The Right Mindset

Based on a web article by Myrko Thum

Your mindset is the sum of your knowledge, beliefs and thoughts about the world and yourself. It is like a filter for information you get in and put out. So it determines how you receive and react to information. It is often used for a specific function or aspect of your life – e.g. “an entrepreneur’s mindset” or a “winning mindset“. We sometimes hear about a sports team that loses the match even before it started because it had a “loser’s mindset“. Having the right mindset is often the biggest factor in determining success in a particular initiative…

So mindset is really about a frame of mind or a pattern of thinking that affects behavior. Changing one’s mindset can mean changing behavior so this is very powerful. How does one then develop the right mindset? Here are some ideas on how to do this:

Modify beliefs first

If you believe “I am a successful business person”, you start to act like that.  If you believe you will never be a successful business person, this is going to be your likely reality.

Find the best information

There is a huge amount of information in every area – in books, on the internet, from people around you. Much of this information is useless; it won’t do anything for you. So focus on finding that essential, core information that is likely to produce a positive result. This is itself a big skill – finding the right information and disregarding the rest.

Find a role model

There is no need to re-invent the wheel. There are others before you who have succeeded dramatically. So just lime it is important to find the right information, you also need to find the right people to advise you on what works and what doesn’t.

Anthony Robbins – the renowned inspirational guru – used this approach to change his mindset. He would ask questions like “what does it take to become a black-belt karate expert” from martial arts experts then he would set out to do what they had done.

Use visualization as a guide 

Building a picture – a vision – of what you will become like is a powerful tool to guide you and keep you on track. A person wanting to lose weight for example imagines a picture of himself looking slim and athletic and this creates an incentive to work towards that goal.

Protect and reinforce your new mindset

There will be situations and there will be people who will get in the way of your new mindset and goals. So it is essential to constantly reinforce and shield your mindset from such influence. This reinforcement comes not from the perfect mindset but from execution and action.  In other words, a new mindset requires support through action also.

There is a great saying about persisting: “it is easier to behave your way into a new way of thinking than to think your way into a new way of behaving“.