You Don't Have A Mindset Problem

How mindset is informed by identity and values

Every January, the same moment of possibility appears.

Calendars reset. Energy shifts. People take stock of their lives and ask familiar, honest questions: What do I want to change? What do I want more of? What isn’t working the way I hoped it would?

For many, that reflection turns into the proverbial New Year’s resolution. The intention is genuine. The motivation is real. And yet, research and long-standing behavioral studies consistently show the same pattern: most resolutions don’t translate into lasting change. Momentum fades. Habits dissolve. By the time the year is underway, many people find themselves back where they started.

The prevailing explanation is mindset.

We tell ourselves—or are told—that we didn’t stay disciplined enough, focused enough, or positive enough. So the solution becomes another attempt to think differently.

But watching this cycle repeat—not just in January, but anytime people sincerely want change—reveals something important.

It isn’t a lack of commitment.

It isn’t a lack of effort.

And it certainly isn’t a lack of intelligence or capability.

What’s missing is clarity.

Not clarity about what people want—but clarity about why, and whether the change they’re pursuing is actually connected to who they are and what they value most.

Through my own self-examination over the past five years, and later through my work as a coach, an executive, a consultant, and often simply as a trusted listener, this pattern became increasingly clear. When change isn’t rooted in identity and values, mindset is asked to do all the heavy lifting. And eventually, it collapses under the weight.

That’s when mindset starts to feel hard. Forced. Unsustainable.

And that’s when I realized something fundamental:

We’re not thinking about mindset correctly.

“When mindset is hard to sustain, it isn’t a failure of discipline — it’s a signal that something deeper hasn’t been clarified.”

When someone struggles to adopt or sustain a mindset—when motivation fades or resolutions quietly fall apart—that breakdown isn’t evidence of failure. It’s information. It’s pointing to something deeper.

“Mindset isn’t the starting point. It’s downstream.”

Take January resolutions.

Every year, people say, I’m going to go to the gym and get healthier.

Okay—but why?

So I can feel better.

And what does feeling better actually mean?

If most people keep digging, the answer eventually sounds something like this: So I can be more present for my family. So I have more energy. So I can show up as the person I want to be.

“The real work begins when we stop asking what we want — and start asking why.”

That digging—the willingness to keep asking why—is where real change begins.

Because what we’re uncovering isn’t mindset. We’re uncovering the foundation of truth for an individual: their identity and their value system. Their internal center of gravity.

“Mindset doesn’t create identity. Identity informs mindset.”

This perspective wasn’t formed in theory. It emerged through my own journey over the past five to seven years—a period of deep self-examination that ultimately gave rise to ReinvenHER.

What I came to understand during that time is this: once I became clear about who I truly wanted to be and how I wanted to move through the world, mindset stopped being something I had to manufacture. Decision-making became almost automatic—not because I was trying harder, but because my choices were informed by clarity rather than conflict.

“When identity and values are clear, decisions stop requiring effort.”

A simple example illustrates this clearly.

I’m vegan—not because of discipline or willpower, but because of identity and values.

That shift began after I adopted my first dog, Cody. Wanting to better understand the systems we participate in, I started educating myself on Western food production and distribution. What I learned fundamentally changed how I viewed nutrition, consumption, and my own role in contributing—or not contributing—to harm.

That education clarified something essential about who I am at my core: someone who could not continue moving through life knowingly contributing to the pain and suffering of others.

From that clarity, my identity sharpened. And alongside it, my value system became unmistakably clear.

Health — a commitment to living a clean, intentional life.

Kindness — a commitment to moving through the world with care, including in how my food is sourced and consumed.

These values are no longer aspirational; they are intrinsic. And because of that, mindset isn’t something I manage or negotiate with—it’s informed by who I am.

When I walk into a grocery store now, I don’t wrestle with temptation or rely on discipline. I move through it with ease. Not because I have a “strong mindset,” but because there’s no internal contradiction.

“There is no meaningful separation between who we are and how we lead.”

This is where ReinvenHER comes in.

At ReinvenHER, we don’t approach growth as something that happens in isolated compartments—career over here, personal life over there. High-performing women don’t live bifurcated lives, even if they’ve been taught to manage them that way.

There is one identity.

One value system.

One internal compass guiding every decision.

The clarity that informs how you eat, how you care for your body, and how you move through the world is the same clarity that informs how you lead, how you make decisions, and how you choose where—and how—to invest your energy at work.

A 360-degree approach isn’t philosophical. It’s practical.

“At the executive level, most decisions aren’t about what to do — they’re about who to be.”

The same principle applies—often even more powerfully—at the executive and leadership level.

When leaders struggle with decision fatigue, second-guessing, or persistent self-doubt, it’s rarely because they lack competence or experience. More often, it’s because they’re making decisions without a clear internal reference point.

When identity and values are unclear, mindset becomes something leaders try to summon—confidence, resilience, decisiveness—rather than something that arises naturally. But when that inner foundation is clear, decision-making becomes cleaner. Boundaries become easier to hold. Trade-offs become obvious rather than agonizing.

“Executive presence isn’t confidence theater. It’s internal coherence.”

Leaders who know who they are don’t perform leadership—they embody it.

“Mindset is where misalignment shows up first — or where alignment finally becomes visible.”

The problem was never mindset.

At ReinvenHER, we believe there is no separation between who you are and how you lead. There is one life, one identity, one internal compass—and when that compass is clear, everything else begins to organize around it.

“You don’t need a better mindset. You need a clearer sense of who you are.”

At ReinvenHER, this is the work we’re committed to.

We support high-performing women in clarifying identity, articulating values, and defining how they want to move through the world—so decisions feel aligned, leadership feels embodied, and success becomes sustainable. When the deeper foundation is clear, mindset no longer requires constant attention. It simply follows.

This isn’t about fixing anything. It’s about creating clarity—and letting that clarity lead.

If this resonates, we invite you to explore our approach at ReinvenHER.

About ReinvenHER

ReinvenHER is a coaching and advisory platform for high-performing women who are ready to move beyond surface-level change and into deeper alignment.

We take a 360-degree approach to growth, grounded in the belief that identity, values, leadership, and life are inseparable. Through coaching, reflection, and intentional inquiry, we help women clarify who they are, define how they want to move through the world, and make decisions from a place of internal coherence rather than external pressure.

ReinvenHER exists to support women in building success that is sustainable, embodied, and true—not by asking them to become someone new, but by helping them come home to who they already are.