In my two decades of developing The Winners’ Mindset I studied thousands of masters in every area of life including philosophy, business, sports, entertainment, science, politics, religion and psychology. What found was that without a core philosophy a positive mindset is useless.
During my research I was deeply influenced by some of the greatest minds of all time including Socrates, Confucius, and the Historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama (aka Shakyamuni Buddha), who lived roughly 3,000 years ago and influenced most major religions, spiritual practices, scientists, philosophers, teachers and successful people across the globe. The Buddha declared, as did most other Sages in history:
“The mind is everything. What you think you become.”
When elaborating on one of life’s most critical insights, Shakyamuni went on to say:
“All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on our thoughts and made up of our thoughts. If a man speak or act with an evil thought, suffering follows him as the wheel follows the hoof of the beast that draws the wagon…. If a man speak or act with a good thought, happiness follows him like a shadow that never leaves him.”
This revelation spawned many other masters and sages to create various versions of this Mantra like Ralph Waldo Emerson who famously declared:
“We become what we think about all day long,”
And martial arts master Bruce Lee who popularized the following Mantra:
“As you think so shall you become”
Bruce attributed his mastery of the martial arts not to physical dominance or mental aptitude, but to the mastery of his mind and thoughts through rigorous training.
Danish author, philosopher, theologian, poet, and social critic Søren Kierkegaard who is widely considered to be the first existentialist philosopher who believed in the importance of personal choice as the main determinant of our results and further supports this Mantra by declaring:
“Our life always expresses the result of our dominant thoughts.”
Personally, I love this quote because it squarely points out the origin of our challenges and problems in life. Peace, tranquility, confidence, courage, and success will never manifest on the outside until we address peace, tranquility, confidence, courage and success on the inside… in your mind. Your mindset is merely an extension of the mind, which relates to your attitude, intention, or disposition.
But in case the philosopher and spiritual sages aren’t convincing enough, we’ll defer to modern science and master therapists Dr. Albert Ellis who developed Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), in the 1950s, and Dr. Aaron T. Beck who developed Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), in the 1960s, both of which discovered that your thoughts in your mind create your moods and emotions, which in turn influence your actions and results.
While your beliefs guide your actions and create your results, one of the biggest misconceptions is that a belief is a static, intellectual concept. According to The Indian Journal of Psychiatry:
“Nothing can be farther from the truth! Beliefs are a choice. We have the power to choose our beliefs. Our beliefs become our reality.” [i]
As you can see, your mind and its beliefs are the key components to everything in your life from the past, present, and future. Keep this in mind the next time you think you’re not good enough for some job, someone’s affection, or someone’s approval. Chances are it’s all in your head. As we move ahead in this series I’ll be sharing some of the greatest mindsets of all time so keep your eyes peeled for the next blog post.
And if you’d like a proven solution that’s worked for hundreds of people make sure you schedule a free consultation for one-on-one mindset coaching by clicking HERE
[i] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2802367/
