A Growth Mindset Is the Secret Habit of Highly Happy People
Whoever wouldn't like to be happier, please raise your hand. No hands? Nobody? Well, of course not! Everyone chooses happiness over unhappiness, joy, and contentment over misery and strife. Positive emotions are always preferable over negative feelings.
That's part of the survival instinct that exists in all creatures. No animals wake up in the morning and think, "Boy, I sure hope I get hunted today. If that doesn't happen, maybe I can starve all day and put up with miserable weather. Or perhaps I'll be lucky enough to get eaten by another animal!"
Animals might not be able to understand happiness, but they unconsciously and instinctively strive for it. People do too. Give a person the choice of either a fun day spent creating great memories with the people she loves or a sharp stick in the eye, and you know her choice.
Although we ache and long for happiness, we don't always act in our best interests. Sometimes we adopt a mindset that limits our ability to be content, happy, and satisfied.
Do You Have a Fixed or a Growth Mindset?
Some days you are upbeat. Other days, you embrace negativity because you choose to be or because the world presents you with some difficulty to deal with. Some days are just better than others.
While you can't control what life will hand you daily, you can always choose your response.
This is true where happiness is concerned.
Adopting a fixed mindset makes you believe you get what you get. You were given certain skills and abilities, and that's it. Whatever you have is all you're ever going to get. This means that you can't grow in any way.
If you struggle with money, you believe that others are just lucky. They were born with the ability to create money or inherit it. You're not allowed to have any. It's just the way things are in your mind. This is the same idea as intelligence, personality, or any other character trait.
The person with a fixed mindset believes everything about his life is fixed and he can't make any significant change.
He adopts a wait-and-see attitude to determine if life will make him happy, sad, or somewhere between those two emotions.
A Growth Mindset Allows You to Be Happy by Making Changes
People who are happy most of the time embrace a growth mindset. They believe that whatever happens, they are capable of improving their situation. They may not have been born with the talents, skills, or intelligence level of others, but they know they can take action to change their situation.
They can learn from a financial planner if they are good with finances. A growth mindset means that someone shy and standoffish can learn to be outgoing and communicate with others if that's what he wants.
This growth mindset also allows for change if a person is unhappy. Happy people understand that unhappiness, frustration, and stress are situations that they can change. They can do things to remove those emotions from their lives. They have fun and put a smile on their faces because they take action to make that happen.
Don't have a fixed mindset, or you'll always be at the mercy of life to dictate your emotions. Take control. Be proactive. Adopt a growth mindset. Embrace the fact that you can take action to change anything in your life, including your level of happiness.
