It seems silly to ask whether you’ve ever experienced a challenge in your life. The answer is always a resounding “Yes!” The truth is that at some point in life, we all go through struggle. But we get to choose how we respond to it. We have the power to build an empowered mindset. Any successful person alive today is a testament to this powerful capacity of the human potential. Here are four tips for shifting your mindset from being overwhelmed by challenges to overcoming them:
1. Build a team
Success is a a lot more accessible when you have a community. No one does it alone, so don’t try and be the first person in the world to do so. Find friends or family to work with in order to drive your life forward. Get in a mastermind group or get an accountability buddy that you check in with regularly to keep your progress accountable.
2. Focus on the positive
We are all conditioned with what psychologists call “The Negativity Bias.” Unfortunately our brain has a natural inclination to focus on threats and dangers, even the ones that we create. To overcome this learned belief system, throughout your day focus on what is positive about the world around you. Find reasons to be grateful, even if it seems small at first.
3. Label your emotion
Did you know that labeling our emotions reduces activity in the emotional brain and increases activity in the areas of the brain associated with focus and awareness? The next time you are stuck in an emotional pattern that isn’t serving you, label the emotion to separate yourself from the experience. This will allow you to then consciously choose a new one (reference point 2: choose GRATITUDE).
4. Choose new stories
We all tell ourselves stories about who we are, how the world works, and about what people are like. More often than not, as a result of the negativity bias at play, those stories are dis-empowering. Even when the economy is bad, many people are still making money. So you can choose to believe the story that the economy is bad, or you can write a new story that the world is rich with opportunity. If we are going to tell stories, we might as well tell ones that empower us.
It all begins with you. Begin recreating your core beliefs so that they celebrate, rather than berate, your authenticity. Life is supposed to feel good! Only you get to choose if that’s true for you or not.