A key to living a purposeful and meaningful lies in your attitude to your current circumstances, thoughts about your past and vision for your future. Furthermore, it is essential to have your thoughts aligning with your actions, achieving wins and a becoming consistent in all you do. Ultimately, it all begins in your mindset as every idea and goal is created here. Moreover, the question we should be asking ourselves is, ‘How do we create a Mindset for Success so we can be, live and perform at our best?’
The keys to this lie in understanding how your mind works and knowing the rules of the mind. Next, it is important to dig deeper into exploring how you operate, what you do and what you stand for. In a previous article, I talk specifically about what actually a Mindset for Success is. Undeniably, your attitude you hold about life, yourself and others, your belief and whether you are generally a more positive or negative person is vital as the first step. Now, let’s explore this more.
Your attitude is a key player in creating your results
How you show up and whether you are generally optimistic or pessimistic will influence your results. Furthermore, your experiences, beliefs, values, memories and perceptions influence your attitude. Moreover, the challenge here is that you cannot see or touch these things. However, it is here where they are all stored along with your habits. This creates a powerful hidden focus and energy emanating out from your subconscious mind. Ultimately, it is your subconscious mind, that runs your life. Above all, it influences the majority of your behaviours and is a million times more powerful than your conscious mind. Finally, your results are a reflection of this deeper energy.
It then follows, a key to creating a Mindset for Success lies in exploring and becoming aware of what is going on in your subconscious mind. Changing and releasing old and limiting patterns and beliefs.
Firstly, realise you are a creature of habit and comfort
Humans are creatures of habit and tend to slip back into the comfortable way of doing things. Furthermore, your habits are run in your subconscious mind which is outside your conscious awareness. Consequently, changing unhelpful habits and creating helpful and healthy habits is key.
This way, when you fall back into habit mode, you will naturally operate from habits that support your goals. Moreover, habits are the cornerstone of your results. Good and bad. Finally, most of the choices you make each day are a string of habits, not as you may think, the products of well-considered decisions.
'We first make our habits, and then our habits make us.' John Dryden Click To Tweet‘We first make our habits, and then our habits make us.’ John Dryden
How to create a mindset for success is answered in part by the usefulness of your habits
Your habits shape your results, and while each habit may be insignificant on its own, the sum of your habits will determine your destiny. Moreover, the way you organise your thoughts and create your routines have a huge impact on your health, wealth, success and happiness. Therefore, it is critical to understand exactly how to create a Mindset for Success.
Another critical key in how to create a Mindset for Success lies in managing your emotional state. First of all, you are fundamentally driven by your emotions, how you feel. As a result, you are generally motivated away from pain, feeling uncomfortable, towards pleasure, feeling good. If your goals are too lofty and result in you having to take a big step outside your comfort zone, you are likely to fail.
This is because, just like a thermostat, your innate hard-wiring, will pull you back towards your current comfort zone, the level on the thermostat. Furthermore, your brain wants to keep you safe and comfortable at all costs. Exactly why starting small to gently move the thermostat and remain consistent with your actions is critical. Moreover, this is the way to learn how to do the things we know are good for us, whether or not we feel like it.
Here is how to create a Mindset for Success
So, let’s look at how to create a Mindset for Success, one where there is sequence and simplicity. Moreover, one which you can easily remember and will help you keep moving forward. The word FORWARD is easy to remember. It has movement, focus in the right direction and is helpful when embarking on a new goal. The example below highlights creating a habit of exercise.
‘Energy Flows Where Attention Goes.’ Makia – Huna philosophy
F = FOCUS
It is absolutely critical to understand the importance of your focus. Remember, what you focus on expands and determines your results. Wherever you place your attention will grow in your reality. Furthermore, this works for both positive and negative. If you are someone who tends to focus on what you don’t want, rather than what you do want, you may be achieving inconsistent, or less than optimal results. Here is an example:
‘I want to lose weight because I don’t want to be fat anymore and I want to stop feeling tired.‘
When we dissect this, the source of the motivation is away from what you don’t want. Even though having some motivation away from what you want can be helpful at the start, over a longer period it tends to stall your momentum. This is because, as you start to lose weight, and get nearer your goal, motivation lessens. It is way more useful to frame what you want towards what you want to achieve lasting results. Similarly, it is helpful to consider all the reasons you want to embrace exercise into your life. I suggest you write down all the benefits that exercising will give you and then ask, “why it is important?” This ensures you are connecting fully with the deep emotional drive necessary to help you focus on your goal.
Write your goal using language that focuses in the direction of what you want, helps create a mindset for success
GOAL: ‘I want to exercise to increase my fitness by thirty percent.’
WHY? ‘To look good, fit into ‘slim’ clothes, feel more energetic and keep up with the grandchildren.’
Now you are channelling the energy of your mind and attention towards what you want. To help with this, make a start to observe your thoughts carefully. Whenever you catch yourself thinking about what you don’t want, replace it with a thought focusing on what you want instead.
In conclusion, your focus is one of the foundations in the solution to the question, how to create a mindset for success.
Take time to get clear on your why, as your why is ultimately the driver on the road to success
O – ORGANISE
Knowing why you want what you want in life is paramount. Furthermore, having clarity as to what you want and why you want it, is key. The next step is to organise your thoughts around your goal into a clear and succinct statement and create a picture of this in your mind. Next, step into the picture in the moment of achievement. Carefully consider what you are doing, seeing, hearing and feeling. Importantly, step into this moment and connect with the positive feeling you feel as a result of being successful. When you do this consistently, you are increasing your chances of success.
Create a habit of using visualisation to keep focusing on your goals and become clear of the steps that are necessary to achieve what you want. Athletes use mental rehearsal to great effect in pursuit of their sporting goals. A great example of this is Michael Phelps, who despite losing his goggles, still won a gold medal, because he had mentally rehearsed the antidote to this hundreds of time before.
Focusing and visualising your vision and connecting with your why are key components that answer the question of how to create a mindset for success.
Small steps are key for big results in how to create a Mindset for Success
R – RITUALS
Small steps are the optimal way to create lasting change. Creating simple daily rituals in your day is much easier and pleasant than scheduling arduous blocks of ‘have to do’ exercise routines. If you have never exercised before, don’t plan to walk every day. Instead, make a commitment to walk twice a week. Moreover, choose a frequency that feels achievable, even easy at first. Consider making Sunday morning time for a family walk, or a walk with a friend. Get creative and think of fun and easy ways to start achieving your goal. If you don’t, and it feels hard, because your brain moves away from pain and towards pleasure, you are setting yourself up for failure, not success.
When you start to become consistent, then is the time to increase the frequency or duration of your exercise. Furthermore, remember, most people overestimate what they can do in the short term and underestimate what they can do in the long term. Starting small will increase your chances of success, and help you be consistent. Most importantly, you will prove to yourself that you are reliable and can do what you say you will do.
Schedule the actions that will help you achieve your goals into your diary
W – WRITE
Take time to schedule your action steps in a diary. Make them as important as your work and family commitments. Share your exercise goals with someone else to increase your chances of success. Additionally, consider finding a friend or partner to walk or exercise with, join a group or go to the hundreds of free Park Run’s held around Australia every Saturday. With support and camaraderie, it will be easier to keep going. As I said earlier, consistency is a vital key in how to create a mindset for success.
A- ALERT
Be alert in advance of where you may sabotage your goals and intentions. This is a great step to prevent failing and to keep on track. If you know you have a big day at work and the thought of exercising stirs up your mental monsters, recognise and write down all the excuses and reasons why you may not exercise. The more you become aware of the times you could potentially slip up, the higher your chances of finding a way to overcome these moment.
Next, write down three counter-strategies, actions to overcome these possible saboteurs. Furthermore, if you know you might not feel like exercising when the alarm goes off, commit the night before. Above all, put your shoes and exercise gear beside the bed. In short, this is the best way to avoid failing.
Remembering to acknowledge your successes is a key ingredient for how to create a mindset for success
R – REWARD
Reward yourself consistently by celebrating your successes to help build momentum and the motivation to continue. These are critical pieces to understanding the keys to how to create a mindset for success. Moreover, when you acknowledge your wins, your brain will send you a shot of serotonin. Furthermore, serotonin – a feel-good chemical – will enhance your achievements to date and help you continue. Importantly, this helps build belief and confidence. Both of these are essential keys that athletes have in their pursuit of winning and creating a champion mindset. Every time we see what looks like a flawless winning performance, remember, there is a story behind this. A story that consists of hours of training, repetition, hard work, wins, losses, injuries, and a drive and desire to keep going despite any setbacks.
D – DEBRIEF
Success and achievement require you taking time to reflect and review. Debriefing the journey daily and weekly. Looking at what went well, what needs improving or changing and fixing any errors. Furthermore, returning to training and practicing a modified or adapted technique, which challenges currently held patterns and habits. Moreover, pushing out of the comfort zone, where all growth occurs. This step also includes showing some kindness or compassion to self. If you only exercised once last week instead of three times, don’t beat yourself up. Reconnect to your why, discover what went wrong and re-prioritise. Make this week’s exercise rituals non-negotiable. Kindness to self is a key lens for developing a high performance mindset.
Remember, having an advance strategy ensures you are set for success and being flexible, is a key component in the quest in creating a mindset for success.
Use these principles to move forward in your business and life
In conclusion, committing to the steps in the FORWARD method are the first steps to help you stay on track and achieve more of what you want. Furthermore, they are essential in finding the solution to how to create a mindset for success. Furthermore, while a positive mindset is essential, action is also required. Together, mindset, with a clear strategy and intentional action can create extraordinary results. Combined, they build belief and confidence, without which, many a person has failed to achieve their goals or fulfil their potential. At least now, you have some keys to getting going on your journey to greater success, both in understanding and mastering your mind and in goal achievement.
About Mandy
Mandy Napier is a Global High Performance Mindset Coach who is dedicated to supporting high achievers fulfil their potential and achieve extraordinary results professionally and personally. Transformations are the norm, and results guaranteed.
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