Research has it that when faced with an obstacle, humans generally react in two broad ways. The first category are those with a fixed mindset who somehow convince themselves that they will never be good at this; while the second category of people have a growth mindset and see the obstacle as an opportunity to learn and find out what they did wrong so as not to repeat it.
Those with a growth mind-set land on their feet because they acknowledge their mistakes and use them to get better. While those with a fixed mind-set are bound to repeat their mistakes because they try their best to ignore them.
So which one are you? Let’s find out with these 10 pointers.
1. Believing In Someone Or Something That’s Too Good To Be True
While it is true that some people are confident and speak well, so much that it can be tempting to follow anything they say. But don’t! Ask serious questions before getting involved in anything, especially things that sound too good to be true, because most times no one and nothing is as good as they look.
2. Doing the Same Thing Repeatedly And Expecting a Different Result
If you keep applying the same approach, then you will keep getting the same results, no matter how much you hope for the opposite. So, if you want a different result, you need to change your approach, even when it’s painful to do so.
3. Not Knowing How To Delay Gratification
The only place gratification comes before hard work is in the dictionary. Knowing this should motivate you to go through every step of the process that will amount to success because selling yourself short will only amount to pain and disappointment.
4. Living Without a Budget
You can’t experience financial freedom until you operate under the constraint of a budget. Sticking to a budget will force you to make well thought out choices about what you want and need. Once you realise how much you are spending and what you are spending it on, then making the right choices will be easier.
What’s more? Budgets establish discipline, and discipline is the foundation of quality work.
See More: Track Your Spending By Using the ENVELOPE BUDGET SYSTEM
5. Losing Sight Of the Big Picture
It’s important to weigh our present actions against our future goals. Before making a decision, ask yourself: “How will this contribute to the big picture?” Doing this will help you be more deliberate, and more disciplined in your life. For the reason that life is all about the big picture, and when you lose sight of it, everything suffers.
6. Not Doing Your Homework
Everybody’s taken a shortcut at some point, whether it was copying a friend’s maths assignment or something else. But you should realise that while you may occasionally get lucky, this approach will hold you back from achieving your full potential, and that there’s no substitute for hard work and diligence.
If you don’t do your homework (both in school and in you career), you will never learn anything.
7. Trying To Be Who You Are Not
While imitation is the best form of flattery, no one likes a fake person. If you are smart, you would know that any intelligent person will see right through your act, and that lasting happiness and success demand authenticity and being original; the best version of yourself, not what you think others want you to be.
8. Being a People Pleaser
Almost everyone makes this mistake at some point, but smart people realise quickly that it’s simply impossible to please everybody, that trying to please everyone pleases no one. Hence, to be effective, you need to develop the courage to call the shots in your life, and to make the choices that you feel are right, not necessarily what everyone will like (within reason of course).
9. Being Insincere
There’s this popular saying by Abraham Lincoln that: “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.”
The moral of this quote is that it is possible for you to deceive people for a while, but soon enough, people will eventually catch up to your game and see you for what you truly are, and when this happens, you would have permanently damaged whatever trust they had in you.
10. Trying To Force Others To Change
You must realise that the only way people change is through their own desire to change. Still, it’s tempting to try to change someone who doesn’t want to change, thinking that your sheer will and desire for them to improve will change them.
Remember that when you repeat a mistake, it’s not a mistake anymore but a decision.With this in mind, ensure to keep learning from both your successes and mistakes, and you will see yourself changing for the better!
This article was adapted from entrepreneur.com
