4 Ways to Upgrade Your Mindset for the Better

“Your life does not get better by chance. It gets better by change.” — Jim Rohn

How you approach life is largely based on your mindset. If you are someone who feels like there is nothing you can do to improve your life, then chances are really high that you will stay in this position for a very long time.

If you are someone who is not quite there where you want to be but you are willing to work hard and embrace change, then chances are high that further down the road, you will eventually reach your dreams and attain success.

Realizing that you need and want to change for the better to improve your circumstances and position in life is a good start. The next step is upgrading your mind into being results and success-conscious.

Here are 4 ways to upgrade your mindset.

# 1 — Focus On The Long Term

Right now, too many people are focused on the short-term. People are in it for the instant gratification which is basically natural human desire to experience pleasure or attain what you want without delay.

Because of this, people only look at what will impact them most favorably in the short-term when instead they should be looking at whether or not this is favorable in the long-term.

For example, let’s say you want to start blogging but you also have a family to take care of, have a day-time job, and tons of other priorities.

In the short-term, you will have absolutely no people who will read your work and zero revenue. In fact, it will be several months or years before your hard work will begin to show any fruition. Essentially, you will be losing in the short term.

However, in the long-term, you will have published many stories to your blog, will have gained a following, and will have earned some revenue if you had kept on posting consistently and constantly improving.

People don’t want to go through all of the hard work and turmoil to achieve their dreams and be where they want to be. People want it all immediately.

But that is not how life works. In life, you have to constantly move and work towards a certain vision/dream to achieve it even if the future is uncertain. You have to focus on the long term even if results in the short term are not favorable.

What can you do?

Stop worrying and fretting if your efforts towards achieving your goal haven’t worked out. It will mostly not work out in the short term. But if you keep working hard with your eyes set on the long term, your efforts will pay off even though it will take a long time.

Most people are not willing to spend huge amounts of time on efforts that don’t pay them back in the short term. Because of this, these people quit and then later complain why the other person has been successful.

Keep your eyes set on the big goal and keep working towards that dream no matter what.

# 2 — Learn To Love & Embrace Failure

There are two ways to think about and approach failure. On the one hand, you can think about failure as an unpassable barrier to your dreams. On the other hand, you can see failure as a stepping stone to your learning and development.

Let’s take Thomas Edison as an example. It is widely known that Edison failed more than a 1,000 times on his quest to invent the lightbulb. However, if Edison had thought of failure as an unpassable barrier to his success, he would have given up.

However, Edison knew that failure after failure after failure would eventually lead him down the right path to invent the lightbulb. Because of this, he never gave up.

In fact, when a reporter asked him, “How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?” Edison said,

“I didn’t fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps.”

By embracing failure, you discover new ways to find alternative paths to take you towards your goal. It brings the opportunity to help learn things better and try with a stronger mindset the next time.

People who regularly experience and embrace failure are able to recognize new opportunities and potentials for growth than people who hate failure.

What can you do?

If you have failed at something such as an assignment or a major project, don’t give up. Instead, use that failure as a stepping stone to improve yourself in the future.

Failures help you find other paths or ways to success so if your hard work is not translating to better grades or success in general, then try an alternative path. It may be that it is that path that leads to your success.

Love failure so much that when you do fail, you don’t become disappointed but pick yourself right back up to continue to work towards your goal.

# 3 — Read Books. A Lot of Them.

Before the invention of the internet and the computer, people used to regularly learn through books, newspapers, printed articles, etc. People who had experience and wanted to share their knowledge with others wrote books which literally contained all of a person’s wisdom in a few hundred pages.

Reading books has the potential to open up a person’s mind and explore undiscovered ways and techniques to improve oneself. Sure, there are so many categories of books such as entertainment, non-fiction, fiction, self-help, business, etc., but reading books primarily for wisdom and knowledge has the most benefit

Some of the most wealthiest and successful people on this planet regularly read books such as:

• Bill Gates: Reads 50 books every year

“Reading fuels a sense of curiosity about the world, which I think helped drive me forward in my career and in the work that I do now with my foundation.” — Bill Gates

• Warren Buffett: Reads for 5–6 hours every day

“I read and think,” Buffett once said. “So I do more reading and thinking, and make less impulse decisions than most people in business. I do it because I like this kind of life.” — Warren Buffett

• Mark Cuban: Spends 3 hours reading every day

“Everything I read was public. Anyone could buy the same books and magazines. The same information was available to anyone who wanted it. Turns out most people didn’t want it.” — Mark Cuban

As you can see, reading books is quite popular amongst these successful people and it’s not that they read any type of book. These people regularly choose to read books that personally help them learn, develop, and gain a better understanding of the world.

When you start reading books for knowledge instead of for entertainment, this opens your mind in so many ways. It enhances your imagination, helps you personally improve and gain new perspectives, improves your memory, etc.

What can you do?

If you want to become a better version of yourself, go read a self-help book.

If you want to learn how to become better in business, go read a business book.

If you want to learn how to lead a group of people, go read a book about leadership.

If you want to learn how to make new friends and improve your relationships, go read a relationship book.

Try to limit your book selection to mostly knowledge books that will help you improve in life. It is okay to read entertainment books once in a while for joy but most of your books should help you learn and grow as a person.

# 4 — Develop a Growth Mindset

When you believe in yourself that you have the ability and the mindset that you can do it, then it will happen. Everyday, people talk themselves into saying that they are not worthy or not naturally talented to be able to achieve their goals.

Most people in this world have a “fixed mindset” when instead they should be having a “growth mindset.”

Fixed mindset is when people believe that their intelligence and abilities are fixed and what they are able to accomplish in life is based solely on what talents they were born with.

Growth mindset is when people believe their talents and abilities can be developed and improved over time through dedication, persistence, and hard work.

By developing a growth mindset, you will constantly try to improve yourself no matter the circumstances. You won’t always assume you are stuck in your current situation if you have this mindset.

People with a growth mindset know that if they continue to work hard with determination and persistence, they will eventually get where they want to be even if it takes a long time.

What can you do?

If you want to get out of your current situation, improve yourself, or reach a big goal, start by developing a growth mindset. Get out of the fixed mindset and start believing that you can improve yourself no matter what.

• If you want to improve yourself, don’t think you can’t and instead pick up a self-help book.
• If you want to start a Youtube channel, don’t think you don’t have the expertise to do it but instead pick up a camera, start recording, and keep doing this for many months and years.
• If you want to do better in school or college, don’t think you are not naturally smart but instead start studying more.

“If you imagine less, less will be what you undoubtedly deserve.” — Debbie Millman

Takeaways

Once you realize that most things in life can be influenced by changing your mindset, your whole approach to life literally changes.

Too many people are focused on just living their lives. They are content with what they have.

• Many people that are obese choose to remain that way instead of doing something.
• Many people who struggle financially and are in debt just assume they will stay that away.
• Most people who are not happy with their lives think they can’t do anything about it.

However, change can happen and the only person who can bring that change is YOU.

Once you realize you need to change yourself for the better, you may be wondering how to do that. Change starts in the human mind and that is where we can most influence it.

“Your life does not get better by chance. It gets better by change.” — Jim Rohn