Change Your Mindset, Change Your Life

A lot of people claim they know the secret to success. They will claim it is motivation, ambitiousness, positivity, conscientiousness and all sorts of other abstract nouns. However, they are missing the true vital ingredient, the real key that will get you started on the road to success to begin with: desire.

 

It Comes From Within

 

It is obvious really, but if you are going to be successful in any area of your life then you need to want to be successful. It does not matter how hard working you are, how much time you spend at work, but if you do not particularly want to climb to the top it just will not happen. Anything along these lines is a competition essentially, and if you do not truly desire success then you’ll still be going against a whole lot of people who do. You cannot really have motivation without desire, but even if you could, where would you be directing that motivation? It is desire that will help you keep your eye on the prize and act as the motivator as you put in more time after work, or come up with complex plans on how to woo the guy/gal of your dreams. And the more you desire something the more you’ll work to get it. And as you do, you’ll find that you subconsciously even help to navigate through the mire of challenges and that the world just kind of steps out of the way.

 

Of course, not all desire will work. Firstly, your desire needs to be realistic, and secondly your desire needs to be concrete. A desire to fly for example probably is only going to end with disappointment unless you are from Krypton, and a desire to ‘be more successful’ is an abstract aim that’s really quite subjective.

 

How to Find Your Desire

 

Some people though do not seem to have any desire at all however, and these people can be quite aimless in their lives. They aren’t going to progress because they do not know how they want to progress and they do not know what they want from life. The thing is though, everyone has something they want, it is just a matter of finding out what it is.

 

If you are struggling to know what your desire is, then think of your life now as it is. Now think of how it could be improved. Now think of how your life would look if you had everything the way you want it. That’s pretty desirable right? Maybe you have got a big house and kids, or a small house and great artistic job, or you are a movie star, or a high-flying business man. Now you know what your desires are, write them down and break them down into smaller steps and priorities. Suddenly you have direction and motivation. Good luck!

 

How to Turn Negative Feedback Into Positive Results

Having a success mindset means taking risks and it means putting yourself out there. It means taking chances and being willing to fail.

 

And when you do all that, you’ll find that sometimes you do fail. Sometimes people laugh at you. Sometimes you lose a lot of money. 

 

And this can hurt a lot. Sometimes, it feels as though you will never be successful and that other people seem to have it all figured out. But let’s take a step back for a moment.

 

Because most of the successful people you know and most of the successful people in the media were unsuccessful at some point. And they have been in exactly the same position as you - having tried and failed. The only difference between those people and the ones you never hear about, is that they got back up, they shrugged off the criticisms and they went for it anyway.

 

And if you dig a little deeper, nearly every ‘success story’ is actually made up of a thousand little failures, rejections and humiliations. Look at JK Rowling who had her book rejected countless times before it made her into one of the richest people on the planet. Look at Arnold Schwarzenegger who was told that he could never be a movie star with his thick accent and physique.

 

And yet.

 

The key to remember is that you’re at a point in your story where there’s challenge and upheaval but if you take this in your stride, it will actually make you stronger.

 

When you receive criticisms from others, what do you do? Do you curl up in a ball and cry about it? Or do you decide that you’re going to learn from their critique and take it on board. Next time, they won’t be able to make that same criticism!

 

And when you fail and lose your money, do you give up on starting your own business? Or do you make a note of everything that you did wrong and then endeavor not to make those same mistakes again?

 

This is the difference between successful people and the rest of us. And look at it this way: if you treat every single failure as a chance to get better, then every single time you try, you will slightly increase your chances of winning big.

 

And that means that if you continue trying, the odds will eventually be stacked in your favor!

 

The Positive Habits of Successful People

What do positive people have in common? Lots of things. And in fact, if you look at the most successful people across every different discipline, you’ll often find that they have more in common than they have differences. Top athletes have a lot more in common with top CEOs than you might expect and the same can be said for artists too.

 

And when we recognize these habits, we can often break them down and work backward to discover some of the most important traits and habits we need to adopt in order to join them. Here are some of those positive habits.

 

Self-Development

 

On his podcast, author Tim Ferriss interviews some of the most successful people in the world ranging from actors, to singers, to athletes to programmers. One of the things that almost all of them surprisingly have in common is that they start their day with meditation. And of course, a lot of them exercise too. 

 

What does this tell us? It tells us that the successful mindset involves being willing to work on yourself and get better. When you do that, you have no limitations and you can keep on getting stronger and better!

 

Following a Passion

 

Another thing that you’ll find without exception when speaking with successful people is that they have one singular passion that they follow in every single aspect of their lives. You’ll be able to tell because they will start talking about it right away and their eyes will light up!

 

It makes sense too - because when we have a real passion, it gives us the drive, focus and determination to work harder and smarter than everyone else.

 

Breaking the Mold

 

Something else that all of the most successful people in the world share is the willingness to break the mold - to walk the path less trodden. This is how they discover opportunities that others miss but it’s also fundamentally what made them able to question their life’s path in the first place. Arnold Schwarzenegger was certainly unique for deciding he wanted to become a bodybuilder (he came from a small village in Austria). He certainly raised eyebrows when he moved to America. But he had the courage to know what he wanted and to go after it - even if it was a bit unusual.

 

Don’t be afraid to be you and to go the way you want to go. Rules are there to be broken - that’s why they’re called breakthroughs!

 

Top Five Benefits of Having a Success Mindset

Are you ready to start getting more out of your life and to start getting the results you want? For many of us, success is a very slow process and one that involves a huge amount of work and effort. For others though, it all seems to come very naturally. We all know those people, the ones who seem to have the Midas touch - who seem to strike lucky no matter what they do. What’s their secret?

 

There are many answers to this question but the biggest thing these people often have going for them is a ‘success mindset’. Once they change the way they think, they can change their fortunes - and the rest just falls into place.

 

It’s making that cognitive shift that will help you to start making the progress you want to see in your life. And here are five of the biggest ways that changing your outlook can change your fortunes!

 

Problems Become Challenges

 

A success mindset turns problems into challenges. It means that you stop seeing setbacks as the end of the world and start seeing them as new opportunities to kick ass and take names! When you take this approach, nothing can stand in your way!

 

And Failures Become Learning Experiences

 

You might have this idea in your head that highly successful people can never put a foot wrong or make a mistake. That’s far from the truth though. However, what makes failure very different for those with a success mindset is that they don’t see it as failure. They see it as a chance to try again - now with new information!

 

You Feel Amazing

 

When you genuinely believe you can do anything, it doesn’t just affect the way you walk around the office and conduct yourself in business - it changes the way that you present yourself and feel about yourself. In short, you feel awesome.

 

You Become Instantly More Attractive

 

What is the secret to attractiveness in both genders? You guessed it: confidence!

 

You Finally Start Getting What You Want

 

Finally, though, when you adopt a success mindset and everything that comes with that, you’ll finally start to get what you want. Better yet, it won’t seem like an impossible task anymore. Once you give off that iron self-belief, others will start to believe in you too. When you have a clear goal and mission, anything becomes possible. It’s just a matter of time.

 

Top Five Challenges of Creating a Success Mindset

‘Create a success mindset’ they say!

 

‘Just go after the things you want in life’ they say!

 

‘Take risks’ they say!

 

It’s a shame it’s not always that easy right? The road to a success mindset is one wrought with obstacles and many of these are things that nobody likes to talk about. It doesn’t fit the narrative. It’s time we addressed them!

 

Here are the top five challenges of creating a success mindset:

 

You Don’t Know What You Want

 

This is a surprisingly common issue and one that rarely gets brought up. How can you go after what makes you happy if you don’t really know what that is? How can you find a goal and stick to it when you fear commitment? 

 

Having Weird Aims

 

Or what if you know what you want in life but your aims are just too weird or unattainable? What if you don’t want to start a business, travel or start a family. What if you want to be an acrobat? And you’re 60?

 

What if everyone will laugh at you?

 

Being Conflicted

 

Or how about being torn between travelling and settling down with the person you love? What if your heart is genuinely pulling you in two different directions? What if going after your dream, means saying goodbye to people you love, or turning your back on the things that made you who you are?

 

Being Honest With Yourself

 

We are prideful creatures and our very psychology is wired in such a way as to protect our fragile egos. We don’t want to admit to our failures and we don’t want to feel like we’re going backward.

 

And so, when we realize that we’re unhappy with what we have in life, it can be very hard for us to be honest and admit that - to ourselves or to others!

 

Responsibility to Others

 

It’s easy to say that you should take a leap and apologise later but what if people are really relying on you to be mature and stable? What if your goal is to go travelling but your wife just got pregnant?

 

Yes, there are ways around this too - you can explain how important this is to you and convince her to come with you. But it won’t always work. And at the end of the day, you’re always going to be giving your child a less stable home.

 

There are answers to all these problems of course - but just know that the path isn’t as simple as some would have you believe!

Top Five Tips for Achieving a Successful Mindset

Want to start changing your life? Then you need to change yourself. You are in the position you’re in right now because you chose to be there. You might not realize that you chose it but even through your inaction, you in fact did. The job you have right now, your financial circumstances and nearly every other aspect of your life is a matter of choice - and if you wanted to, you could go out there and change everything today. You just need to take action!

 

But if you really want to make a change and you want to start by changing your mindset, how do you know where to start? What is it you need to change in order to achieve a successful mindset? Here are five top tips that will help make that transformation much easier.

 

Find Your Own Path

 

Most of us have a clear idea of what success means but this is an idea that we have inherited from our schools and our parents. This is not really our version of success and as such, it’s not going to be what we’re passionate about and it won’t give us that fire and drive to wake up early in the morning to work on our projects.

 

In order to be truly successful, you need to find your own path and that is going to mean forgetting what others think and finding what makes you happy.

 

Take Risks

 

Learning to take risks is a difficult step but if you’re going to achieve the things you really want in life, you need to take the leap sometimes. Learn to take measured, calculated risks. 

 

Be Prepared to Fail

 

Taking risks means being prepared to fail. In this instance, you need to learn how to manage failure and take it on the chin. Pick up the pieces and go again for round two!

 

Find the ‘Essence’ of What Drives You

 

Sometimes success doesn’t come in the form we expect. Sometimes we don’t know what we need to be happy. That’s why it can be useful to break down our dreams to their essence. What is it about that idea that appeals to you and what’s the easiest way to get there?

 

Invest in Yourself

 

Knowing how important that passion is to you, you now need to invest in yourself and be willing to spend both time and money on everything from your appearance to your skill set. There is no better investment that investing in you!

 

Use Past Mistakes to Make a New Success Mindset

Every single decision matters. Every choice you have made in your life has led you to the point you’re at now.

 

And when I say that, you are probably thinking of all those big choices you made. The choice to go into a certain career for instance, the choice to move to a certain part of town and the choice to marry a certain person. Change any of those pivotal moments and everything would be different.

 

But what about those smaller choices? And what about the choices you make all the time, simply through inaction. When you choose not to look for other work, when you choose not to challenge the system.

 

And when you choose to ignore the nagging voice inside that is telling you: there’s more to life than this.

 

It’s scary stuff because it means that no moment in your life is inconsequential. But it’s also incredibly liberating - right now, you have a million choices open to you and you can take any of them. But how to know what to do?

 

Make a Map of Failure

 

If there’s anything you’re unhappy with in your life, then chances are that you got there by making certain choices and decisions. These are your failures and you are now bearing those scars in your daily life.

 

Many of us will accept our lot in life and accept these mistakes and thus continue to live a life less satisfying.

 

But what if we change this approach? What if instead, we take those things we’re unhappy with and we vow to learn from them - to not make those mistakes again.

 

Did you get to the point of being unhappy in your work by not speaking up and going after a raise? By not looking for work elsewhere? By not taking the chance to go after your dream?

 

Are you unhappy with your financial situation because you chose not to budget? Or because you chose to take out a loan for something you didn’t need - something that didn’t help you on your path to success?

 

Don’t feel bad about these mistakes - just recognize them for what they are. And knowing that, use the opportunity to head out there and really make a difference - to embrace the life that you want.

 

Next time the opportunity comes up - take it. And don’t fail to speak up: start telling people what you want. Want to fix your finances? Come up with a budget and stick to it.

 

It’s not too late, if you are able to learn from those mistakes!