How to Develop the Right Mindset to Reach Your Goals
Rev. Dr. Kitty Boitnott, NBCT, RScP
Heart-Centered Career Transition and Job Search Coach | Stress Management Coaching
We hear a lot these days about "mindset." I know I often use it in my coaching practice. In fact, the first module in my "Jumpstart Your Job Search for 2021 Program" is all about developing the mindset of a successful job seeker.
At the end of the day, mindset is really just another term for attitude. And as the saying goes, "attitude is everything." Books are written about how you can change your attitude and change your life.
You can choose to have a positive attitude or mindset--or you can choose to go with a negative attitude or mindset.
It's up to you.
Have you ever noticed anyone in your life that just seemed to be happy most of the time? Does it appear that that person has fewer problems than others and that success comes easily to them?
Well, perhaps the right mindset is the key to their seeming easy success.
At the end of the day, no matter what happens, we each have the power to choose our thoughts about any event. Developing the right mindset can help you reach your goals and overcome your challenges.
But you have to work at it.
Like anything else in life that is worth having, developing the right mindset involves making an effort. This work does not need to be hard, however. It is a matter of training your brain and resetting it to a program you want to replay over and over again.
You will need to start by making an effort every day to listen to how many times the voice of negativity comes to visit you.
Now, in defense of that voice of negativity, it's just trying to keep you safe. You are hard-wired to avoid taking risks in your life. Your brain is sending you negative messages in its effort to keep you from hurting yourself.
The trouble is that it also keeps you from taking chances that might lead to greater happiness.
That negative voice may keep you from asking out that person who makes your heart flutter. It might keep you from applying for that job you really want. It might keep you from asking for that promotion you know you deserve.
The list could go on. A negative mindset causes you to think about all the things that could go wrong instead of looking for how they might go right if you just took a chance.
Now, it is also true that sometimes there is danger in taking a risk. What you have to do is weigh the pros and cons. Is the risk of failure greater than the risk of success? If not, then go for it.
You will regret it if you don't.
There are specific ways that you can undertake the task of developing a positive mindset. Check out the list below:
Retrain your Brain
Once you have recognized the negative talk and see it for what it is, you can start to retrain your brain. Take that thought of, “What if I fail?” and change it to “What if I were to succeed?”
Now, I won't kid you. Retraining your brain takes practice every day. The use of positive affirmations is a helpful tool in retraining your brain. Although it might feel a bit awkward at first, positive affirmations really do work. If you need help with those, check out Louise Hays' positive affirmations.
Align Yourself with Success
We all have goals. The difference between those who succeed and those who fail is those who succeed are willing to go for what they want against the odds. If you are afraid of failure, see how you might turn that around. Maybe failure is a way of learning. But never trying will never equate to success.
Align yourself with success by trying new things—network in different places. Join seminars. Take classes to boost your skillset and your confidence. Try something new you have never done before.
Set yourself up for success.
Put yourself in places where you are bound to succeed. Learn to recognize that even if you fail a few times, the fact that you are trying aligns you with success.
Once you have succeeded in smaller steps, you will feel more confident to take on more and bigger challenges. As you become more confident in your abilities, you can reach bigger and bigger goals.
The secret behind almost every successful person's success is that they overcame their own personal fears and doubts. They decided to go for what they wanted, using positive thoughts to help them along the way. Why not give it a try?
Until next time.
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