Hey everyone!
I am with my wife and my son in New Brunswick for this phase of our summer vacation. It has been great to reconnect with extended family and to enjoy the warmth and hospitality of the Acadian people, and of course, seafood!
The weather has required us to keep flexibility in our plans; that is just how life along the coast is. You need to adapt your plans to what Mother Nature throws at you.
There is a great lesson there; we can either try to force our will to get things to work out the way we’d planned, or we can learn to set up things in a manner where we can pivot and adapt. Sure, it would be great if things just happened according to plan, but that’s rarely how life works.
It’s usually better to plan on things not working the way you’d expected.
Are we getting the weather we’d hoped for? Not at all.
But we set ourselves up to enjoy our time here, come what may. And having a great time, which is what matters.
Have an amazing week, allowing yourself to just roll with whatever life throws at you.
As always, please reach out to me at tim@timparkins.com if you’ve got something you’d love to see me talk about.
Cheers!
Tim
Reboot: The Power Of The Mind To Transform
You’ve likely encountered the proverb, “You are what you think.” This concept might seem abstract, yet it holds a profound truth. Your mindset—the set of beliefs and attitudes you hold—has a significant impact on your life, especially your career. Your mindset can keep you stuck where you are, through limiting beliefs.
We all have limiting beliefs to some extent. The extent to which you have them is what determines how far you will advance towards achieving your goals and dreams.
There’s some data floating around the internet that the average person has somewhere between 60,000 – 80,000 thoughts per day. Defining and measuring ‘thoughts’ in scientific literature is unclear, making it hard to quantify them. Which means there is a lack of rigorous, peer-reviewed research supporting the figure of 60,000 to 80,000 thoughts per day. But that doesn’t change the fact that our minds are very active. Whatever the number is, we have a lot of thoughts. There is no disputing that.
Anyone who has tried to sit and meditate quickly realizes how many thoughts they have. Getting the human brain to sit “idle”, to let go of thinking, is remarkably difficult. I’ve been meditating for years, and am an ardent believer in its benefits. It has radically changed my life. But I still find it challenging, even though I do it most days.
Most of the thousands of thoughts we have are repetitive. They are patterns that play out over and over. The thoughts that you have, the ways you perceive something, directly impact how you act. And the way you act impacts the results you get.
This means that the way to change the results you are getting in life is to change your thoughts.
If you keep thinking the same way you do today, you will have the same results. There is a direct connection between your mindset and the outcomes you get in your life.
Why Mindset Matters
Your mindset is the filter through which you view the world. It influences how you interpret experiences, tackle challenges, decide how to act, and interact with others. As a result, your mindset molds the results you achieve in your career and your life.
A positive mindset can fuel ambition, resilience, and optimism, leading to high performance and success. Negative thoughts lead to a cycle of disappointment, burnout, underachievement, and missed opportunities.
To be clear, it takes more than just positive thinking; you also need to act. But in order to get yourself to act, to fully embark on the journey, you need to believe reaching the goal is possible for you. You need to be convinced of the long-term benefits to endure the short-term pains that change will entail.
Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Actions
By consciously altering the pattern of your thoughts, you change your behaviours and results. If you’ve been contemplating a major shift, the first place to start is within your mind.
Start by identifying the prevailing narratives in your thoughts. Do you often ruminate on failures, or do you visualize your successes? Do you dwell on limitations, or do you focus on opportunities for growth and learning? By noticing these patterns, you can start to challenge and change negative or limiting thoughts.
What thoughts or beliefs do you currently have that may hold you back from living the life you want?
Remember that they are just thoughts; they are not true or false. You may have thoughts about your circumstances that are factually true, but that doesn’t mean you need to keep them. Let them go.
You can keep whatever thoughts are beneficial and discard those that aren’t. It is up to you!
Embrace a Growth Mindset
Coined by psychologist Carol Dweck, a ‘growth mindset’ is the belief that people can change, that they aren’t “fixed”. It means believing in one’s ability to develop themselves through dedication and hard work. It means understanding that you can – if you choose – be a radically different person in the future. Embrace the idea that you’re a work in progress, and every experience is a chance to learn and grow.
How do you adopt a growth mindset?
- Affirmations and visualization. Practice positive affirmations daily, visualizing your desired outcomes. Affirmations are powerful because they can rewire our brains to believe in our potential and our goals.
- Mindfulness and reflection. Practice mindfulness, staying present in the moment without judgment. Reflect on your thoughts and feelings, attaching no negativity to them. This approach can help you understand your mindset better and catch any negative patterns.
- Seek professional help. You don’t have to do this alone! A coach or therapist can provide invaluable help. They can offer tools and strategies to address harmful thought patterns, and support you as you transition to a more constructive mindset.
- Continuous learning. Foster a love of learning. Continuous learning fosters a growth mindset, encouraging us to see challenges as opportunities to grow rather than as threats.
Making the shift
Remember, changing your mindset won’t happen overnight. It’s a gradual process requiring practice, patience, and persistence. Adopting a growth mindset provides you with a key tool required to better navigate the complexities of work and life. It will facilitate you growing into the person you wish to become. You can use this tool to design your career so that work brings you greater satisfaction and purpose.
You’re not just a product of your environment, but also a product of your thoughts and beliefs. By mastering your mindset, you’re taking back control of your life. And that, undoubtedly, is an achievement worth striving for.
Quotation that I have been pondering
I’m fascinated by the work of psychoanalyst Carl Jung, who’s below quote I’ve had on my mind.
“The world will ask you who you are, and if you don’t know, the world will tell you.”
Don’t let others define who you are and how you live your life. There is no mission more noble than to strive to be the person you desire to.
Journal Prompt
Modern life is busy. Many of us strive to knock everything off of our to-do list, only to find it seems to grow like a bad weed. Not only does this lead to stress and burnout, it makes us ineffective.
Your work is likely challenging and demands a lot from you. You need to solve troublesome problems, likely under pressure. These problems demand thoughtful, nuanced, and innovative responses.
But you can’t have those types of responses unless you make some space for them to emerge. You need space in your:
- calendar
- mind
- physical environment
This idea leads to this journal prompt:
“How can you create more space in your life? “
Creating space for new insights and ideas to emerge is one of the best productivity hacks there is.
