Do you have a growth or fixed mindset?
Due to a lot of work, my growth mindset and money mindset are now increasing all the time. How are yours?
I say this with joy. Mainly as my mindset has been pretty poor for a lot of my life. Without knowing what money mindset was or even having heard of it, I sailed through my financial life earning, spending, getting into debt, consolidating debt. Paying the debt off, then doing the same again. A tricky mess….
Do you want to have an abundance mindset? Then read on….
Does this sound familiar to any readers? If so, I feel for you. But don’t worry, help is at hand. We can conquer this mountain together. Our mindset is about to change. We will spot trends, alter them for the better, then learn and practice good financial habits. It is time to be a badass with our mindset behavior.
What is money mindset?
You many know what mindset it but do you know what a healthy money mindset is? I remember when I first heard this term. It sounded like a mixture of ‘woo’ and ‘financial’, a combination I never would have put together. But as I learnt about it, it made perfect sense. A perfect marriage. Basically, the term money mindset is your opinion of your personal financial situation. Once you understand this, you will see a direct correlation between your attitude towards money and your spending habits, both in the past and the present and you will be able to master the mindset of wealth.
Do you want to go from poor to rich using money mindset?
The amazing and positive thing is that mindset occurs in the brain. It is not a fact, something that cannot be change like what color hair you have. It is a belief, something that has accrued over time, from our childhood. Therefore, it can be challenged and altered to reflect a more positive, can do attitude. There is still so much to learn about the correlation of neurology and growth mindset. However, from research we do know that student learning and outcomes are influenced by their mindset and motivation. Hence, ours can be when it comes to our money mindset. Which, in turn transfers to long-term outcomes.
So now we understand what generic mindset is, lets break it down to examine the two main types. Your attitudes and beliefs will currently fall into one of two camps, either growth mindset or fixed mindset.
Growth mindset
The definition of a growth mindset is the belief that your capabilities can be improved over time. That your intelligence can be nurtured and will grow through continual effort. This motivation is powered by a belief that there are no or limited boundaries.
Fixed mindset
A fixed mindset is in contrast to a growth mindset. It is the opposing belief that your talents cannot be improved, that there is a limit in what you can do or achieve. Like growth mindset, this attitude will have a profound impact on your life, unfortunately for the negative. Life will be lived in an unhappy vacuum, never pushing boundaries and never experiencing anything new.
Wow, what a contrast between the two. I know which one I would rather have, in all areas of my life. I believe I have friends who exhibit both and the difference between them and the influence on all areas of their lives is amazing.
Example one
A person with a fixed growth mindset in my life has a limited attitude towards almost everything. Job, relationship, children. Any area there is room for potential is met with a shut door. This person firmly believes there is a limit to their capabilities and consequently is extremely restricted in all areas of life. Will probably stay in the same job for a very long time, in an unhealthy relationship and will never push any boundaries to discover what possibilities there can be. This is an ever-continuing cycle.
Example two
Someone else in my life is the complete opposite. I admire this person and often look to them when I am wanting to push my own boundaries. Whether or not this person may think they have limitations, these are pushed through and extended if an opportunity arises. The consequences of this growth mindset are far more experiences in life, love, job, travel etc. What an amazing way to live.
As a consequence to which mindset you have developed in your life, your confidence in your ability to learn new skills and whether we continue with the ones we have tried will be affected. This in turn, will have a knock on effect on our overall confidence and belief in ourselves. If you have a fixed growth mindset, this can lead to a vicious cycle until you decide to break the pattern.
How to change a fixed mindset
Now we know what both a growth and fixed mindset are, we can probably recognise which one we have. Don’t be discouraged if you conclude that you have a fixed growth mindset. Like most things, this can be altered over time. The first step is to have faith in yourself to at least try. Scientists believe that the human brain is constantly adapting and learning which means we have the ability to develop new skills and consequently change our attitudes.
So, once you have decided you have a little faith in yourself, you can start to change your mindset. The great thing is that you have already taken the first hurdle – faith! In order to keep moving forward, it is important to recognise in yourself what your personal hurdles may be. For me, it can be a lack of confidence. I recognise this and to stop failing, I regularly write a set of affirmations. Here are ten examples of daily affirmations you can say to yourself.
- I am powerful
- I can control my thoughts
- I will control the path of my life
- I am attracting abundance
- I am proud of myself
- I have positivity in my life
- I am confident
- I love myself
- I have faith in my abilities
- I deserve happiness
Self-belief and self-love
In our culture, self-belief and self-love are often looked down upon. As being selfish. But how can you ever have a successful relationship, job etc. if you do not first believe in and love yourself? A confident person who loves themselves can contribute far more to society than a self-doubting one who never pushes any personal boundaries.
Once you have constructed a set of affirmations and pinned them somewhere you will see every morning, it’s time to start changing your negative attitude into a positive one.
Remove the demon on your shoulder
We all have a demon. Some people think of it as a little ‘you’ sitting on a shoulder. With me, I view it as a voice in my head, criticizing and doubting. However you see it, recognizing it is there is the first step, taking steps to remove it is the second. This voice or demon is there to stop any growth mindset. Negative and critical, it is there to stop us doing anything that will push any boundaries and allow us to grown. The way to remove this is to change the way we verbalize our answers to problems.
By taking away the words can’t and won’t, we can move mountains!
Get out of your comfort zone
Take small steps at first. When you feel yourself going to say ‘no’, or ‘I can’t’, stop. Think and rephrase the sentence following the structure above. If you feel uncomfortable, that is actually good. It means your demon recognises you are stepping out of your comfort zone and it is sending you a signal to pull back. But to do so would be to stay with your fixed mindset so you need to take a deep breath and say yes to something new. Baby steps lead to bigger steps that move mountains!
Reward yourself
Every time you recognise that you have done something you would not normally do or have changed your language to take away the negativity, reward yourself. It can just be a theoretical pat on the back, or a congratulatory drink. Whatever you want. Recognizing that you have done something positive and are proud of yourself is extremely important in your journey.
Make sure your environment is positive
While our journey towards a growth mindset is a personal one, it helps to have positive influences around us. That negative person I mentioned earlier? This person can drain me and often leaves me feeling rather flat, whereas the most positive person I know always buoys me up just by being with them. Our family and friends can have a massive impact on our self-belief so it is important to take a look at these people and think about how they react to you. Are they encouraging? Do they believe in you? What is their language like? If they are critical or nervous about you trying new things, maybe it is time to examine that relationship or recognise they may have their own issues and try to not take on board their own doubts.
Money mindset
So now you are on your journey towards a positive mindset. In order to use this with regards to finances, the same principles apply. Believing in ourselves, being scared but doing it anyway are all very important when it comes to our finances. Examine your parents attitude towards money and spending and this will help you understand the foundations on which your opinions were founded. Once you understand your beliefs, you will be well on your way to a positive money mindset. Then, read some mindset books! There are lots of great ones and I’ve detailed some here for you to come back to. They will help you on your journey and incentivize you.
Whilst nose deep in a book, look at your finances. Create a spreadsheet for your finances and examine what you do and don’t spend your money on. Knowing your parents spending habits would help to make sense of this. Then, at the end you can set yourself some goals that will push your money mindset.
“Everything begins from the mind, including change. So, if you want to alter your life, you have to start with your mindset”. (Alexi Weaver)
