Mindset Is Everything
How have you intentionally set the kind of mindsets you needed today so far? What about the mindsets you will need for your circumstances later? Mindset is not just a word. It’s a way of thinking and making more intentional choices.
A mindset represents a mental attitude or disposition that predetermines a person's interpretations, choices, and responses to situations. It’s our way of looking at the situations we face and will determine our behaviors, decisions, and actions. Mindset should be considered in the plural and not in the singular, meaning mindset takes 1000’s of situational and integrated forms.
Much of our mindset choices stems from our beliefs and views of what our limits are and/or what we are willing to do to accomplish something, grow new skills or adapt to situations. Beliefs also contain our personal biases, experiences, and emotions. Our environment (culture) also shapes our beliefs. Our views (beliefs) can change through our experiences, developmental training, and purposeful focus. Each of us has a great deal of control over our thinking processes, views, and ultimately our mindsets. This control enables us to “rewire” ourselves to new ways of thinking. We have the power to change the way we think, and this is attached to our choices and our behaviors.
Our mindset choices will determine just how well our days situations (and life in general) go! If you want to create and keep the best version of you, you will need to manage your mindset. This means managing your thoughts, beliefs, values, attitudes, and behaviors, which requires making good and smart intentional choices.
We can define mindset in two generalized ways-growth oriented or fixed oriented, but as mentioned, there are many forms of mindsets, really 1000’s. Individuals may not always be aware of their own mindsets, but their mindset can still be discerned and observed based on their situational thinking, behaviors, and actions. It is especially evident in their reaction to failure, stress, and obstacles. Fixed-mindset individuals might avoid or dread failure, not be open to change or risk taking, because it is a negative statement on their basic abilities. Individuals with a more positive mindset do not mind or fear failure as much, because they realize their performance can always be improved. They know that learning comes from adversity, failure, feedback and adapting. These mindsets play a critical role in all aspects of a person's life-in including education, sports, law-enforcement, business, ministry, and family.
I encourage you to get more purposeful about proactively setting the kind of mindsets you need based upon the people, places and things you will face. Avoid generalizing on mindset. Don’t just gravitate to choices like fixed/growth, positive/negative-as they lack specificity and will not always enable you to channel your focus to keep that best version of you!