How a Positive Mindset Gets You Closer to Your Goals

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Last time I talked about how building more marketable skills can help grow your income and make you a more valuable employee. There are a lot of factors in life that are out of our control, but whenever possible I like to focus on areas that I can make a difference.

One of these areas in my life is having a positive mindset. It’s incredible how big of a difference it has made for me when I focus on thinking optimistically, speaking positively, and avoiding complaining. Life always brings it’s fair share of challenges, but a positive mindset can help you fight through those challenges.

Loving What You Do vs Paying the Bills

One of the main ways I’ve seen this play out has been with my career path. After graduating college, I decided to pursue my passion of working in sports. Over the next year and a half I pieced together part-time jobs and internships earning minimum wage. There were parts I enjoyed, but I got to the point where I felt like I was in a rut and no longer making progress in my career.

This put me at a crossroads, I could be stubborn and keep hoping that a full-time role would eventually opened up, or I could pivot and find a marketing role in a different industry. It became clear to me that the right decision was to pursue a marketing role in a different industry. This would let me build additional marketable skills to better prepare myself for a role in sports down the road.

Mindset played a key role in this decision. Rather than just waiting for my dream job to drop in my lap, I took a proactive approach, gaining additional experience and broadening my skillset to make myself a more valuable employee. Through this process I also learned that I had others passions, including personal finance. I had faith, bet on myself, and believed that the right job fit was out there for me.

Abundance Mindset vs Scarcity Mindset

In the book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” Stephen Covey discusses the difference between having an abundance mindset and having a scarcity mindset. With a scarcity mindset, a person is worried that there isn’t enough to go around. Covey uses an analogy of a pie, and if someone gets a big piece of the pie, then it’s thinking there’s less pie left for yourself.

“The Scarcity Mentality is the zero-sum paradigm of life. People with a Scarcity Mentality have a very difficult time sharing recognition and credit, power or profit – even with those who help in the production. The also have a a very hard time being genuinely happy for the success of other people.”

This is a limiting belief. It involves constant comparison towards others, and being paranoid that you’re being slighted. Rather than being grateful for what you have and happy for others success, you let it lead to unhappiness and jealousy in your own life. This is a very short term view, as you’re worried there’s not enough to go around.

On the other hand, living with an abundance mindset is a much healthier mindset to have. Covey explains that this involves a strong sense of self, thinking of the pie as having plenty to go around.

“The Abundance Mentality, on the other hand, flows out of a deep inner sense of personal worth and security. It is the paradigm that there is plenty out there and enough to spare for everybody. It results in sharing of prestige, of recognition, of profits, of decision making. It opens possibilities, options, alternatives, and creativity.”

This is being secure in who you are, your value as a person. It’s a long-term view, thinking positively of all the opportunities out there available to you. An abundance mindset avoids comparison towards others, instead comparing your current self to your past self and how far you’ve come. This mindset is being a team player, rejoicing in others successes. With an abundance mindset, gratitude flows freely, rather than focusing on what you don’t have.

For more on the scarcity mindset and the abundance mindset, check out this very well done post by The Simple Dollar.

Growth Mindset vs Fixed Mindset

Another set of mindsets is the growth mindset and fixed mindset. This was discussed by Carol Dweck in her book, “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success.”

A fixed mindset assumes that our intelligence and creativity are given and can’t be changed. This leads the person to avoid challenges and see effort as being not worth it. Their attitude is “I can never do that, why try.” They give up before even trying. This is a “glass half empty” way of looking at the world.

A growth mindset is the complete opposite, where a person is constantly looking to grow and improve. They seek out challenges to get better, and they don’t fear failure, instead looking at it as a way of learning. Their attitude is “How can I do that?” They work hard to build additional skills and experience to reach their goals. They look for the positives and lessons to learn in every situation. This is a “glass half full” way of looking at the world.

Successful people maintain a growth mindset, with a belief in their abilities, which fuels the way they approach life.

Internal Locus of Control vs External Locus of Control

Along these same lines, is having an internal locus of control vs and external locus of control. This was a concept developed by Julian B. Rotter, and also mentioned by Stephen Covey in his book.

A person with an internal locus of control is someone who believes they have a level of control over the outcomes that happen in their lives. In other words, an inner focus on self. Your choices and actions have an impact on your life.

On the other hand, a person with an external locus of control believes that outside events simply happen to them without having any control. They believe that their environment, luck, and fate determine where they’ll end up in life.

Successful people have an internal locus of control. They are self motivated, and believe they can make changes and improvements in their lives to reach the goals they’re striving to achieve. They learn new information, build skills, and look the better themselves at all opportunities. Rather than sitting around and waiting for things to happen to them, they make them happen.

One of my favorite Michael Jordan quotes encompasses this concept well:

“Some people want it to happen, some wish it would happen, others make it happen.”

Embracing Change

Rather than making excuses for why you can’t do something, find solutions so that you CAN. Change is hard, but often necessary in life for us to reach our full potential.

“You can change it, you can accept it, or you can leave it. What is not a good option is to sit around wishing you would change it but not changing it, wishing you would leave it but not leaving it, and not accepting it. It’s that struggle, that aversion, that is responsible for most of our misery. The phrase that I use the most to myself in my head is one word: accept.” -Naval Ravikant

If you’re not happy with where you’re at in life, look to incorporate small changes to put you on the path you’d like to be on.

• Want to be healthier? Learn about healthy meal options, start cooking healthy meals and start exercising.
• Want to be better with money? Read books and blogs, incorporate what you learn. Start tracking your expenses and cut back where you can.
• Unhappy with your job? Build more skills, and switch to a different career.

All of this is easier said than done. My point is that rather than accepting how life is right now, make the necessary changes to improve your life.

Final Thoughts

Life always brings challenges that we’ll need to face. The way we view the world and ourselves has a huge impact on where we’ll go in life. Maintaining a positive and optimistic mindset, helps us lead a happier and more productive life as we strive to reach our goals. Believe that you can make changes, improve your own situation, and have control over where you go in life. Thinking this way has made a big difference in my life. I hope you’ll consider the mindset you practice going forward.

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