Our mindset is a collection of beliefs, attitudes, and assumptions—big or small—that shape how we interpret and respond to life. Our most significant mindset—our view of ourselves, others, and the world—is a mental framework that directs our thoughts, actions, and outcomes.
Our mindset often functions subconsciously, comparable to the way a computer’s operating system (OS) operates in the background of your computer to determine how its programs function. Like an OS, our mindset determines how we interpret and respond to everything in our life. Some mindsets guide us to success and happiness, while others….
Limiting Beliefs
Some people unknowingly operate with limiting beliefs that hold them back, such as:
- “I don’t deserve to be happy.”
- “Something bad will happen if I become too happy.”
- “Life is too complex to understand.”
Gloomy right? And yet many people hold such mindsets. The tragedy of such mindsets is that they become self-fulfilling. Fortunately, if you want to change your mindset for a happier, more successful life, it is in your power to do so.
Creating a Happiness Mindset
As I write in my book The Happiness Experiment: “Positive beliefs combine into a happiness mindset that will result in higher levels of happiness.” Some fundamental beliefs worth developing include:
- “Life is to be enjoyed.”
- “I deserve to be happy.”
- “I can learn and grow from challenges.”
- “I have the power to change my circumstances.”
- “People can bring value and enrichment to my life.”
- “My efforts matter and can create positive change.”
Retraining Your Mindset
Changing our mindset isn’t just about positive thinking. It requires conscious action to retrain our mindset. Retraining our subconscious mindset is crucial because our subconscious mind is efficient and will often overwhelm our conscious thoughts.
Consider how a baseball player trains to successfully hit a fastball. He identifies how his body must behave to be successful, and he practices the moves until his swing becomes an automatic subconscious reaction to the fastball coming at him. Such training works because the human subconscious mind responds to conscious goal setting reinforced by repetition. Set the right mindset goals to enjoy happier results and, with repetition, we can increase our happiness.
Here’s a checklist to identify and reshape a mindset:
- Identify limiting beliefs and habits.
- Choose new, empowering beliefs and habits to replace them.
- Commit the new mindset goals to writing.
- Read or recite the desired mindset changes daily.
- Review the new mindset; visualize the successful outcome.
- Practice living as if the new beliefs are already true.
- Celebrate small wins that validate the new mindset.
Mindset transformation takes time and effort. It may be the most important work we ever do.
Carl Barney
March 4, 2025