NCET Biz Tips: Cultivating an Unshakeable Mindset
Kevin Ciccotti
As a coach I work with clients on a multitude of challenges, and in more than a decade of doing this work one thing is clear to me. The most important issue that I work on with clients is their mindset.
Mindset is a collection of thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes that affects how we think, feel and act. It affects how we see ourselves, how we see others, and how we see the world around us; it even determines what we believe is possible in terms of success, health, happiness, relationships, etc. In short, mindset is EVERYTHING.
There are two basic mindsets that people tend to cling to. One is the fixed mindset. People are the way they are, things are the way they are, we can’t change ourselves or our mindset. Our talents and abilities are set in stone - you either have them or you don’t.
The other is the growth mindset. Everything is pliable. Thoughts, beliefs, actions, the world around me... anything can change and my skills and talents can grow if enough effort and/or repetition is applied to it. Carol Dweck, Ph.D., wrote about these two mindsets in her book, Mindset, The New Psychology of Success.
She says that your mindset explains how you become optimistic or pessimistic, that it shapes your goals, your attitudes toward work and relationships, how you raise your kids, and ultimately whether or not you fulfill your potential.
Here are three basic steps you can take to strengthen your mindset.
Step 1: Improve your awareness. If you’re not aware of how you think, there is no pathway to change. Become aware of your state of being, what you’re thinking, and how you use your time. You have to begin to elevate your awareness and get out of the rut of automatic thoughts.
How I think determines how I feel. How I feel determines what I do. What I do determines what I become.
Step 2: Another component of shifting your mindset is your physical health. How are you sleeping? Do you engage in regular physical activity? What do you eat? How much alcohol do you consume regularly? Are you overwhelmed with activity at work and at home? How exhausted are you at the end of each day? It’s almost impossible to have a healthy mind if you don’t have a healthy body.
Move your body daily. Anything to elevate your heart rate and increase physical well-being. Exercise releases endorphins that lead to feelings of positivity and happiness.
Step 3: Become a master of meaning. We are creatures of meaning. We give meaning to everything we experience. It’s how we make sense of the world around us. Nothing in life has any meaning except the meaning that you give to it.
In Man’s Search for Meaning, author Viktor Frankl talks about the need our minds to assign meaning to everything in our lives. Frankl was an Austrian-born Jewish psychiatrist who was imprisoned in Nazi concentration camps. He noticed that some prisoners succumbed to the conditions while others were able to withstand the brutal conditions. Those who were able to find meaning in their circumstances were the ones that thrived, or at the very least survived.
Frankl stated, “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
To cultivate this strong, positive mindset, it’s critical to establish daily rituals to support you. Just like getting in physical shape requires repeated trips to the gym, developing your mindset requires daily repetition and practice. Repetition is the mother of skill.
Learn more about cultivating an unshakeable mindset at NCET’s Biz Bite on Oct 27 with the program and lunch from noon to 1:00 pm and networking from 11 am until noon. NCET is a member-supported nonprofit organization that produces educational and networking events to help people explore business and technology. More info at https://www.ncet.org/ncet-event-calendar/cultivating-unshakeable-mindset
Kevin Ciccotti, Certified Professional Coach, is President of Human Factor Formula, Inc. (www.humanfactorformula.com) and NCET’s VP of Biz Cafe (www.NCET.org).