STEP 01 – MINDSET
Fixed or Growth Mindset?
Your circumstances may be uncongenial, but they shall not long remain so, if you but perceive an ideal and strive to reach it.
- James Allen
When you get right down to it, the key to success for most people is rarely a great idea or a phenomenal opportunity, but their everyday thoughts, feelings and actions. In other words, their Mindset.
According to world-renowned Stanford University psychologist Carol Dweck, there are two types of mindset: a fixed mindset and a growth mindset.
People with a fixed mindset believe that their conditioning and circumstances in life determine what they are able to achieve. People with a growth mindset believe that their conditioning and circumstances are simply a starting point. They believe that by exercising their unique human endowments of self-awareness, imagination and free will, they can achieve their hearts’ desires.
So who is right? Are our talents and abilities fixed or are they simply the starting point for further development? Whilst genetics, childhood experiences and environmental factors clearly play a significant role in shaping and moulding our lives, they are not the sole determining factors. The following story will serve to illustrate this point.
The power of choice
In his book Man’s Search for Meaning, Victor Frankl describes the horrendous circumstances he faced as one of the millions of Jews imprisoned in the death camps of Nazi Germany during World War 11. He was tortured and experienced every form of human degradation possible. His parents, brother and wife died in the camps or were sent to the gas ovens. Except for his sister, his entire family perished. He saw many of his friends killed or commit suicide in the camp, and lived every moment not knowing if his path would lead to the ovens. Despite these unimaginable circumstances, Frankl decided there was one thing that no one could take away – his ability to choose his own response – no matter how traumatic his personal circumstances.
In what later he called “the last of the human freedoms,” Frankl discovered that between what happens to us and our response to what happens, lies the opportunity for conscious choice. In the midst of the most degrading circumstances possible, Frankl used his imagination to picture himself in different circumstances, sharing his experiences with his students after his release from the camps. Frankl survived the atrocities and went on to help thousands of people realise that their conditioning and circumstances, however difficult, need not be the determining factors for their achievements in life.
You may feel that your present circumstances severely limit the opportunities available to you but the biggest influential factor is not your circumstances but your mindset – your thoughts, feelings and attitudes about your circumstances.
Experiences do not cause thoughts
Thought for the average person is a reflex process. Things happen to us and we react in thought saying “well of course I’m upset, you’d be upset too if you had the same experiences”. But experiences do not cause thoughts. We assume, almost universally, that the thoughts we think are produced by the circumstances that we experience. But this is not the case.
Someone may do something to you and give you every reason to be upset, but between this external incident and your internal response you have a choice. It’s not denying the incident happened or that bad things aren’t happening in the world ‘out there’, it’s acknowledging that your response is determined by your mindset. The word responsibility – ‘response-ability’– is the ability to choose your response.
Of all the factors governing success and fulfilment in life, none is more important than mindset.
Make the decision today that you will master a success mindset. Follow up with the ACTION STEPS and read the subsequent posts.
In the words of Oprah Winfrey
Right now you are one choice away from a new beginning – one that leads you toward becoming the fullest human being you can be.
This blog is based on the understanding that there is a power within you that is far greater than conditioning or circumstances. The following short videos illustrate this better than any words presented here. They are a wonderful testimony to what can be achieved when you adopt a growth mindset.
ACTION
Step One
Put some time aside to watch the following truly inspirational videos …
This is the story of Dick & Rick Hoyt, the most inspirational father and son team to race in an Ironman.
Step Two
Watch this incredible video with Nick VuJicic … No arms, No legs, NO WORRIES
To find out more about this power, we have to understand the truth behind all appearances.
This is explored further in the next post … APPEARANCES LIE
Tagged with: achieving your childhood dreams • Book Man • career and personal goals • Carol Dweck • Childhood Experiences • Death Camps • Dick & Rick Hoyt • Endowments • Environmental Factors • Everyday Thoughts • Further Development • Gas Ovens • Human Degradation • James Allen • Mindset • Moulding • Nazi Germany • Nick VuJicic • Oprah Winfrey • Personal Circumstances • Phenomenal Opportunity • Self Awareness • Stanford University • University Psychologist • Victor Frankl • World War 11
Filed under: 17 Steps to a Magnetic Lifestyle
Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!
