The Right Mindset — Setting your mind up for success!
I had the privilege of starting the audiobook ‘Mindset — The New Psychology of Success’ by Carol S. Dweck. The book starts of by evaluating a different variable and its relationship with success — The Mindset.
According to the book there are two broad categories of mindsets —
- The Fixed Mindset.
- The Growth Mindset.
As I listened to the explanation of these mindsets, I began reflecting on my own journey with these mindsets.
In the third year of Engineering, I realized that my lazy schedule, poor eating habits and non-existent exercise routine would have serious health repercussions. I wanted to change and was aiming to join the college gym. Each time I forced myself to fill in the gym forms, I was faced with ridiculous thoughts —
You are not built for this.
The last time you did a physical activity was years ago.
Your mind is your strength, focus on that.
You can’t learn something new now!
Those thoughts limited me. Those thoughts were the outcome of my Fixed Mindset. I somehow felt that my abilities were fixed. I somehow felt that my strengths and weakness were predetermined. Man! I was wrong.
On one such day when I was wrestling with myself for filling in the gym forms my friend ‘B’ walked in. B knew my struggle with committing to the gym and wanted to know why I was overthinking such a simple decision.
I told him how I felt and the kind of thoughts that were clouding my mind and my better judgement. To my surprise, B burst into laughter. He told me —
Dude! You are not limited. If you are limited, how did you learn to play Dota? How did you learn to write code?
He made a valid point. I had learnt thinks outside of my ‘known’ space. I had grown to fill in rolls that I hadn’t completely figured out. I had used the Growth Mindset in a certain areas of my life. All I had to do now was to apply the same mindset to my exercise routine.
It’s been about three and a half years since I decided to apply the Growth Mindset to my exercise routine and the results speak for themselves. I have constantly moved past personal milestones, transcended the boundaries that I placed on myself and transformed my physical self.
Have I reached the pinnacle of my physical fitness?
NO.
But I’m growing towards it every single day!
**Call to Action**
For any new venture, task or pursuit in your life, you will have to choose between two mindsets —
The Fixed Mindset.
You can choose to be complacent with where you are and convince yourself that you are limited in some unfathomable way.
OR
The Growth Mindset.
You can choose to acknowledge that fact that you don’t know everything about what you are going to attempt and learn along the way.
The Fixed Mindset will prevent you from ever stretching yourself, while The Growth Mindset will give you endless opportunity to get better.
Isn’t getting better the best kind of success?
