Your Mindset Matters
Your mindset matters because it gives you the power to determine the way your feel each day.
What is Mindset?
An established set of attitudes which colour your way of thinking, character, temperament and, ultimately, your behaviour. You can have a fixed mindset which will have a long-term effect on how you see and interact with the world around you, but it is possible to become adept at monitoring your internal responses and changing your attitude to serve you better both short- and long-term.
What you think about shapes your day
I have long believed that thoughts are powerful, and I am not alone in this, given the number of quotes from distinguished people that reflect this, but science seems unable to prove the point in the physical sense.
- The mind is everything. What you think you become. Buddha
If you have ever dipped into quantum theory, you will probably have heard of tests that demonstrate the effect observation has on matter. Unobserved matter moves in wave like formations which change into something more linear when watched.
Don’t ask me to go into more specific science than that – I can’t!!
To get back to the point, whether my belief can be scientifically proven or not I really want to talk about mindset and how you can harness it to improve your daily experiences and feel as though you are living your life rather than just getting through it.
In a different article I spoke about ‘perspective’ https://truecolourscoaching.com/the-power-of-perspective/and this will touch on similar ideas but will take them a little further.
Try this:
Think about something you have on your to-do list that is not urgent i.e. a duty phone call to a relative or booking a haircut, checking the oil in the car, clearing a cupboard etc. If you are anything like me, thinking about these is quite a passive exercise. Some might be quite easy and will get done in due course without much effort, but others may be on the list for ages, building up irritation and using up far more energy than the activities warrant.
Now visualise something with focused intention (if you don’t have anything of your own, imagine a child determined to get to the sweets, or a cat completely focused on a mouse etc). Bring that level of intention to one of your to-do tasks – really engage with the task as if it were the most important and positive thing you could imagine. Feel the change while you imagine it. This change in energy will not last once you stop the exercise because it is not real to you, but when you actually have something you are completely intent upon, you could never call it passive.
Practice
Of course, this goes for both negative and positive thoughts! and as you definitely don’t want to pour intention into staying negative, I suggest you practice turning your focus around. Contact – True Colours Coaching and sign up for the Free Mindset Exercise (Free Gift).
When you practice changing the level of intensity and focus of your thoughts you will quite quickly be able to discern changes in your physiology – it might feel as though your muscles are more ready to respond, your breathing might change etc. You might be aware of your attention as being in a physical part of your body or any tension you are holding will change. On top of this, you may be drawn to take some action like talking or dreaming about the outcome you want. I am reminded here of a friend who couldn’t wait to go and book her holiday at the weekend, it was constantly in her thoughts (which she shared excitedly with everyone who would listen) until it was accomplished.
There is a system in our brain called the Reticular Activating System which demonstrates that thinking about something consistently ‘seems’ to create pathways to action in our reality (article on RAS coming soon) but remember this can be positive or negative.
If you are looking forward to either doing or completing a task it will be easy to get it started and accomplished. However, if you keep on thinking it will be difficult, unpleasant or you will fail, you may end up expending masses of energy to create a barrier that stops you from even starting to take action let alone managing to reach your goal.
In energetic terms you are resisting the action – and going back to physics again, the higher the resistance, the more energy that is needed to overcome it. That is when this task seems to gain weight and become huge, something that sits heavily on your shoulders and weighs you down.
This is not helpful in any way, yet I have so many clients who allow this type of thought process to dominate their days. Don’t let yourself fall into the trap too.
Reset your Mindset
This can sometimes be an almost instantaneous fix to change your emotional state if the trigger is completely current (has arisen because of a recent issue). For a long-held belief it will take much more, and consistent, work.
For example, on days when I was busy with back-to-back clients I would sometimes be tired by lunchtime and definitely not looking forward to the afternoon sessions. I would deliberately change the tone and language of my internal dialogue from something like: a negative and low energy ‘there are still three more clients to see this afternoon’; to a far more upbeat and expectant ‘three more clients who may have something fascinating to say!’, my afternoon would speed by easily.
This had several helpful outcomes – I looked forward to each client. My expectations meant I anticipated each conversation with pleasure and, very importantly, because of this I was predisposed to notice all the interesting and important elements of the session and was far more focused on each client and what they were saying than on my own fatigue.
In this way, each meeting was productive and my experience one of enthusiasm and expectation rather than just trying to make it through the next few hours.
Take Control
In times of enforced change our predominant reactions often stem from feelings of lack of control (see Transition Curve https://truecolourscoaching.com/transition-curve/ ).
Managing the practicalities of any change will help you to regain control and positivity, however this doesn’t necessarily happen overnight. For example, when I am dealing with clients faced with redundancy there is a whole gamut of emotional responses that often whirl round their heads in a spiral of chaotic thoughts.
One solution is to identify the major areas of concern and create a plan to rectify these in a logical order.
Undoubtedly some of the activities will be outside of a client’s conform zone and this is where the ability to create a positive mindset will really help overcome FEAR (False Expectations Appearing Real) and move forward easily rather than being paralysed by uncertainty.
If you are in control of nothing else, you can be in control of your mindset.
Attitudes are contagious
Finally, by upgrading and resetting your mindset you will find others match it and will be drawn to it.
In interview situations it is a huge advantage to be and feel confident. You will perform better and recruiters will identify with you and engage with you because they are drawn to your energy.
I am sure we have all had experiences of having our ‘moods’ altered just because of interacting with someone – a prime example is the character we term the ‘energy vampire’. They are so negative that out mood deteriorates the longer we stay in their orbit.
When you are aware of it, don’t stay too long in the company of those with very negative attitude
Practice managing your mindset to become more positive and seek out those with a similar attitude.
Free PDF on Positive Thinking
https://www.academia.edu/27079693/The_Power_of_Positive_Thinking