The mind is one of the most complex characteristic of human beings. It is the element that enables thinking, perception, reasoning, judgment and human consciousness. Your mindset is influenced by culture, environment, religion, and the many aspects of life.
Throughout your life, you’ve developed certain ways of thinking. You’ve managed to wrap your mind around those ideas, and it’s easy to accept that’s just the way your brain works.
In order to make your dream happen, chances are you’ll have to change your mindset. Your mindset frames the running account that’s taking place in your head. It guides your day-to-day thoughts.
Changing your mindset means eliminating the thought of ‘this is who I am’ and questioning what you always thought was fixed. Success is hidden inside your mind but may not be found if your mind cannot be changed from what it is set.
Believe you can change your mindset
In order to successfully change your thinking, you need to believe you can change it. My thinking, for years, was along these lines: ‘I have been a schoolteacher all my life. How am I supposed to believe I can be a business woman?’ Somehow, in my mind, I just couldn’t wrap my brain around the idea that I could change. The idea that *I* could do something besides teaching school was… well, impossible.
It wasn’t until I changed that mindset and realized that I – yes *I* – could do whatever I set my mind to, that things started happening. It took a change in the basic presuppositions I held about my life for that to happen.
It’s a choice
‘Are my life circumstances fixed or do I have a choice?’ Ask yourself that question, and you’ll realize the way you look at your life is a choice you make. You can continue to make the same choices, or you can change it. It’s all up to you.
Eliminate fear
Fear is a big hiccup especially when choosing to do something you’ve never done before. It’s natural to think you will fail even before trying, but the only way to know is to try. Change your mindset to accept the fear, and give it a try. You’ll never accomplish anything big until you jump over that hurdle.
Stop being a hindrance to yourself. Your attitude is very important. That internal dialogue you have with yourself will determine what you will or will not do. Don’t say I cannot do it and instead say how can I make it happen?
To make your big dream happen, you need to find a way not run away. Changing your mindset is all on you and the choices you make.
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Here are the other posts in this series:
Day 1: Define your dream
Day 2: Believe in yourself
Day 3: Believe in your dream
Day 4: Break out of the rut
Day 5: Go public with your idea
Day 6: Don’t fear failure
Day 7: Change your mindset
Day 8: Commit to your dream
Day 9: Celebrate small successes
Great post and love the series!
I’m always telling people that if we can make a tweak to our mindset we can open ourselves to so much more opportunity and growth!
That hard part is not necessarily making the change, but like you said, believing that we CAN change our mindset.
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Nancy Sathre-Vogel Reply:
March 1st, 2013 at 10:44 pm
@Pablo, Exactly. Knowing what’s possible is huge. Once we know it’s possible, then we can take it to ourselves.
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Hello there! Glad to finally comment, I’ve been following you for a while. In fact, you are one of the pages that confirmed by suspicions, that I can actually bike home! I plan to leave from Paraguay in January (a little on the hot side) and bike to Seattle. And I love this article, cause even though I’m committed, I still have waves of fear!! The unknown is huge, but exciting and not stopping me from exploring it. I also linked to your page on my site as one of my favorites. http://pedalandplow.wordpress.com/2013/01/25/blogs-that-make-me-yearn-for-padded-shorts/
Cheers!
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Nancy Sathre-Vogel Reply:
March 5th, 2013 at 11:39 am
@Lydia, That’s so exciting Lydia! YAY! You are in for a lot of wonderful adventures! Thanks so much for commenting and giving me your blog url.
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