Adopting a Growth Mindset
When it comes to success in anything in life, mindset is everything. When we talk about living a healthier lifestyle, your mindset is as important there as it is to achieve professional success or personal success of any kind. A growth mindset is an absolute “must have” to accomplish our goals.
What exactly is a growth miindset? It is a way of thinking where:
You believe you can grow and learn
You believe you can increase your abilities
You believe that you can keep going when things get hard
You believe you can learn from mistakes
You believe you can improve
You believe challenges are an opportunity to grow
Easier said than done, right? Maybe. But, honestly, it’s the path to success. So how do we adopt a growth mindset?
When we set big health goals for ourselves, there is often a part of us that starts raising objections.
“I am too busy to exercise.”
“I don’t have time to eat healthy every day.”
“It’s too cold outside to increase my step count.”
“My family won’t like it if I serve a bunch of vegetables.”
“I don’t like water.”
Recognize these objections for what they are. These are coming from the part of your mind that does not want to be pushed out of your comfort zone.
BE OPEN to creating a solution for any objection your mind brings you. Don’t stay stuck in that limiting thought.
Example: ‘I don’t have time to eat healthy everyday.” What solution can you create for this objection? Perhaps you meal plan and prep on the weekends. Perhaps you subscribe to a meal delivery service that brings nutritious foods to your doorstep.
2. LOOK FOR places where you seem to be stuck, whether it’s a certain behavior or a feeling and reminding yourself that it’s an opportunity to grow.
Example: “I can’t ever stick with it.” Why do I think that? What evidence do I have that makes that true? What’s one small change I can make to feel like I can stick to it?
3. Be ready to ADJUST. Some days life will throw you a curveball, but if you think about how you can adjust your plan to meet your goal instead of giving up on it, you’re in a growth mindset.
Example: “I can’t get my walk in today because it’s raining.” Instead of giving up on your goal for a walk, think about how you can adjust. Where can you walk inside?
4. CHOOSE well. Recognizing that you have the freedom to choose differently than you may have in the past is crucial.
Example: “I sabotage my progress on the weekends.” Can you choose differently for even one meal this weekend?
5. FOCUS on the journey, NOT the destination. The journey is where you are going to learn from mistakes, adapt, and overcome. If we’re too focused on the end product, we may feel like we’re not working hard enough. The result is the sum of all the parts. It’s the parts that matter. That where we learn, adapt, and grow.
6. Lastly, and most importantly, CHANGE the way that you are talking to yourself. If you are stuck in a negative loop of self-talk, pause, and reframe it. Changing the words you use to talk to yourself physically retrains your brain. It creates new neural pathways and new synapses. This is brain plasticity.
Example: turn the word “failure” to “room for improvement”. Our words should make us feel good, feel motivated and supported.
The road to a healthier lifestyle is not a straight line. It comes with twists and turns, speed bumps, and potholes. If we can adopt a growth mindset, we learn when to brake, when to put on our blinkers, when to turn on our headlights, how to change our tires. What’s more, when we change the way we talk to ourselves it’s like going on the journey with the top down with the wind blowing in our hair. It feels good. It feels relaxed. It feels POSSIBLE.
If you feel like you’re stuck and need some help moving towards a growth mindset, let’s talk. Set up a free 20 minute call and chat about how I can help you. amynighbert.com
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