How To Create A Rock-Solid Mindset -The Mindset Manifesto
The foundation for success in life and business
“We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are” — Anonymous
The Power of Mindset
Two men visit a Zen master.
The first man says: “I’m thinking of moving to this town. What’s it like?”
The Zen master asks: “What was your old town like?”
The first man responds: “It was dreadful. Everyone was hateful. I hated it.”
The Zen master says: “This town is very much the same. I don’t think you should move here.”
The first man leaves and the second man comes in.
The second man says: “I’m thinking of moving to this town. What’s it like?”
The Zen master asks: “What was your old town like?”
The second man responds: “It was wonderful. Everyone was friendly and I was happy. Just interested in a change now.”
The Zen master says: “This town is very much the same. I think you will like it here.”
What if the two men from that story, actually came from the same town?
They might be have been brought up in similar circumstances but have a completely different worldview.
Our perception of reality is shaped by our beliefs and mindset.
This paradigm is like a filter which all our impressions go through before we form judgments about them.
Our mindset determines our reality and thus our happiness.
That’s why it is crucial to establish a mindset that is serving you.
Who Is Responsible For Your Mindset?
The biggest influencer of our mindset is our environment.
During our upbringing, we absorb experiences with our parents, friends, society, school, city, etc. and form our mindset and worldview from them.
We tend to believe that everybody thinks the way we do and believes the things that we do.
We think that our worldview equals reality. That our worldview is true.
We are wearing contact lenses that shape how we see the world but don’t know it.
Many people, however, might think totally differently.
Especially successful people. The biggest factor to their strong mindset is that they treat their mind as a garden.
They know how much our surroundings influence our state of mind, our garden of the mind, whether it is the news, radio, television, other people or any kind of message that is pouring in from the outside world.
So they build a fence around their garden.
- They don’t let anything negative into their mind.
- They don’t surround themselves with negative people.
- They don’t watch the news.
- They don’t let weeds grow there.
- They nourish their garden with the best water and nutrients. (empowering books, people, uplifting thoughts & influences etc.)
They are living from the inside out.
They are improving themselves to then solve the problems of the world and provide value back to everyone else.
Taking Responsibility
When we realize how strongly our surroundings influence our beliefs and mindsets, it is easy to blame others for negative beliefs and mindset that we might be holding.
However, we ourselves are responsible for our mindset because we can and have to choose what we let into the garden of our mind.
So ultimately we have a lot of control of our mindset and where we end up in life.
If we blame other things or other people, we lose forever. We remain stuck in a fixed mindset.
It’s you that is holding you back. Nobody else. We have the choice and the responsibility to shape our mindset and take charge of our life.
But why is not everybody doing that?
What Is Holding us back?
1. The Gap of Frustration
In life and business, what holds back many people is fear.
The crippling fear and feeling of not being good enough, that we might not be able to do certain things, what others will think about us and that we might be rejected and fail at what we do.
We are our own worst enemy.
Well, it is not really us. It is just an unhelpful mindset of our current self.
It is like a mind virus that is plaguing us.
These negative mindsets usually come from an experience from our past that affected our beliefs so strongly that it heavily shaped our self-image.
And therefore it still influences our abilities and behaviors in the present.
As Don Miguel describes in “The Four Agreements”, words are so powerful, if misused they can work like black magic that is casting a spell on you.
That is what is happening if someone says something to us during our upbringing that works like a spell on us, making us think we are not good enough and therefore create a negative mindset.
What are people saying that you should do?
Especially in the west, most advice is to just be yourself, to not forget who you are and where you come from.
What effect would that have on someone with a negative mindset?
That this person should accept his unhelpful view of himself and the world?
If your identity is already set in stone, then you have problems doing new things that are not yet part of that identity.
If you want to be another person, to grow into your desired version, then there is a gap between your desired version and your current version.
There is regret about who we could have been. That is the gap of frustration.
When you feel fear, it is because what you are about to do is only in alignment with your desired self, but not your current self.
That’s why people don’t become successful, they have the belief that they need to stay in their own self, to stay true to who they are.
“If you want something you’ve never had
You must be willing to do something you’ve never done.”― Thomas Jefferson
I would expand that quote to this one:
“If you want to do something you’ve never done, you must be willing to become someone you’ve never been.”
Don’t stay the same. Don’t be held back by other peoples’ advice and expectations.
Never forget that you can and should always grow into the person you want to be.
Be -> Do -> Have
Many people think along the equation “Have -> Do -> Be”.
I first need to have a lot of money, then I could buy nice things and go to all these nice places and then I would be a rich and happy person.
This approach is very passive because you need to have something first and it hardly ever works.
The better alternative is “Be -> Do -> Have”.
You first become the type of person you want to be, then you simply do what these people do and then you have what these people have.
Very simplistically, you first become a rich and happy person by realizing how abundant you already are, then you do what rich people do (give value to society) and then you get and have a lot of money in return.
But how to do that?
By having the right mindset. You need a new mindset that allows you to grow into the desired version of yourself.
Only then will you be able to do what you want and have what you desire.
Remember the law of your self-image, that you can only act in line with the kind of person you think you are, so your mindset determines your potential.
This new mindset, this new paradigm and world view are your steering wheel to achieve anything in life.
2. Living between Highs and Lows
A result of the Gap of Frustration is that we are living between Highs and Lows.
What many of us entrepreneurs go through is we build things up and then crush them down again by self-sabotage.
These highs and low are mostly always the same, whether it is for the money we make, for our mental state, for how our body looks or how clean our apartment is.
The biggest reason for this is that the old self wants us to stay where we are.
We are acting in line with old beliefs, our old self-image and therefore self-sabotage if we go beyond that.
We are constantly in conflict between the person we are right now and the person we want to become.
This creates these wave patterns of highs and lows. The key is to get awareness about what we do at the highs and what we do at the lows.
How are you sabotaging yourself?
Look for signs that warn you of the turns so that you can catch yourself and correct them.
Similar to the idea of “Kaizen”, we should focus on raising our average performance by managing our downsides.
Use a journal and meditation to learn about your thought patterns and behaviors.
Disidentify from them and do what’s right through awareness.
This allows you to develop self-control and keep your poise. At some point, these voices go away and you have developed into a new self.
3. Neglecting The Mirror
Another thing that is holding us back is that we are denying cause and effect.
We don’t realize that every action produces a reaction, just like the mirror is reflecting our image back to us.
If we judge other people, that might be a sign that we secretly judge ourselves and are afraid of being judged by others.
If we don’t in invest in ourselves, others won’t invest in us.
If we are not decisive ourselves, others won’t be decisive with us.
You must be the person that you want to attract.
The same way in business you must become the client you want to attract.
Think about what results are you currently getting, in life and business.
How much of that is an outer reflection of your own behaviors?
Then change your behavior and become who you want to attract.
4. Feedback Loops
What is responsible for the unequal distribution of wealth, for the rich getting richer and poor remaining stuck or getting poorer?
One explanation is feedback loops.
The rich have money to buy more opportunities to make even more money, which leads to an upward spiral.
However, feedback loops are also very important on a mindset level.
The thoughts we are having form our beliefs.
So depending on what kinds of thoughts we are having, they can lead to an upward spiral that builds us up and creates a positive mindset, or they can tear us down in a vicious circle.
Be fully present and become conscious of your thoughts.
Catch the negative ones, discard them and disidentify from them before they escalate in a feedback loop.
Regularly become aware of what thoughts you are holding on your mind, protect your garden from negative thoughts and cultivate it with positive ones.
This will improve your mindset and beliefs.
Our Biggest Weakness
Humans biggest weakness is that we have forgotten our ability to change things and to become who we want to be.
However, we can distance ourselves from our unhelpful mindset. We can take off the glasses that have blurred our worldview.
We need to learn to view ourselves in the third person view, as the observer and master of our character.
Transcend yourself. Step outside of your limited perspective see your character as if it were a video game. You are disidentified from it and don’t take things so seriously. Step outside and gain control over your character.
Then your mind becomes the master and makes your character behave just in line with your dreams and desires.
What kind of character do you need to develop to become the person that you want to be?
Get clear about your current character and your desired character.
Write out the self-fulfilling prophecy to create a bias for you to become that version.
Keep In Mind
- People don’t have business problems, they have life problems that reflect in their business.
- You can’t cheat the mirror, every action as an opposite reaction.
- Life is more about managing downside than upside.
- Focus on reducing errors and mistakes, raise the average performance.
- Be aware of the power of feedback loops, catch your thoughts.
- Strategies and tactics are 20% of success. Mindset, structure, and habits are 80%.
- You are responsible for your mindset and thus your life.
- Adapt a helpful mindset and use the self-fulfilling prophecy.
Call To Action
Having the right mindset and beliefs is key.
Our biggest problem is that we forget a lot. We have the knowledge but have to remind ourselves. Only like that it will be hammered in and become wisdom.
- Define for yourself what you want to believe and what person you want to become.
- Then make it a habit to review your new mindset regularly.
- Implement mindset work (journaling, visualization, affirmations, meditation) into your routine and feel the emotions your new mindset gives you.
Don’t fall trap to believing that life happens to you and you cannot do anything to change.
Create your own odds by taking charge of your mindset.
When are you going to get started?
Need some inspiration?
I’ve put together my personal top three habits in a little e-book.
They will make you make you become calmer, more focused and allow you to feel more at peace.
