Last week, when Catherine Monson allowed The Dallas Express the honor of an interview, she shared a bit of her story and her mindset, and what she deems the Five Characteristics of Highly Successful People.
Before detailing the five things that she believes made her a successful CEO and Chairperson, she offered a little background on her life.
“I feel I was meant for [my job.] I absolutely believe that all of my prior experience shaped me to be what I’m doing today, and I am absolutely passionate about it,” she prefaces.
Monson says she grew up in an abusive home and the lasting effects of her childhood followed her into her twenties and thirties. She dealt with depression and saw a therapist, but changing her mindset is what changed the quality of her life most drastically.
Monson realized that she spent a lot of time “spiraling down in negative thinking.” According to her, she set off her own depression by piling on the negative thoughts. She decided to reframe her way of thinking.
“One of the things I learned throughout my twenties and [in] therapy was that I’m responsible for my brain. I’m responsible for my happiness, I’m responsible for my life. I’m responsible for my reactions, and that comes down to my absolute belief that we are all responsible for a positive mindset,” she says.
Not to worry. If you don’t fit that bill yet, there’s still hope. “If we have an unhappy mindset, if we have a negative mindset, the reality is we can change that. It takes some discipline,” she adds.
Monson explains that when she catches herself piling up the negative thoughts, she tells herself very firmly to stop and then starts to think about all the things for which she is grateful. She says she uses this trick much less now because her mindset has improved.
Developing her goal to keep a positive mental attitude came first. “Then in my thirties, I came to believe with every cell in my being that there are five common characteristics to all highly successful people, and it doesn’t matter if you want to be a highly successful CEO,” she says. “These five common characteristics work for everything, and the great news is they are all learned skills, which means it’s not about what family you’re from, it’s how you make yourself better.”
1 – Positive Mental Attitude
The first characteristic on the list is the first one that Monson adopted into her life: a positive mindset.
“I’m responsible for getting in a good mindset before I start work because I’m going to affect every one of my team members I come in contact with,” she explains.
Monson says she has collected inspirational quotes about having a positive mental attitude and posted them on the walls in her office building for years. Most notably, she says there is a long hallway in the office that they call “Inspiration Hall,” plastered with colorful reminders to be courageous, persevere, and other motivational snippets.
“I’m a big believer that we have to feed our spirit and feed our mind, and that’s the most important lesson we can learn, so that positive mental attitude is foundational,” she reiterates.
2 – Goal-Directed Behavior
Acting with a future goal in mind makes one more likely to achieve that goal. Monson suggests keeping track of goals by writing them down and doing something every day to work toward them.
3 – Self Motivation
Being motivated keeps you moving forward, but you don’t have to be the best in the biz – at least not right away.
“Just like in the Olympics, you don’t have to be five times as good as the next competitor. You only have to be a tenth or a hundredth of one percent better,” Monson says.
4 – Sense of Urgency
Monson borrows a quote from Ben Franklin for this one: “Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today.”
5 – Never Stop Learning
“The best people are always learning and growing,” she says, summing this one up simply.
Monson says she reads books, watches TED Talks, and listens to podcasts about leadership and management to absorb all she can.
After years of practice, Monson has become adept at applying her Five Characteristics. Now she takes the skills she has developed over the years and helps other people learn them. Over the course of a year during the pandemic, Monson produced fifty-two motivational videos that can be found here.
She says that when she makes a difference in someone’s life, she gets a bubbling joy of satisfaction. Luckily for her, she says this is built into her job description as CEO of her franchising business.
“I love what I do, and there have been times that I get asked questions such as, ‘How many nights did you spend in a hotel last year?’ – because I travel a lot – and I would say, ‘Why would I want to know the answer to that question? What’s the upside of knowing the answer?’ And that’s part of having a positive mindset,” Monson explains.
“I love what I do, but I’m responsible for making sure I love what I do.”
