The keyword here is "mindset".

One of the most common traps I see my clients fall into is the constant drive to prove themselves.

As an anxious achiever myself, I can relate.

I was taught to believe that talent and hard work are everything and that if one is not naturally gifted, they are destined to fail. But what if I told you that the real problem isn't talent, skills, or strategies, but rather our mindset?

The purpose of this week's newsletter is to highlight the difference between a fixed and a growth mindset. By understanding this difference, you can make a conscious effort to align your mindset with your best interests. Ultimately, your mindset shapes how you define and approach success and failure, as well as your attitude toward the effort.

Enter the fixed and growth mindsets.

Fixed Mindset: The survival region of the brain _ It’s logical and believes in the permanency of qualities and is therefore driven by the need to constantly prove itself. This can make the pursuit of excellence more of a facade and may steer one away from true progress. A mindset is where talent is king; a mindset where looking talented all the time is important and not the urge to truly excel at something; a fear-based value system where people “want to” “not be branded” as a failure, cannot be any good.

Example: Lee Lacocca, & Chrysler

When Lee Lacocca took over the company, he was able to turn it around. However, he soon became complacent and surrounded himself with yes-men. He was more focused on his self-image than the company and sought approval from others to compensate for his self-esteem. This led to a vicious spiral of bad decisions. He ignored declining sales and fired innovators, ultimately leading Chrysler back to its original struggles.

Growth Mindset The Thrive region of the brain?_ It's intuitive. This region of the brain is wired for big-picture awareness and addresses the?subconscious. A mindset that acknowledges that it’s all right to feel upset by failure; a mindset focused on seeing the potentials in the shortcomings, confronting the challenges, and seeking alternative routes to success; a mindset that is clear and calm and driven by curiosity, compassion, a passion for excellence.

Example: Lou Gerstner, and IBM

Lou Gerstner, former CEO of IBM, had a similar story to Lecocca, but with a difference: he recognized internal conflicts were affecting teamwork and customer service. To address this, he broke up old hierarchies, communicated with employees at all levels, emphasized teamwork, and encouraged learning through failures. His growth mindset brought sustainable success to IBM.

In Carol Dweck 's book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Carol shows how success in school, work, sports, the arts, and almost every area of human endeavor can be dramatically influenced by how we think about our talents and abilities. People with a fixed mindset—those who believe that abilities are fixed—are less likely to flourish than those with a growth mindset—those who believe that abilities can be developed. Mindset reveals how great parents, teachers, managers, and athletes can put this idea to use to foster outstanding accomplishments.

The survival brain: Fixed Mindset

Most people only know how to deal with their survival brain. They switch plans, develop technical skills, strategies, and jobs, and manage new tools, but it feels like they are just spinning their wheels. However, there is nothing wrong with them.

They're just trying to fix the symptoms without addressing the core issue to make progress.

They will continue to spin their wheels or fail to follow through if they keep using the wrong brain. Survival brain behaviors include feeling unprepared, striving for perfection, procrastinating, overthinking and analyzing, multitasking, seeking more information, and pursuing achievement to feel worthy.

If you make decisions from a brain that believes:

• You're not enough, your results will never feel like enough.
• Parts of you aren't acceptable, you will never feel accepted.
• If you're lazy, you will never feel motivated.

You can have the most amazing strategy in the world, but it won't do the core sustainable work for you. Even if it does, the sacrifice is your mental health. It's like writing with your non-dominant hand all these years and wondering why your calligraphy career hasn't taken off.

Activate the Thrive brain: Growth Mindset

The good news is that anyone can develop a growth mindset! Our belief systems are not fixed and we can work towards our goals and dreams while shifting our mindset. Spend less time worrying about what's wrong with you and more time taking action towards your goals.

To thrive and achieve lasting success while feeling great along the way, you need to work from the "thrive region" of your brain. This way, your conscious decisions will actually have an impact.

Here are a few examples of how:

• Don’t take massive action from a sense of urgency_ when you’re experiencing a lot of fear and stress - Be compassionate and see the possibilities that emerge.
• Get curious about the resistance. What’s driving it? Fear? Burnout? Not really wanting the thing in the first place?
• Build Failure tolerance by remembering that even setbacks are opportunities for breakthrough

If you're looking to shift your mindset and activate the thriving part of your brain, I would like to invite you to join my upcoming 8-week positive intelligence program. During this program, you will learn how to develop a growth mindset, which is essential for achieving lasting success and fulfillment in your personal and professional life.ghadabkhalifeh.com/mentalfitness. I have two spots available and would love to work with you to help you lead from a growth mindset while sustaining success and improving your well-being.