3 Steps to Changing Your Mindset

Like I mentioned in my blog about Setting Goals and Intentions for the New Year, I really started to live a life that I loved when I shifted my mindset. Now that I approach every single habit or goal through an intentional mindset, I am able to enact much more change! It’s amazing the roadblocks we create within our own minds that prevent us from creating the changes we really want in our lives.

WHAT IS “MINDSET”?

Your mindset is the way you frame your thoughts. It is the context that your thoughts originate from. There are infinite ways to think and frame our thinking, but most of us don’t take the time to question which mindset we are living in. We don’t realize that we have the agency to investigate and change our mindset.

Most of us focus on changing our actions when we want to develop a habit or routine. We don’t think about the why behind our actions and dig deeper into our motivations. It’s like trying to care for a plant by only watering the leaves and not the roots. The real need is at the roots, so that’s where we need to focus change. You need to recognize where the change needs to happen and then believe that you are worthy and capable of change.

1. DISCOVER YOUR CURRENT MINDSET

We tend to accept our mindset as natural or innate, but actually it is a combination of our lived experiences and influences. Our mindset is shaped by our society, culture, family, religion. Ideas and thought patterns become so ingrained that they appear innate and true, but in actuality there are infinite ways of thinking and experiencing the world. We don’t have to simply accept the mindset that we have, in fact I urge you to actively question your mindset. When you do, you will begin to find that so much of what we believe as set in stone “Truth” might be an opinion or a myth or something much more complex. 

To reorganize the structure of your mind, you have to conduct an experiment between your thoughts, feelings, and actions. It’s all a process of non-judgmental investigation to discover the mindset you have and the mindset you desire. The non-judgmental part is important - you are looking for insights about yourself, not jugements. Once you recognize your current mindset and the motivations behind it, you’re ready to change it.

2. COMMIT TO THE DIFFICULT PATH

Changing your mindset is really that simple. Learn your current mindset, and choose a better one. It’s simple, but not easy, because what you’re doing is deliberately choosing a more difficult path. In my Overcoming Creative Blocks blog, I explain that thinking new thoughts uses up a lot of the brain’s energy. The brain actively tries to use the least amount of energy, so it automatically chooses to continue thinking the same ingrained patterns. So know that it’s going to take some time to get your brain on board with your new mindset.  

Self awareness and mindfulness will be key to helping you shift your thinking in a new direction. Take note of resistances - these moments are full of information about how your current mindset is still getting in the way.  

When we commit ourselves to a practice of choosing the more difficult path, we change. Every time we are brave enough to step into discomfort, we start a chain reaction of subtle transformations. Day by day, choice by choice, we shift from a person of inaction to a person of action. We shift from someone allowing the instinctual, passive mindset we have without thinking to guide us into someone who intentionally chooses a mindset of change. We become someone who is committed to showing up.

When we commit to showing up, we are present and engage with the challenges life brings us.

When we commit to showing up, we don’t avoid, numb, or run away from our struggles.

When we commit to showing up, we embrace love, empathy, and compassion.

3. STOP OWNING WHAT ISN’T YOU

All of those negative things that you think you are - the parts of yourself you’re not proud of - are not the makeup of who you are. You do not have to own those qualities anymore or identify with these traits. You are not lazy, or stupid, or a failure, or weak, or closed-minded. Owning these and believing they are a part of your identity will only hold you back.

You cannot wake up earlier and exercise regularly if you believe yourself to be innately lazy. You cannot grow your business and succeed in chasing your dreams if you believe yourself to be a failure or stupid. We all evolve over the span of our lives, and you do not have to be any of these things. They are old habits - lies - and they do not define you.

One of the most common core negative beliefs - or “limiting beliefs” - is that we are who we are and we can’t change. This is the first limiting belief you need to stop owning, because you are worthy and capable of change. Limiting beliefs like this are only keeping you small, scared, and stuck in old patterns.  

Pay close attention to these limiting beliefs and investigate. Where, when, and who did they come from? Are they really true? Think of instances in your life that prove them wrong, and use those to consciously remind yourself who you really are until you instinctually believe it.

A great way to start overcoming limiting beliefs is through positive self-talk.

Try this! On the left half of a piece of a paper, write out 10-15 of your limiting self beliefs. Then on the other side of the paper - write out a reversal for the statement. 

Here’s an example of some of my own limiting beliefs and reversals:

I am lazy.  =>    I work hard.

I am weak.   =>   I am brave and strong.

I am closed-minded.  =>    I am open to new experiences and ideas.

I am stupid.  =>     I am intelligent and capable.

I am a failure.   =>   I am successful.

Now, release these limiting beliefs through a little ritual. Repeat the positive beliefs side out loud while you tear off the right side, crumple it into a small ball and set it on fire (be safe!).

Let go of whatever is not serving your best self and you’re on the path to changing your mindset!

SUBTLE TRANSFORMATIONS

I’ve started intentionally sharing my personal growth both here on the blog and on my Instagram because I want to highlight and celebrate all changes, both big and small - obvious and subtle. I believe that every time we get vulnerable and share about our struggles, we normalize it and cultivate empathy. And we all know that the world needs a big dose of empathy right now. As the adage goes, “We can’t be healed until all of us are healed.”

Celebrate every time you say yes to hard choices. Every time you choose the more difficult path, whether that’s getting up earlier, eating healthier, exercising, facing your emotions, having hard conversations, doing something you’re afraid to do, or any number of other things - celebrate it. Every time you choose the more difficult path, you are choosing a better you. You are prioritizing your health and mental wellbeing over convenience, consumption, and fears of what others may think.

READY TO CHANGE YOUR MINDSET?

Every time you choose yourself, you grow and heal. Even if it’s just a little bit with each individual choice, these choices add up into BIG transformations that are anything but subtle!

You don’t have to do this alone.

Now that I have started coaching, I’m so excited to help you grow. With all the tools, resources, support, and guidance I have gained during the decade of my own healing, I’m here to support you and catalyze your journey!

I’m offering a special highly discounted offer to anyone who is ready to make this change. If that sounds like you, email me with the subject line “I’m Ready!” for a discount on your first three months of coaching with me. Let’s co-create a life that you love and feel inspired by!