9 steps to thinking differently

To be the best we possibly can it’s not enough to do just the same things as other people, just as well as they do. We need to think differently so that we act differently and perform better - we need a better mindset, and we need to put it into practice.

Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.

Here are 9 ways to help you think for yourself:

1. Beware of boundaries and labels

If you label activities as ‘work‘, chances are that they will give you less pleasure than those labelled ‘play’. If you’ve been lucky enough to find your passion [link] then work life boundaries will merge.

2. Be proactive

You’ll wait forever if you want great stuff to happen to you. You have to be proactive. Develop an internal locus of control (meaning you’ll believe that you control yourself and your life); having an external locus of control means you’ll believe that your environment, some higher power, or other people control your decisions and your life).

3. Treat people as equals

Even if you are the expert in your field, recognise that others around you are great too. They’ll then open-up and possibly even challenge your ideas and preconceptions.

4. Listen to criticism

And more importantly take it on board. Show a willingness to change what you think and how you act.

5. Stretch yourself

Setting challenging but achievable goals allows you to enter a state of flow. This is where real happiness comes from. Hedonistic pleasure alone does not make us happy. However, beware setting too difficult a goal, then as the goal will be practically unachievable you’ll loose motivation to actually attain it.

6. Build the people around you

Get good at delegating in a way that builds their skills, they will love you for it and you’ll be admired by others. It also means you can spend more time doing what you enjoy.

7. Publicly appreciate others

Show that you think of others. Remember the small details about their lives, and ask about them. Not only will it raise their mood and make them happy but people will begin to trust you and therefore be generous with their time and give you support. The more time you REALLY spend with others, the higher the amount of exposure to alternative ways of thinking.

8. Reflect

Think about the past events and what you learnt from them. Don’t worry about them, you can’t change them. Write down everything you achieved last month, however small. What did you learn from them? What went well? What went badly and why?

9. Focus, focus, focus

Decide where you want your goals, develop an action plan to attain them and just start! You may want to have a project list with you all the time and work on them during dead time points in your day.