Is Your Mindset, Setting You Up?

Have you ever experienced a continuous high, where you succeeded at anything you engaged in seemingly without intense effort? Have you experienced a prolonged spell where no matter what you did or how hard you worked, things just didn't seem to work out for you?

If you have experienced any or both of this, then there is a likelihood that Your Mindset is Setting You Up!

In 1954, a 25 year old medical student, Roger Bannister, became the first person on the planet to run the four minute mile, something that experts had for years said, was impossible. After that, a number of athletes broke this barrier.

So, what brought about this dramatic change? It was the fact that the mindset of people attempting it after Bannister, had changed radically!

The Mindset Connection

We often program ourselves for success and at times, for failure as well. When you have a powerful expectation of success, it tends to seep into your sub-conscious and you constantly seek out signals to reinforce this belief, unconsciously.

As you encounter more and more instances that reinforce your belief, you tend to perform even better and encounter even more favourable conditions. Consequently, your belief grows stronger and stronger.

The fact is, your situation has not really changed, your perception has!

You are selectively picking up signals from your environment that are favourable, while unconsciously ignoring signals and instances that are unfavourable.

If you observe people who are very popular and successful, you will find that they operate on a belief that they attract people and success into their lives, seemingly without any effort.

You cannot use the same mindset that created your problem, to solve it.

When you are going through a bad spell, step back and look at yourself dispassionately. Observe the thoughts that are going through your mind and you will find that most of your thoughts, if not all, are on the problems/worries in your life.

In a state like this, your mind is constantly occupied by thoughts of problems rather than opportunities and solutions. With a mindset like that how can you expect to do anything creative to solve your problem?

You need to bring about a paradigm shift in your thinking.

If you continue to do the same thing, how can you expect different results?

Look back at your life and think about a time when you did not get along with someone important to your career. What was your mindset? If you reflect back you will most likely find that you were interpreting every action of that person in a negative light. Perhaps, some of it may be justified, but not all.

The fact is, we tend to be forgiving of people we like and critical of people we don't. But, that is also a mindset and can be changed.

Yet, many of us persist with the same line of thinking and action and expect different results.

If you don't believe in yourself, it is unlikely anyone else will

In our work there is an expectation of outcomes that come over a period of time. In the process you may be required to do work that is dramatically different from what you have done, until now.

This is where your belief in yourself comes in. Your mindset determines the level of your belief, in yourself.

Watch out for your body language

Body language is a powerful tool and if you are not confident of your abilities, your body language will betray you.

But, have you ever considered what is the basis of your body language? It is primarily your mindset that influences your deepest thoughts and communicates it through your body language.

So, if you change your mindset from negative to positive you will actually influence not only what you communicate verbally but also what you communicate through your body language.

More importantly, your verbal and non verbal communication would be in sync.

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If you have some thoughts on this article and would like to share your experiences, I would more than welcome it. Please feel free to share. Other people could benefit from your thoughts and experiences as well!

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