Examine Your Personal Beliefs to Unlock Your Potential In Your Engineering Career

It’s not always the people who start out the smartest who end up the smartest. ―Carol S. Dweck

As I’ve mentioned before, one of the most damaging and pervasive mindsets we can adopt is a fixed mindset. A fixed mindset makes you feel like you will never be able to change.?

These fixed beliefs are so strong, however, that we need to identify and change them.

One way to do this is to think about any "I am" statements about yourself that are limiting beliefs. Simply, if you were to finish the statement, “I am…” what would you say? If the answers that come are disempowering, we have work to do!

I, too, have been guilty of believing negative “I am” statements. As a young aspiring engineer, I started believing in stereotypes about myself that limited my motivation to progress. A few statements I got stuck on included:

• I am book smart, not street smart.
• I am analytical, not creative.
• I am good with numbers, not with people.
• I am not good at things that are "subjective"—I want right answers!

These beliefs made me think I couldn't change or improve, holding me back from progress and achievements that could have been accessible if I believed in myself differently.

I invite you to shift your "I am" statements towards positive beliefs about who you are and who you can become. Repeating positive statements about yourself, day after day, will change what you think about yourself.

For instance, try saying, and believing, "I am an Intentional Engineer!"

Reinforce Your Empowering Beliefs

To help me maintain a positive mindset about myself, every morning I write a few positive "I am" statements in my journal.

I invite you, also, to think of “I am” statements that resonate and feel helpful for you. Write them down. Post them on your mirror or fridge or put them in your cell phone where you will see them frequently. And when you start feeling down on yourself, repeat the statements to yourself.

Here are some “I am” statement I've been writing recently:

• I am a son of a loving God.
• I am a loving husband and father.
• I am an author (I took on that identity as I began writing this book).
• I am full of value to bring to the world.
• I am a good man.
• I am enough.

What "I am" statements will inspire and encourage you?

Take Intentional Action

Do the exercise above. Identify any negative “I am” statements you need to eradicate, and then identify the “I am” statements you want to reinforce.

Then create a process for doing that. Whether that’s writing them in a journal, telling them to yourself, or reading them off each day, just do it.

Build your beliefs, and your actions (and corresponding results) will follow as you take action in alignment with those empowering beliefs of yourself!

Accelerate Your Progress

Seriously, if you haven’t yet ordered a copy of my new book, The Intentional Engineer, you should. It was written just for intentional engineers like you. Go grab your own copy today at: https://amzn.to/3u6bJF2.

And if you want to go further than just a book and get some help for yourself, your team, or your organization, let’s talk! If you’re serious about doing some work together, schedule a time with me at jeff-perry.com/schedule-call.