Mindset - The Easy Fix

Simon Sinek was talking about a story in one of his talks about a time where a friend and he had just finished a race. After the race, they headed to the line where they were handing out different “freebies” from different vendors, one of which was a large myriad of bagels that had Simon’s name all over it. He told his friend that he wanted to get one of the bagels and his friend responded with, “but Simon look at this line, we will have to wait forever.” This drew him to the conclusion that there are two ways people see the world, some people see what they want and some people see what stops them from getting what they want. It’s a belief or a perception of how you see the world. It is how you think, your mindset…and it’s the easy fix. Let’s talk.As I have said in the past, your perception of the world is built and based upon the previous experiences you’ve had and the values your parents instilled in you as a child. These are what can lead to the two aforementioned mindsets of seeing what you want or seeing what stopping you. Each of these mindsets are both understandable and have benefits to each, but in my opinion we need to have more of people who see what they want and go after it.People who have the perception of seeing what they want are often optimists. They have a more positive outlook on life. They are the type of people who have large networks, but may not always have the deepest connections with everyone in that network. These are more often the dreamers and creative people, who think outside the box and dabble in the unknown. The people who have the perception of seeing what is stopping them from getting to what they want are often realists. They bring balance and sanity to the world. They bring the people above back to reality. They are often looking at facts, figures, and ROIs of projects and investments. As I said above there is no problem with either, but I think we don’t have enough people who go after what they want.We all have different definitions of success, failure, love, happiness, and all emotions as I talked about in my article about SDTR (self-defining terms of relativity). I think the problem is that we don’t figure out what that truly means to each one of us until it’s too late. We get stuck in this ideology of if I get something I will then feel this. Then by the time we figure out what we want it’s “to late”. We continually search for what society, our parents, or our friends deem as the definition of these words. We never define it ourselves. The problem then begins to show as debts rise, relationships fail, addictions increase, and people become less fulfilled by the things they are doing. How do we change it?Start early. Head down the path of finding out what these things mean to you. Try a new sport, chase a dream, find a new hobby, and meet new people! Go out somewhere and be alone, step outside your comfort zone. We so often get caught up in these definitions of how our lives should look based on our surroundings and never take the time to figure it out by ourselves. The sooner you can start looking into how you define these beliefs the sooner you can go after that bagel, or find that career you love, or travel the country you’ve always wanted to see. The first step to getting somewhere is not finding the final destination, but taking that first step.Find out what is important to you and take the first step. See what you want and go after it. You can continually look at the million reasons why you’re not able to or what it is that won’t allow you too, or you can find the one reason why you should. Don’t look back at your life and wonder what if, look back knowing you have a story to tell about a journey and a path that allowed you to become that person you are today.On purpose,Matt