What Does Change Your Mindset Really Mean
Today, I was doing some work on my book. In Chapter Four of my book I talk about self-limiting, self-sabotaging, and other types of stories that we tell ourselves that are really the culprits to our lack of success. There’s so much to read about a person’s mindset, but I take issue with the word. The term “mindset” is often overused or misused. How do you know your current mindset if you’re stuck in a rut? How do you change it?
I came across this great article that did a really good job of explaining the difference. In this article it said that there are two different kinds of mindsets. There is the fixed mindset and the growth mindset.
People who have fixed mindsets limit themselves and reduce themselves to their skills, intelligence, or socioeconomic status. When you have a fixed mindset, you tend to build walls. It’s easy to fall into the thought pattern “these are the cards that have been dealt to me in life, so this is what I’m going to do for the rest of my life. I can’t change, I am forever stuck.”
Even with my high performance coaching program, I can’t really work with people with fixed mindsets. They’re the ones that shutdown the knowledge and opportunities they gain in my mastermind sessions. They think that what happens on paper couldn’t ever happen to them in real life. While frustrating for me, it mainly breaks my heart to see those with fixed mindsets. If only they could see the potential that I and others see in them.
This brings me to the second mindset: the growth mindset. People with growth mindsets are fixed on learning. Whether that be at home or at work, they are like a sponge and will soak up any knowledge that comes their way.
When people with fixed mindsets fail, they stay down. When people with growth mindsets fail, they shake themselves off and try something else. At the end of the day, a mindset is simply a set of attitudes. Your mindset is what is going to determine whether or not you are going to stay exactly where you are or if you’re going to grow.
People who lead relatively happy lives tend to have fixed mindsets. They think they have all that they can – but what if your life were 10% better? What would your life be like if you were just 10% better in one particular area? Most often there’s still some growth in you that you haven’t obtained. There’s still some forward movement you can make and it’s very, very exciting when you release yourself from your inner limits.
There’s no joy in settling for a job. There’s no joy in settling in a relationship because if you settle, you’re obviously compromising something away that you really, really want and I believe everyone should get out of life what they really, really want.
If you’re looking to do a self-assessment, that’s a great tool to start figuring out what kind of mindset you have. The one I love best is called Seven Levels Deep and it helps you find out what is most important to you. The hope in taking a self-assessment test is to figure out what is really driving you. Is my attitude one of learning or is my attitude one of holding back of and staying in your comfort zone? Leaving your comfort zone can be scary and painful, I’ve been bitten and burned before, too. The cool thing is we’re extremely resilient human beings and growth is what keeps us happy. Growth is what makes us feel fulfilled. It makes us feel like we matter. And if you want to matter, then I really encourage you to take a little bit of a hard look at yourself, even if you’re not using a tool. Just ask yourself, am I learning? If you don’t like your answer – make an adjustment.
I hope you found this helpful. If you know anybody who’s struggling with what the word mindset is or what the heck it means to them, please share this blog. I’d love to hear what you think, and what your mindsets are.