Everyone talks about Mindset

A more than year ago, I sat in the audience of a women's conference, in a noble 5 star hotel and followed a dialogue of five interesting women on stage. 

"We have to become more courageous and simply have more confidence to be different," said one of the ladies, who holds an executive position in a large corporation.

Yes, many of the ladies agreed nodding.

"But how? How can we become more courageous?" I asked myself. Is there a button I can press to simply become more courageous?

Of course not. There was no real answer to that question either. 

So, the statement remained unanswered.

"We live in a VUCA* world and we have to change our mindset!

*VUCA is the abbreviation for 'volatility', 'uncertainty', 'complexity' and 'ambiguity'.

Wow, I thought.

What a choice of words, and the word "must" gives me goose bumps. I don't like to hear that word - "must".

What is the VUCA world? And what is "Mindset" anyway?

How can I change my mindset? 

This is the most difficult part of the digital transformation today.

Life, in the Digital Times, where artificial intelligence is changing our civilization and especially today in Covid-19 age, has become uncertain, complex, unstable, often complicated, unplanned and quite chaotic. The only constant in our life is change.

And everyone who thinks in terms of "security" or "according to plan" today feels anxious and worried about the changes that are taking place.

Not the smartest people will survive, but the most changeable.

People who have a clear vision, who have understood how important it is to develop a #MindfulMindset and act clearly.

Mindset is an attitude and a way of thinking about the world,

from the inside and outside, around us and the way we act in society.

Our way of thinking is based on memories, experiences, deep convictions and beliefs about ourselves and the world.

Many of us do not listen to each other most of the time, but to the voices of mom, dad, friends, news, influencers or government.

So often we have accepted "other opinions", and by this, I mean the opinion of others that have entered our subconscious, and then hold it for "our own opinion". 

All this influences our thinking today.

We have forgotten how to hear what we really want to tell ourselves and our intuition. 

There are different mindset divisions and there is no "good" or "bad" mindset, because we all carry parts of different mindsets within us. In certain situations, in life, we sometimes react in such a way that we are surprised by ourselves.

If we feel uncomfortable in some situations, or if we want more self-esteem or courage, then maybe it's time to change our mindset.

With the "right" mindset we are able to overcome old obstacles.

In the same way we should realize that a Mindful (winner) Mindset is very desirable for our inner peace and success in life. However, this is very difficult to achieve, because we live in a dynamic world full of challenges and situations we have to cope with.

Therefore, it is very important to become aware of our mindset and to work on our attitudes and beliefs that are important to ourselves and that help us to move forward mentally, emotionally and socially.

What mindset is there anyway?

In the book "Mindset" Dr. Carol Dweck describes how people deal with defeat. What makes some people look for challenges unimpressed, while others give up more quickly. In a simplified model, Dweck classifies people primarily into "fixed" and "growth" mindsets.

Simplified there are the following mindset divisions:

a) Static (fixed) Mindset

• Very critical about yourself and others
• Search for external confirmation
• Try to hide the defeats
• Think that people are only gifted in one area
• Can deal with criticism more difficult
• Challenges are avoided because the fear of defeat
• Negative beliefs are often unconsciously repeated internally
• Blames others for own failure
• Think that the others think so too
• Have the need to show (often through status symbols) or hear that they are smarter, richer and better than the others

b) Dynamic (growth, agile) mindset - (which is focused on the goal or growth)

• Think that everything is learnable when the focus is on energy, time and vision
• Focus on continuous learning and growth throughout life
• To be aware that certain efforts are necessary to achieve something
• To see mistakes as a chance to learn something from them
• Know your own weakness and work on it
• Problems are solvable challenges
• Interested in the honest opinions of others, no matter how unpleasant
• Work on your own communication and strengthen relationships
• Team player and appreciative of others
• Grateful

Regular reflection:

1. what have I/we done well?

2. what have I/we done wrong?

3. what should I/we change?

c) “I” Mindset

• Focused only on yourself and your own needs
• Need to stay in control
• Better to change others than yourself
• Have little self-respect and no respect for others
• Searches "the guilty ones" for own errors
• Own status and roles are subordinate to everything else

d) Social Mindset

• Focused on your own but also on the needs of others (compassion)
• The question is: “What do you need from other people, and what do you need from the other person, so that both sides can achieve their own goals and a win-win situation arises” (mutual good)
• Listen and observe well

Regular reflection:

1. recognize the needs of others 

2. adapt the own actions that are helpful

3. measure efficiency: Was that helpful? What can be improved? What can I leave?

e) Mindful (winner) Mindset

• Focused on yourself but also on the needs of others (win-win)
• Without judgement, compassionate
• Patience
• Curious and open
• Able to learn, focused on growth and thinking that everything is learnable
• Grateful
• Friendly
• Gives confidence and has good self-esteem
• Controls not the situations, but the own reactions
• Choose the words carefully
• Does not take things personally
• Always does the best he can
• Listen carefully to what someone says 
• Good observer of the world inside and outside
• Do not draw hasty conclusions from the words of others
• Has ease of handling without great effort

Not all people today have the "right" mindset to survive, and therefore the best news we have is

that everybody can change his mindset,

and thus make the impossible possible.

Therefore, the most important question everyone should ask himself in today's times is

Which mindset do I choose?

With the "right" mindset, our self-esteem increases combined with inner values and honesty towards ourselves.

If we are aware of our own values then courage is only one consequence.

This means that with the "right" mindset we get mental clarity, become more courageous and trust ourselves to be different.

The prerequisite for this is to become aware of our own thoughts and emotions. To train mentally with the right tool and to stay active.

Because the only person that can change your life, your mentality, your emotions and your attitude, the only person which can bring yourself forward,

… are YOU!

#digitalbrainfulness