8 Simple Mindset Shifts
Mindset seems to be the flavour of the month, and when I say month, I mean generation. For me, this is amazing. Growing up as an 80’s kid, topics such as mindset, mentality, mental health…really ANYTHING to do with the mind were off limits.
We grew up in an era where it was completely normal to sweep our minds under the rug. The only conversations about the mind were reserved for psychologists and mental asylums.
Fast forward to today, and we live in a world that is all about figuring out who we are, unlocking and realizing our potential, and becoming the best versions of ourselves we can possibly be.
I reiterate. This is amazing.
Let’s look at eight simple yet effective shifts you can create in your mindset, that may just push you towards realizing and unlocking your undoubted potential.
Doing vs Thinking
This is huge! We are all capable of thinking, we do it all day every day. We come up with great ideas in our minds, amazing plans, innovative money-making schemes. But the majority of us never act on these things.
The thing is, thoughts without action, are just thoughts. Plans without action, are just plans, money making schemes without action, are just…well, they are nothing at all really.
You get the idea. We need to focus on turning ourselves from being ONLY thinkers, to becoming doers. Once we put our plans, ideas, and schemes into action. This is where we make true and lasting change in our lives.
It does not have to be difficult. In fact, it isn’t. Just get out there and do something.
I Can vs. I Can’t
Isn’t it interesting that in our childhood we can take on anything? We have no fear, we have this ultimate confidence in ourselves that we can go out there do absolutely anything.
As evidenced by my toddler, he is literally the best at everything in the whole world.
Where does this confidence go? Over time whether through bad experiences of failures (these are GOOD by the way) we become creatures that operate through learned helplessness.
Where once we were unrivalled kings (or queens) of the world, we are now peasants with no confidence that we can escape our current plight.
There is a simple fix for this. Positive self-talk, training our minds to believe that once again we CAN, and we WILL. We need to re-teach ourselves that we are in fact the best at everything in the whole world.
Only when we build that belief in ourselves once again, will we be in a position to act.
Gratitude vs. Entitlement
Remember the simpler times I mentioned earlier. Well, the word entitlement was not something that was commonplace in many a vocabulary back in those times.
I work in a profession where I see entitlement all day every day. Let me assure you for those of you who don’t encounter it much. It is toxic, highly toxic. Think Chernobyl mixed with Three Mile Island and then throw in Hiroshima on top…and sprinkle a little social media into the mix and you have “new age entitlement’…a clusterfuck of toxicity.
We live in a world now where an entire generation of people feel that the world owes them something. I’m sorry to break it you…it does not!
We need to learn to appreciate what we DO have. Switching from the mentality that we are owed, to one where perhaps it is us that owes, will do wonders for you in your life.
This shift will build stronger relationships both personally and professionally, it will build self-esteem and confidence, it will build competence and skill, it will build a foundation from which to grow into the person you truly hope to be.
Toxicity kills dreams, it kills relationships, it kills livelihoods. Cut it at the source. YOU.
Learn to be thankful, project that thankfulness…positivity will rain down.
Creating vs. Waiting
I play football (soccer for the uneducated). I have played at a pretty decent level my whole life and consider myself to be a player (although old now) that can impact a game in a positive way.
I have played in many a game where the ball just isn’t coming to me. I’m not as involved as I would like to be. What should I do in this situation? Be a passenger? Just WAIT for the ball to come to me?
HELL NO! I’m going to go and get that ball. Sure, I may drop out of position slightly to do that. But guess what, my teammates and coach will not be upset because I am putting myself in a position to create something for myself and my team.
I am taking ownership of my role within the team. I’m not going to wait for something to happen. I’m going to make it happen.
This is how we should approach life. Opportunities don’t just fall on our laps (I mean I suppose sometimes they do…but this is random, and lucky), we must go out there and find opportunities, or better yet, create them.
Only when we take ownership of our lives and truly try to make positive change for ourselves, will opportunities pop up and change occur.
Being Lucky vs. Creating Luck
Let’s take this back to sports again. In this instance the sport does not really matter. It can be team sports, or individual. It can be hockey, or tennis. It just does not matter.
Every single one of us who have played, or are fans of a sport, have had rivals or teams that we absolutely detest.
Outside of local rivalries of course, typically we hate those teams that are perennial winners. Sucking up all the trophies year after year.
What is a common phrase related to all those teams and athletes? “They are SO lucky!”
It is what we tell ourselves to make us feel better about the fact that our team or favourite athlete is maybe just not as good.
Yes, those teams score last minute winning goals, they have last ditch goal line clearances. Is this lucky? I mean perhaps there may be an element of luck to some performances. But the fact is, you need to be good to be lucky.
Those top teams and those top athletes. They create their own luck. They put themselves in positions constantly to become beneficiaries of a lucky bounce, or a lucky deflection. It is no actual luck. It is a never say die attitude and a belief that they WILL get something.
Again, how is life any different? It’s not. If we just hope to be lucky to make positive change in our lives, we might be waiting a very long time indeed.
But if we have belief in ourselves and put ourselves in positions to succeed, guess what? We will start to create that luck for ourselves. It is not outside your reach to become that perennial winner you have always wanted to be.
Privilege vs. Chore
Now this one for me is one of reframing our perspective. We think privilege and we think upper class white male born into money. It’s the ultimate definition of privilege in society.
For those of us that are anything but, the world privilege can take on a rather negative feeling. But it does not have to be that way.
Reframe your perspective. Perhaps privilege is all about how lucky we are to have a home, to have a job, to have loving relationships. No matter what your reality is, there will be an aspect of your life that you are privileged to have. You just need to see it as such.
The same goes for chore. The word chore is automatically associated to our parents making us do things we didn’t want to do as kids. Again, it takes on this negative feeling.
Let’s reframe that perspective once again. As adults, let’s think of the incredible amount of hard work we must put into realizing our goals, to reach our dreams.
Rather than think of this in a negative light, let’s think positively. We are LUCKY that we are able to chase our goals, to realize our dreams. We are lucky we have the physical and mental health to run that marathon.
I could go on and on about other ways in which we are lucky that we get to work towards something, but you get the idea. Reframe that perspective.
Being Right vs. Being Wrong
This is an area that until recently I had died on many hills. I used to despise being wrong. I would argue and argue until blue in the face. I have always been opinionated, and this could get me into unnecessary battles.
I shifted my mentality. I now ENJOY being wrong. What? What do you mean you ENJOY being wrong? Who in their right mind enjoys being wrong?
Well, the fact that I am wrong means that I have room to grow. It means that there is something that I can learn. How can that ever be a bad thing?
Becoming a lifelong learner means that you MUST accept that being wrong is part of the deal. None of us are perfect, we don’t know everything.
Actually, fellas this is not true. Your wife IS perfect, and she DOES know everything!
All jokes aside, battling to prove that you are right is energy and time wasted, when you can just accept you are wrong, and can start spending that time learning instead.
Confirmation bias comes to mind. If we never accept that we are wrong, then we narrow our perspective. We will only live our lives and take in knowledge that suits our own agenda.
I don’t know about you but that seems a terrible way to live to me. Let’s broaden our horizons and learn to love being wrong.
Comfort vs. Change
Your comfort zone is real life purgatory. It is life’s eternal waiting room. That doctor is just never coming. You better hope you have your charger because Candy Crush will kill that battery.
You will never change as an individual, you will never grow as a person, you will never change your families’ fortunes if you are content with comfort.
You have likely been beaten with the proverbial stick “Get out of your comfort zone” …this stick is your friend. Like a good old-fashioned bit of kink, you need to learn to love being beaten by that stick.
Change is GOOD. Without change we would still have doctors blowing cigarette smoke in our faces at the hospital, we would be listening to the news on the radio rather than having it instantly available in our hands.
Why is it that we can think of change going on around us in the world as being a good thing, but we think of change for ourselves as scary?
It’s not, it’s great! It’s necessary. Change that mindset, escape your personal purgatory, and start to make a life for yourself that you are proud of, that your mum is proud of.
Make your mum proud, and you KNOW you are doing something right!
That’s it that’s all folks. I hope you enjoyed reading. I hope you can make some or all these simple mindset shifts for yourself. I know for me; it has made my life a whole lot more enjoyable.
Talk soon guys,
Dad Bod.
