A Growth Mindset and Business Success

A Growth Mindset and Business Success

So, you may be asking yourself “What exactly is a growth mindset?” Well, a growth mindset is an actual, demonstrable psychological phenomenon.

It turns out that many long-term successful individuals possess certain characteristics that they share with other long-term successful individuals.

This set of characteristics has been termed a “growth mindset”. Now, some people, who tend to achieve less than their full potential, also possess a set of characteristics that they share with other under-achievers. This set of traits has been dubbed the “fixed mindset”. Most people, more or less, fall into one camp or the other.

People with a growth mindset tend to have a desire to learn from life. This desire leads to the ability to embrace challenges, to overcome setbacks, to see effort as worth the results, to accept criticism, and to admire and learn from the successes of others.

These behaviors allow native intelligence to grow throughout a lifetime. (Hence, the name.) People with a growth mindset are believers in free will and this belief allows them to achieve their goals time and time again.

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Peter LopezComment
Cultivate Your Creative Muscles

Creativity can be elusive. It’s not something that you can summon at will. When it happens, it strikes like lightning. Yet, like lightning, it can be maddeningly unpredictable. However, because creativity is an essential element of a successful business mindset, it is necessary to understand the creative process and how you, the business owner, can cultivate your own creative juices.

The creative process is largely internal and unconscious. No one ever wakes up and says “Hey! Today I’m going to be creative.” Creativity is all about taking in a lot of influences and letting those influences combine, ferment, and morph in your subconscious. Together, they form a sort of mental potting soil where new and different ideas have a chance to germinate and grow. The more things you learn, read, see, and hear the more creative soil you are able to produce.

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Peter LopezComment
7 Steps on How to Turn Adversity into Success

It’s not what happens in life that defines you but how you deal with your situations. You have heard by now the phrase when life gives you lemons turn them into lemonade. This is true today as it was whenever the first person coined the phrase. Use the following tips to help you turn adversity into success.

1. Believe in what you are doing.
You have heard the classic tale of how Thomas Edison continued 10,000 times before getting the light bulb to the way he wanted it. It’s hard to say if that number became exaggerated over the years, but he likely tried several thousand times at least. The point is, he believed in what he was doing. When you try something that is untested, you need to take a leap of faith. Otherwise, it’s too easy to give up on your venture.

2. Learn from your failures.
If you ask, any successful person how they got that way, they will most likely tell you it’s due to overcoming failures. They learned from those failures and tried something different. Each iteration, they learned something new from their failures. They continued until there were no failures.
3. Let others help you.
Sometimes, when you face adverse situations, others can help you to turn your situation around. It is rare that anyone faces something unique. Others have been through what you are going through. Reach out to them. It’s better to get the help you need than to needlessly struggle with your situation. Some people avoid reaching out because they are embarrassed. Just remember, those people once went through it, too. They know what you are dealing with.
4. If you are facing some adverse situation, it may be due to set too high of an expectation.

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When You Have Too Many Goals

When you have too many Goals.

Do you ever feel like you’re spinning in circles with too many goals? Are most of them conflicting? The good news is, you’re not the only one who feels that way. It's very common, and you can help solve the problem

Here are some things you can do if you’re overwhelmed with goals.

1. Look for overlaps. Sometimes there is a natural and logical relationship between goals. Suppose you want to get healthier and to have more leisure time. Making time out for active leisure like tennis or running will accomplish both goals at once. Sometimes two goals seem to be in direct opposition to each other, like wanting to travel and having more time at home. In this case, write out both goals, and next to each of them write out why you want to do each of them. You might find that what you want is to be away from work. In this case, your real goal might be to change careers. Or, you might discover that you can satisfy your desire to travel with a short vacation or a long drive with the family. Get to the essence of the goal, and they’ll work themselves out.

2. Make the time. We tell ourselves there are "only so many hours in a day," and that we're "too busy" to take on anything else right now. Your time is precisely that – yours. Instead of saying “I don’t have time to learn a language,” try saying, “I’m not making time to learn a new language.” We find the time for the things that matter.

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Peter LopezComment
Self-Discipline – Debunking Myths about an "Overrated Concept"

Many people don’t see the benefits of self-discipline because they have so many misconceptions about it, in turn, these same people often feel intimidated or uneasy around those who do show signs of this skill More than often these people are perceived as being serious or boring, but these perceptions are just some of the many other misconceptions about the idea of having self-discipline. Here are some of the common misconceptions as well as the reasons why they simply are not true.

Self-discipline is “boring”

It can be said that for most people, it feels good to be able to do whatever one wants or pleases at any time that they wish to do so. However, the basis of self-discipline is all about knowing what you should or should not do and once making that decision employing prudence in what actions you take in a given situation or in your everyday routine... As kids, it’s been noted that most children found teachers who followed up on their activities to be boring, and the same is the case with grown-ups following up on things they need to in life who lack self-discipline.

Self-discipline is difficult

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Peter Lopez Comment