Mindsets are like sunglasses. If you have a pair of black glasses on, even the sunniest days appear dull and dark. Replace them with rose-tinted ones, and everything becomes wonderful, warm and welcoming.
Like the tint of your sunglasses impacts how you see the world, your mindset is the set of beliefs that determines how you see yourself, your abilities and your experiences. Having a favorable mindset is key to achieving sustained success and growth, while a limiting mindset is like a pair of incorrectly powered glasses; it limits your vision and perspective towards the world.
But here comes the best part. Just like you can change your sunglasses to enhance your vision, you can shift your mindset towards personal and professional growth. Learn how to change your mindset for success via some actionable steps and strategies.
What Are Mindset Shifts?
Mindset shifts are intentional changes that help you change your perception of your life and world, gearing you up for betterment and growth. However, If you’re wondering how to change your mindset for success this way, it’s not about “staying positive” or motivated or consuming self-help content. I’s about revisiting your very approach to your life and identity, because that’s where it all starts.
Before you wonder how to shift your mindset, how do you know if your mindset needs a shift?
Researcher and psychologist Carol Dweck answered this question in her 2006 book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, by introducing the concept of two types of mindsets: fixed and growth. According to Dweck’s research, you have a fixed mindset if you believe your abilities and qualities are “carved in stone” and unchangeable. However, you have a growth mindset if you believe you can improve your abilities and learn new ones with time and effort.
Everyone has a mix of fixed and growth mindsets. But depending too much on a fixed mindset means sabotaging our own growth in more ways than we might realize. This is where the need for a shift to a growth mindset comes into the picture.
The Benefits of a Growth-Oriented Mindset
If you’re wondering how to change your mindset to be successful, adopting a growth mindset can help. The growth mindset stems from a simple notion—that you can develop your abilities through effort, time and experiences. However, this little belief has benefits that affect almost every aspect of your life, from work to personal growth to relationships.
1. It Makes You Adaptable.
When you believe that you can improve and adjust to be successful, you are not as easily daunted by new and unfavorable circumstances. Rather, you are likely to take on new challenges that push your limits. Moving out of your comfort zone becomes easier, as does change.
2. It Instills the Urge to Keep Learning.
Since you believe in improving your abilities to grow and succeed, you embrace opportunities that help you learn new things. As a result, every unfamiliar situation becomes a platform for you to improve and keeps you on a lifelong path of learning and growth.
3. It Makes You Resilient.
According to mindset theory, how you react to and deal with failures determines your outlook towards life. With a growth mindset, you start learning from failures and setbacks. In Carol Dweck’s words, “The passion for stretching yourself and sticking to it, even (or especially) when it’s not going well, is the hallmark of the growth mindset.”
4. It Can Help You Overcome Self-Doubt.
Be it due to bad grades, rejections or any other setback, self-doubts can affect anyone at any time. However, when you believe in growth through effort and practice, you may be less likely to let such self-doubts define you and more likely to work on yourself to get over your doubts.
On the flip side, people with a largely fixed mindset struggle to overcome their self-doubts and fear of failure. Shifting to a growth-oriented mindset can help you overcome these challenges and take charge of your life, and it starts with identifying the beliefs that make you feel limited.
Identifying Self-Limiting Beliefs
Your thoughts can shape your reality. So, if you want to change your outlook on your life, the first step is to identify and counter the thoughts that limit you. Here’s what you can do in learning how to change your mindset for success:
Step 1: Recognize Your Involuntary Negative Thoughts.
Negativity can creep into the best of situations. Whether you are working hard for a promotion, planning a date, preparing for an exam or simply trying something new, your automatic negative thoughts (ANTs) can pop up in various ways, such as:
- “I am not smart/talented/skilled enough.”
- “Everyone rejects me, so will he/she.”
- “I am too underprepared/weak to do this.”
- “If I try, I’ll likely fail.”
We might pay heed to such thoughts without even realizing it—and end up feeling underconfident, stressed and failure-ready. Start recognizing these thoughts. Note them down. Notice any patterns, such as which kind of thoughts come to you the most often—and when.
Step 2: Question the Negative Thoughts.
Sticking to logic and reason helps you stay grounded in tough situations. So, when you identify such negative thoughts in your head, pause and ask yourself:
- Are these thoughts logical?
- Is there a real reason behind these thoughts?
- Are these thoughts helping me grow?
If the answer is no, try a simple task: reframe these thoughts. For example:
- “I am not skilled enough” can become “I need to improve, and I will.”
- “Everyone rejects me” can turn into “I have yet to find someone compatible.”
- “I am too underprepared” can change into “I am currently underprepared.”
- “I will likely fail” can be “What if I succeed?”
These little changes might seem trivial, but they can take you far with time.
Step 3: Counter Your Limiting Beliefs.
Actions speak louder than words. Along with turning your negative, pessimistic thoughts into positive, optimistic ones, start doing things that counter the limiting beliefs that hold you back.
- Think you aren’t good enough? Ask your friends what they like about you.
- Think you can’t make friends? Try talking with new people—offline or online.
- Believe you can’t change? Start a tiny new habit, such as reading one page per day.
As you make progress is discovering how to change your mindset for success, don’t forget to jot these little wins down on paper. Next time you find your limiting beliefs knocking at your door, you have proof to tell them they lie.
Actionable Strategies for Shifting Your Mindset to Success
Besides countering your limiting self-beliefs, much more goes into changing your mindset for success and growth. Here are some actionable strategies for cultivating a growth mindset:
1. Practice Gratitude
Be it your health, your family, that one supportive friend you can talk to or even the good food you eat every day—be actively aware of and grateful for everything that adds value to your life. Write these things in your journal and take time to appreciate the things and people you are grateful for, especially when negative thoughts cloud your view.
2. Embrace Challenges
When you start seeing every challenge as an opportunity in disguise, your setbacks turn into lessons. So start that new habit, learn that new skill and apply to that better-paying job even if your negative thoughts say you aren’t good enough. If you fail—as everyone does at some point—see it as another lesson, take notes and keep moving.
3. Adopt Positive Self-Talk
Just countering negative thoughts isn’t enough. Develop the habit of finding positives in every situation—however daunting. Make positive self-talk the new norm, and make affirmative phrases like “I will get better at it,” “I can do this,” and “I will try my best” your new friends.
4. Set SMART Goals
A mindset shift for success is not one event but a process. Start by setting little, realistic SMART goals, that are, Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-bound. When you set goals this way, you become more likely to accomplish them and get on the path of self-improvement—a defining characteristic of the growth mindset.
5. Seek Feedback
Adopting a growth mindset means seeing feedback as your golden ticket to growth. So, whether it’s a test, a new skill or a project you just submitted, actively ask for feedback. Consider criticism as a guide that shows you the right way to grow and improve.
Real-Life Applications of a Growth Mindset
Growth mindset shows up in the story of almost every successful person. In fact, some of the most inspiring stories of success come from people who reflect a growth-oriented mindset.
- J. K. Rowling’s first Harry Potter book was rejected by 12 publishers before Bloomsbury took it up, while Stephen King’s debut novel, Carrie, was rejected 30 times before being published. Regardless of so many rejections, these writers’ growth mindsets helped them keep trying until things worked out.
- Elon Musk struggled with many of his ventures, including PayPal, Tesla and SpaceX, enduring deep financial hardships. Yet, he persevered and became successful.
- Award-winning filmmaker Steven Spielberg suffered from dyslexia as a child and struggled with his academics. He was also rejected three times by the University of Southern California. Had he considered his life limited due to dyslexia, he would never have become one of the greatest directors of all time.
These examples are not just to motivate. There are ways you can also use a growth mindset to grow and achieve success in various aspects of your life:
1. In Your Career
Whether you want to climb the corporate ladder, shift to a new career or start something of your own, having a growth mindset can help you navigate these challenges with an open mind. You will try, and you might fail. But you won’t let the failure stop you from trying again—a quality that differentiates successful people from the rest.
2. In Personal Relationships
Relationships are forever-evolving works in progress. They keep changing with the people that make them and demand effort to remain alive and thriving. Having a growth mindset not only helps you adapt and adjust to new challenges and changes, it also teaches you to not take failures and rejections to heart, to move on and to learn the difficult art of letting go.
3. In Personal Development
Shifting to a growth mindset helps you live the vast possibilities a fixed-mindset person will likely avoid. You become open to taking on new challenges, trying habits you have never been good at and doing things that push you out of your limits. These qualities could help you in every aspect of your life, from physical and mental fitness to skills and experiences.
Successful Mindset Shifts Take Time
Your mindset shapes your outlook on life. It influences the things you believe in, how you define success and failure and, as a result, how successful you become. Yet gaining a success mindset could be closer than you think. If your current beliefs lean on the fixed mindset, shifting your mindset towards growth is key to tapping into your true potential.
You don’t have to make quick, big changes in your mindset shifts for success. Just start small and try changing your beliefs about one area of your life using some of the strategies discussed above. Remember that it might take a while before the changes are noticeable. So be patient, embrace changes and keep going.
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