How to Master Your Mindset and Achieve Success
Achieve your dreams by focusing on this one thing
Your mindset impacts everything about your dreams and goals.
But we already know this. We have read Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill and know all about how mindset changed everything. Yet, it is something so many people talk about. And it is something which so many people still struggle with when it comes to chasing their dreams.
It’s because the mindset is a difficult thing to master.
There are a lot of parts to your mindset. It isn’t simply having a dream and believing you will achieve it. It is much more than that. Your mindset is impacted by internal and external sources.
These sources can either spur you on to achieve your dreams. Or they can hinder you so terribly that you give up on your dreams and live a mediocre life.
But what are these parts of our mindset we need to improve or jumpstart in order to achieve our goals and see our dreams come true?
Well, they come in a few different forms.
A Quick Review on the Importance of Mindset
“You become what you believe, not what you think or what you want.” — Oprah Winfrey
We have heard quotes like this one. C.S. Lewis tells us about it, Napoleon Hill tells us about it, and Tony Robbins has a bunch of quotes about it.
Want to know why people keep talking about it?
Because it is essential to seeing your dreams come true and achieving the goals you have in your life. The human mind has this ability to wrap itself around something and then work out what needs to be done to get there.
When we sleep, our brains are working out problems in our life. During the day, we can critically think and problems solves through boundaries and barriers to getting to our dreams. It's part of who we are and how we were created.
However, we can stunt ourselves and even keep ourselves from our dreams if we don’t have the right mindset. That’s why you hear about mindset so much. That is why we must find out how to master our mindset in order to succeed.
3 Pillars of Mindset
“Picture your brain forming new connections as you meet the challenge and learn. — Carol Dweck, Author of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
Mindset is so important for us as we face challenges in life, chase our dreams, and continually grow into the person we are meant to be. Yet, our mindset comes down to three main parts or pillars.
When I think about the way we see ourselves, the world around us, and the future there are clearly three main ways that we can process this information in order to succeed at our goals and dreams.
These pillars are identity, perception, and movement.
Identity
Now, some people say that we should let our decisions and habits define who we are. It is this idea of “fake it until you make it.” However, I don’t think that is right. In fact, I think your identity defines who you are and informs your mindset.
“As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” — Proverbs 23:7
When we know who we are, it can inform everything about our lives. My identity as an author was solidified in me long before I published my first book. Same thing with my identity as a father.
You must understand who you are in order to master your mindset. There is a lot that goes into this, however, one of the best books I have ever read to help me understand who I am is Jeff Goins, The Art of Work.
Oddly enough, this book about calling and vocation forced me to understand who I am as a person and what I want out of life. This established some important groundwork in my life to have the right mindset.
Perception
The way we see ourselves is important, but the way we perceive the world around us and our future is the catalyst to mastering our mindset.
If you do not have any hope for your future or for the world around you, your mindset will be a poverty mindset. It is telling you “there will never be enough.” Or it says, “things will never get better.”
“Poverty finds a problem in every opportunity, while wealth finds and opportunity in every problem.” — Kris Vallotton, author of Poverty, Riches, & Wealth.
Our perception of our lives, world, and problems determines whether or not we can overcome even the most difficult of circumstances. If we don’t think it is possible to thrive and achieve success, then we won’t do it.
While on the other hand, if we believe we can overcome any amount of trouble in life, we give ourselves the fighting chance to do it. No matter how many things might be stacked against us.
Movement
We are either growing or dying. This is how I perceive the idea of the growth mindset or the fixed mindset. What this means is we are either moving forward or stuck, which for me, means we are moving backward.
If we are not moving forward; growing, taking action, learning, and doing what we need to do then we are going backward. This movement is essential to mastering mindset.
I have always loved this quote from Winston Churchill:
“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.”
What I have always taken away from this quote is how it involves movement. We are either growing and learning from failure or we are giving up and settling into a slow and steady death.
When we master our movement, always going forward, we can master our mindset.
How to Master Our Mindset
In order to master our mindset, we must master the three pillars. When it comes to mastering our pillars, it takes three big steps. These steps have a lot of little work to do, but they are essential to finding breakthroughs when it comes to our mindset.
Step 1 — Master Your Identity
If you have never thought about this or done this before, it will take some time. Your identity is made up of a few things. However, the main thing you need to do is look at your past, present, and future.
Ask these three questions:
- What do I love about myself?
- What do I wish I could do differently with myself?
- What are the most important parts of my life?
With the answers to those questions, I want you to write down who you would want to be a year from now, five years from now, and ten years from now.
Step 2 — Master Your Perception
Start with what is true about your life right now. This gives you the launching point. Then, look back at what you want your identity to be. What are five things you can do today to start moving toward this reality? Do this every single day.
Remember to do these three things every day:
- Remind yourself of the identity you are building.
- Look for the opportunities in problems, situations, and obstacles.
- List five actions you can do to move toward this reality regarding these opportunities.
When we can give ourselves actions to take regarding our identity and remember that the things that stand in our way are actually beneficial for growth, we can change our perspective every single day.
Step 3 — Master Your Movement
When we remember that we can grow into our identity and take the action to go with it, this helps solidify an abundant growth mindset. But we have to start with the first two steps in order to master our movement.
In order to keep growing, we need to review at the end of each day these three questions:
- How did today move me toward my future identity, goals, and dreams?
- What worked really well?
- What could I improve on tomorrow?
How we review each day prepares us for the next day. When we review at the end of the day, it allows us to acknowledge your failures, celebrate your successes, and keep moving forward.
Repeat
Mindset is never something that can be changed overnight. It takes days, weeks, and sometimes months to do it. Yet, it starts right here. Doing these three things, over and over again.
Final Thoughts
Mindset is one of the major contributors to people achieving their dreams. If you have the wrong mindset, you will fail. But the right one will take you to where you want to go and beyond.
Remember the three pillars and the steps that go with them. They will help you get moving if your mindset is keeping you from seeing your dreams come true.
And don’t forget, there are plenty of other dream killers, but this one you can control completely.
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