The concept of mindset has been around since the 1930’s yet we seem to be enamoured of its’ very existence and utter the word with reverence. It’s the buzz word that has leaders and managers scrambling for more knowledge and expert opinion and advice about how they, or their organisations can improve the staff mindset, or in fact, the group mindset of their organisations and invoke cultural change.

I agree. Group mindset influences organisational culture and getting wholesale change can seem to be daunting.

Why people should care about this topic is because its’ very existence is what increases the likelihood of individual or organisational success. Proponents espouse having a “growth” mindset as opposed to a “fixed” mindset. A growth mindset implies that you are in charge of your destiny and have the ability to overcome your past experiences, your beliefs and your attitudes, and if you implement hard work and focus you will be able to overcome almost anything. Whereas, have a fixed mindset implies that you are not in charge of your destiny and are hampered throughout life with your lot, your preconceived ideas, attitudes and beliefs and pretty much cannot change them.

Now. If you have experienced continual failure and have “settled” for the life that you are living now because you have witnessed first-hand, that every time you try to change something, it goes wrong, or you end up back in the same old situation. You have been conditioned to end up back there because you have a negative default position. You accept this as given and you live your life accordingly.

If on the other hand, you have either experienced failure, but have been able to persist and alter little things to bring about a more desired outcome, then your propensity to be a success is greater than those people in the above category, who have tried and failed, and have accepted that failure is the norm for them, so they give up trying.

The question to ask is this: of the population of people, how many are truly successful and have the ability to persist, be consistent and know that failure is just an indication to adjust something on your path to success?

Answer. Not many! It has been recorded that of those people who attend motivational, inspirational or success course or seminars, only 3% actually succeed. They succeed because they were always going to succeed. This means that the other 97% will continue to remain failures because they either do not understand how to achieve success, do not understand the science of setting and achieving goals or, they do not have the requisite mindset that guarantees success.

It has also been written and recoded that only 8% of people who actually write and set goals actually achieve them. What does that tell you? A little more. This means that actually setting and writing out goals leads to a greater chance of success than merely attending success courses.

So, what can the 97% of people do, because all of these continual failures seem to point to an ineffective mindset. DO they set about gaining more knowledge, do they copy successful people, do they try to change their mindset using conventional methods?

A lot of continual failure results from what “should” be done rather than what is specifically relevant to the individual person, especially if they are surrounded by successful people. Most people do not know how to change. They are far too tired to implement change or any new routines into their daily life simply because they are exhausted and time poor already and have lost control over their work/life balance. They know they need to change to secure a more optimal future however, they do not know how to do this because they simply have no willpower to exert the energy necessary to make the changes.

So, what to do?

We are not going down the traditional route here. It has not worked for you before and why should it now! Let me tell you some interesting and exciting (I think anyway) new information:

• Changing from a fixed mindset to a more growth mindset is easier than you think
• You do not have to exert lots of willpower
• You do not have to exert anymore energy than you already are – in fact this will give you more energy instantly!
• You do not need to change your mind or your beliefs or attitudes or work on your self-esteem or change your personality traits

Are you ready for the big reveal?

Changing your mindset involves mending your physiology. You see, if your mind is anxious, stressed or you are depressed, your mind will be in a chaotic state. If your mind is in a chaotic state this means your heart will be also. It means that you are constantly involved in repeating negative emotions, repeating bad habits and simply allowing yourself to get stuck in negativity.

It means you are tense, especially around the neck and the shoulders. It means you are constantly expressing that you are a weak or have no self-worth. It means that you are breathing incorrectly.

You see, stress affects the head first through the senses and therefore you will necessarily be more tense around the facial area and shoulders. If you are stressed all of the time and your body/mind is being flooded with cortisol from how you respond to stressor triggers, necessarily your physiology will be in a state of survival most of the time and you will be trying to counter-act this invasion and bring your body/mind back into balance. You will be in fight or flight mode pretty much the whole time which is about survival. This means that it is not possible to be upbeat and positive and therefore be able to change your mindset because you are mostly everything to just get through the day. This constant fight is debilitating and uses lots of energy. This is why you get so tire and you cannot implement the changes you need to make.

So, what can you do to move yourself out of the 97% of the” fixed” mindset category to the “growth” oriented mindset category?

What you need to do is to breathe correctly. Yes. I know this sounds weird! Notice how you are breathing when you are stressed and in a negative mindset? It will be short and sharp and shallow and you will be breathing from your upper-chest are. Continually doing this will remind your body/mid that you are not getting enough oxygen and therefore you will be fighting to survive daily and your energy will necessarily go towards that end.

So, do you wan to make life easier and not instigate traditional methods of trying to change mindset – which are looking at the symptoms of a negative mindset and trying to do a band-aid approach. For example – the advice could be: work out what is affecting your self-esteem and just try and change it! How useful is this?

My goal is to make life easier for you. Correct breathing stops and anxious mind. It slows the heart rate. It helps you focus back on the present which helps you become more aware. When you are more aware you have control back over your work/life balance. When tis happens you then have choice and choice bring you the freedom you desire.

It is easier than you think. Mend your physiology first (your heart and how you respond to stress and breathe correctly) and your mind will automatically follow.