I was reading Carol Dweck’s book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, when he emphasized the significant power of one’s mindset on one’s people’s lives. A simple mindset shift can totally change a person’s mode of thinking and how he/she relates with the surrounding world, which culminates in one’s productivity, financial, and relationship success.
But Carol Dweck was not the only one who has talked about mindset in such a powerful way. Productivity experts like Brian Tracy, Laura Mae Martin, and David Allen have also unanimously maintained that mental shifting (a change in one’s mindset) is a necessary step towards enhanced productivity and success in important areas of one’s life.[1]A Google productivity expert shares 5 tips to save time – Google blog[2]David Allen Productivity for Consultants Part 2 | Consulting Success[3]“Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life” – Brian Tracy
I, too, have talked about the rather extraordinary importance of a mindset shift for achieving success. And while there are many ways mindset can make or mar someone, here are some powerful mindsets that can make you highly productive in your life and endeavours.
Powerful Mindsets for Productivity and Success
If you are serious about being more productive and successful, here are some powerful mindsets you should develop now.
1. The Growth Mindset
The “Growth Mindset” was coined by the Stanford psychologist, Dr. Carol Dweck, who thoroughly described it in his book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. The growth mindset is one that capitalizes adaptability and self-improvement, in contrast to the “Fixed Mindset,” which believes that one is either adequate or inadequate, thus, no room for risks, efforts, and self-improvement.[4]Productivity and Mindset | Student Success & Retention Innovation – Arizona.edu
People with the growth mindset believe in making a difference through practice and effort. Rather than wallowing in discouragement in the current situation or outcome, they channel their energy into changing the status quo. And most of the time, these people succeed.
To illustrate this in comparison with the fixed mindset, Dweck painted a scenario where you got a C+ in your midterm papers. On your way back home, you discover that you have gotten a parking ticket for parking at the wrong spot, and on calling your best friend to share your experience to make you feel better, you are sort of brushed off.
People with a fixed mindset see the turn of events as what their life is worth. They begin to think that they are destined for such experiences and that efforts are useless. But on the other hand, those with the growth mindset ponder what could have caused these experiences and find ways to improve the outcomes next time.
The growth mindset is one of the most powerful mindsets you can develop to achieve success in your life and productivity.
2. The Positive Mindset
The positive mindset accompanies the growth mindset to some extent. It is a perpetual state of maintaining a motivated and optimistic view of life and about one’s daily experiences. And this is something several productivity authors have talked about.
For example, Brian Tracy in Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life expressed how a positive mindset can give you life and keep you motivated. This was in contrast to negative thinking, which he described as being associated with depressive feelings, disappointment, and demotivation.[5]MDRT – Increasing your brain’s performance for greater personal and professional success
Developing a positive mindset will help you see opportunities in the midst of challenges. It helps you find the way out instead of lying dejected in the midst of your sorrows. This is why it has been shown to boost productivity as well as give one a sense of general well-being even in the midst of adversity.
When discussing the Growth Mindset, Carol Dweck subtly illustrates how a mental focus on one’s success ahead is important to enduring adversity in the moment. This is the positive mindset, and it demonstrates one’s optimistic view of life.
Other proponents of positive thinking and its role in boosting productivity include Tony Robbins and Zig Ziglar. Tony Robbins shared how to benefit from positive thinking, while Ziglar has vehemently expressed that positive thinking will let you do everything better than negative thinking.[6]How to Benefit from Positive Thinking – Tony Robbins[7]Ziglar Inc – Positive Thinking
3. The Possibility Mindset
The possibility mindset is the mindset of “I can” or “I can do it”. People with this mindset hold on to the belief that impossibility does not exist, and there will always be a solution if we look well enough.
This mindset makes some of the most disruptive people the world has ever known. People with the possibility mindset are those Steve Jobs described in his writing as the rebels and misfits, crazy enough to change the world. They don’t care what others think, because, of course, there will always be discouragement from other people.
Something might be difficult, but if you say “I can”, you can. This is why the mindset of possibility is one important hallmark of highly productive and creative people.
4. The Curiosity Mindset
In one of his articles, Bernard Marr quoted Sir Ken Robinson when he said, “Curiosity is the engine of achievement”. Curiosity is a natural driving force that makes people discover and understand, propelling us forward towards success and personality fulfilment, Bernard further added.[8]The Power of Mindset: How Curiosity And Humility Can Drive Career Success – Bernard Marr
Curiosity is also a mindset because the nature of inquisitiveness can be damped or obliterated by certain experiences in our lives. People around us can help build or kill curiosity, but one must learn to stay curious by developing the mindset that there is always something new to learn about.
The curiosity mindset enables productive people to discover what works for them, what methods help them achieve their goals, and to learn new things in the world around them. By learning new skills and acquiring new information, curious-minded people can better understand the basic principles of success and unravel new ways of being more productive.
In a post published by Elizabeth Saunders in Harvard Business Review, she gave an example of how curiosity enhances people’s appetite for new knowledge while also stating that curiosity might hurt one’s productivity as well when one veer two quickly into interesting topics while losing focus on what they are currently doing or learning about.[9]Is Your Curiosity Helping or Hurting Your Work? – HBR.org
Undirected curiosity has the potential to derail you from your work and keeps you from ending up where you want to go. But intentionally directed curiosity, where you make a conscious choice to think creatively about something important, can be an incredible force for good in your job and dramatically increase your overall innovation and effectiveness. – HBR
5. Resource Management Mindset
On the Resource Management Mindset, John Rampton, founder and CEO of Due.com, shared his thoughts on Startup the importance of delegation stating that people who often want to singlehandedly take on the world become more unproductive overall, adding that having a mindset of being willing and open to delegate tasks, especially if you are at a higher command, can help you and your team get more productive.[10]Interview with John Rampton: The Science of Staying Productive – Startups.com
The resource management mindset emphasizes being able to manage your resources, team, and people. It teaches to learn how to interact with other people in the team, building teamwork, and is unashamedly open to adopting new and more efficient tools and resources.
One of the key strengths of highly productive people is that they don’t hesitate to use tools that enhance their productivity. Being resource-oriented will be obvious in one’s readiness to adopt productivity tools like calendars, to-do lists, reminders, apps and software, productivity trackers, Artificial Intelligence, and so on.
6. Time Management Mindset
Time management is another mindset that can make you outstanding in your productivity. This emphasizes the power of focus, learning to maximize time in doing things that increase productivity, and avoiding procrastination.
One of the principal proponents of time management is Brian Tracy. He has authored several books relating to time management, including Eat That Frog! and Master Your Time, Master Your Life.
In his writings, he has highlighted that managing your time effectively can make you more productive. As an expert in productivity with over 30 years in the field, more than 5,000 talks and seminars, and a global audience, Brian crafted 10 specific tips and rules to help anyone master productivity, as you will see below.
Brian Tracy’s 10 Rules of Productivity (Time Management)
- Utilize the “one-touch” rule: The one-touch rule involves following a simple plan of completing a task or project before jumping onto another task. Doing one task first instead of jumping back and forth helps your brain work more efficiently and productively.
- Write your plans down: Writing down your thoughts/plans can help you track and measure your progress, and this can further motivate you to be even more productive. This can also help you better apportion your time to various tasks and get more productive.
- Set small goals: Instead of tackling big goals head-on, breaking them into smaller bits can help you achieve more productivity. Setting small goals makes them more realistic and achievable, which can reduce your need to procrastinate or waste time doing nothing.
- Plan ahead: By using a to-do list to plan your daily tasks, you can track your progress and get more productive on a daily basis.
- Avoid over-committing: Over-committing to too many tasks at a time will not make you more productive. Rather, it will drain your energy and dampen your productivity level.
- Stop multitasking: As much as you think that multitasking is great, studies have shown that it can be counterproductive and make you less productive and less efficient.[11]The Role of Dual Tasking in the Assessment of Gait, Cognition and Community Reintegration of Veterans with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury – PMC
- Do the hardest task first: The economic law of diminishing returns also applies to productivity. Start with the more difficult tasks when your energy is still up and end with the less energy-demanding tasks when your energy level might have started reducing.
- Determine when you are most productive: You need to identify your peak productivity periods and fix your most important tasks to those periods when you are most productive. This can boost your productivity.
- Eliminate disruptions: Whether you work at home or in the office, eliminating disruptions to your flow of thoughts can help you stay productive. This might mean keeping your phone at a distance, turning off unimportant notifications, or going to a quiet room to enable you to focus more on your task.
- Set time limits: Setting time limits for each task can give you a time target to work towards, particularly if you work well with deadlines, which can motivate you to achieve your productivity goals.
Things That Can Reduce Your Productivity
- Procrastination.
- Poor rest and sleep.
- Toxic work environment.
- Burnout.
- Disorderliness (in plans and physical space).
Final Words
Mindsets are what power people, and these powerful mindsets above can boost your productivity if developed and applied. They can make you highly productive in any area of your life.
I hope you learned something from this post. If you have any clarifications, comment your questions in the comments section below. Thank you!
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