How To Change Mindset

“Why, then, it’s none to you, because there is nothing good or bad but what you think about.” — William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2

You have greater mental strength than you realize. As noted above in Hamlet, Shakespeare knew it over 400 years ago, and many of us are learning it again now.

Throughout my time as a regular reader, a common powerful thread has emerged: I’ve learned over and over how the mind can control far more than I imagined. You can learn to change your mind regarding a variety of topics.

It all started with a single idea from the growth mindset, which we’ve discussed extensively on the Lighthouse blog, It gradually moved to other issues until I understood that the list of things you *cannot* control is shorter than the number of things you *can* control.

Today, I’d like to share with you a few books and works that helped me realize this, as well as how you might apply them to your own life.

How to Improve Your Life and the Lives of Those Around You by Changing Your Mindset

My objective for today is for you to take one step forward. Simply choose one of these themes or one of the books mentioned, that would be most beneficial to you right now. You might be amazed at how a few minor shifts in your mentality can make a significant effect, especially in these trying times.

After that, I hope you’ll discover how much more is possible than you previously thought.

1) How to Master New Skills by Changing Your Mindset

Carol Dweck’s best-selling book on the necessity of a growth mindset is the starting point.

Embracing the growth mindset, whether you read her book or watch her TED Talk, makes a significant attitude shift: everyone can learn any skill.

This is critical for you to understand as a manager:

• Becoming a manager is a professional move for you. Only if you believe that you can master any new talents required to become a great leader will you succeed.
• For Your Group: It’s all too easy for people to get stuck doing the same things over and over again, or to give up on things they’re not good at. As their boss, it’s critical that you encourage them to quit talking to themselves negatively and assist them to learn new abilities so they may advance.

You and your team can take on any task when you have a development mentality, and you have no fear of the unknown. You’ll get stagnate and avoid challenges if you don’t have them. This will stifle your career and your team’s potential.

Additional Reading:

Read the following articles to help you develop a powerful growth mindset:

• Learn how to think like a successful manager with these three critical mindsets.
• Follow this advice to succeed as a new manager if you’re a new manager.
• Learn how Task Relevant Maturity may help you support your team when they need it and leave them alone when they don’t.
• Then, to help you with areas of weakness, embrace Task Relevant Maturity.
• Finally, understand the answers to the three most typical questions managers have about career development plans to help your employees advance.

2) How to Develop an Amazing Culture by Changing Your Mindset

Every leader who is forming an organization desires a positive culture. However, rather than actively creating a culture, you frequently wind up with one. The authors of Tribal Leadership demonstrate how the words we use to communicate some of the most significant aspects of our culture, and, more crucially, how changing the words we use may elevate our culture to new heights.

As you can see in this helpful table, how your team defines working together indicates a lot about your company’s culture. And once you know your current level, you can work to improve it.

So, while you think about how to purposefully construct your culture, remember that the words you use matter *a lot*. Simple modifications can have a significant impact.

Example: Assuming Positive Intent Has a Lot of Power

This quote has appeared on the Lighthouse blog numerous times, and now is a good opportunity to refresh your memory on what it truly means:

Consider the following scenario with your team: You’re behind on a project, and you’re in desperate need of it. You could respond in one of several ways:

• Angry: In chat, send a direct message to your team member or call them and demand, “Where is the project?!?” It’s past midnight!”
• Frustrated: “Why is this project late?!?” said an accusatory tone to your team.
• Assuming Positive Intent: “How are things doing for you, Joe?” “Would you like to check-in if you require any assistance with the project, as we require it today?”

Consider saying each of those lines aloud. Consider how you’d feel if you were questioned about the project in each of those ways.

Which approach is more likely to elicit a favorable response from your colleagues? How would you feel if your boss was all over you while you were trying to accomplish a project or coping with a crisis?

This is why you presume good intentions and tackle challenges with language that reflects that.

Building a great culture starts with you, and the words you use are a big part of that. The more deliberate you are about them, the more likely you are to achieve the desired culture.

Additional Reading:

Consider the following to discover how to shift your thinking in order to develop a wonderful company culture:

• You and your example are the foundation of a solid corporate culture.
• Start here if you want to modify your company’s culture.
• Make sure you use the power of repetition to inculcate and reinforce new ideas in your workforce.
• Takeaways from Netflix’s head of people, Patty McCord, reveal the secrets behind the company’s excellent culture.
• If you’re a founder, be aware of the ways in which founders can wreak havoc on their company’s culture.

3) How to Change Your Mindset to Survive in a Stressful Situation

Isn’t it true that stress is bad? That’s not the case.

I was ecstatic to learn that Dr. Kelly McGonigal’s book, The Upside of Stress, had finally solved a mystery: why do some people flourish under pressure while others struggle?

It turns out that everything is in your head. Really.

You are the one who decides whether stress is beneficial or harmful.

Dr. McGonigal discovered that your body reacts differently based on how you think about stress; your body literally releases *different chemicals* that aid or harm your body.

Consider a professional sport that you enjoy or are familiar with. Consider two players at a critical juncture in the game:

• What does the player look like when they’re prospering under pressure? Calm, cool, relaxed, and attentive are all words that come to mind when I think of you.
• What does it look like when a player is “choking” under pressure? I’m tense, my shoulders are tense, I’m concerned, and I’m nervous.

The diverse chemical reactions to stress are due to the different substances in each player’s body. They can be under the same stress: the game is on the line, the crowd is cheering or silent, there is no time left, etc., and they can react very differently.

It all relies on how you deal with stress in either instance.

And, best of all, all you have to do to fix this is focus on your thinking as you approach the stress.

In fact, a simple sentence reaffirming that everyone taking a test is an excellent test taker boosted exam scores for all participants in one of the trials described in the book.

Further Reading

If you want to improve your relationship with stress, read The Upside of Stress first, then read our articles on:

• How to utilize mindfulness at work to improve your management skills
• These eight strategies will teach you how to deal with working stress.
• Listen to Jason Evanish’s Crazy Wisdom podcast conversation about stress and leadership.
• It’s sometimes necessary to work on recognizing when you’re stressed so you can continue to perform at your best, which is an important element of increasing your self-awareness as a leader.
• Check out our conversation with leadership coach Brian Wang for more information on this and other topics.

4) How to Improve Your Health by Changing Your Mindset

I kept this one for last on the list because I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

Yet, when I heard about the double-blind, high-quality studies conducted at Harvard Medical School and Boston’s top hospitals, my doubt gave way to the belief: Yes, your mind may help you dramatically enhance your health.

Dr. Herbert Benson discusses precise studies on how your mind may help you heal and cure a range of common health concerns in his book The Relaxation Revolution.

• Heart disease and high blood pressure
• Chronic pain and headaches
• Anxiety and depression
• Nausea
• PMS and menopause symptoms
• Insomnia
• Heart palpitations
• Parkinson’s disease

And how is this accomplished? You may make a major change in your health in just 10-20 minutes a day by combining the power of believing it can work, visualizing the results, and following his relaxation response method.

Your epigenetics are within your control.

Building on the concept of how powerful words are, I found this discussion of how words affect us to be a great compliment to Dr. Benson’s book and research:

The following are some major points from the video:

1. Stress hormones: As we learned from Dr. McGonigal, the negative effects of stress can be severe if you are afraid of it. This film goes beyond only sports or professional performance to include physical consequences as well.
2. Placebo impact: Dr. Benson’s research also looks into the placebo effect, and it turns out that placebos are growing *more effective* in recent years.
3. Dr. Benson’s book also discusses how we have a large number of genes that may be turned on or off. His theory is that his Relaxation Response aids in the control of whether certain genes are turned on or off.

We’re straying a little outside the sphere of outstanding leadership and management with these ideas, but they’re so strong that I feel I’d be remiss not to share them with you in case they can benefit you or a loved one.

I’ve seen how the power of belief combined with this technique can help someone recover from a major stroke, and I’ve seen how the power of belief combined with this approach can help someone recover from a big stroke.

5) How Can You Change Your Habits Mindset?

Routines and habits are quite powerful. The human mind enjoys the rhythm of a recurring pattern, whether it’s a good one (going to the gym after work) or a negative one (not going to the gym) (having too much wine after dinner). It’s easy to feel as though your behaviors “are just who I am,” especially if you have a fixed perspective.

This could hardly be more untrue.

There is a clear procedure for both creating new habits and breaking old behaviors, as James Clear explains in his excellent book Atomic Habits.

This implies that the next time you notice a poor habit, something you do without thinking, you may break it using the techniques in Atomic Habits. And you now know how to establish a new habit, such as going to the gym, reading every day, or cooking supper with your kids, if you want to alter something about yourself.

Knowledge is a powerful tool. Create and break habits to achieve the life and results you desire.

More Reading: 

You can form habits on your own, but with the correct assistance, it can be even easier:

• With a free trial of our program, Lighthouse, you may get helpful reminders, an intentional, strong structure, and increase the quality of your 1 on 1s with your team.
• Sign up for our next Lighthouse Lessons program, which begins shortly, to learn new leadership skills and develop a practice of growing better every week.

6) How to Become Happier by Changing Your Mindset

We all have sentiments and emotions. Even when we try our hardest, awful things happen.

It’s easy to become depressed as a result of this. It’s normal to have these feelings.

You can, however, adjust your mood once you notice these feelings.

This is why self-awareness is so crucial; by adjusting your route early, you can avoid worse difficulties.

Know who you are and let others know as well.

I’m aware that when I’m worried or frustrated, I may be harsh and judgmental. It’s a protective mechanism I picked up as a kid.

However, now that I’m aware of it, I’ll be more mindful of it and catch it sooner.

To talk about such matters with your team, you’ll need a lot of trusts and psychological safety. When you take the lead on something like this, however, your team is more likely to follow suit. As a result, your entire team will be able to work together better because everyone will have difficult days at different times.