7 Healthy Mindset Practices to Adopt

7 Healthy Mindset Practices to Adopt

The average person’s mindset tends to be dictated based on two things: the past, and current circumstances.

But your mindset doesn’t have to be controlled by either of these things.

Rather, the state of your mindset is a choice you make-whether intentional or not.

You can choose to create a mindset that breaks through the limiting beliefs holding you back.

Let’s get into seven healthy mindset practices to adopt.

7 Healthy Mindset Practices to Adopt

Plan Your Life (or Life will Plan You)

Planning out the days and weeks ahead gives your brain a road map of what direction your life is headed and creates focus.

It also allows you to take control of your schedule and audit how your time is spent, versus waking up every morning and just going with the status quo.

I first started using planners in middle school and became obsessed with planning.  To this day, I’m still old school about my planners and use a physical copy. It’s what works best for me.

I read the act of writing out your schedule on paper forces you to slow down and approach your day with more mindfulness, and you’re more likely to meet a deadline.

On the other hand, I’ve heard digital planners are better, because you’re more likely to stay aware of time constraints.

There’s pros and cons to both-just pick what works for you.

I tried tracking my schedule digitally at one point just to see if it worked better for me versus the old school paper planner, but it just didn’t gel with me. So, I’m forever loyal to my paper planner.

Related:

• Make Today Count: The Secret of Your Success is Determined By Your Daily Agenda
• How to Create New Beliefs Using Your Calendar
• Planner (My favorite brand for planners-I buy one every year.)
• How to Create An Awesome Day

Let Your Past Inform Your Future

It’s common for people to get caught up in the past:

• “WHY did I make that mistake-twice!?”
• “I wish I never would have met him-my life would have turned out so much better.”
• “Why did I let that great opportunity pass me by?”
• “I didn’t deserve that happening to me. I’ll never forgive that person for what they did.”

It’s easy to come from a place of victim mentality and dwell on the could-haves and should-haves.  But what happened is done.  No amount of questioning why it happened is going to change that it did (and I don’t mean for that to sound harsh).

Instead, here’s what you CAN do:

Let your past help inform your future.

A great example of this is relationships.

Chances are, you experienced a breakup at one point or another.  Maybe even divorce.

The past has a great way of helping us figure out what we do and do not want in life, including in relationships.

Even though breakups and divorces are painful, they build maturity and teach us a thing or two about what we want in life.

It took a few breakups for me to understand what I absolutely needed from someone, and what was considered a deal-breaker.

Only after I manifested this understanding did I meet my husband when I was 32.

Mistakes are another aspect of our past that we can use to inform our future.

When we’re going through the blowback from a mistake, it’s tough.  I know I made some mistakes when I was younger that were rough in dealing with the consequences.  But once some time had passed, I could see how those mistakes ended up transforming my life.  I’m not proud of those mistakes, but I am grateful for how they changed me.

You wouldn’t be who you are now without your mistakes.

Related:

• How to Make Better Decisions
• 5 Things You Must Let Go of to Achieve Success
• Make Your Dreams Bigger Than Your Memories: Don’t Let Your Past Keep You from Your Future
• How to Change Your Identity

…But Don’t Allow Your Past to Limit What is Possible

When it comes to thinking about the future, your brain only knows what it has already experienced-so it resorts to the past to assume what the future will look like.

Unless you can break away from the self-imposed limits you live in that are based on past experiences, you will continue to create more of the same in the future.

A great example of this kind of limited thinking is money.  If you’ve been in the same career making around the same amount of money for any length of time, you probably think making more money than what you do now is just not possible for you.

And with that kind of thinking, you’re right-it isn’t possible for you.  Before you can have what you desire, you have to align your mindset with your goal or otherwise you’ll just re-create more of the same.

Related:

• 3 Money Mindset Habits that Increase Your Abundance
• How Change Improves Your Life
• Change Your Brain, Change Your Life
• 8 Keys to Self-Improvement

Accept what You Cannot Control

I know, this sounds like the serenity prayer. But it is true.

At a previous job, I remember the wide variety of responses from my co-workers as we were informed everyone would be laid off.

Some were so angry with the company, and stayed angry until their final day, instead of moving forward and looking for a new job.

Those people who chose to be angry did more harm than good to themselves. Most of them didn’t have new jobs by the time their layoff date came because they were too caught up in anger and playing the victim.

This works with people, too. Maybe someone hurt you or did something that made you angry, and every instinct tells you to lash out at them in an attempt to make them pay for what they did.

But the inability to forgive someone is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die-It hurts you more than it hurts them.

Accept what happened for what it is.  Allow the negative feelings and then intentionally decide to forgive the person.

Intentionally decide to “win” in the given situation.  It doesn’t mean you need to continue to engage in a relationship with them if you don’t want to. It just means you let go of what happened so you can move on in your own best interest.

Only you are in control of your feelings and actions regarding any situation.

Circumstances are neutral.

Related:

• How to Solve Any Problem
• 12 Ways to Experience Peace Right Now
• How Personal Responsibility Affects Your Life
• How to Deal with A Challenging Relationship

Celebrate Others’ Success

Resentment and jealousy signify a heart issue.  An insecurity.

If someone succeeds in an area of life you’re struggling in, embrace them.

Celebrate them.

Maybe you could even meet with them to get encouragement or advice.

To be jealous or resentful of others’ successes is to reveal the insecurities in your heart.

That little voice is inside your head telling you you’ll never have that thing you desire so badly, so you use it to pit yourself against the targeted person in question.

But it’s not that person’s fault you don’t have what you want.

When you understand your identity and allow yourself to experience joy in what you have now, that’s when the jealousy, anger and resentment will fade.

And one more thing: Just because someone has what you want, doesn’t mean they’re necessarily happy, either.

Related:

• 3 Keys to Building Self-Confidence
• How to Overcome Envy
• Grow You (My favorite virtual coaching!)
• How to Change Negative Thinking in 3 Steps

Nip Complaining in the Bud

“When you complain, you remain.” ~Terri Savelle Foy

Did you know when you complain, you signal to others you lack control over your life?

Complaining and whining solve zero of your problems.  It keeps you locked into your present circumstances.

Remember: You have authority over your feelings regarding any situation.

If you’re a chronic complainer, practice gratitude for 30 days to help break the cycle of complaining.

Grab a journal and every morning for a month straight, write down five things you’re grateful for that happened in the last 24 hours.

I practice this habit daily-even when I’m in a funk or faced with difficult circumstances. It may not change difficult circumstances, and truthfully, some days it’s hard to come up with those five things.  But it provides clarity and helps you see the beauty in every day.

Related:

• 3 Ways to Practice Gratitude and Feel Better Today
• The 5-Minute Gratitude Journal
• Gratitude: A Day-and-Night Reflection Journal
• How to Develop A Positive Attitude

Trying to Impress Others is Futile

“Too many people spend money they don’t have, on things they don’t want, to impress people they don’t like.” ~Will Smith

Some people will go into credit card debt in order to own the latest “it” thing or copy the Kardashians.

Again, this is a heart issue stemming from insecurity and a lack of understanding one’s true identity.

The truth is, nobody cares what you have, and the people you want to impress likely don’t even think about you.

I don’t say this to be unkind-I’m just stating the truth of the matter.

Your value is not determined by what you own, how you look, or how many likes and followers you get-It is determined by what’s in your heart.

We need to find security in other things outside of the superficial.

Superficiality has a limited shelf-life.  Security in your identity does not.

It’s time to move beyond the need to impress others.

Related:

• 10 Ways to Improve Your Self-Image
• Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself: How to Lose Your Mind and Create A New One
• Needing from Lack vs. Wanting from Abundance
• 5 Ways to Bring Joy Back Into Your Life

Before You Go

Make these healthy mindset practices a part of your everyday life.

You aren’t stuck with the mindset you were born with, or the mindset shaped by your past, insecurities, and current circumstances.

Create the mindset you desire and step into your future self waiting on the other side.