We all want to achieve our goals and live a successful life. Nobody wants to go through a difficult life and live in mediocrity. And one way to achieve this is by changing the way we think.
You become what you think about most of the time. It is your thinking that shapes your life.
Think about it, your mindset or the way you think influences what you believe is possible, which will directly affect the decisions and actions you take in your life and business.
As a result, your way of thinking will either help you achieve your goals and live your dreams or hurt you and sabotage your goals and dreams.
Your thinking and your mindset are some of the most valuable and powerful assets you owned.
The good news is that you can change your life, achieve your goals, live your dreams, and be successful if you want to.
You just need to alter your thinking and change your mindset.
When that happens, the results you get – your reality – will follow suit and change too.
Therefore, it all started with your thinking.
So, what kind of thinking should you adopt and develop? What are some good mindsets you should practice and adhere to?
Well, here are 7 different ways of how successful people think and how you can adopt these thinking and change your life…
1. They look at problems and obstacles as challenges and opportunities for growth
First, in your journey to success, there will be problems and obstacles. They are inevitable. It is not a matter of whether you will make mistakes and fail, it is a matter of how you deal with them when they occur.
The problem with most people is that they allow mistakes and failures to stop them.
They hate making mistakes and they shun away from failures. When they know that there are chances they may lose money on their investment, they stop and quit.
Mediocre people choose to live within their comfort zone, and they don’t dare to do something that is uncomfortable.
They know if they want to achieve financial freedom, they need to start a side business or actively find ways to increase their income streams. But they just don’t do that.
They are too afraid to fail. They focus on the fears rather than the rewards.
This is why mediocre people live in mediocrity. They choose to stay within their comfort zone and continue to do things the way they knew, but it is not working.
On the contrary, successful people look at problems and obstacles as challenges for growth.
They constantly do difficult things and try to do something mediocre people don’t want to do.
They don’t focus on the fears, instead, they focus on the rewards.
They don’t ask, “What if I do it and fail”, instead, they ask, “What if I do it and succeed”.
What about you?
Do you look at problems and failures as something to stop you? Or do you look at them as something to help you grow and become someone better?
Read: 3 Fundamental Principles How to Turn Failure Into Success
I remember the first blog I created back in 2007, it was difficult and challenging because I don’t technical knowledge.
Back then, registering your own domain and self-hosted the blog on WordPress was something technical, especially for non-techie like me.
But I pressed on, read and learned as much as I could, and eventually, I managed to do it.
The same goes for you. What kind of difficulties and problems are you facing in life right now?
Are you going to give up? Or are you going to improve yourself, upgrade your skills, and overcome the difficulties?
The choice is yours.
2. They believe progress equals success
The second thinking that every successful person has is they believe progress equals success.
If you read stories from successful people, you will notice that they have gone through a lot, but they don’t stop. They keep making progress and moving forward all the time.
Instead of waiting for opportunities to fall from the sky, successful people go out and create their own opportunities.
Mediocre people, on the other hand, wait for things to come to them.
They are responding to things rather than creating things.
A common example is those who dream about what they want but they don’t take any action to make their dream a reality.
They just wait for things to come to them and wish that things will be easier.
Daydreaming is just the first step to making your dream life a reality, but if you don’t anything or taking any form of action, you will forever be stuck at the first step.
Hence, don’t wait for things to happen. Go and make things happen.
Read: How to Turn Your Goals into Actionable Plans
It doesn’t matter if your strategy is right or what you do is working, you will never know until you do.
Plus, the only way to create progress is to work for it.
Don’t just think about starting a blog or a YouTube channel. If you want to do it, then just do it. Don’t wait.
And stop giving yourself excuses.
Yes, you may not know how to start a blog, but you can always read and learn as I did.
What if you want to be a YouTuber but you don’t know where to start? Well, just record yourself talking and keep publishing.
The key is to keep making progress so that you can learn from feedback.
If you just daydream, sit back and don’t do anything, you will never make progress and you will never know if things are working or not.
Thus, don’t wait for things to happen. Choose to be proactive and constantly make progress. That’s how you learn.
3. They focus on their vision and never get distracted
Another way how successful people think is that they think about what they want most of the time rather than thinking about other things.
First, they know what they want. Second, they are obsessed with their dreams and goals. And they can’t help but to consistently think about their visions all the time.
Try to ask a mediocre person what he wants out of his life, and he will never give you a clear and specific answer.
In other words, mediocre people are living in mediocrity because they lack goals and visions.
They don’t know what they want out of their lives.
Even if they do have goals and dreams, they are usually vague and very general. They will tell you things like they wan to get rich, to be happier, to be more successful, to have a happy family, etc.
These are not goals but general wishes that most people want.
If you want to achieve outstanding success in life, you must be specific with what you want and then make plans for it.
You can’t leave things up to chances.
“If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.”
– Jim Rohn
So, find out what you want to achieve in life and focus on them. And never get distracted.
Read: 10 Amazing Ways How to Improve Your Focus
If you have a goal or a dream, make sure you protect it and never let someone else steals or destroys it.
There will be a lot of naysayers telling you what you want is impossible to achieve.
Not only that, there are a lot of noises and distractions out there that will take away your attention and cause your momentum to wane.
This is why you must focus on what you want and don’t get distracted.
I have been blogging for years. And I must admit, in between those years, there were many times where I got distracted and abandoned my goals and plans.
When things were tough and when I didn’t get the result I wanted, I almost quit. But luckily, I didn’t and continue to work on my blog until today.
And now, I’m more focused than ever. I know exactly what kind of blog I want to build and what outcomes I’m looking for.
When you are clear with your targets, other things become distractions. And you know it because you are so focused and will never let those noises to take away your attention.
4. They are disciplined and are consistent with what they do
Next, do you know that successful people are disciplined people? Regardless of whether you want to call it habits or disciplines, successful people are consistent with what they do.
They don’t take action for just one day and then stop. They do it consistently, day-in and day-out, until they get the results they want.
You have to understand that success doesn’t come to you overnight.
It is impossible to lose weight by exercising for just once. It takes days, weeks, months, and even years to achieve the extraordinary you desire.
Mediocre people will never understand this. They started a blog and then published a few articles. And then they wait for people and money to come.
No, this is not how things work. You have to be consistent.
You need to work on your goals and stick to your plan until you get the results.
You can’t just exercise once and hope that the additional fat will go away. You can’t start a blog and publish a few articles and hope your blog will become a hit.
Success isn’t something that will come easily. And it is not going to happen instantly.
“If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. It’s the hard that makes it great.”
– Tom Hanks
It takes years of consistent hard work to produce amazing results in life.
A lot of people overestimate what they can achieve within a year, but they greatly underestimate what they can accomplish in ten years.
People want success fast. They want instant results. And after a few weeks or months of trying, and if they don’t see any significant result, they will give up and quit.
Never let this happens to you.
Read: 10 Amazing Methods How to Be Consistent in Achieving Your Goals
You must develop the discipline and be consistent with what you do. And don’t expect things to come overnight.
5. They treat failure as something temporary and they don’t dwell on the past
Mediocre people live in their past. Just because they failed once, they believe that they are going to fail again in the future.
I have seen many people started a business like a cafe, but after some time when they don’t achieve the success they want, they just choose to close shop.
And they don’t dare to do it again, they try different things or venture into other industries.
They buy into the thinking that the café business just doesn’t work. They give excuses by saying that the market is too competitive or they that’s not the trend anymore.
Have you come across people in a similar situation?
Some people invested in the stock market and got burned. Eventually, they don’t dare to touch the market and instead, choose to put their money somewhere else.
The same goes for many bloggers out there. They started strong with a big dream and grand plan for their blogs.
But after they failed with their plans, they don’t dare to talk about it or restart anymore.
Do not let this cloud your thinking.
As I said earlier, failures are inevitable. And you must think of failure as something temporary. Once you overcome the problems, mistakes, and failures, you will become wiser.
And don’t live in your past. What has happened has become history and you can’t change that.
Thus, focus on the future you want to create.
Read: 10 Great Ways How to Stop Your Fear of Failure
Never let your past mistakes or failures prevent you from moving forward.
Successful people understand that failures are just temporary, and they choose to confront their problems rather than running away.
They know that if they can solve the problems, they will become a better person.
Like playing games. The more difficult the enemies and stages, the more experience your character will gain. And the higher level your character, the more you can achieve.
6. They believe everything is possible if they are resourceful enough
If you think that success requires money, time, skills, etc., you’re right, but only to a certain extent.
Successful people believe that it is not so much about having the resources, rather, it is about being resourceful.
“It’s not the lack of resources that cause failure, it’s the lack of resourcefulness that causes failure.”
– Tony Robbins
Having the capital is good to build up a business or bring it to the next level, but it is not the main factor that determines if your business will thrive or go bust.
Mediocre people think that they need to have the capital to start a business or time to build a blog, but to successful people, they believe it is all about being creative in coming up with solutions.
If you think that you need time and writing skills to build a successful blog, think again. Some blog owners don’t do the writing work themselves. They hire people or they request guest bloggers to do the writing for them.
Do you think magazine founders do the writing themselves? No, they hire writers and editors to do for them.
When Sir Richard Branson was stuck in the airport due to flight cancellation, with his billionaire mind, he thought creatively and came up with a way to solve it.
He chartered an airplane, divided the cost, borrowed a whiteboard and wrote, “$39 one way to BVI.”
Within a short moment, Branson sold off his tickets. And that was how he got the idea to start an airline. You can read the story here.
As you can see, it is not about having resources like time or money, but it is about being resourcefulness and use what you have at hand.
Successful people understand this, and they think creatively to solve their problems.
On the contrary, mediocre people only make excuses and focus on what they lack.
They blame the lack of resources for preventing them from achieving the success they want.
Now that you know it is not about your resources, it is about how you think and how resourceful you are.
So, look at every problem and difficulty as challenges. Solve them and grow yourself to the next level.
7. They do it because they want to, not because they have to
Another powerful thinking I want to share with you that successful people possess is that they don’t do it because they have to, instead, successful people do it because they want to.
This thinking makes a huge difference in your approach to doing things.
When you are forced to do something, you will do it with stress and anger.
I like to suggest you read this book from Mark Manson called, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck.
In the book, Manson shared a very good example of being forced to do something versus doing things willingly.
He gave an example of running a marathon. Imagine if you have to run a marathon and finish the race because someone points a gun on your head and forces you to do so.
If you don’t, he will shoot you in the head.
Guess what, if someone forced you to do something, you will feel stressed and you will never do it with your whole heart.
Even after you have completed the marathon, you will never feel satisfied because you were forced to do it.
On the other hand, if you choose to run the marathon based on your own decision, things will be very much different.
Think about setting it as a goal and then announce to your family and friends that you’re going to finish the marathon. Your spouse encourages you to train. Your friends wait for you at the finish line.
You’re proud because people you loved are there to support you. Plus, every day, you train because you want to, not because you have to.
And after you finished the marathon, you’ll feel extremely satisfied and fulfilled.
That’s the difference between choosing to do something and was forced to do something.
Successful people choose to pursue their goals and dreams, willingly. They are the ones who make the decisions and actions.
They are willing to try new things, to listen to suggestions for improvement, to do their best, and because they choose to do it, they are passionate about it.
Now, what if you are pursuing success because you forced yourself to do it?
You want to achieve financial success because your friends are doing much better than you and you want to prove your worth?
What if you start a business because people told you to rather than choosing to do it by your own willingness?
Imagine what will happen.
You will feel stressed, pressured, and you will never do things willingly.
Like the marathon example, even if you completed the run, you will never truly feel fulfilled.
Instead, you will feel free because you finally finished the run and never need to go through the process again.
My friend, this is the kind of mentality most people have. They do it because they were influenced by others.
They don’t do it because they want to do it, they do it because they think they have to do it.
When this happens, you will never truly feel happy and you will never appreciate your journey.
So, don’t pursue success as you’re being forced. Instead, choose to willingly chase what you want in life not because you have to, but make it so because you want to.
When it is something that you want to do, you will feel more motivated, more driven, and you will put in more effort than most people.
And this is the kind of thinking that will make you successful.
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