The Mindset of Successful People

We are all looking for success in our lives, whether we want to develop a passion, be more social or get to our dream job. We all know that setting a goal and reaching it is the best way to make progress towards our personal accomplishments. (Check out 5 best ways to reach your goals)

So why do we still fail?

There is more to success than just setting and progressing towards it. One of the most important factors to consider when reaching for our goals, is our mindset and how it affects our decisions in life. Regardless of what our goal is, the result will depend on our frame of mind during our pursuit for that goal. If you do not have the right mindset it can be very difficult, even if you take all the right steps.

So what mindset do you need achieve your dreams?

Stay Away from Negativity

To be successful in your accomplishments it is important to eliminate negative thoughts from your mind. When I say negative thoughts, I mean any thought that can lead to you having a gloomy or pessimistic outlook on life or other people. When things don’t go well we tend to make it worse than it actually is. It becomes easier to give in to hardship.

Studies have shown that being anxious, ironically never addresses the problems we worry about, it makes them worse. We give in to misfortune and we create a kind of vicious circle of negative emotion that results in an unhappy life. It is impossible to reach for your goals in this state of mind. There is a lot of well documented research that shows the effect of depression on our aspirations. When we are sad, our goals and aspirations become less compelling to us. We lose our motivation and our drive for success.

But nature did not care about the quality of our lives

Humans have evolved to favour negative emotions because it tended to help in our survival. Fear made us better at fleeing danger while anger made us better at fighting our enemies. But nature did not care about the quality of our lives, what is important in this day and age more than survival is our health and happiness. That is why it is important to consistently work on our positive emotions.

My problems can be solved.

A good trick when you are faced with hardships, is to look at them as problems to be solved and not curses. You have to ask yourself: Is there anything I can do to fix this situation? If there is, then work towards fixing it. If there isn’t then will continuing to worry bring you anything? Might as well forget about it and move on.

Feed Your mind with positive thoughts and emotions.

You know the expression “Is the glass half empty or half full?”. A particular situation can always be seen as positive (half full) or negative (half empty). Your perception of the event is more important to how you feel than the significance of the event. If you want to feel happier, you need to look for the positive in every situation. You have to be grateful for what you have, value your successes however small they may be.

Our mindset is very important in reaching for our goals. Eliminating negativity and cultivating a positive mindset along the way, our goals will seem a lot more achievable.

What is your biggest challenge in reaching your goals? Let us know in the comments.