If you’re trying to be successful, you’ll find it a lot more difficult to achieve success if you’re constantly battling against your own mind. Because of this, it’s important that you make an effort to learn how to change your mindset.
When you create a more successful mindset, it’ll be easier for you to reach your goals.
Building a successful mindset is an important first step on the path to success. It will take some time to build a successful mindset, but it is nothing impossible. You just need to know the right way. Below are six tips to help you change your mindset to be successful.
1. Clearly define what success means to you
The first way how to change your mindset is by having a clear definition of success. It is easier to change your mindsets if you know what you’re working toward. Take some time to reflect on what success looks like to you. Many women (and men) who have left abusive relationships seem to end up in a cycle of repeated abusive relationships.
Some counselors suggest that the reason for this cycle is our tendency to create a list of what we don’t want instead of a list of what we do want in a partner. While spotting red flags is important, so is defining the good things you’re looking for in a relationship.
We do the same thing when we’re defining success. All too often, we tend to focus on what we don’t want: we don’t want to be in poverty, we don’t want to procrastinate, or we don’t want to be in distress.
While it’s helpful to look at these things we want to avoid, we need to define the positive aspects of success in our lives. So take time to determine what success will look like for you.
Will success be marrying someone and starting a family? Or Will it means buying the house or car you’ve always wanted? Will success involve starting your own business? Write down all the things that come to mind when you think of being successful.
Success will look different for everyone. If you’re wanting to build a successful mindset, you should determine exactly what success looks like for you. When you have your definition of success, you’ll have something to work toward.
“Define success on your own terms, achieve it by your own rules, and build a life you’re proud to live.”
– Anne Sweeney
2. Keep a positive attitude
The second tip on how to change your mindset is that you need to keep a positive attitude. In fact, to be successful, you need to keep a positive attitude. I’m not talking about toxic positivity, which is the belief that you should turn everything into a positive. A positive attitude doesn’t mean you’ll always be happy or that you’ll have to fake positivity when you aren’t feeling it.
A positive attitude means that you’ll look at your situation and see where you can make some changes to lead you to success. When you embrace a positive attitude, you approach things with the sense that you can change your situation for the better.
For example, unsuccessful people might tell themselves that they’re unsuccessful because they’ve had bad luck. While bad luck may play a role in your life’s situations, pinning your success or failure on luck leaves you with a victim mentality.
When you tell yourself that you can change things, even after a string of bad luck, you embrace a positive attitude.
A positive attitude doesn’t mean you’ll be happy every second of every day. It means that when things get hard, you have the assurance that your best days can be in front of you if you work hard enough.
“I do not believe in taking the right decision, I take a decision and make it right.”
– Muhammad Ali Jinnah
3. Learn how to take responsibility for your actions
The next way how to change your mindset is that you need to take responsibility for your actions. When you blame things on others or on situations, you aren’t helping yourself to be successful.
If you claim that someone is limiting you for whatever reason, you take on a helpless role. You limit your authority in your own life. You are not the victim of your life. Take responsibility for things you’ve done wrong or failed to do and move on.
If you make a mistake at work, accept the consequences of your mistake and do what’s necessary to make it right. Don’t make excuses or try to avoid taking responsibility.
When you make excuses, you’re looking behind you instead of looking at what possibilities are ahead of you.
Part of taking responsibility for your actions involves apologizing without making excuses. Even if your excuses are valid, when you make excuses you limit the impact of your apology. When you take responsibility for your actions, you free yourself up for future success.
“I’m not perfect; I make mistakes all the time. All I can do is to try my best to learn from my mistakes, take responsibility for them, and do a better job tomorrow.”
– Lana
4. Find things that inspire and motivate you
The next way how to change your mindset is to find your inspiration and motivation. Not everyone gets inspiration from the same things. There’s an old Russian saying that the same water that softens the potato hardens the egg. The point of the saying is not to say that you should learn to be an egg instead of a potato.
The point is that you need to discover what motivates you and put yourself in that environment.
Some people get inspiration and motivation by listening to podcasts. If this is you, make listening to podcasts part of your daily or weekly routine. When you consistently engage in activities that inspire and motivate you, you set yourself up to succeed.
I am usually inspired after reading a good memoir. When I read The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls, I was blown away by some of the similarities between her life and my own. The problems she had with her father reminded me a lot of my own childhood, being raised by an alcoholic father.
When I read her story of resilience and success, I was inspired. I saw that my own success did not have to be determined by my past. Her story helped me take the next step in my own story.
You may not get the inspiration from podcasts or memoirs. However, when you’re inspired, you work hard. The quality of your work will often improve. If you want to build future success, take the time to make sure you’re being inspired. Learn what inspires you and invest in it.
“All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.”
– Walt Disney
5. Cultivate a willingness to learn and grow
The next way how to change your mindset is to never stop learning. If you think you know everything, you’ll limit yourself by the knowledge you have right now. It’s better to acknowledge that you don’t know everything. Make the effort to learn and you’ll grow beyond your current limitations.
There’s a theory that children who were “mature for their age” find themselves stuck at whatever age they were at when they should be mature.
So if a child is mature for her age when she’s twelve, she may not be mature for her age when she’s twenty. What was mature for twelve years old may be immature as she reaches adulthood. The same thing can happen to us if we aren’t willing to learn.
We may be naturally gifted or well-educated in our early twenties, but far behind our peers in our thirties if we fail to keep learning. If you were an expert at Windows 7 ten years ago, you may not be proficient with the computer skills you’d need to succeed in today’s job landscape.
If you keep learning and growing, you can keep up with things as they change and shift. By becoming a lifelong learner, you equip yourself with a successful mindset.
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”
– Mahatma Gandhi
6. Always look for ways you can improve
The next way how to change your mindset is to never stop improving. In a similar vein, you should always be looking for ways you can improve. When you’re always looking for ways to grow, you have an unlimited amount of potential.
Even if you’re the best in your field, you can improve skills that will support your continued success. You can improve your productivity habits, improve your skills, and improve your attitude.
If you want to build a successful mindset, you should be mindful of areas that need your attention and improvement. When you aren’t sure what your weaknesses are, ask a trusted friend, a mentor, or a coworker to help you figure out areas that need improvement.
Sometimes another person can see what we’re blind to.
If you truly don’t see ways you can improve within your job, look for ways you can improve other areas of your life. Look back at your definition of success and determine which areas still need your attention in order for you to reach success.
This may involve focusing on your interpersonal relationships or taking time to get physically fit. What’s important is your effort to constantly improve upon your existing skillset.
“Let the improvement of yourself keep you so busy that you have no time to criticize others.”
– Roy T. Bennett
Conclusion
Being successful is about more than just doing things that bring success. You can change your mindset to allow you to be more successful.
When you aren’t fighting against your own mind, your own habits, and your own thought processes, you’re more likely to achieve your goals.
Take the first steps to change your mindset to be successful today. Every bit of effort you put into your success today will help you achieve it tomorrow.
