How to change your mindset – How books can change your life and help you grow as a person
In my previous post, Fixed vs growth mindset, I talked about different types of mindset and why you would like to have a growth mindset. In Carol S. Dweck’s book called ” Mindset: The New Psychology of Success” she explains that while a “fixed mindset” accepts our character, intelligence, and creativity as static features which we cannot change in any way, a growth mindset loves challenge and can see failure as a lesson and opportunity to grow. The question is- how to do it? How to find a way to develop growth mindset? In this article I will show you how you can use personal development books as tools to change your mindset and help you grow as a better person.
First you need to be willing to change.
Do you think you need to change your mindset, improve the way you are and become better and better every day? If the answer is yes- then you need to make a decision to change.
Remember that you are what you think about most. Control your thoughts! The more energy and feelings you give to your thoughts the more important they become.
It doesn’t matter for your mind if you choose positive or negative thoughts, they all will materialize in your life as the effect of you dominant thoughts.
So be more mindful of your self-talk and your feelings! You are in control of your mind! You always have a choice! And you have a responsibility to do right things for yourself!
Get all the necessary information. Read books!
This is a point where I will stress on importance of reading books! Read, read, read! For all benefits of reading check out my other post (Benefits of reading books- why should you read every day). Reading expands your brain power but also exposes you to new ideas and presents you with the information needed for your improvement.
Personal development books are the best genre in this case. You can learn so much by reading them as they give you tips and tools for your development and required changes. They can spark something in you, maybe ask right question or give you information you were looking for a long time. Whatever it is you are looking for, it can be found in a book. I’m sure the same questions were asked before many times, different people answer them, and maybe you heard the answer already but maybe you needed this special way it was said that made impression in you.
There are many personal development or so called self-help books about mindset. The ones which I would recommend you are:
- Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck
- Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill
- Psycho-Cybernetics, A New Way to Get More Living Out of Life by Maxwell Maltz
- Awaken the Giant Within: How to Take Immediate Control of Your Mental, Emotional, Physical and Financial Destiny! by Tony Robbins
- The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Stephen R. Covey
- The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg
There are many, many more but if you just start from these ones you will have a base to build on. You will discover soon that you get addicted to reading and gaining new knowledge but don’t worry… it is a good addiction 🙂
Another useful genre of books for your personal development are biographies and autobiographies of successful people. They can give you a hint of insight to what makes people successful and right minded. Do you have a favorite historical figure, business mogul, celebrity or other person who you look up to? Learn what they did in their life to get successful! Give yourself a chance! You don’t need to reinvent the wheel, there were other people before you who asked the same questions that you ask yourself now and tried to find the answers. Use their knowledge, their research and mistakes as a lesson! Use their tools, tips and pointers for your own development!
Books and development of mindset
Even celebrities reach to books as they source of wisdom and in a search of tools for they development and a creation of a right mindset. Two months ago actor Emma Watson brought attention to personal development and reading. She announced that she is taking a year from acting to focus on her personal development. She decided to read one book a week for a year. In the latest interview Emma said ” I’m reading a lot this year, and I want to do a lot of listening. (…) I’m reading so much and exposing myself to so many new ideas. It almost feels like the chemistry and the structure of my brain is changing so rapidly sometimes. (…) My work that I do for the UN is all very clearly outlined, but my personal views and opinions are still being defined, really. So it’ll be an interesting time.”
How books can open your mind
I came across this inspiring TED talk by Lisa Bu when doing research for this article. Have a look at the link below. Lisa talks about her childhood in China and how she needed to adjust her life when the family emigrated to United States. She used the books to expand her mind, help her to adjust to new reality and create the new mindset. It’s a wonderful talk, quite personal, about the power and magic of books.
Develop good habits for the desired mindset
You need to decide what personal values you would like to improve or change. Be honest with yourself, it’s your life and your mind. Choose right for yourself!
Remember that the best way to establish new habit is by repetition so expose yourself to a new idea over and over again. Habits come by practice. It is hard at first but when you establish a pattern it becomes part of you, it imprinting in your mind creating new mindset.
Few tips from “The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business” by Charles Duhigg :
“This is the real power of habit: the insight that your habits are what you choose them to be.”
“This process within our brains is a three-step loop. First, there is a cue, a trigger that tells your brain to go into automatic mode and which habit to use. Then there is the routine, which can be physical or mental or emotional. Finally, there is a reward, which helps your brain figure out if this particular loop is worth remembering for the future: THE HABIT LOOP”
“Once you know a habit exists, you have the responsibility to change it . . . others have done so . . . That, in some ways, is the point of this book. Perhaps a sleep-walking murderer can plausibly argue that he wasn’t aware of his habit, and so he doesn’t bear responsibility for his crime, but almost all of the other patterns that exist in most people’s lives — how we eat and sleep and talk to our kids, how we unthinkingly spend our time, attention and money — those are habits that we know exist. And once you understand that habits can change, you have the freedom and the responsibility to remake them. Once you understand that habits can be rebuilt, the power of habit becomes easier to grasp and the only option left is to get to work.”
Enjoy creating your new mindset
You have to put passion and desire for the new mindset you would like to create. All your feelings, aspirations and ambitions should be used to create your desired mindset. This process will release endorphins which trigger a positive feeling in the body. The feeling-good mood will help you to stay more inspired and emotionally engaged. Use it for your benefit!
Inspiring quotes about mindset
“You may encounter many disappointments. Be strong. Tell yourself, “I am good enough, I will try again.”
― Lailah Gifty Akita, Pearls of Wisdom: Great mind
“It is not what you look at, but rather what you see that matters. Set your focus right.”
― Emmanuel Ayensu
“The only difference, apart from heaps of cash, between someone who is wealthy and someone who is poor is having the right mindset and attitude.”
― Stephen Richards, Six Figure Success: Time To Think Big – You Can Do It
“Once your mindset changes, everything on the outside will change along with it.”
― Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free
“There are two kinds of people. One kind, you can just tell by looking at them at what point they congealed into their final selves. It might be a very nice self, but you know you can expect no more suprises from it. Whereas, the other kind keep moving, changing… They are fluid. They keep moving forward and making new trysts with life, and the motion of it keeps them young. In my opinion, they are the only people who are still alive. You must be constantly on your guard against congealing.”
― Gail Godwin
“no matter what your ability is, effort is what ignites that ability and turns it into accomplishment.”
― Carol S. Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology Of Success
“Mindset change is not about picking up a few pointers here and there. It’s about seeing things in a new way. When people…change to a growth mindset, they change from a judge-and-be-judged framework to a learn-and-help-learn framework. Their commitment is to growth, and growth take plenty of time, effort, and mutual support.”
― Carol S. Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
So… what are you waiting for?! Get yourself together and choose the growth mindset! Develop, evolve and change to a better you!
Thanks for visiting my website!
I hope you enjoyed this post 🙂 Let me know by leaving a comment below!
Very inspiring and encouraging. I like the picture of the guy in the shower, who said men couldn’t multi task (lol)?! Some of my friends at work are into positive reading of this sort and it seems to work for them. Great Niche choice 🙂
Thanks for your comment Melanie!
great writing!!! I always get a kick out of your posts. keep them coming!
Welcome back 🙂 I’m glad you liked my post! Thanks for your comment!
Books really do play a key role in the way that we grow as people. In my own life, I’ve often found that the people who read regularly tend to be more intelligent, on average, and also tend to be more tolerant of others. You’re talking about personal development here and I can certainly see the benefit of self-help books. Even though these books sometimes seem a bit preachy, they can still contain valuable information and can teach us things that we didn’t think of previously.
Thanks for your comments Vince! I believe reading books (any books really) help you grow as a person. I actually wrote the article about it Benefits of reading books- why should you read every day But I do believe as well that personal development books can give you right tools and tips to change specific things in your life
Thank you for the books recommendation. I assume that all of them will be great because I’ve already read the one wrote by Napoleon Hill and I loved it.
May I also have a question? I’ve read quite a lot of books about personal develpment and psychology. But after few I founded to be extremely difficult to find a book which would tell me something new. Do you experience the same or am I just picking the wrong titles?
Hi David, I think you are partly right. After reading more personal development books you will discover that they all talk about the same things- changing your attitude, setting up goals, changing your mindset and learning from your failures- all the lessons we should learn. But each of them is different in a way because written by different person with slightly different angle. The same thing said by two people will not influence you the same way because they differ in the way they describe things, use their examples or just their choice of language. You can read general personal development book which will cover very broadly self development or get books (still personal development genre) which cover specific aspects of development.
I have recently just finished listening to ‘Mindset, the psychology of success’ and thoroughly enjoyed it. I felt I was quite an open minded positive thinker, however listening to the book it became clear that there are some areas where my mindset is quite fixed! This was quite a surprise to me but also something that I was more than happy to accept and started being more aware of it and making an effort to change my way of thinking. For the last 18 months I have been listening to motivation, self development type audio books on my to and from work. It means I no longer get mad about being sat in traffic, but more importantly I really do feel my approach to everything is changing for the better. I really value this time and would highly recommend every one get into this habit!
Thanks for your comment Vic! I had a same feelings reading this book!!! I try to use any time I have to read and listen to motivational and personal development materials. As you, I listen to audio books on the way to work 🙂 I feel that it is a great way for me to learn new things and use the time that normally would be wasted!
What a great post and reminder! I try to read as much as I can with two young kids, but I have definitely lost my reading spark over the last 2 years or so. This post absolutely makes me want to dive into a good book. I tend to be more creative and positive when I’m able to escape into a wonderful story, outside of real life. Thanks for posting!
Thanks, appreciate your comment! I wish you to find more time for your reading Rebecca 🙂
Hi Elektra! Carol Dweck’s “Mindset” is one of my favorite books. And your article is a good summation of all her most important points. I couldn’t agree more about the idea of a growth mindset. I think the education system should start teaching it to kids as early as the grade school years.
I completely agree, it should be tough to school kids. It is one of my top favourite books too 🙂
Very nice article. I have always been interested in trying to fuel my own personal growth, and i’m glad that I came across your article because I think I may have forgotten that it is an ongoing process. It’s so easy to just get stuck and forget that the only way to grow is through work and looking to want to grow. Like you said, the actual decision of wanting to grow is the most important part. Thanks for the post!
Thanks Pete, I’m glad you found it inspiring 🙂
I really liked your post. I remember finding out about “The Secret” and loved it. I will definitely have to look into some of the books you recommended. Thank you for the post!
Thanks for stopping by Stephanie! Feel free to visit my other blog posts and book reviews.
Great post!
They say it’s all in the mind don’t they?
Being around positive people helps a lot and being around negative people does the opposite, am I correct?
You said right at the start, “First you need to be willing to change,”
Yes, you have to have the mind to change. That’s certainly correct and without this mindset, nothing will change.
Reading books can give you inspiration, but back to what you first said, you have to be willing to make this change!
And that’s what a lot of being positive comes down to!
Willing to change is an initial step, without it there is no action. Positive thinking or motivation will keep you on the right track.