The word “mindset” is said so frequently, especially in the health and fitness space, that it has a good chance to become a cliche. There are many books written about it, but I still don’t think we have a collective understanding of what precisely that word means.
Mindset is not mood or an attitude. Your mood and attitude are symptomatic of your mindset, but they are not the same thing. So what is it? When someone says, “you need to have a good mindset about it,” what are they saying?
Mindset: Whatever your mind is set on, your primary area of focus, the direction that you want to go in.
Your mindset determines the way in which you understand what is happening around you. In other words, two people with different mindsets (or different areas of focus) can experience the same thing and have two completely different interpretations of it.
Scenario: You have been sick for a week, step on the scale and realize you have lost 10 pounds.
One person sees this and says, “gGeez, only 10 pounds. I have been sick all week and haven’t eaten anything. If I ever try to lose weight for real it will be impossible.”
Another person sees this and says, “Wow I haven’t even been trying to lose weight and have lost 10 pounds. Imagine how much I could lose if I really put in the effort.”
Same event, drastically different interpretation. How does this happen? It happens for more reasons than I have the ability to communicate, but that’s not really the question worth asking. The question is, “which mindset is going to help you fundamentally change your life?”
Undeniably, the answer is the latter response. That response is empowering, it’s choosing to encourage yourself instead of holding yourself in contempt.
Combat your own thinking
Mindset is what you choose to focus on, and your focus has a downstream impact on everything you think. Not just the words, but the mood of your thoughts, the general frame in which all of your thoughts are contextualized.
So, how do we change that from one of disempowerment to empowerment?
You have to catch yourself in a downward spiral of denigrating thought patterns, pause, and choose to begin walking in a different direction. This is difficult, but not impossible. It begins with choosing something worthy to pursue, as opposed to something you want to avoid.
In the example, you can hear it in the two individuals’ responses. The first response is running away from failure, it’s looking ahead and already being defeated. The second response is suggesting that this is evidence I could really pursue this and do it well. This is a learned behavior, to contextualize your world around you into a narrative that is empowering for you.
From my own experience, the people who change their lives do this. They shift their mindset into a pursuit of something they care about. By their pursuit, the things that happen to them are reinterpreted to fit within that narrative.
Necessary steps:
1. Notice the mood/attitude of your thoughts.
2. Start chasing an outcome instead of avoiding one.
3. Forgive yourself when you fall short; it’s a part of life
4. Tell yourself a story you are be proud of
Lee Ramsey has a passion for fitness as a way to help people grow and change into more adaptable, capable and resilient versions of themselves. He is owner of Sanctify Fitness in Covington and a regular fitness columnist for the NKyTribune.