“Your mindset determines your wealth.”
– Steve Siebold
Did you know that your mindset can help develop your wealth?
It’s true!
The real challenge is getting out of your own head.
Having a fixed mindset is very limiting.
Thinking you’re not good enough will not do you any favors.
The power of positive thinking is proven to be effective.
According to this article in Vector European, it improves performance in difficult situations, increases our effort capacity, and enhances coping in stressful situations.1
Today, I’m gonna get into the ways you can use your mindset to help grow your wealth.
Let’s go!
1. Growth Mindset vs Fixed Mindset
Carol Dweck wrote a book called Mindset: The New Psychology of Success.
In it, she goes into the concept of a growth mindset.
She explains the mindset as: “Everything happening to me is happening for me.”
Even if we fail, we can fail forward.
Sometimes, the biggest growth opportunities come from failure.
A fixed mindset, in contrast, would sound more like: “I failed, therefore I am a failure.”
That’s not a great state of mind for getting into deals – or for anything else, really!
According to this article in Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, fixed mindsets negatively impact anxiety, enjoyment, self-concept, and self-efficacy.2
The more we get into a growth mindset, the more we’ll grow our wealth.
And the more we’ll grow in other areas of our life.
When you have a growth mindset, the sky’s the limit.
2. Growth Mindset Can Improve Your Investment Decisions
Like many investors, I’ve experienced losses.
I talk about some of them in my book, Fire Yourself.
I made $20,000 over a few months in options trading.
And then, in one day, I lost $70,000.
That’s a net loss of $50,000.
I felt ashamed.
I felt disappointed.
I felt sad.
At the time, I had a net worth of about $200,000.
A $50,000 loss was really challenging.
So, I had to wrestle with my decisions.
I had to learn a valuable lesson.
That loss didn’t define me or my investment journey.
Instead, I learned I’m not a good options trader.
That’s what got me looking into real estate and other investments.
I have a good friend who decided to do some work in Cleveland around the same time I was also investing there.
Our deals turned out pretty well, but he hit a lot of snags.
He didn’t use good property managers.
He didn’t screen people early.
His properties got trashed and the whole investment turned out absolutely awful.
He took this failure very personally.
His fixed mindset let him believe he wasn’t cut out for investing.
It’s challenging to let go of thoughts like that.
But you need to.
You need to find lessons in failure.
Remember, life is not happening to us; life is happening for us.
I’ll be honest, it took me a while to really learn this.
So don’t feel bad if it takes time.
We all go through setbacks.
We’ve all had deals that haven’t worked out.
But we’ve also had deals that worked out phenomenally well.
None of that defines your value, your worth, or who you are.
Everything is a learning experience.
3. How To Cultivate a Growth Mindset
It’s great to have this theory of growth mindset, but what do you actually do?
Brené Brown actually talks about this in her book, The Gifts of Imperfection.
Everybody that she studied had a lot of joy in their life.
Now, joy is not simply happiness.
Joy is when you see purpose and power in your life.
According to the book, joyful people always have a gratitude practice.
Gratitude practice could be just sitting outside in your front yard or going on a walk.
It’s different for everyone.
But the main thing is taking time to be grateful for what you have in your life.
I have a couple of gratitude practices.
In the morning, I list five things I’m grateful for.
At the end of the day, I celebrate wins.
You can write down your own lists in a journal or even a Post-it.
Another way you can practice gratitude is by talking it out.
Talk about the setbacks.
Talk about the challenges.
When you verbalize those things, you’ll be able to get over them more quickly.
You’ll also find other people who are going through the same thing.
The more we talk about our experiences, the more opportunities open up.
I have a book called The Gap and The Gain that talks about driven people.
For people who are achievers, there’s a gap between where you are and where you want to be.
You will never reach the horizon.
If you’re walking towards your goals, there will always be a new horizon in front of you.
If we focus only on where we want to be, we can become discouraged, depressed, and disappointed.
That’s a really hard pill to swallow.
What you can do instead is turn around and look at how far you’ve come.
Be grateful for the progress you’ve made.
Look at all that you’ve learned, the stuff you’ve accomplished, your new relationships.
Measure those things.
That’s where we see progress.
And when you see the bigger picture, it’ll lead to gratitude and joy.
That’s a huge part of a growth mindset.
Seeing our progress can inspire us to continue on.
Make sure that you take your time.
Be grateful.
Don’t always look forward.
Turn around and reflect.
Do some journaling.
To sum things up: Everything is learning.
You can program your mind for success.
My friend Rod Khleif says to look at the results of your choices as a “success” or a “seminar.”
Learn from your missteps.
Commit your life to a growth mindset.
When you do that, nothing will be wasted.
You’re continually growing not only in your investments, but also in other aspects of your life.
Now I want to hear from you!
How are you going to practice a growth mindset?
Let us know in the comments.
Before you leave, make sure to check out our special report about inflation investing. It shares the best choices to invest during an inflationary environment.
If you are interested in investing with us, we are happy to answer any questions that you may have. Join our investment club today and we will be in touch.
Check out my bestselling book on Amazon!
Disclaimer: I am not your investment advisor. This is for educational purposes only. I am not giving specific advice on what you can do. I am simply giving my opinions.
Works Cited
1. Elena Davidescu. “Thinking as a positive mental attitude.” Vector European (2021). https://doi.org/10.52507/2345-1106.2021-2.30.
2. Nourollah Zarrinabadi, Mohsen Rezazadeh, M. Karimi and N. Lou. “Why do growth mindsets make you feel better about learning and your selves? The mediating role of adaptability.” Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 16 (2021): 249 – 264. https://doi.org/10.1080/17501229.2021.1962888.
