My goal for next year is to practice intentional mindsets that will guide me towards feeling consistently calm, which will provide brain energy to tackle all the big challenges.
The two mindsets that I picked for this blog are Stoicism and Growth Mindset.
What is Stoicism?
Stoicism is a philosophy of personal ethics based on logic and it was founded in the early 3rd century BC in Ancient Greek, Athens. The word “stoic” usually refers to the person who is indifferent to pleasure, pain, joy or grief.
Stoicism, means being resilient and calm in spite of stress and chaos, which is the reason why this philosophy seduces me as a fantastic mindset in life and why I picked the word LIGHT for my year.
I don’t possess much knoweledge from this philosophy, hence why intend to study more about it but what I have learned through the years that the universe is 100% chaotic. You can’t control the outcome or predict the future and change is inevitable. So instead of repeating my self-destructive patterns, I choose to break the negative loops whenever I identify them.
Exercises that will help develop a Stoic Mindset
- Negative Visualization helps us imagine the worst possible scenario in any given situation and make a plan for potential setbacks. This thinking will help build resilience and strength because most of the time, things will not be as bad as we expect.
- Amor Fati is all about making the best out of what is happening. Instead of avoiding the challenge, then I embrace it and love it. The obstacle becomes the way.
- Memento Mori is a meditation that helps us remember that we will die, which gives us the chance to live for the now and living to the fullest.
“Do not seek for things to happen the way you want them to; rather, wish that what happens happen the way it happens: then you will be happy.” – Epictetus
What is Growth Mindset?
Growth Mindset is a concept developed by Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck which explains how our belief systems can fuel our behaviour and predict success.
In her research, Carol finds that having a “Growth Mindset” means thriving on challenges and looking at failures as an opportunity for improvement to stretch our existing abilities. Effort becomes the path to mastery and success from others becomes inspiration.
On the other hand, the “Fixed Mindset” is the belief that our intelligence is static, which leads to avoidance, giving up when there are setbacks, thinking the effort is not worth it, ignore feedback and feel threatened by the success of others.
I believe the “Growth Mindset” is essential to explore in the new year because it gives a sense of free will and guides anyone to reach a higher level of achievement. Dealing with effort and failure will only make me smarter and talented. It also ties in well with the stoicism mindset: the obstacle is the way.
Exercises that will help you develop a Growth Mindset
- Watch your language by documenting the unhelpful beliefs that you say to yourself; this will help you be more aware when you’re holding back from moving forward.
- Value process over outcomes. The result is not as important as enjoying the learning process.
- Reflect on your progress regularly by setting a habit of retrospection. We sometimes forget how far we’ve come, and it also allows us to celebrate our growth and motivates us to keep going.
Read more from these two topics*:
*These are amazon affiliate links
Do you have a mindset of your own? What are they? Leave a comment below.
