If you don’t tame the thoughts in your mind, then it can become very easy to allow negative thought patterns to dominate your day. While you should never strive for 100% positive, because as humans we need to experience all ranges of emotion, we talk about ways to achieve more in your life through an improved mindset.

How to change your mindset

You would have met plenty of people in your life, that operate on a fixed mindset. You know the type that never wants to try anything new and become very set in their ways? They have so many fears about making mistakes, and trouble embracing anything new. We give a classic example of someone that won’t change their eating habits around additives and preservatives, due to a barricade of reasons. This is something we hear about all the time!

Take your old habits and beliefs, and change them for the better, so you’re able to create an overall improved mindset.

What do you want to really do in life?

Think about something you’ve always wanted to do, but somehow never got around to. This might be a certain diet, level of fitness, weight loss goals or even going on a tropical holiday. What’s your why behind not allowing these desires to come to fruition? The growth mindset is about welcoming in new challenges and experiences, rather than shielding yourself from them through fear.

Learn from other positive influences around you

There’s much to be learnt from friends, family and colleagues when it comes to changing your mindset for the better. Talking to all those around you will help you to understand how you can better achieve your goals, and the work required to get there. If you believe that all your desires will fall into your lap overnight, then you’re going to give up pretty quickly, without knowing the true effort you need to put in, to get to where you want to be. Other positive influences will help you to get there quicker, by breaking down any barriers that they also face in achieving their goals.

Welcome new challenges

This is such an important step when it comes to making changes in your life because sooner or later, you’re going to be faced with challenges, once you decide to alter your habits, beliefs or actions. Sure, it’s pretty daunting to come up against many of those challenges, but when you learn to embrace those challenges, keeping in mind that growth will come about as a result of them, you’ll be well on your way to achieving great things.

Embrace your weaknesses

Rather than beating yourself up about your weaknesses, find ways to embrace them, and even see the positive in them. Focus on ways you can go about improving those weaknesses, if only in a small way. If you can look back on certain past events that have happened in your life, you’ll start to recognise that many of your apparent failures, were actually masked as an opportunity.

Accept that absolutely every human being has their weaknesses, so there’s no need to think (even for a moment) that someone is perfect! Even if that’s how it appears on the outside!

Do all the things you want to do in life

There are many ways to improve your mindset, to allow you to achieve more in your life:

  1. Be open to learning and trying something new- Be willing to give it a go, and be open to any opportunity that might come your way. Jo shares a classic example of her negative inner chatter that she once would have experienced when she decided to try something outside of her comfort zone and the ways in which she now embraces new experiences. Never be scared to try something on your own! Many people believe they need a friend to hold their hand to jump into new experiences.
  2. Set yourself a challenge and stick with it- This can be anything! The most important part about setting challenges is to go in with a baby-step approach. This helps to rule out any feelings of being overwhelmed and instead creates bucket loads of momentum. Be realistic and set a challenge that you know is achievable, because you desire it so strongly. Achieving challenges creates confidence and an automatic positive mindset, where you find yourself striving to kick the next challenge or goal.
  3. Realise there’s no such thing as perfect- Even though social media purports a lot of perfection around us, it’s not the reality we see when we walk down the street. Sure, filters are great, but we certainly don’t walk around with them on our faces, each and every time we leave the house! As long as you’re doing the best that you can, that’s all that matters. Don’t allow this illusion of perfectionism stop you from giving things a go.
  4. Don’t let your setbacks get you down– When you come across setbacks on your way to reaching your goals, they might seem insurmountable, but don’t allow them to stop you in your tracks! Be very careful of the thoughts that come into your mind, when these setbacks occur, because it’s a time when negative chatter starts to take over.
  5. Don’t stress it-This is relevant for surpassing setbacks and the perfect illusion. While it’s hard to not get caught up in stress, when it feels like everything’s going wrong, your mind will often amplify events, until they are so far out of proportion! Most stress is borne out of fear, and much of the time the events we worry about, never actually occur!
  6. Surround yourself with people that bring you up– With the popularity of social media, it can be easy to follow each and every person on your friend’s list, and mindlessly scroll through your news feed each day. But do you really need to follow everyone? Make it a habit to unfollow the people, that are continually posting about negative events, or viewpoints in life. This can also extend to day to day interactions with toxic friends, that only bring you down. Regardless of how many years you have been friends, it might be time to say goodbye.
  7. Don‰Ûªt compare- Other’s lives can appear perfect on the outside, but we don’t actually know what happens behind closed doors. This is true for those seemingly perfect married couples, that suddenly break up and everyone is left wondering why, since they were the perfect happy couple. It’s very easy to compare when it comes to body image, and comparing yourself to others, or even comparing yourself to the way you looked when you were a teenager.

These are the power tools that will help you to embrace a new mindset, where challenges no longer phase you. Surround yourself with positive people, print out affirmations to post around your house or office space, and do the things that you love in life!

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