Own My Growth

Helping folks with practical tips to manage themselves better

A Winner’s Mindset

Winner's Mindset

About a thousand years ago, a Japanese General led his Samurai army into a battle with a sworn enemy. The enemy’s army was more potent and better equipped. The situation seemed impossible, and there was an air of inevitability about the result.

On the way to the battleground, the General decided to stop at a religious shrine to offer his prayers. After offering his prayers with the rest of the troops, the General said, “God has spoken. I will now toss a coin. If it lands on Heads, we will win the battle, and if the coin lands on tails, we will lose. Our destiny and the will of God will now reveal itself.”

So saying, the General took out a coin from his pocket and flipped it in the air. All the troops watched the coin with bated breath as it landed.

It was Heads !!

The Samurai were all ecstatic. Destiny had revealed itself, and they were going to win the battle. The troops rushed into the battlefield, feeling invincible. Despite being outnumbered, thanks to the unshakeable belief that destiny was on their side, the Samurai fought valiantly and vanquished the enemy.

After the victory, a lieutenant turned to the General and said, ” It was meant to be. No one can change destiny.”

“You are right !!” the General said as he showed the Lieutenant the coin with Heads on both sides.

This story is an excellent illustration of the power of belief. No amount of skills and competencies will be of value if the belief to succeed is not there.

Winner’s Mindset

When you approach any task or challenge believing that success is inevitable and is your destiny, your entire approach changes. Your unshakeable belief in your abilities and your future becomes the foundation for a winner’s mindset.

But, how do we build our self-belief in the face of significant odds and challenges when the goals are big and improbable.?

I have this mental model that describes the relationship between our beliefs and the results we experience in life.

A weak belief system leads to weak actions leading to mediocre results that undermine an already weak belief system. In contrast, a positive belief system will power you to commit to action with high energy and enthusiasm, leading to great outcomes. A low belief system will disempower you, and it will reflect in the quality of actions that you take and make you feel powerless and vulnerable.

The story tells all of us a powerful lesson. Fix your belief system. There is nothing more to it than just a mental shift. Given a specific situation in your life, recognize that you have a better chance to succeed with a positive mindset instead of a negative one..

 

4 Replies to “A Winner’s Mindset”

  • Would love to know your advice on this “The story tells all of us a powerful lesson. Fix your belief system.”. Beliefs are the consequences of experience right ? How do you fix your experiences ?

    • Thank you for your question. More than the actual experience it is the way our mind processes the experience that plays a big role in shaping our beliefs.

      E.g. you encounter a failure or a setback of some sort. If your mind processes that experience as “ you tried something unchartered and that is why you failed” you will end up with a belief that doing anything pathbreaking will result in failure.. you will not attempt anything innovative on the future.

      Instead , if you process the experience as “ what are the lessons I can learn from this setback which if I fix the next round I am likely to be nearer to success” you will see the same experience as energizing and exciting because you have discovered a problem that you can fix to move forward..

      If I may suggest a small hack to to see all experiences in a positive light.. whenever you catch yourself in a negative or judging mode about anything ask yourself “ is there anything positive I can take out here?” This will force you to consciously consider the positive alternative that your current belief system in unwilling to consider.

      Hope this helps..

Leave a Reply

%d bloggers like this: