A person’s thoughts are the most important thing a person can have, as they literally define their being. With this in mind, have you ever noticed that people who think in a similar way tend to have very similar circumstances in life? For example, someone who hangs out with rich people and thinks in a similar way to them, ends up becoming rich at some point. Same thing for someone who starts to hang out with someone who complains all the time. You are the sum of the people you spend the most time with. However, this is something you are in control of because when you change the way you think i.e., your mindset, the people who no longer fit with you tend to leave and are replaced by people who reflect your new self. That is how to change your mindset to change your circumstances.
Your mental state is much like your body. If you stop training it, it will start to regress, and just how you have to purposefully go train, you must purposefully fill your mind with positive thoughts. By continuously putting positive and useful thoughts in your head, you will start to think in a more positive and useful way, and that will help you grow and actually act in a way that will better your life. Otherwise, if you do not continuously think in a useful manner, you will start to think negatively. Everyone knows this person. There is no one more miserable to be around than someone who is complaining about their life all the time. When you do not actively try to surround yourself with a positive environment, you will regress until you eventually become that person who only complains and never does anything to fix their situation. Don’t be that person.
How to change your mindset: constant improvement
By actively pursuing a better life through thinking in a more positive manner, you will eventually uncover that you are the master of your life. This process is called personal development, you can literally change your life by continuously attempting to improve on your mindset and skills. There is a reason a lot of successful people talk about personal development. There are quite a few that actually became life coaches as well.
As discussed in a previous post, a person’s thoughts derive their character. This is important because character can only be seen within the person’s environment. Thoughts are internal and character is external. Essentially character is the external display of your thoughts to your environment. This means that the outer conditions of your life are directly related to your mental state. If you start to think in a more positive way, you will begin to be fed up with the circumstances you are currently in and actively try to improve them. Basically, by changing your mindset, you will find it necessary to take action to improve your life, and by doing that you actually will improve your life.
“Every man is where he is by the law of his being; the thoughts which he has built into his character have brought him there, and in the arrangement of his life there is no element of chance, but all is the result of a law which cannot err.”
James Allen from As A Man Thinketh
This being said, that means that where a person is in their life is due to the “law of his being” as James Allen states above. Therefore, no condition of your life is by chance. Each condition is a direct result of your mindset. You see this all the time when someone calls a successful person lucky, as if their situation has anything to do with chance. The mindset is what sets apart success from mediocrity. Successful people literally think about the world differently than average people with a 9 to 5 job.
Mindset Momentum
You will never be able to prevent all unfortunate events from happening in your life, but these events will barely phase you when your mindset is in the right place. When you focus on learning and developing yourself, your mindset on life improves. This causes a sense of urgency to remedy any defects you have in your character so that you actually make progress, therefore creating momentum within yourself to just plow through the mishaps that happen in your life. This isn’t to say that there will not be obstacles, there always will be, but your mindset and momentum will help you get past them.
Have you noticed a reoccurring concept that has been popping its head in the above paragraphs? Notice how when you focus on progress and improving in incremental, measurable amounts every day, that is what happens. However, when you aren’t focused on anything or you are negative about anything, you tend to not get anywhere in life. Essentially, a person attracts what they portray. If you are negative, depressed, and complain all the time, that is exactly the type of people you will attract. On the other hand, when you are positive, focused on growth, and compassionate, you will attract people who are the same way. Humans are very tribal; we like to be around people like us. This happens even in our growth as we develop as a person.
Conclusions
Maintaining a positive mindset is one of the most important things you can do in life. By pursuing constant growth and learning new things, you can always bring something to the table, no matter who else is at that table. Your thoughts dictate your mindset; therefore, you need to be in control in your thoughts and constantly reinforcing positive thoughts that will cause you to grow. One of the reasons this is so important is the circumstances of your life at this current moment are defined by your current mindset (i.e., the sum of your thoughts), and by constantly improving your mindset and continuously growing, you will also be continuously improving your circumstances. Finally, remember that you attract what you portray to other people. So, if you are obsessed with growth and positivity, you will attract other people who want the same thing. Trust me. I have learned this in my personal life. I am one of those people obsessed with growth. Being someone like this can be very lonely as similar people are generally not that common, but when you find someone else that is obsessed with improvement it will accelerate your life so fast you can barely breathe.
To your wealth and future,
James Forsythe
For more on how to change your mindset and its effect on character
https://jamesdforsythe.com/thoughts-and-character-how-to-change-how-you-think/
For more personal development
https://jamesdforsythe.com/category/personaldevelopment/
