One thing about the pursuit of financial independence that many do not come to realize is that only about 10% of the journey is the knowledge itself. The other 90% is based on mindset. One may read every book on the subject with full comprehension but if they do not adapt their mindset, they will stall sooner or later. Below are three mindset shifts to make in order to help you on your journey not only to FI but to achieve any and every goal you set for yourself.
I. Embrace the Law of Attraction
The Law of Attraction is the general principle that you attract into your life whatever you focus on. A relatable example of this is when you buy a new car and then start seeing the exact same model everywhere afterward. In reality, the frequency of you seeing that model has not increased, but your awareness of that model has. This is more of a biological phenomenon than anything as it is your brain that alters the way it perceives the world – rather than the world itself being altered. Therefore, it is a principle that is applicable in all aspects of our lives. One way to start taking advantage of this is to apply it to your goals. When you take the time to get your goals clearly defined, even written down, you set an aim and allow your brain to start assisting you on your journey to achieving it. Obviously, it will still be you doing the hard work but the Law of Attraction allows your surroundings to start being perceived in the context of your aim. You will begin to meet people, discover opportunities, and unlock doors that will help guide you to accomplishing the goal in front of you. Check out my earlier post, Dream Bigger: The Necessity of Aim where I go more into detail about this concept.
II. Stop Comparing Yourself to Others
Let this year be the year you stop comparing your progress and accomplishments to those of others. Instead, start comparing yourself only to your past self. This is because monumental growth does not come overnight, but rather from small, daily improvements that compound over time. If I were to ask you to choose between one million dollars and a penny that doubles every day for 30 days (day 1: $.01, day 2: $.02, day 3: $.04, etc.) which would you choose? If you sat down and did the math, no matter how compelling the one million dollars is, the penny is the obvious choice. This is because, by day thirty, you would have over $5.3 million. Go ahead and check the math but this is an example of simple compound growth. You can use this principle to think about making small but consistent daily improvements and the outcome that can be expected. If you can get even just a little better every day, your potential is limitless. If you want to read more in-depth about this topic, check out Jordan Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos where Rule IV states, “Compare yourself to who you were yesterday and not who someone else is today”.
III. Build a Growth Mindset
There are two different ways of thinking about one’s talents and abilities in this world. There is the fixed mindset, which suggests that talents and abilities are simply innate and are not something that can be learned or improved. On the other hand, a growth mindset suggests that both talents and abilities can be learned and developed through practice. To someone with a growth mindset, failure is seen as a chance to learn and grow. Whereas a fixed mindset would suggest that failure is permanent and something to be avoided at all costs. Those with fixed mindsets see no value in trying to improve and therefore choose easier tasks that require little effort while those with a growth mindset gravitate toward more difficult tasks that usually require some form of learning or development to accomplish.
Take a moment and be honest with yourself as you assess your outlook on life. Which type of mindset is it piloted by? If it is clear that you have not developed a growth mindset in every aspect of your life, I challenge you to start doing so. In order to get started in the right direction, start by simply sitting down and taking a moment to reflect. First, make a list of all your accomplishments over the past few years. What are you proud of? Look over the list and realize just how much you have accomplished that maybe you weren’t so should you could at first. Think about what you had to learn, practice, and also what kind of failures you had to make in order to accomplish those things. Next, think about what things you would like to accomplish in the near future. Take the time to actually write out some short to medium-term goals that you have for yourself. Begin thinking about what would need to happen in order for them to be accomplished. What kind of person would you need to become? What kind of habits would you need to adopt? Moving forward, form a plan to start implementing those habits into your everyday life and see what kind of person you can become and goals you can achieve in the coming months and watch as these improvements compound over the next few years.