INTRODUCTION
Your mindset is your collection of beliefs about yourself and the world.
From those beliefs, your habits evolve. As Gandhi said, “’Your thoughts become your words, your words become your actions, your actions become your habits, your habits become your life”.
Your mindset is your driving force and plays an important role in determining your life’s outcomes. So, it makes sense to learn how to have a better mindset.
A person with a growth mindset likely believes they can improve their health over time by having good daily habits. In turn, these habits help them feel better, gives them more perceived control over things and lower their stress so they become more resilient to life’s challenges.
As quoted in this helpful Healthline article on how to think more positively, a study of 70,000 women, followed over 8 years, found that those who were optimistic had a significantly lower risk of dying from major diseases like cancer, heart disease, stroke, and infections.
MINDSET AND MOTIVATION
Mindset and motivation are linked. Your mindset influences your motivation. With a growth mindset, you believe you can improve yourself, that setbacks are just temporary; mistakes are learning opportunities; feedback is helpful and that the successes of others can inspire you. These beliefs motivate you to improve yourself and your life.
I’m motivated to work on my health because the thought of being ill with a chronic disease when I’m older really scares me. I don’t like taking medications and the side effects that come with them. Concerning thoughts about ill health motivate me to have good healthy habits today, for a healthier future.
My mindset is one that says, “I am in control of my health and I am responsible for it”. This drives me to eat well, exercise daily and prioritise good restorative sleep.
But that doesn’t mean I’m perfect. Sure, I don’t drink or smoke, but I probably eat too much dark chocolate!
UNDERSTANDING WHY BAD HABITS ARE HARD TO BREAK
Here’s an analogy. Imagine a tractor taking the same route through a field every day… day in… day out… for months. Eventually, those huge heavy tyres wear ever deeper grooves or ruts into the soil. So much so, that steering a different path is really difficult. It becomes very hard to get out of the rut. The engine would have to be at high revs, and you’d probably need a bit of speed behind you to manage it. High effort, in other words.
Life can be like this. We allow ourselves to get ever deeper into our metaphorical habitual ruts and there we get stuck. When we’re stuck in an unhelpful habit, it takes a growth mindset, a lot of energy and momentum to get ourselves out. Just as it would take the tractor a lot of engine power to get those tyres up the steep sides of the rut.
That’s why bad habits are hard to break. We must put in a lot of effort upfront to effect a change. But once you know this and understand that you don’t have to keep up that monumental effort forever, it helps. Once we’re out of the rut, it’s much easier, because the new behaviour or way of thinking becomes automatic.
Caroline Myers said, “Transformation is the process of becoming conscious of the many levels on which we make our choices and learning to recognise what it is we create as a result of our choices”.
Here are some tips to help you recognise your mindset, understand your motivations, and make some improvements to your habits.
7 TIPS TO HAVE A BETTER MINDSET
1. Develop self-awareness
Listen to your own internal dialogue or self-talk. Just observe your thoughts. Don’t judge them. How do they make you feel? Are those thoughts helpful? Do certain thoughts trigger certain behaviours? Write it all down and reflect on them. Perhaps write a list of helpful thoughts that trigger good habits and another list of unhelpful thoughts that trigger unwanted behaviours or habits.
2. Choose your thoughts
Now you have gained awareness, you can start to interrupt old patterns of thinking and replace them with new internal dialogue. How can you interrupt those automatic thoughts? What could you say to yourself instead? Remember, speak to yourself kindly, as if you were speaking to a friend. Practice self-compassion.
3. Repeat empowering thoughts
Say them out loud, or in your own mind, like a ritual phrase, Moto or mantra. Keep repeating it. Repeating your positive self-talk will become a new belief. And from that belief, good habits will form.
4. Reframe your struggle
When you hit a challenge, reframe it as an opportunity to learn something. A person with a growth mindset would say to themselves, “challenges are opportunities to change”. Challenges give us the opportunity to try something new, learn and grow. As you do so, your confidence and contentment will grow too.
5. Explore your why
Dig into your emotions. Repeatedly ask yourself, “Why do I want better health”? Keep asking until you eventually get the deepest and most compelling answer. You may need to ask this same question five or more times to get to your most powerful motivator.
6. Find your compelling future
Where would you like it to be? Focus on what you want, not what you don’t want. Create a compelling vision of your future health, to inspire you. See yourself in the future doing all the things you will want to do.
7. Focus on your journey too
Remember it’s not always the destination – enjoy the tiny steps in your journey to get healthier. And celebrate your wins, no matter how small as this will motivate you more.
Bonus
Oh, and one more – gather your resources – will you need help to get there? Support from family and friends? Learning and reading? Professional support?
Ralph Waldo Emerson, said, “What lies behind us and what lies before us, are tiny compared to what lies within us.”
Believe in yourself. You are more powerful than you know.
SUMMARY
- Observe your thoughts and emotions
- Observe your actions and habits
- Practice saying empowering thoughts
- Create a compelling vision of your future health
- Know why you deeply want it
- Find people and resources to help you
P.S. Come and join my happy band of motivated ladies who love to look after their health. Come join my private Facebook group. I’d love to see you there!