Your mindset matters. Mindset becomes momentum, and momentum brings change.
-Andy Traub
Before there was action, there was thought. Both our most significant accomplishments and our greatest failures are born from a thought, an idea that we allow to shape and determine our action, or lack thereof. To put it simply, your mindset matters! The way that you view yourself, your goals, and your challenges will define your success and influence the person that you become.
Every person has the potential to achieve incredible success in working towards their goals. Think about your own goals. Perhaps you are hoping to lose weight, to improve your marriage, or to grow your business; you have what it takes to be wildly successful in achieving these goals. Now, that’s not to say it won’t come without hard work. Everything worth achieving requires a great deal of dedication, perseverance, and commitment, and each of these critical virtues grows from having a positive growth mindset.
According to psychologist and learning theorist, Carol Dweck, a growth mindset is the belief that our traits and abilities are malleable, able to be grown and developed through dedicated hard work. Success comes through a process learning from our actions, both triumphs and mistakes, and adapting our course of action until we reach a positive outcome. Individuals with a strong growth mindset believe that their success in achieving their goals has more to do with their effort than fixed personality traits or external life circumstances. In other words, we are never stuck in our present condition, the opportunity for growth and success always exists for those who are willing to put in the effort!
GRAB YOUR TOOL: If you are hesitant on where to begin to find that opportunity for growth, we have just the tool to get you started. Click HERE to access our “Silence Your Inner Critic” Tool and set your time for just five minutes. Manage your mindset with this tool; it will help you put distraction, detractors, doubt and discouragement in their place.
Mindset matters. You may find yourself wondering, if achievement is as simple as choosing a positive outlook and putting effort towards our goals, why am I still struggling? Excellent question. For many individuals, progress is stunted by negative thought patterns. Before we can work towards building a positive growth mindset, we must first address the lies we allow ourselves to believe that hold us back from the true pursuit of our goals. What do we mean by lies? For the purposes of goal achievement, lies are the stories we tell ourselves about why we are lacking in some way, why we’ll fall short of our dreams and goals. Frequently they allow us to rational(lies) to ourselves why we’re stuck or shouldn’t even begin.
Common “Lies” that Shape a Negative Mindset:
- I am not __________ enough: Fill in the blank: smart enough, attractive enough, talented enough, rich enough, etc. We often allow lies that highlight our supposed deficiencies to hold us back from taking action.
- I don’t have time. We are always too busy. Our schedules are often filled from daybreak to dusk and the idea of dedicating more time towards achieving a particular goal can seem daunting, if not impossible.
- What if… Have you ever found yourself fantasizing about worst case scenarios? What if I fail? What if my idea doesn’t work? It is so easy to be sucked into the dreaded loop of “What if” questions as we allow the idea of worst-case outcomes to halt any real action towards success.
- I don’t deserve this. Have you ever felt guilty about pursuing your goals? Perhaps you worry that pursuing your goals is selfish or taking too much time from your family? Or maybe you’ve made mistakes in the past and don’t believe you deserve a second chance. Regardless of the underlying cause, guilt is a powerful deterrent towards action.
Perhaps you’ve found some of these lies all too familiar. If that’s the case, you are not alone. For most of us, we’ve allowed one, or sometimes many, of those lies to captivate our mind and paralyze us in the pursuit of our goals. However, this does not have to be your reality. As previously stated, your mindset matters! While a negative mindset can have a huge impact on your achievement, a positive growth mindset can have an equally powerful effect! Shifting your thought patterns in a positive, growth-centered direction is entirely possible.
Practical Tips for Adopting A Growth Mindset
- Test your assumptions. When we hear the voice of self-doubt talking (our inner critic) we can start to believe what we “hear” and stop moving forward. The trick is to expose the stories we tell ourselves to fact-finding. Is what you are hearing or being told true? How do you know? If it is, is it something you can control or influence?
- Focus more on the journey than the end goal. When we set our eyes only on our end goal, it’s easy to feel discouraged if it takes longer or is more difficult to achieve than originally planned. Instead of focusing solely on the end goal, choose to view the journey towards achievement as a critical part of your success. Learn to enjoy the process!
- Make time! It can be easy to feel like there is no time left in the day, but the reality is, we make time for the things that are most important to us. Take a hard look at your day. Are there pockets of time you could use more efficiently? What are the non-essential activities (ex. binge-watching television shows, scrolling through Social Media etc.) that could be replaced to increase your productivity?
- What if…I succeed? Focus on positive outcomes. Instead of analyzing all of the ways that your plans could fall apart or efforts could fail, reflect on the ways you could succeed! What if things went according to plan…or dare I say, better than the original plan?
- Be committed. Instead of telling yourself “I’ll try,” remind yourself “I’ll do.” Don’t view your achievement as a possibility but as a non-negotiable destination. Think Yoda, “Do or Do Not. There is no try.”
If you’ve found yourself in the all too familiar position of being tethered by lies and negative thought patterns that are holding you back from true achievement, it’s time to make a critical mindset change! As a coach and Sherpa, I provide tips and resources to guide motivated individuals in shifting their mindset from “I can’t” to “I can”. Don’t forget to click HERE to access the “Silence Your Inner Critic” Tool to help you along your journey.
Resources:
https://www.learning-theories.com/mindset-theory-fixed-vs-growth-mindset-dweck.html
