What is a mindset and how it shapes your life

Do you long for harmonious and fulfilling relationships? 

Would you like to become happy, confident or calm? 

Do you desire professional success, maybe? 

Would you like to thrive financially?

Would you like to reach optimal fitness and health levels? 

If your answer is yes to any of these questions, then you should know that there`s one root cause that either allows you to or prevents you from reaching these goals, and that is your MINDSET. 

So, what is a mindset?

A mindset is a collection of underlying beliefs, attitudes, convictions or assumptions that serve as the foundation for how we view and engage with the world. These beliefs can be related to anything: work, money, relationships, health, yourself, other people and the world in general. Beliefs are basically just ideas and opinions you consider to be true. But holding a belief means you have absolute faith in an idea or opinion and treat it as truth or fact even. In other words, you have stopped further analysing whether that belief is true or false, let alone how that belief influences your life. As a result, your mindset runs your life as your autopilot. 

This might create a little problem because your mindset and your beliefs within your mindset have a massive influence on how your life turns out, because they predetermine your way of thinking, your feelings, your behaviours, actions, experiences, opportunities, and outcomes. And if you don't check on your mindset from time to time, it might lead you towards directions you don't really want to go. 

Let's examine two people's different beliefs about work to understand how a belief shapes and predetermines someone`s life.  

Here is someone who believes that work is a burden, it is torturous, and there's nothing joyful about it, and that people only work to pay their bills. Another person believes that work can and should be a source of joy and fulfilment and a tool for achieving financial freedom in the long run. 

So we have two people with two different core beliefs about work. What do you think?

Which person would dread Mondays more likely? Feelings 

Which person would be able to derive more satisfaction from work? Feelings 

Which person would stick to jobs they hate? Behaviour / Action 

Which person would seize opportunities to improve and grow professionally? Behaviour/Action

Which person would bring more creativity and originality into work? Behavior/Action

Which person would complain about work and the boss more often and less constructively? Behaviour/Action

Which person would put more effort into her work? Behaviour/Actions

Which person would try to work as less as possible? Behaviour/Actions

Which person would get promoted more likely? Opportunities/Outcomes 

Which person would become a leader more likely? Opportunities/Outcomes 

Which person would burn out more likely? Opportunities/Outcomes

Which person would work in low-prestige positions?

Which person would earn just enough to pay the bills?

Which person would gain more financially? Opportunities/Outcomes

Can you see how a belief predetermines certain behaviours and actions? Can you see how different beliefs inevitably lead to different experiences and outcomes? Please leave a comment below if you do! 

Although a mindset is really just a collection of beliefs, but one`s mindset so powerfully shapes one`s life and so strongly determines how one's life turns out that a mindset and the experiences, outcomes, and subjective reality that spring from that particular mindset are inseparable. 

This strong connection between mindset, experiences and outcomes tends to create the illusion that our beliefs are true and correct, regardless of whether they are actually true or false and whether they serve or limit us. As a result, we often end up having beliefs that are often untrue or have a self-limiting or self-destructive nature. We often hold these limiting beliefs for a long time; they might even run in our family for generations or in our cultures for centuries. 

A belief that could function as an explanation of or reason for negative experiences and unwanted outcomes is likely a self-limiting belief. A belief that convinces you that you cannot change yourself or your situation for the better is also a self-limiting belief. Self-limiting beliefs are the birthplace of excuses and self-justification. The sad news is that everybody's mindset is jam-packed with self-limiting beliefs by default. 

So tell, me, from these work-related beliefs we examined earlier, which one is a self-limiting belief? 

"Work is a burden, there's nothing joyful about it, and people only work to pay their bills" is a self-limiting belief. What are the chances that a person who holds this belief all of a sudden becomes aware of how her belief predetermine her negative experiences and outcomes? Not much. Because she points towards her belief and would say: "My bad experiences at work, the poor salary, and the burnout are just the natural consequences of how things are. I can't do anything about it; I just need to deal with it and endure it." 

When you use your self-limiting beliefs, in other words, you point towards ideas and opinions you treat as truth or fact, to explain your negative experiences and undesired outcomes you close the loop. You feed the illusion that your beliefs are true, because you have a seemingly unquestionable explanation, which stops you from seeking further answers. The possibility of improvement and uplifting change is completely lost because you know facts cannot be defied so you won't ever try. We all fall into the trap of our self-limiting beliefs this way. 

But when you challenge your self-limiting beliefs and start regarding them as thoughts only that may or may not be true, and begin focusing on how your mindset and your beliefs impact your life, you open up the path towards change and limitless possibilities. 

Self-reflection helps you understand how your mindset shapes your life and how your self-limiting beliefs impact and hinder you. The benefits of cultivating your mindset and shifting self-limiting beliefs are huge because your behaviours and actions always shift along with your mindset. Those changed behaviours and actions then create better experiences and outcomes for you.

In a nutshell

A mindset is a set of beliefs, attitudes, and convictions people hold about themselves and the world. Our mindsets predetermine our behaviours, actions, experiences, and outcomes, in a way that a mindset and the experiences and subjective reality that spring from that mindset are inseparably linked. This is why working on your mindset and shifting self-limiting beliefs inevitably improves your experiences and outcomes in life.