“Change your mindset, change your life” is a phrase that’s become almost a cliché at this point. But while the right attitude won’t guarantee great outcomes, we do see that highly successful people consistently adopt specific mindsets that help drive their impressive results professionally and personally.
Key Takeaways
• The connection between our mindset and our results is strong.
• Look for abundance, not scarcity, when assessing opportunities.
• Pursue lifelong learning and teach others what you know.
Since we all have goals we want to achieve, it makes sense to examine the mindsets of the highly successful to see exactly how they think differently from the rest of the world – and how they put that worldview into action that delivers results.
The good news: We can learn and hone these mindsets over time – boosting our chances of doing well, regardless of what we’re looking to achieve for ourselves and the people we care about most in life.
Six Key Mindsets of the Highly Successful
There are numerous success-oriented mindsets out there to discover and consider. That said, in our experience, we tend to see a few of these mindsets rise to the top and be adopted by a majority of highly successful, financially strong individuals and families.
1. Failure is a beginning, not an end.
Most successful people experienced their share of mistakes and missteps on the path to where they are today, but pressed on in the face of those challenges. Successful people therefore don’t let failure drag them down or stop them from attempting big things. They don’t approach new ventures with a fear of failing. Instead, they frame failure as one possible – but not final outcome of their efforts, and as an opportunity to start again.
One perfect example of this is Richard Branson, who started a soda business, a car company and a bridal gown business before making it big with Virgin Group. What’s more, successful people draw lessons from their failures that inform their future efforts. In short, failure is valuable when it leads to improvements.
Note: Many entrepreneurs emphasize the importance of “failing fast” that is, recognizing when it’s time to adjust and retrench using the lessons from your stumbles thus far.
2. You are who you are.
Highly successful people know themselves who they are, their strengths and weaknesses, their personality quirks and accept themselves. Take Elon Musk, for example, who was comfortable sharing his autism diagnosis with millions of viewers of Saturday Night Live when he hosted the show. Rather than essentially battle with themselves to tame the part of themselves that makes them different from others, they embrace it and use it to their advantage.
3. Realistic optimism is a must.
This sounds obvious, of course, but it’s a mindset that can be difficult both to adopt and to maintain. So-called realistic optimists, who are positive but also assess situations with an eye toward accuracy, tend to be more successful, according to one study. Essentially, your beliefs help drive your actions so before you can achieve your goals, you need to believe you can. This belief empowers people to think of obstacles not as problems that pull you under but rather as reasons to think and act in creative, innovative ways. Therefore, developing positivity (through practices like expressing gratitude every day) is a key step.
4. It’s okay to be decisive but wrong.
The willingness to make decisions and stand by them is a hallmark of many successful people. Savvy decision makers gather the information needed often from a team of trusted people around them and pretty quickly thereafter go with the option that seems best given what they know. Waffling or hemming and hawing do not enter the picture. If they end up being wrong, well … see #1 above.
5. You’ve never got it all figured out.
Successful people don’t think they know it all. Instead, they make a concerted effort to remain open to learning and development with a mind that seeks out new information and then watches for biases when evaluating new facts and perspectives. In short, they’re both teachable and eager to be taught.
This is often called a growth mindset. In contrast to a fixed mindset that says a situation is unchangeable, a growth mindset believes change and progress can be created (through consistent hard work, regular exposure to new ideas and efforts to innovate). It probably won’t surprise you that the most successful people we know have a growth mindset and are primed to learn and expand their knowledge on their path toward their goals. Often it’s that growth mindset that enables them to come up with bigger and better goals and achieve even greater success over time.
6. Opportunities are abundant, not scarce.
Moderately successful people tend to try to get the biggest slice of the pie that’s in front of them. In contrast, highly successful people focus more on making the pie itself larger and larger. Put another way, the most successful people view the world through a lens of abundance, not scarcity. By looking to create more and more opportunities, they create wins for themselves and the people around them-even for competitors, in some cases. The zero-sum game mentality, which posits that others have to lose in order for you to win, is one that holds far too many people back.
Mindset Does Matter
Mindset isn’t New Age malarkey. The evidence of the connection that exists between mindset and outcomes is impressive and extends into a wide variety of areas.
Consider key findings such as:
• A shift in mindset can help older adults do better at motor-skill tasks, such as balance.
• Entrepreneurs possessing a growth mindset boosted their success and managerial effectiveness.
• Changes to mindset can alter how people react and respond to stressful situations.
We hope you find great value in this optimistic, forward-looking article to boost your mindset. If we can ever be helpful with your financial planning or wealth management, please contact us here.
