10 Essentials for Developing a Winning Mentality
Winning mentality doesn’t mean a constant desire to win against someone else — it’s a desire to win against yourself!
Essentially, a winning mentality equals a successful mind; a mindset that will help you overcome your fears and issues in order to finally achieve your goals.
These goals can be both personal and professional. And if you truly want to reach them, you need to learn to be confident. This is a special kind of confidence that has everything to do about how you perceive yourself.
Feeling confident in your own power to make a change in your life IS a winning mentality. But there may be plenty to do in the process:
1. Manage your fears by not letting them manage you
Stephen King perfectly described what fear does to us. And hiding your feet from the “thing” under the bed by tucking them under the blankets is an already known notion and something many people already do for added comfort.
However, the fear of something great and invisible is not only reserved for under-the-bed monsters. Nothing will grab your ankle at the end of the day. But so many (imaginary) things can stop you from living your life to the fullest and reaching milestone after milestone even when the sun is high in the sky.
In the end, fear is just your harmful thoughts. Learning how to control them by cooperating with yourself will open up the path of self-confidence that will allow you to rush ahead towards your goals.
Just because it’s in your head doesn’t make it any less real. But the beauty of this statement is that it doesn’t only include “bad” feelings like fear, but all the amazing emotions and ideas you may grow within you.
So, stop fighting this fear as if it didn’t deserve to be there, as if it wasn’t real — if it’s there, it’s there. Fight it by overwhelming it with the beauty, excitement, and joy of everything else that you’ve got inside your mind. Turn what you already have into a winning mentality.
2. Embrace your originality
No one can give the world what you can. And, most importantly, no one can give you what you yourself can.
In order to fully utilize a winning mentality, it’s time to accept your own originality — the mix of everything that you like and dislike. You may think that you’re nothing special or unique, but consider this: there probably isn’t another person on this planet that has exactly the same ratio of all the same likes and dislikes as you. And that is truly magnificent.
With that said, there’s really no point in trying to be like others. Drawing inspiration from other people’s action is perfectly fine and even beneficial. But if you lose sight of who you truly are in order to look like somebody else, talk like somebody else and give off the impression of somebody else, you're only pushing yourself further away from the true winning mentality. Yes, you may find some kind of success in this copied kind of life, but it will never bring you the freedom, satisfaction and real success like reaching goals in your own unique image.
3. Keep toxic people at bay
This may never even have crossed your mind, but one of the main causes for stress, anxiety and a completely closed off mindfulness and winning mentality often has everything to do with other people around you, as well.
Even though we create our own destiny and most of the time, we’re the one responsible for our choices and the quality of life, sometimes, the reason why you feel like you lack motivation, energy, and the willpower to achieve your goals is that you’re surrounded by toxic people.
Toxic people don’t have to be necessarily bad or demotivate you on purpose. But, their negativity can spread like a virus and infect you, too. Still, some may deliberately try to put you down with their negativity. It would be best to try to avoid these people as much as possible, especially if you notice that their negative and toxic comments and energy seem to be purposeful.
Instead, you want to surround yourself with people who are positive and optimistic about life. If you hang out with energetic people who look forward to the future and accomplishing their goals, the chances are that this attitude will rub off on you as well. And something like this is essential for a winning mentality.
Choose people you want to be with carefully. You won’t always have this freedom, especially when it comes to your work office, which is why you should definitely try to better your surroundings in every other aspect of your life. And even professional if you’re a freelancer.
In the end, some people have definitely crossed your mind while reading this and you know the best who the toxic people in your life are. It’s up to you to minimize your contact with them, or at least stop their negativity from affecting you.
4. Asking for help is nothing to be embarrassed about
It all comes to the simple truth — if you don’t ask, you won’t be able to learn.
Asking questions or looking for advice is completely natural and a logical thing to do when you have a certain goal in mind. After all, something that’s worth your effort probably isn’t going to be something you can achieve overnight. You may need an occasional pat on the back, a point in the right direction or learning more about other people’s experience.
Whatever the case may be, asking has never been and never will be an embarrassing thing to do. The will to ask for advice/help/explanation is a step towards achieving your goals and a winning mentality.
5. Step out of your comfort zone
Every aspect of life comes with its own comfort zone.
In that respect, even though it may seem like you’re not stuck in a comfort zone as your goal doesn’t seem to be too “out there”, some kind of a comfort zone has to exist for you if you can’t move forward past the certain point. And especially if you’re constantly trying and giving up in a relatively similar manner.
No matter how challenging it may seem, taking the risk of stepping out of your comfort zone for your goal and your happiness’ sake can turn out to be quite simple once you just give it a try.
Comfort zone is not always the bad guy, but it can often be the elephant in the room that’s pressuring you into anxiety and stress. Sometimes, it’s worth discussing it and getting it over with.
6. Detours on the road to success are lessons — not failures
Nothing in your life can or should be defined as a failure unless you let it.
Not succeeding in achieving your goal instantly, as soon as you give it a try, is nothing more than a valuable life lesson that will make you stronger, wiser and better prepared for your next attempt.
What’s more, things that you managed to get with almost no effort at all and no detour on the road will lack these valuable lessons and the meaningful worth.
Persistence and the ability to treat every step of your way as a valuable lesson (regardless of the step’s direction) are some of the deciding factors for developing a winning mentality, self-confidence, and strong willpower.
7. Decisions generate movement in the right direction
Indecisiveness has never helped anyone. In order for something to actually happen, you need to make a decision.
Sometimes, it can feel impossible to decide just what direction to take and what decision to make, but the fact of the matter is that everything is better compared to the status quo. This leaves you stuck in the previously mentioned comfort zone as refusing to make decisions for yourself is also one form of this fearful mentality. But, if you want to transform it into a winning mentality, you just need to make a decision. In the end, it doesn’t even matter if it was the absolute best decision — as mentioned, every detour is a new lesson.
Keep in mind that avoiding decision-making equals avoiding responsibility for your own life, your own choices, and your own future.
8. Make the most out of your finances
Money may not be paramount for developing your winning mentality or achieving your goals successfully, but it might come in handy for some milestones at one time or the other.
Precisely because of this, learning how to budget properly, save money where you can and spend smartly will also be an essential part of tuning your mind to the right kind of a mindset — the one that’s critical and practical yet still creative with all the possibilities you have in front of you.
9. Keep seeking more knowledge
Learning new things shouldn’t just be about accomplishing your goals. This then isn’t a healthy winning mentality but more of an obsessive one. A winning mentality welcomes every piece of information and seeks it.
Every day of your life is an opportunity to learn more about the world around you and yourself. Don’t hesitate to seize this opportunity. Knowledge is both power and treasure. In that sense, enriching and fueling your life with knowledge will only boost your confidence and sense of identity. You will find strength in your own mind palace, which puts you on the right path for achieving your goals and finding true success (with whatever success means to you personally).
10. Self-care can open many doors
Self-care isn’t just an important notion and practice when it comes to building the image you have of yourself, but also when it comes to the image other people have of you.
If you’re not taking yourself seriously, constantly put yourself down and lack proper self-care, the symptoms will become visible to others around you as well.
Even though you should never be a slave of other people’s opinions, you should also keep in mind that sometimes, especially when professional goals are considered, first impressions count a lot. That said, treating yourself with respect, love and care can only make your winning mentality development and your path to learning how to get what you wish for a lot easier and undoubtedly more productive.
