4 Key Elements To A Successful Mindset

When you look at a cross-section of people who are successful, and stack them against a group of people who aren’t, you’ll quickly see that one of the main things separating them is their typical mindsets. Our attitudes to our lives and careers seem like such a small thing, but they can make a big difference to our feelings of confidence, competence, and self-worth. Here are four key elements to a successful mindset:

Talking to Yourself Mindfully

Okay, if you walk down the street actually talking to yourself out loud, it might not garner the most desirable of results! However, everyone talks to themselves, almost every hour of every day, and those internal conversations you have with yourself are some of the most important in determining your success in the future. In the long run, the way we talk to ourselves is the main thing that shapes the way we see ourselves. With this in mind, be very careful about what you say to yourself, and the way you say it. There’s nothing wrong with recognizing where you’ve made mistakes, but if you’re constantly beating yourself up about it, it’s certainly going to hold you back.

Setting Yourself Goals

Your goals have a big role in setting the tone for how you’re going to navigate towards success, both in your career and your personal life. Most of us have goals, but have you placed yours high enough to shake things up and challenge the status quo? If not, then you need to start thinking bigger, and getting out of your comfort zone. If you’re struggling to do this, you may want to find a life coach or career counselor who can help you determine more thought-out goals. Most importantly though, try to get comfortable in uncomfortable situations. This is where we do all our learning and growth as individuals.

Develop your Grit

Talents and privileges can take you some of the way, but no one was ever truly successful without grit. Any kind of success is 1% inspiration, and 99% perspiration. We’ve all experienced the excitement and passion that comes with setting a New Year’s resolution, but the continual focus and drive, over a long period of time, is an experience far less people have gone through. This latter part of the equation is much more important than intelligence, creativity, or anything else that exists independent of action. A lot of us are born lazy, but self-discipline is like a muscle, and can be developed over time.

Get Better at Strategic Thinking

Declaring a goal, without any of the steps you’re going to take to get there, is next to useless. Only a firm structure and substance to your plans will be able to get you off to a great start, and keep you moving efficiently forward. Start your planning off by dividing your overarching goal into smaller, more manageable segments, and organize these in a way that makes them easy to achieve. As you move forward, pay attention to what works and what doesn’t, and tweak any key elements when necessary.