Written by: Trish Mahan, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
“To change your life, you have to change yourself. To change yourself you have to change your mindset.” ‒ Unknown
What you believe about the world around you is otherwise known as your mindset. It is how you make sense of who you are in relation to other people and the environment. Your mindset is developed and rooted throughout your history, culture, education, occupations, and life experiences. Often unconscious, your values and attitudes are also enveloped within your mindset.
Although some feel that you cannot change your mindset, it can most definitely be adapted with self-reflection and conscious effort.
Attitude is a huge component within your mindset. Your attitude is made up of the energy you possess as you engage in your roles, occupations, and experiences. We all live our lives with a set of core thoughts, feelings, and actions that influence our everyday living. Attitudes can support wellbeing, or they can support the cycles in our lives that don’t serve us well. The good news is our attitudes can be adapted to best support our level of happiness and quality of life.
Your mindset plays a critical role in how you cope with life’s challenges.
There are two basic mindsets: Fixed and Growth.
If you have a fixed mindset, you believe your abilities and talents are fixed traits and therefore can't be changed. A drawback to this type of mindset may occur when your talent, intelligence, or success are not making you happy. If you have a fixed mindset, you may experience feelings of success in work, but fail to explore feelings of social disconnect, fail to pursue personal growth potential, and reject creative avenues of self-expression that support growth-minded thinking because you think that ‘it is what it is’. Some examples of fixed mindset include:
Feeling intimidated by the success of others.
Believing that it is not worth trying something new because you will just fail.
Thinking it is too late (or you are too old) to take on a new job or role.
Receiving constructive feedback as a personal attack.
On the flip side, if you have a growth mindset, you believe that your talents and abilities can be developed over time through effort, persistence, and self-reflection. People with a growth mindset believe that everyone can achieve their personal definition of success if they are willing to self-reflect and deepen their alignment with who they really are. If you have a growth mindset, you are more willing to step out of your comfort zone into the fear zone of potential and growth opportunities. It all begins with a desire to be curious about the potential within your reality to modify your patterns of thoughts, feelings, and actions in areas of your life that are not serving you well. Some examples of growth mindset include:
Celebrating the success of others.
Apply new learning to the next experience after a ‘failure.’
Developing skills at work to take your career to the next level.
Welcoming constructive feedback so that you can keep growing.
5 Tips to Adapt and Shift your Mindset:
1. Identify the type of mindset you currently possess.
Your mindset can affect the way you think about everything. If you think you can’t…, you won’t. If you think you can…, you will. Try not to judge yourself during this process of reflection but be honest with yourself and willing to sit with uncomfortable energy as you reflect. We all have components of fixed and growth mindset. The goal is to release the beliefs that circumstances won’t change and be open to the possibility of what could be if you took on a different perspective.
2. Weigh the impact that your current mindset has on your daily life.
Many people don’t realize that their current beliefs and values are a result of repetitive thoughts from the past. Thus, they keep creating life events that mirror experiences from the past and wonder why things don’t change. Our performance patterns run deeply throughout our lives. We like routine, consistency, and stability, even if it is at the cost of our happiness and emotional security. Our mindset can make us feel like we are stuck on a hamster wheel, unable to break the cycle. How does your mindset impact your overall happiness?
3. Make a conscious choice to give your mindset a “tune-up.”
Reaching a choice point means you get to consciously choose if you want to continue along your current path of experiences or want to become a powerful agent of change within the circumstances of your life. Checking in and assessing whether you are living in alignment with your values is critical when supporting a growth mindset. Scheduling mindset “tune-ups” through self-reflection, affirmations, or meditation is a way to check in with yourself and keep life running more fluidly, minimizing the impacts of life’s ups and downs. Choosing to care for your mindset and take inspired action steps that expand your mind’s eye will help develop cognitive flexibility and self-confidence.
4. Be open to adapting old beliefs that no longer serve you and realign with your values.
Adaptability is the key to survival. The ability to ebb and flow with life’s circumstances and handle the change from the inside out rather than trying to change circumstances from the outside can mean the difference between surviving and thriving. Challenge current beliefs by asking yourself, “How would life be different if I believed that age doesn’t matter when pursuing my dreams?” or “What would happen if I believed that I was talented enough to start my own business?” Challenging current belief patterns helps us to envision what possibilities may exist and reframe what we value as important.
5. Begin to incorporate inspired action steps into your daily routines.
Taking small steps to shift your mindset can result in newly created patterns that invite what you want into your life and not what you don’t want. Consider the following:
Try something new- The mind must be open and flexible when learning something new. It must connect with other areas of the brain to make sense of new ways of thinking and learning. As you practice steps 1-4, you make space in your mind to explore, create, and engage in new activities that may highlight skills and talents you did not know you had J.
Be curious- Ask open-ended questions that encourage others to expand their thinking and share their thoughts so that you can learn more, and practice active listening. Sometimes we think being quiet when someone else is talking means we are listening to them when often we are only quiet because we are thinking about what we want to say. Listen with curiosity, not with anticipation J.
Schedule time for reflection- Schedule quiet time to journal about situations during the day/week and what mindset you possessed at the time. Journaling can help you achieve goals, track progress, gain self-confidence, and strengthen your memory as you adapt to life’s circumstances. The process of connecting experiences with the type of mindset can bring clarity to situations, improve mood, and build mindset muscles.
It is never easy or desired to shake the tree of consistency especially when it comes to our beliefs. It can be so much easier to look outside of ourselves and want changes to occur so that we don’t have to do the work. The reality is that we can make choices that expand our mindset and bring greater inner peace as we flow through life’s daily events.
Trish Mahan, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Dr. Mahan merges the holistic core philosophy of Occupational Therapy and the action-oriented approaches of Core Energy Coaching in order to help her clients work through the ‘blind spots’ of their lives. She works with individuals by incorporating evidence-based tools and research-based practices that uncover challenging mal-adaptive habits and inspire empowering self-awareness.
Dr. Mahan brings authentic awareness to the power of ‘purpose-driven mental health and wellness.’ She has a deep appreciation for the complexity of the human experience. Passionate about all aspects of well-being she is devoted to making physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual wellness more achievable for individuals seeking improved quality of life.
Dr. Mahan has her doctoral degree in occupational therapy, works as a Senior Pediatric Occupational Therapist and is the owner of Youniversal Coaching. She is a progressive thought leader who has the rare ability to manage and do things right as well as lead and do the right thing. She intuitively knows how to hone in and move individuals forward and remain committed to improving outcomes for individuals and organizations. She is certified as an evidence-based health coach, professional core energy coach and sensory integration therapist. Dr. Trish has championed multiple positions in higher education including clinical and adjunct professor, program director, and student mentor. She sits on the professional state board of occupational therapy in Albany, NY and is a speaker and presenter at various state professional associations and universities. Topics of focus include: The occupation of human potential, Spirituality and emotional regulation, Anxiety and sensory sensitivities, and Resilience in pandemic recovery.
