Mindset Mastery: How Your Thoughts Shape Your Reality

"Why your focus shapes the life you experience."

Many of you probably already know your mindset is a major key in mastering life.

Despite knowing this however, we often do not allow ourselves to truly dictate what our focus needs to be in order to succeed in life.

You see, mindset is not everything, but it does impact everything.

So let’s make sure this March we begin to be more mindful, and I will give you a few tips how, but like always let’s start with a story.

When Your Mindset Shapes Your Reality

Being mindless can be easy.

In fact it is really easy to get caught up in passively experiencing life.

When I was in my early twenties I struggled with my view of the world.

When I was diagnosed with depression, anxiety, and panic disorder, I looked at life through that lens.

I would consistently carry those labels with me, and they would shape my thoughts.

These thoughts would then impact my focus, and my focus dictated my experiences.

If you do this a few hundred or thousand times a day, week, month, or year before you know it, your mind only sees the bad life has to offer.

I lived in a state of victimhood because I created my own mental prison, due to my inability to choose how I wanted to live and experience life.

As I continued to go through life, I was continuing to have similar experiences no matter who or what I interacted with.

Consistently placing blame that my life sucked because of the world around me and those in it.

However there was one main thing that helped my mindset.

It was my mentor John.

The Mentor Who Challenged My Thinking

John was the guy that ran the personal training department of the gym I went to.

When I was working on reinventing myself as an eighteen year old kid with some chub who got bullied, I not only learned how to workout, but I also became a personal trainer.

John eventually became my boss, but he was also my mentor.

He would sit and listen to me complain about life, and people, especially women, and he was always silent until I finished my rants.

He would always have a question for me at first about why I thought the way I did.

After I answered he would usually conclude with

“ Vinny, that’s f*cking ludicrous to think that way ”

He was usually right.

Okay he was always right but as a twenty year old know it all, I would never listen.

Though I was not ready to listen to John, having him as a mentor was helpful.

A lot of it stuck with me and when I got a bit older, I learned that we are truly the ones that can control our destiny.

That was the point John was trying to make all along.

He did not want to see me suffer.

He wanted to see me live a good life.

Lessons on Mindset

Eventually as I started down my self mastery journey a few years later I really began to understand so much of what John was trying to teach me to help me shift my mindset.

So here are my biggest takeaways about mindset.

Where focus goes: Energy flows You will spend the majority of your time expending energy on whatever it is that you focus on the most. Make sure your focus is on something important.

Focus is expansion: Though we tend to believe that focus is the narrowing down of something, it is actually the mass expansion of something. When we get very narrow, all we see is that thing we are paying attention to, which actually expands it to an all encompassing state.

Curiosity is Key: When we have an absolute certainty about what things mean in life, we struggle to change our perspective about it. If you can stay curious about what circumstances or experiences you are having mean, you can begin to shift how you view the world.

Challenge your thoughts: An unchallenged thought is an unchanged thought. If you do not get used to challenging your runaway thoughts you will not be able to gain control over them in the long run.

Observe and Evaluate: Oftentimes people who have a bad mindset do not have the full picture and begin acting on partial data. This can create less than favorable outcomes. Make sure to stay calm and collected as you spend time observing and gathering data points to truly make the most informed decisions.

Closing Thought

Consider these your five steps to Mindset Mastery.

If you practice these every single day you will be on your way to a life where you control your mindset.

Let’s begin to truly live consciously and be mindful of our experiences.

Every time you question your thoughts or beliefs, or challenge yourself to shift focus, you are creating a life worth living for yourself.

So let’s get out there and live our best lives.

P.S. If there is anything I can do to support you on this journey of Mindset Mastery please let me know. Either respond to this email or you are always welcome to book a call with me via this link.