What mindset do you have?
It can seem like you’ve been thrown several curve balls, any one of which could stop a person in their tracks.
Perhaps you experienced a near total loss of income because your job was cut or eliminated, or you were laid off through no fault of your own.
Maybe you had to completely reinvent your business to find new ways to serve customers. I spoke to a woman who owns a dog grooming business. She created a safe environment for dog grooming during the recent health shutdown. Instead of several hairdressers working in one open room, she divided the room into 4 closed sections. Dog pickup was arranged no less than 10 minutes away. The dog groomer, who was wearing a mask, came to the car waiting at the front door. The groomer took the dog to the indoor area, where it was trimmed and returned to the owner at the appointed time.
Perhaps you are/have been isolated from friends and loved ones and are looking for new ways to stay connected. With dozens of ways to stay connected, it seems strange that isolation is a problem. The problem with quarantine, however, is the change in freedom of choice. Thus, the loss of agency prompts people to choose feeling isolated as a coping mechanism.
Despite the unforeseen and unprecedented challenges one encounters in life, it can seem endless.
Some people do well. They adapt to a revised schedule and way of doing things…and thrive.
What is their secret?
And importantly…
How can you use this secret to achieve the dreams you hold dear in the coming months and years—no matter what surprises may be waiting around the corner?
Discover the secret – 5 steps to transform a fixed mindset into a growth mindset
1. Do you think about what you “must do” instead of what you “will achieve.”
A fixed negative mindset is at the root of your inability to change. It sees your traits as fixed and unchanging. You’ve heard people (perhaps yourself) say something like “I’m a pessimist, I can’t help it.” Well, guess what – you can! Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck says that by developing a growth mindset—the belief that your traits are changeable through deliberate practice—you set yourself up for success.
2: Learn to hear your fixed “talking to yourself” mindset.
When you decide to tackle a new challenge, what’s your go-to conversation? You might say, “Are you sure you can do it?” or “What if you fail?” “What will you do if you fail?”
If you hit a roadblock, you might hear, “If only you had the talent,” or “I told you it was too risky.” Why I?”
Every life and business coach knows about internal self-talk saboteur. It is self-talk that undermines so much of what we do; the inner critic who judges you and your work.
The internal saboteur of self-talk is “fixed thinking.”
Once you know you have a fixed mindset, you can predict self-narrating saboteur in advance. Then just listen to it. If you hear your saboteur talking to himself, you can say “Cancel”. “Stop yourself.”
3: Recognize that you have a choice.
You can interpret the conversation with yourself in two different ways: Challenges, failures and criticism can be a sign that you have a fixed talent and ability.
Or they can be a sign that you need to challenge yourself, increase your efforts, change your strategies and continue to grow.
The first is obviously fixed thinking; the latter is growth oriented.
The key here is to get out of the frame of judgment (fixed) and into the arena of growth.
4: Address your negative inner critic with a growth mindset voice.
As you approach a challenge:
A fixed negative mindset says “Are you sure you can do it? Maybe you don’t have the talent.”
A growth mindset answers, “I’m not sure I can do it now, but I know I can learn with time and effort.”
Fixed mindset: “What if you fail – you will be a failure”
Growth mindset: “Most successful people have had failures along the way.”
When you fail:
Corrected negative thinking: “This would be easy if he really had talent.”
Growth mindset: “This is so wrong. Basketball was not easy for Michael Jordan and science was not easy for Thomas Edison. They had passion and put in a lot of effort.
When dealing with criticism:
Fixed negative thinking: “It’s not my fault. Something or someone else was at fault.’
Growth mindset: “When I take responsibility, I can fix it. Let me listen—however painful—and learn what I can.”
Journaling the dialogue is very effective. There is something about writing that makes it easier to connect with the inner voice.
It also provides a recording of the conversation. You can then later review the dialogue and identify common patterns.
5: Put your growth mindset into action.
Once you hear the negative fixed mindset self-talk and respond to it with growth self-talk, you decide how to take the necessary action that will lead to growth.
This can include accepting a new challenge, learning from failures, persevering without exception, adjusting your actions based on feedback, etc.
No matter what challenges you face – relationship problems, lack of money, part-time work, health problems…
Your success or failure lies in your beliefs and mindset.
Some people have a mindset that keeps them trapped in their self-perceived or indoctrinated and conditioned limitations.
Other people have a mindset that helps them deftly face challenges and shake off setbacks or failures.
“The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the level of thinking that created them. Einstein
Einstein reminds us that if the clear and easy solution to the problem you are facing is not obvious, you need to change the frequency of your thinking.
Ultimately, by adopting a growth mindset, opportunities for more learning and success will become more readily visible, accessible, and ultimately more rewarding.
Although it may not feel completely natural at first, anyone can begin to adopt a growth mindset and create a meaningful and fulfilling life by taking consistent action.
You can make the decision to begin living a life of healthy growth today as you begin to expand your consciousness and notice any fixed mindsets and/or scarcity mentality that may arise.
By using the above mentioned actions, you will be on a continuous journey to success.
#mindset
