Mindsets shape how we make sense of ourselves and the world.

Are you aware of how your mindsets influence your perception of reality?

Do you see your abilities as fixed traits or as qualities that can be developed over time?

When faced with setbacks, do you perceive them as defeats or as detours on the path to success?

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There is an objective reality, including ourselves, that exists independently of our awareness, perceptions, thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. Most of the time we assume we see this reality accurately as it objectively is. However, our perceptions and interpretations are shaped by factors like our limited sensory capabilities, self-stories, cognitive biases and mindsets. Consequently, our subjective interpretations of reality do not always align with objective reality, leading to wide variations in individual perspectives.

A mindset consists of one or more core beliefs about the nature of ourselves or the world around us. These core beliefs can encompass a wide range of subjects, such as our abilities, human nature, intelligence, food, stress, exercise, medicine, failure, illness, money, happiness, liberty, equality, identity and technology.

Mindsets shape how we make sense of ourselves and the world. Often deeply ingrained and operating subconsciously, they profoundly influence our expectations, focus, motivation, interpretations, bodily responses, self-perception, emotions, and behaviours. We can think of mindsets as mental frames, camera lenses, or filters through which we interpret reality. Different frames highlight different aspects of reality, guiding our attention and shaping our experience.   

Our problems and challenges are often not caused by objective events themselves, but by our subjective interpretations of those events. While objective reality is important, it is often only a part of the whole picture. What we perceive as reality is usually a mix of what is happening objectively in the world and our subjective beliefs about it.

We tend to process information in a way that aligns with our existing beliefs, focussing on information that supports them while filtering out or reinterpreting contradictory information. This confirmation bias can reinforce and perpetuate our existing beliefs, creating a self-fulfilling feedback loop that shapes our subsequent interpretations and reinforces our mindsets.

Examples of mindsets and their effects

👉 The growth mindset is the belief that our physical and mental abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work. This perspective encourages embracing challenges, persisting despite setbacks, and viewing failure as an opportunity to learn and grow. In contrast, the fixed mindset is the belief that our physical and mental abilities are fixed traits that cannot be developed. This mindset often leads individuals to avoid challenges, give up quickly when encountering obstacles, and see failure as a reflection of their inherent limitations.  

👉 The placebo effect occurs when our physical or mental health improves merely because we believe we are receiving an effective treatment, even if the treatment is fake, such as a sugar pill or a sham procedure. Conversely, the nocebo effect refers to negative outcomes that arise from the expectation that an intervention will cause harm. These effects illustrate the significant influence our mindset and expectations can have on our physical health.

👉 Stress is a feeling of emotional and physical tension caused by experiencing or anticipating difficult situations. Physiological symptoms of stress include increased heart rate, faster breathing, tightened muscles, and higher blood pressure. Life is inherently full of challenging situations, and our bodies are designed to handle brief doses of stress.

Many people hold a stress-is-harmful mindset, believing that stress can harm their health, performance and productivity. Others adopt a  stress-is-beneficial mindset, believing that stress can improve their health, performance and productivity. These mindsets significantly affect how individuals respond to stress.

For those with a stress-is-harmful mindset, feeling stressed induces anxiety because they expect stress to harm their health and hinder their performance. They mentally resist the stress and view it as a sign of their inadequacy. This worry and mental resistance amplify their stress and anxiety, negatively impacting their wellbeing and performance.

Individuals with a stress-is-beneficial mindset feel empowered when stressed because they expect it to improve their health and performance. They mentally accept stress as a natural part of life and see it as evidence of their dedication to their tasks. This acceptance leads to better performance and fewer negative health symptoms.

While it’s important to reduce unnecessary stressors, our mindset towards stress plays a crucial role in how we handle it. When experiencing stress, we should ask ourselves: What mindset about stress would be helpful in this situation?

👉A study was conducted among a group of women who work as hotels cleaners. These women engage in a considerable amount of moderate physical activity during their workdays, performing tasks such as pushing carts, changing linens, and vacuuming. According to health guidelines, this is more than enough exercise to stay healthy. However, many of these women were unaware that their work was a significant form of exercise and believed that they were not exercising enough or at all.

In a randomised control trial, half of the women were informed that their work provided more than enough exercise to stay healthy. This revelation led to remarkable changes in their health metrics: they experienced weight reduction, lower systolic blood pressure, and reported improvements in their mental health. The study suggests that simply recognising the physical demands of their work had a profound impact on participants' health outcomes, highlighting the influential role of mindset in health behaviours and outcomes.

👉 In the ‘Mind over Milkshakes’ study, participants consumed a 380-calorie milkshake on two separate occasions. On the first occasion, the milkshake was deceptively labelled as a 620-calorie 'indulgent' shake, while on the second occasion, it was labelled as a 'sensible' 140-calorie shake. Participants' physiological satiety, as measured through blood samples, aligned more closely with what they believed they were consuming (indulgent mindset vs. sensible mindset) rather than the actual nutritional content of the milkshake. This compelling finding suggests that mindsets can significantly impact physiological responses to food.

👉The life design mindset encompasses several simpler mindsets: Be curious, Be inclined to take action, Do what is important,  Realise it’s a process, Collaborate, Reframe, Embrace your choices, and Embrace your failures.

Helpful versus unhelpful mindsets

While our circumstances matter, our mindsets have a significant impact on our physical and mental health, relationships, and professional success. They determine where we focus our attention, and what we focus on most has the greatest impact on our lives. 

Helpful mindsets encourage us to focus on finding solutions and seeing opportunities instead of dwelling on problems and limitations. They help us take charge of our lives and motivate us to improve our physical and mental abilities through dedication and hard work. These mindsets make us open-minded, curious, and eager to learn and grow. They can reduce stress, strengthen the immune system, improve resilience, promote empathy, increase willingness to take risks and try new things, and help us progress toward goals. On the other hand, unhelpful mindsets can have the opposite effects.

Therefore, cultivating helpful mindsets can greatly enhance our well-being, enrich our lives, and contribute to greater success. For example, we might want to cultivate helpful mindsets if our current mindsets are holding us back from achieving our goals, eroding our self-confidence or overall well-being, causing conflict with others, straining our relationships, limiting our ability to consider alternative viewpoints, hindering our ability to navigate challenges effectively, or obstructing our personal growth.

How to cultivate a helpful mindset

Cultivating a helpful mindset can be a complex process, but here are some steps you can take.

1️⃣  Become aware of your beliefs

The first step in changing a mindset is to become aware of the core beliefs that support it.

To uncover the beliefs influencing an undesirable situation you find yourself in, ask yourself questions such as:

🤔 How do I interpret this situation?  Understanding your interpretation of a situation can reveal the beliefs influencing those interpretations. For example, you might interpret a stranger's friendly behaviour as suspicious because you believe strangers have ulterior motives for their kindness.

🤔 What thoughts arise when faced with this situation? By identifying your thoughts about a situation, you can uncover the underlying beliefs that shape these thoughts. For example, you might think, 'I can't trust anyone,' because you believe others are inherently untrustworthy.

🤔 What emotions do I experience in this situation? Emotions often provide clues about the underlying beliefs that drive them. For example, you may feel helpless because you believe you have no control over the situation.

🤔 What behaviour do I exhibit in this situation? Behaviour often provides clues about the underlying beliefs that influence it. For instance, you might avoid conflict because you believe that conflict is always harmful.

🤔 What do I believe about myself in relation to this situation? Beliefs about yourself play an important role in shaping your responses to situations. For example, you may interpret critical feedback as confirmation that you are not good enough because you believe you are incompetent.

Reflecting on these questions helps you identify the beliefs contributing to the undesirable situation you’re in.

2️⃣ Identify the unhelpful belief to be changed

Once you're aware of the beliefs that make up your mindset, consider how each belief affects your thoughts, emotions, behaviour, and interpretation of the situation. For example, does the belief:

👉 Activate harsh self-critical thoughts?

👉 Cause unnecessary stress or anxiety?

👉 Prevent you from taking action?

👉 Negatively impact your relationships with others?

Determine which belief has the most significant limiting or harmful impact on the situation. This may be the belief that is most deeply ingrained, has the strongest emotional charge, or is least aligned with your needs and goals, life purpose or personal values.

3️⃣ Determine the desired helpful belief

Once you've identified the belief you want to change, determine which helpful belief you want to replace it with.

It's not about which mindset best reflects reality, but about which mindset will help you most in the long run. It is not about right or wrong, or true or false, but about being helpful or unhelpful, depending on the circumstances. Mindset is a choice. So ask yourself questions such as:

🤔 What belief would be helpful in this situation? What belief would empower me?

🤔 What belief would serve my needs and goals, life purpose or personal values?

 

For example, you may want to replace the limiting belief that you’re not competent (fixed mindset) with the belief that you are not competent yet but are capable of growth and development (growth mindset). Or replace the belief that people never change with the belief that people are capable of transformation.  Or replace the belief that there is no point in trying to in make a difference in the world with the belief that every small action has the potential to create positive change.

4️⃣  Adopt the desired belief

Every belief (mindset) exists on a continuum that ranges from not having the belief at all to fully embracing it.   

 

The first step in adopting a belief is gaining intellectual insight: understanding what the belief means and the benefits it can bring, but not yet feeling and acting in accordance with it.

The second step is gaining emotional insight: understanding the belief intellectually and also feeling and behaving in accordance with it, preferably automatically. Developing emotional insight is a gradual process that takes time, energy, and attention. Be patient with yourself and stay committed to the process.

👉 To transition from intellectual to emotional insight, consciously and consistently act in ways that align with your desired belief. This may require stepping out of your comfort zone, which can trigger unhelpful thoughts and feelings. Work to mitigate the negative impact of these thoughts and feelings.

👉 Whenever you act in line with the belief, celebrate immediately by silently affirming it to yourself and making a gesture that motivates you to continue embodying the belief.

👉 Utilise active imagination to reinforce the belief: visualise scenarios in which you demonstrate behaviours consistent with the desired belief.

👉 Surround yourself with individuals who hold the belief (mindset) you want to develop, as their attitudes and behaviours will influence yours positively.

👉 Seek support from individuals who encourage your desire to change your belief, and distance yourself from toxic or negative influences.

👉 Regularly assess your progress in shifting your belief and corresponding behaviour. Be open to revisiting and adjusting your approach as needed.

With each action and instance of active imagination aligned with the desired belief, you reinforce it. Over time, the new belief will become an unconscious, automatic part of your identity, serving your needs and goals, life purpose and personal values.

 

References

Reframing Your Reality: Part 1, Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam, featuring Alia Crum

Reframing Your Reality: Part 2, Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam, featuring Alia Crum

Mind Over Milkshake: How Your Thoughts Fool Your Stomach, NPR Morning Edition, by Alix Spiegel

The Power of Mindset Science for Pain Relief and Health, Psychology Today, by Beth Darnall PhD

How to Upgrade Your Mindset to Succeed in Life, Psychology Today, by Gustavo Razzetti

Activate Your Chosen Mindset by Staying “in the Circle”, Psychology Today, by Eric Potterat, Ph.D., and Alan Eagle

4 Mindsets That Can Help You Succeed, Psychology Today, by Tchiki Davis, Ph.D.

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