Mindset is Everything

I’ve been meaning to write this for a while. I wrote a partial version of this post a few years back. Early in my career, I realized that the hardest thing to change is someone’s mindset, including our own. It takes enormous effort!

Some people, though, work relentlessly to build what I’d call a champion’s mindset. Giving everything you’ve got on the field. Leaving nothing behind. Of course, there are exceptions when someone is facing severe physical or mental challenges. But outside of that, a champion’s mindset means seeing every area where you’re falling short and as a skill gap, and then relentlessly working on it if it truly matters to you.

By contrast, a loser’s mindset is knowing what needs to be done, but never even trying. It’s convincing yourself you can’t, either because you believe it deep down or because someone else told you so.

And then there’s the victim’s mindset: blaming others for your shortcomings. It’s not that you never try, but you refuse to take ownership of your effort or output. Most people fall into this bucket. They don’t reflect, they always have an excuse, and they rarely take responsibility for why things don’t go their way and they are the most unfortunate of all.