Work on this one thing in 2023 you will experience a lot of improvement
This one thing is the engine that drives our lives.
You have heard a lot about mindset, but you are not a fan of motivational talk, so you cannot believe in such noise that means nothing to you. The problem is that you learned about mindset in the wrong place.
Mindset supposed to be a course of study in our learning institutions because if many of us get introduced to the mindset theory at a learning institution, we will accept it to be true. The reality of mindset is incredible compared to most of the abstract concepts we learn and believe in, in school.
Roger Bannister’s record-breaking feat of running a mile under 4 minutes (precisely 3:59:04) is a true-life story of the workings of mindset- not because of what Bannister did but because of the belief it created in others that humans can run a mile under 4 minutes. In the three years that followed Bannister’s feat, 15 runners would go on to perform the same feat. Because everyone believed it was possible.
I will not try to convince you about what mindset can make possible or not possible, but I will show proof of how mindset works wonders.
When I was young, I had a boy that always dealt with me. This boy is a year older than me, but that was not why he trashed me.
When I clocked the age of schooling and got enrolled in primary education. I came back home to challenge my conqueror. In my naïve mind, I told him, “I have started schooling, now let’s do it again.” Do you know what happened? I trashed him, and he cried. I couldn’t believe my eyes, but it happened.
Has anything changed in my physical strength? No. Did I start schooling and learnt fighting skills? No. What changed was my mindset.
Before I enrolled in school, I always associated strength with the school, thinking that everyone who started schooling had superior strength. I was already defeated in my mind before facing this boy.
This is one baby story of how our mindset shapes our reality and that once we change our mindset, we can change our reality.
Let’s discuss the mindset further.
What is mindset?
According to Robert French, a cognitive psychologist, mindset reflects the cognitive process that occurs when we’re presented with a given situation or task. For instance, if you are asked to complete a task at work or anywhere and think you can’t successfully complete it without attempting it, then you have a certain kind mindset.
James Clear in his best-selling book, Atomic habit, stated that the first step towards changing our habit is changing our identity. Identity is rooted in the mindset, so it is a part of our mindset. For instance, if you identify as a writer, you are most likely to write more, then someone who identify as a farmer.
Types of mindsets
Mindsets have been categorized into many types, but the most common is the growth Vs. fixed mindset categorization. Carol Dweck did many studies on the growth mindset, and she developed procedures on how to build growth mindsets as opposed to fixed mindsets.
Dweck explained that people with a fixed mindset believe that their qualities, or human qualities in general, are carved in stone, and cannot be improved. The growth mindset, on the other hand, is based on the belief that your basic qualities can be improved through effort.
However, there is another categorization of mindset that is as important as the one stated above; the Abundant mindset vs. Poverty mindset.
Oscar Lewis was the one that did an empirical study on this in his 1959 book, Five Families: Mexican Case Studies in the Culture of Poverty. He described how the poverty mindset is passed down from generation to generation. He explained that “ by the time slum children are six or seven years old, they usually have absorbed the basic values and attitudes of their subculture, and are not psychologically geared to take full advantage of changing conditions or increased opportunities which may occur in their lifetime.”
The two categorizations of mindset operate on different levels; some people have a growth mindset and a poverty mindset. Such people may believe if they work hard, they could be as good as the best in their chosen profession (growth mindset), but that money is hard to earn, so they have to be stingy in that regard (Poverty mindset). Possessing a growth mindset and a poverty mindset will create a rat race mentality, where an individual never gets satisfied with what they have and never really enjoys what they’ve amassed.
Although this is rare, some may believe they cannot be as good as the best people (fixed mindset), but there is abundant prosperity in the world (abundant mindset.) Having a fixed mindset and an abundant mindset will turn an individual into a social misfit. Someone that cannot earn his keep.
Learning how to build a great mindset
The best time to build a great mindset is when you are young, the next best time is now. While a few people can experience a mindset shift due to life-changing experiences, this kind of mindset change is rare.
An active effort has to be employed to achieve a change in mindset. And the process is as follows;
Awareness:
What you’re not aware of, you can’t change. To change your mindset, you need to be aware of the mindset that drives your life presently. How do you become aware?
Cognitive therapy teaches that instead of making blank judgments about everything that happens to us, we should create a kind of assessment judgment. You should think if presented with the same situation but with better information, will you perform better?
For instance, if you have a poor appraisal at work, do you think it is because you are good for nothing? Or it is just a situation that could be better if things are in order. I’m not telling you to make excuses but to do a thorough situation assessment. This is the kind of awareness you need for a changed mindset.
the second means of awareness is by using the categorization we mentioned earlier.
If you believe that human qualities are carved in stone and couldn’t be improved- you have a fixed mindset.
If you believe that human qualities are a thing that can be improved- you have a growth mindset.
If you think that resources in life are scarce and it is for some people and not everyone- you have a poverty mindset.
If you think that resources on earth are abundant and everyone has access to it- You have an abundant mindset.
Auto-suggestion:
Once you’ve identified the area where you have a limiting mindset, you need to go to work at it. For instance, if you think life is hard and resources are scarce. Pick this belief and write a positive alternative to it. Write that the resources in the world are abundant and life is easy. Tell yourself this long enough, and you will see that things take a new shape and things will work easier for you.
As much as this might look like another motivational talk, it is a practice that works for people before us and still works for people among us. You need to know that what you think about most will become your reality. You must have heard the famous saying by Henry Ford that “think you can, think you can’t; either way you’ll be right.”
Conclusion
You have nothing to lose by keeping your mind positive. The wisdom above is adequate, so I would not go on and on. Just ensure that you implement some of it, and you will experience what will seem like magic.
