Mindset and self-development have become buzzwords in recent years. Not only that. The global personal development market size was valued at USD 38.28 billion in 2019 and is expected to grow at an annual growth rate of 5.1% from 2020 to 2027. Increasing consciousness about the role mindset plays in success and the pursuit of happiness is expected to drive the demand for personal development programs. Improving social skills and focusing on critical areas for self-awareness, such as emotions, character traits, habits, individual values, and the psychological need that shapes the day-to-day behavior of individuals are gaining importance.
But here is why your mindset is everything. Your mindset determines how you see and therefore experience the world. It impacts how you think, feel, and act. People with a better mindset see the glass as half full, rather than half empty. They see opportunities where others see disasters. They see the positive in times of adversity. They use the energy to further their goals and don’t get lost in their thoughts.
Your mindset is everything when it comes to building the foundation for a good life. Through my own journey and research, I will explain you how you can take the first steps to develop a successful mindset.
We are estimated to think up to 80,000 thoughts a day. Observe your own thoughts for a day. What are you telling yourself? Are you putting yourself down at work? You didn’t deliver on your task? Your colleagues are annoying. Are you stressing yourself out, perceiving your day as stressful? What is your focus? How do you use your energy? The majority of people, if they observe themselves get stuck in the negative. That’s our survival mechanism, that’s how our brain works. If you are already stressed and you see one angry face in a crowd, your brain will zoom in and identify this as a threat to protect you. If your colleague was in a bad mood and said something critical, you will remember this the whole day. To change these thought patterns is not easy. It requires a conscious effort. It necessitates discipline and practice. Goleman in his book on emotional intelligence studied of why some people are more successful than others even though they all went to very prestigious universities. It comes down to how we deal with challenges in our life. How we behave in difficult circumstances. What our parents taught us and the believes we therefore have. When you fail, can you pick yourself up and learn from it or do you blame yourself and remain stuck? That’s the power of your mind.
Have a short- and long term goal. Short-term because it requires small steps to change our mindsets as James Clear, New York Times bestselling author, explained. Long-term goal enables you to see the bigger picture and not concentrate on the failures in between. But since we are talking failure. That’s an important part of what we need to learn. Have you ever heard of a professional successful athletes who has never lost? It does not exist. Failure is part and parcel of success.
You can only control yourself, not your environment. Treat yourself right. Be kind, do not talk down on yourself. Allow yourself to fail and push yourself to get back up. Take time out to reflect on your journey. Consider how you spent your day: on things that make you feel good or stressed out? What are things that make you feel good that you should incorporate into your day? Is it a morning walk? Evening at a gym or pottery class? Talk to friends and family about your goal and ask them if they are any contradictions in what you say. Often, we have resistance or believes that hinder us more than they help us. Catch yourself more and more. When you talk about wanting to earn money, do you think negative or positive about money? Do you have resistance about asking for a promotion? Do you talk negatively about people who have money?
When you work on strengthening your mindset, you suddenly gain control over your life. You feel a sense of freedom that you can actually achieve your goal. You can suddenly see people who were successful in making money as an inspiration rather than being jealous and wanting to learn from them. You will approach them and gain useful insights that you will apply in your own life. And step by step, you will achieve your goals. Don’t fall back to be a coach potato again rather than going to the gym. Make it part of who you are. You are a healthy person that really likes going to the gym. You enjoy finance, which is why making money comes easy to you. This feels so different than telling yourself that making money is difficult and only rich people become richer.
Its all about how you think about the world. You either see it full of opportunities or difficulties. You can change that and it takes time. Take one step at a time. If you go back to your default mechanism and eat that unhealthy burger, don’t worry. Go back to your healthy routine tomorrow and tell yourself how you actually felt soo much better doing the workout. You deserve the best. You deserve a healthy body. Don’t waste time and start creating good feelings about what you want to change in your life.
