Your Mindset is Everything… Myth or Reality?

We hear it all the time: ‘Your mindset is everything‘… but is it really? While mindset undeniably plays a crucial role in shaping our lives, it’s not the only factor to consider. Keep reading to find out why.

What is Mindset?

Your mindset is the lens through which you perceive and interact with the world, it includes a collection of beliefs, attitudes, and perceptions. It is the foundational framework that influences your thoughts, emotions, and actions in various situations.

This established set of attitudes and perspectives determines how you navigate challenges, view opportunities, and ultimately, shapes your responses and behaviors.

Your mindset is not only about how you see yourself but also how you interpret life’s meaning, guiding your approach to culture, values, and the world at large.

Why Is It Important to Work on Your Mindset?

 
It’s really important to know that what we believe and how we think affect what we can do in life.

When we’re working on our mindset, it’s all about tackling those beliefs that hold us back, and those thoughts that limit us.

Most times, these mindset blocks come from when we were kids, especially in the early years up to about age fourteen.

Looking into and dealing with these early influences can really open up new possibilities for how we think, what we can achieve, and how we react to different situations in life.

Fixed vs Growth Mindset

According to Carol Dweck, there are two types of mindset: fixed and growth.

In a fixed mindset, you see your abilities as set in stone, believing that intelligence and talents are fixed traits that cannot be changed.

This perspective can limit you, hindering your willingness to take risks or embrace challenges for fear of failure.

However, a growth mindset is about understanding that through dedication, learning, and perseverance, you can cultivate your abilities and intelligence and you can learn new skills.

How to Cultivate a Growth Mindset?

There are a few things to can do to cultivate a growth mindset.

Please note that while the tools listed below can be highly beneficial for some individuals, they might not be effective at all for others. You need to stick to the things and tools that work for you.

Journaling

Journaling is a great tool for developing a growth mindset.

Through reflective writing, it prompts self-awareness, allowing you to understand your thoughts and behaviors better.

It reinforces positivity by documenting achievements and moments of gratitude, bolstering confidence.

Additionally, when you write down your thoughts, you create a space to transform negative thoughts into more positive and constructive viewpoints.

Journaling supports goal setting and progress tracking, nurturing a focus on continuous improvement and achieving personal growth.

If you are not feeling great, or you feel that you are stuck, try writing down whatever is on your mind, and I promise you that your mindset will change.

Shadow Work

Shadow work is another powerful tool for mindset growth and personal development.

It involves exploring and acknowledging the aspects of oneself that are typically hidden or suppressed in the unconscious mind.

By confronting and integrating these suppressed thoughts, emotions, and traits, individuals can gain deeper self-awareness, heal past wounds, and transform limiting beliefs or behaviors.

Practicing shadow work can lead to greater self-acceptance and a more balanced, integrated, and strong mindset.

Affirmation

Affirmations are positive statements that are repeated regularly to encourage a shift in mindset.

These positive thoughts work by influencing the subconscious mind, reshaping negative beliefs, and fostering a more positive mindset

They help you challenge and replace limiting beliefs with empowering and constructive thoughts.

Your Mindset is Everything: Myth or Reality?

The phrase ‘your mindset is everything’ is often used to gaslight people into believing that if they only think differently, the whole world is going to change.

The idea that an abundance mindset will automatically make you rich is frequently promoted.

Having a positive mindset is important—how we think about the world, about ourselves—but it is definitely not everything.

The notion that your mindset is everything is very prevalent in online spaces, the self-development world, and performance-driven environments. However, it can become toxic too.

People often forget or fail to acknowledge the privileges they have, such as where they were born, economic advantages, or the support they received from their parents for a long time.

Some individuals could live at home and start a business until they made enough money to move out, unlike others, such as myself.

Health is an absolute privilege. While health should be a basic need for everyone globally, the reality is that accessible healthcare is not available worldwide, making it a privilege.

For those without this privilege, they have to work doubly hard to maintain their health and strive for success. You cannot simply think your way out of these kinds of scenarios.

Mindset is NOT Everything

As you might have realised, I truly believe that your mindset is not everything – and everything is not mindset.

I didn’t always believe that.

Even 5 years ago I would tell you that if you have the right mindset, you already have 80% of what you need to be successful.

Now, I’d turn this number around.

Probably 20% are mindset and the rest is a set of different things we simply can not control:

Capacity

There are 5 different capacities I have talked about for a while now, that everyone experiences and these heavily influence our ability to take action, think clearly & take care of ourselves and our lives.

These 5 capacities are Physical, Mental, Emotional, Spiritual, and Sensory. You can read more about these capacities on this link

If only one of them is completely out of whack – we will have a hard time staying grounded and balanced.

Geographics

It does put you into a very different spot being born in eg. Laos versus being born in the US or Western Europe. Let’s stop pretending that it doesn’t make a difference.

Americans and Western Europeans have the inherited privilege of accessibility.

Access to health care (whether paid or covered by taxes), access to education, access to many countries without needing a visa thanks to our passports, access to the Internet, access to clean water, etc.

It makes a HUGE difference in how much energy, capacity, and time someone has to become successful if you don’t have to take care of these things daily – and they are just available for you.

Abilities

Our world is made for the “perfect” human…not for those with disabilities, neurodivergence, mental health issues, chronic pain, or other criteria that don’t seem to fit the “perfect” world.

There are many people who simply can’t think themselves out of a certain situation, especially those with chronic illnesses or neurodiversity.

When they hear phrases like ‘you just need to think positive about it’ or ‘you need to feel thankful for your life,’ most people don’t understand why this can be really harmful, and this is not solely a mindset issue.

For instance, someone with a chronic illness is in survival mode for an extended period because their bodies are focused on survival.

So, saying something like this can be really harmful.

Although many self-help books suggest differently, you can’t purely think yourself out of a chronic illness, and I know because I’ve tried. There are so many other factors involved.

The thinking and mindset aspects are only a part, and a small part, of what someone has to do to heal themselves, move forward, or find success.

We often forget that when it comes to success, mindset is actually the smallest part, so the next time you hear the phrase “your mindset is everything” take some time to reflect on it.

These (and more) are all things we simply can not control.

When I say we can’t control these things, that doesn’t mean we can’t take responsibility to change them now.

Some of us have been handed and extraordinary heavy package to carry. And others where handed a more lightweight one.

That doesn’t mean it will always be that way.

Taking responsibility for your emotions, actions, thoughts, and beliefs as well as your circumstances is THE answer to change all of that.

That means we need to swallow the tough pill to first acknowledge that indeed, we weren’t taking responsibility for those things (yet).

And that’s totally OK.

Look there are so many things going on for you, around you, and in the world daily, sometimes it can simply feel too overwhelming to take responsibility right now.

I feel you and it’s absolutely OK.

The most important thing is that we don’t start wallowing in our own self-pity or fall into a victim mindset.

And instead doing the hard thing:

Acknowledge where you haven’t taken responsibility for your life, take it & put it into action.

Need help with balancing your capacities, creating more time freedom, and staying grounded in a world of chaos?

Do you crave more supportive systems in your life and business, more tools to navigate your daily life, and methods to create peace of mind while achieving your goals? I can help you, learn about my services here.