During a recent family trip to New Mexico, my wife, Kelly, and I had a brainstorming session about how our mindset impacts our success. I asked her for a culinary analogy and she said, “French toast.”

Have you ever made French toast? Making trench toast is a holiday tradition my wife started in our home to celebrate Christmas.

There are a lot of people who enjoy this breakfast treat that is created from an item that many would discard or give up on. French toast is made by people who see an opportunity for success. They don’t talk or think about what is possible. They don’t wait or hope for someone to serve them. They take personal responsibility. They step into the kitchen, grab an apron, pick up a spatula, turn up the heat, and start cooking with purpose.

Are you serious about leading a team, advancing in your career, or guiding an organization? It’s time to Flip Your Mindset and create results that get noticed and celebrated.

Stale Thinking Leads to Stale Results

French toast is best made with stale bread. Bread that tends to be a little dry and hard. For many, the old bread is seen as unappealing and inedible. Most will throw it away, discard it and give up on it. This is “Stale Thinking.” The individual looking at the bread is stuck on what can’t be done, because they can’t see the possibilities. Their thinking leads to poor results or no results at all.

Have you ever been stuck? Have you been hungry for something, but you don’t know what is possible because of a lack of experience, limited knowledge, doubt, or fear of the unknown? Has this led to you to give up or move on because you couldn’t see the possibilities?

Where your mind goes, your body will follow and stale thinking leads to stale results. I believe that to produce the freshest results possible in your career, business, or organization, you have to be “Kitchen Inspired.” Not inspired by the author of this article, named Kitchen. I want you to seek out culinary inspiration.

Even if you’ve never cooked before, you are inspired to bring something to life when you step into a Kitchen. You welcome the challenge and get to work. You gain experience, clarity, confidence, and creativity. You’re willing to experiment, take risks, and most importantly, take the actions needed to feed your hunger.

I want you to bring this mindset into your personal and professional life. This is what great Chefs do. They inspire you and others with what they cook up in the kitchen.