So, we have discussed the fact that your mindset is the most important factor when it comes to achieving success. You also should have identified some of your strengths and a few of your weaknesses. So where do you go from there? The very next step is to start yourself on the path to healthy mindset habits.
Habits are a funny thing. Your habits are things that you do without even thinking about them. Each morning (hopefully), you get up, brush your teeth and take a shower. You do these things without thinking too much about them. You can be worried about something at work, dwelling on a personal issue or even deeply engrossed in a great novel and the subconscious part of your brain will still nudge you every morning until you jump in the shower and brush your teeth or complete whatever other morning routines that you have.
So, should be quite obvious that habits are one of your biggest assets when it comes to being successful. The people who are successful in this world are the people who develop the right habits. They don’t have to think about doing things that make them successful; they just get up every morning and do them, which of course, gives them the results that they want in the long run. In this chapter we are going to discuss how you can create habits that will allow you to change your mindset from a negative, self-destructive one to a healthy mindset that is ready for success.
Start Your Day with Positive Affirmations
Have you heard the term self-talk? Self-talk could be more accurately described as internal memo-ing or the constant communication between your conscious mind and your subconscious mind. For people who are not having success, and in fact, are having problems, negative self-talk is likely the reason why. Their subconscious is telling their conscious mind all these negative things and that just reinforces the idea that they aren’t successful and are never going to be successful.
You’re going to do something different. You’re going to wake up each and every day and give yourself positive affirmations. You’ve probably heard of these before and you may think they’re silly. That’s perfectly okay to think
that they’re silly, but still do them because silly-sounding or not, positive affirmations actually do work. Remember that your subconscious mind is like a sponge. It soaks up information and then informs beliefs which then drive your thoughts and your thoughts control your actions.
If you change a belief with positive affirmations, you will be changing your actions as well. Find a place where you can actually say your positive affirmations to yourself, where no one will overhear you and where it is something specific
and meaningful that will say to your subconscious mind: “Hey! Pay attention!” For example, some people stand in front of a mirror so they can look themselves in the eye and say their affirmations.
Some people want as much privacy as possible so they do it in their car on the way to work. It doesn’t matter how you do it, as long as you pick a place and a time that is meaningful to you and do it every day. Create a routine that will develop
into a solid habit.
Spend Time with Your Feelings
When you do have doubts, try spending some time with yourself and taking a good, hard look at those feelings, to see where they are coming from. As mentioned, your behaviours today are the result of your thoughts which come directly from your beliefs. That means, if you are convinced that you’re going to fail, which you might be if you haven’t been able to attain success so far, then that belief is what is driving all of those other factors that are keeping you from success.
What you can actually do, is when these doubts enter your mind, and you start thinking about all the ways that this could possibly go wrong, take a step back, and evaluate where the thoughts are coming from. Remember, just because your subconscious believes something to be true doesn’t mean it is. So rather than trying to push away these negative thoughts or avoid them, accept them and then work to eradicate them by finding out which belief is driving them.
Spend Each Day Learning Something New
You should never stop learning. No matter how much you know, there is always room for more information. Just as science discovers that the more that we figure out about the world around us in the universe, the more we realize that we don’t know; It works the same way with your learning as well. Spend a little time each and every day learning something new that is going to help you.
You could read a motivational book. There are many different ones out there that are geared towards entrepreneurs and are written to give great advice from experts who actually have made a success out of entrepreneurship. You can find them at your local library or online in digital format.
Books by Anthony Robbins, Stephen R. Covey, Dale Carnegie and Napoleon Hill are all great reads if you’re trying to motivate yourself and become more successful. There are many other places where you can find motivation. Go on YouTube during your free time and look for motivational videos if that’s more your style or you could even correspond via email with someone who is more successful than you, who could be your mentor of sorts.
No matter how you get information, the point is, to keep learning and to devote some time each day to that learning. You don’t even necessarily have to read motivational or self-help books. You could do something that improves yourself like learning a new language or teaching yourself a new skill or studying a subject that you have been interested in, relating to your business.
