Mindset is a set of beliefs that shape a person’s attitude that impact how one thinks, conducts themselves and how they view the world. Your mindset is everything because it is how you do anything that will determine your future. It’s what drives you and serves how you interpret situations because of your perspective. For you to achieve whatever you desire it all starts with your mindset. You must first believe in yourself and what you are doing before it can actually happen because tough times will occur that will test you. The mindset you have is what pushes you forward or holds you back.
Generally, mindsets can be categorized into fixed or growth. A fixed mindset believes that your abilities are fixed and cannot be improve upon. That no matter how much effort is put forth you will not get better. Whereas a growth mindset believes that you can get better at whatever you choose to do over time with consistent effort and determination. A fixed mindset is focused on limitations and will only see problems along the way while a growth mindset is focused on the possibilities that empower them to find solutions. It really comes down to a matter a perspective.
For some, failing at something can be taken as needing to give up on it and find something else they are good at. For others failing just means they need to figure out what they need to improve on to be better next time. Your mindset is a choice that you made the helps define who you are. It can be an asset or a liability depending on what type of mindset you have. Donald Driver who had a successful pro football career experienced hardships growing up moving often, living out of a U-Haul truck and being homeless for a while. One day he told his brother that he promised that he would make it out and pull their family of their circumstances which he later did. And this all started with the right mindset.
How mindset affects you
The mindset you have is a big component in how well you handle the struggles you face. When setbacks and failures occur, you will either give up or you will continue to push forward to overcome it. Some will see struggles as problems that want to limit to avoid as many mistakes as possible whereas as others will see it as an opportunity to grow and strengthen. This comes down to what you choose to focus on that will shape your perspective. And what you focus on becomes your reality.
It affects your motivation for doing what you do. With a growth mindset there is a desire to learn and work hard with effort being the primary force and the reward becomes internal. This leads to abundance and progress in life. A fixed mindset is motivated to prove their worth to others and themselves as it makes them feel validated. The reward is based on the external factor that they are constantly chasing. Self-doubt is at the forefront that drive them. And when the achievement is not reached, it can be demotivating.
Your emotions and how well you handle them will affect how you view yourself and the world. Emotions need to be regulated to help you make good decisions or else they will be the primary driver of your life. Being emotionally driven can feel like a wild roller coaster ride where one moment it feels like the end of the world and the next feels like everything is great. There are times when how you feel is not the reality of what is truly going on. While you may have come up short of a in pursuit of a certain goal, it does not mean all is lost. When your mind is able to rationalize the emotions you experience, you gain clarity.
It also largely impacts the actions you take. If you take a look at inventors, innovators or entrepreneurs, they don’t wait around for problems to be solved, they have the initiative to act on what they see as an opportunity. They get out ahead and provide solutions before many realize there was even a problem. Their ability to be proactive starts with a mindset of seeking, learning and progressing. Elon Musk, founder and CEO of Tesla is a great of example. He saw an opportunity to provide reliable, electric cars before other legacy car manufacturers did which gave him a first mover advantage. Now most other car companies are playing catch up to compete with Tesla.
What affects your mindset
Your upbringing is a huge part of what forms your mindset, especially in the early years. As a child, we all have a parent figure that provides our needs and are largely influenced by what is taught and shown to us. Many of us have learned behaviors from our childhood such as the rules that needed to be followed, how our parents conducted themselves or how we were disciplined if we misbehaved. And this probably affects what mindset you have today.
As you gain more independence what you feed your mind is a huge part of what forms your mindset. The things such as what you watch, read and who you spend your time with affect your emotions and behaviors that can influence some of your beliefs. Watching things like the news consistently can make you feel lousy since much of the stories involve negative headlines which are what grabs the audience’s attention. Or it could be a friend who is so ambitious about the future that they talk to you about it which you will be more prone to becoming more ambitious as well. Repetition is the mother of skill so whatever you choose to repeat consuming the most is what will occupy your thoughts and eventually your beliefs. If you hear or see something enough times you will eventually start to believe it.
The environment you are in will affect your mindset, especially during the vulnerable times. Your mindset tends to mirror your environment whether it is a quiet and clean or a negative and disruptive. Your reality becomes what thoughts you choose to focus on and if you are not aware what thoughts you have, you will know only what you see. Oprah Winfrey said that books gave her a world past her grandmother’s porch. It allowed her to have a vision beyond what she could see. She was not limited to her surroundings.
There are certain experiences that stay with you because of its impact. Sometimes it takes a specific moment to realize what is clearly important that will shape your mindset. Jimmy Johnson, who was the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys in the 1990’s led his team to two Superbowl wins. He was a relentless coach who focused on outworking everybody and this left him very little time for anything else. Then his mother passed away and hit him that he missed out on what is most important, which was spending time with his family. He even realized that he never went to any of his son’s high school games. This shifted his mindset on how time and life is limited and valued his family even more.
Strengthening your mindset
Be intentional with who you surround yourself with because their energy and habits will rub off onto you. Jim Rohn says, “You are the average of five people you spend the most time with”. With the right people around you, the best of you will be brought out. You want people that challenge you to be better and not merely a yes person. When you are challenged it makes reflect and question so you are properly prepared for what is ahead. It’s like checking the tire pressure on your car before hitting the road and finding out a tire is underinflated. Catching it before you drive will give you a smoother ride.
Cut out or minimize the things that are not contributing to your mindset. This could be old habits and even people that negatively affect you. While complaining to a friend can feel good, it actually takes away energy from things within your control and deteriorates the strong thoughts that you worked to build. If you catch yourself complaining, refocus to figure out a solution for what the problem is.
Feed your mind with empowering information to fuel your growth. Seek and learn new things as it will build your resilience and strengthens your desire for progress. You are either growing or dying and when you learn you grow. Research has even found that is what makes people with strong memories different from people with weak memories. People with stronger memories kept learning new things throughout their lives which forms new brain pathways that reduce memory loss as they age. Your behaviors and not just your genes have a big impact on your brain.
Pay attention to your words and thoughts because they eventually will become your actions and habits. Phrases that are final and limiting will do you no good. Eliminate negative phrases such as I can’t, I don’t know how, I have tried, I’m not good enough/smart enough. Use empowering phrases that signal progress and possibilities. Incorporate phrases such as I am working towards it, I’m getting better, I’m learning, I will bounce back from failure, I will figure it out somehow. This helps to reaffirm what you want.
Take risks because that is when significant growth occurs. It can be scary to take the risk of failing but that is what pushes you outside of your comfort zone that stretches your boundaries. To get more, you need to do more and that comes from asking more of yourself. And when you do fail, it actually tears away at the petty and fragile sensitivity of the ego. It keeps the ego in check so your mindset remains the driver of what is to come.
Final Thoughts
Your mindset sets the tone for your life. Whatever you want it all starts with what thoughts you choose to focus on. While we all have different staring points in life, it does not determine how far you will go. You have the power to change the trajectory of your life through actively feeding your mind with reinforcing information that propel you into making things happen. Once you have the right mindset and continue to strengthen it, you will attack life with a tenacity instead of life attacking you.
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