What does your current mindset development plan look like?

Mindset development as a practice and ritual is much more than reading self-help books and it practically impacts everything you're about to do.

It can start with current life challenges. Jane (whose name is changed) discovered that her aging mother was diagnosed with a serious form of cancer, impacting an area of the frontal lobe. Her mother was her last living parent and knew she had to do something, anything to help her mother get through this fight. Jane brought her strengths in reading to the fight, covering 73 books from back to back on varying topics of brain health and brain cancer the first 10-days after this new discovery, armed with insights, knowledge, and medical treatment to her mother's next appointment...

It can start with deeper soul searching. Fred (name also changed) reached an apex in his career in his late 50's, with 7 years in his current company now as the director of operations the last 2 years. Fred was initially hired on as a mid-level manager, making strides and milestones being promoted from position to position. One day, he came home to a note on his bed, a letter from his wife Linda explaining sad news. After 20 years of marriage, Linda decided to leave him and it shattered his moment. Fred, though reliable and reputable in career looked at himself, seeing that he gained weight and hadn't been taking care of himself. After several days of deepened sadness, Fred put on his old college running shorts and decided that he would rekindle his passion for cross-country running, completing a 7-mile run all in one setting. Though gasping near the end of his run, he rediscovered the gift of physical discipline, remembering tenacity, and would now hit the re-start button in his personal life journey...

Mindset not only helps us get through rough patches in life, it helps us achieve our most sacred goals. In these previous stories and through broader analysis, we can find that mindset is broken down into the following components: tightly held emotional beliefs, management of mental state, and frameworks or methodologies.

We can work on emotional beliefs through suggestion and fully embracing ideas to acquire. As one begins their job search or workday, start by intellectually and emotionally embracing the following phrase:

"every day in every way, I am getting better and better."

Throw fuel into the emotional fire when you begin connecting the dots to recognize this is true. Then take action on things that move the needle in your goal. Emotional beliefs are the rocket fuel toward your next objective.

Mental state shapes one's perceptions and readiness to learn. Self-care is the key to optimal mental state. This entails getting sufficient sleep, ensuring one's body is getting different kinds of physical fitness, eating cleaner and healthier, and meeting potential roadblocks with clarity instead of emotional baggage.

Last but not least, are the frameworks and methodologies that when executed, result in real world progress. Frameworks are generally for more cognitive activity, whereas methodologies are for spatial movement. To become more apt in cyber security practices, for instance, I might review the OSI 7-layer model and then begin transposing how several common security related activities fall into each layer, enabling deeper analysis and enhancement.

Mindset is everything. It can enhance the onboarding process for new hires. It can make the job search fun and more productive. It is the beginning and end of every activity worth doing.

Welcome to the first post in our series on mindset!