4 Tactics to Develop a Winning Mindset For The New Year

4 Tactics To Develop A Winning Mindset For The New Year

In the new year that is upon us, having a winning mindset will set you on the road to success, no matter what area in your life and  goals you have set to make improvements.

Developing a winning mindset is actually easier than you may think; it will take some effort and you need to be consistent with the tactics revealed in this article. But, after a short period of time, you will start to see good results and the motivation to continue.

  1. Change your Self-Talk

Your “self-talk” is about the things you say to yourself, out loud or in your head. You can use it to motivate yourself or to control your emotions. We need to be careful of how we talk to ourselves as our words are magnified ten-fold and do more damage than what others may say.

When using self-talk, to motivate or self-congratulate, we tend to say words, such as:

“I will be successful because I have the talent and I am the very best”.

“I succeeded because of my intelligence / talent.”.

Science shows that this type of affirmation strengthens your fixed mindset, and will reduce your performance when you have a more difficult problem to solve. 

Instead, it is better to say this to yourself:

“I will be successful due to hard work and persistence”. 

“I succeeded because I worked hard and was persistent”.

This kind of self-talk will strengthen your winning mindset, and you will put in a better performance when you are confronted by more difficult challenges.

  • Refuse Labels and Educate those around you

We have just seen that it is better not to congratulate yourself by praising your intelligence / talent. Likewise: Refuse all labels, whether positive (you are really great) or negative (you are off the wall). Labels can lead to setting a bar that can lead to a compulsion to meet, essentially setting you up for failure, i.e. procrastination, perfectionism, etc.

Here are some concrete examples.

If you are told:

You are really great / You are number 1!

Answer:

Nuance: I succeed because I work hard.

If you are told:

You cannot draw. You are not an artist but a scientist! 

Answer:

No. I may not be as good as some with drawing, but practice will improve me.

After you politely decline a label from someone, you can explain the winning mindset to them. The more aware those around you are, the more it will be conducive to your development.

  • Study the Brain and Intelligence

When school children understand how their brains work, their academic performance increases. So you can spend a small amount of time each day reading about neurons and neurotransmitters. This is a fascinating subject and you will grow from learning this as well.

This is one of the biggest areas to learn about as it will help you understand yourself and why you do what you do which, then, you can capitalize on this knowledge.

If you don’t have time to read, remember these 3 essential points:

1. With good habits you improve your intelligence; habits take to develop but are achievable with consistency which gives mastery

2. Throughout your life your brain will change and develop

3. You form new neural paths and connections (neurogenesis) or strengthen the ones you have now (neuroplasticity) when you learn new things or work on difficult problems

  • Make the most of your Failures

If you have a fixed mindset then you are more likely to hide the problems you are having and run away from any problems. You are also more likely to blame other people for your failings. People with a winning mindset will face their weaknesses and proactively work on them.

Use these 5 steps to take full advantage of your failures:

* Treat failures as feedback and don’t be ashamed of them

* Take responsibility for any missteps you’ve taken so you get in ‘action-mode’ versus deflection

* Be calm when you analyze any failures

* If you failed because you didn’t possess a skill then learn that skill

* If you used the wrong approach then change it and move forward

* Be aware that you don’t know all of the answers and it is OK to ask for help

These 4 tactics are all easy to implement and will assist you in developing your winning mindset. Remember – mindset is everything, which starts with you and which you have total control over. Start using them today and be consistent.

If you’d like to learn more tips, check out the blog on our website and sign up for our free tips booklet on leadership.

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