice a day on every main social media platform such as LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and TikTok. Also, I post two videos on YouTube weekly and this allows me to widen my reach further and more likely attract my relevant target audience to connect and engage with my content.
What can we expect of Sadiq in the next few years?
I would love to be travelling to more amazing countries and spread my message to as many souls as I can to help add value, inspiration and positivity in a world where there is so much negativity around us. If I can inspire one person to inspire another, then my mission will be fulfilled and my heart shall be content. Expect even more online content from me and potentially even come see me speak at an event somewhere near you!
Sadiq, for those who wish to connect with you, how can they do so?
I wish to help inspire and add positivity into your life daily so please feel free to connect with me via all Social media platforms at @coachsadiq across all platforms and Sadiq Hussain on LinkedIn. I practically live on them all so shoot me a message and connect!
Also, if you love listening and learning from podcasts, it would mean a lot to me if you could subscribe and listen in on mine called ‘The Purposeful Mindset Podcast’ where I bring in so many highly influential business leaders and talk about Mindset, Growth and Business.
