Ahhhhh mindset. There is so much that can be said about how important it is to master your mindset for so many things in life. In fact, it is a common belief that it is our mindset that will determine how successful we are at whatever it is we are working toward, whether that be increasing our confidence, making more money, starting a business, finding our dream partner, you name it – your mindset will absolutely play a huge role in both the outcome of any of your endeavors, as well as the journey that unravels as you go after your endeavors.

So how do we even go about the elusive task of mastering our mindset? Well, truthfully, there are about a million ways this question could be and has been answered. And the hilarious thing is that many of them are probably very true! Which leads me to my whole point:

The mindset trick that changed the game for me, personally, has been embracing my humanness. 

You’re probably thinking, zoë, what the heck do you even mean by humanness? 

I am talking about the very human experience of being imperfect, having flaws, making mistakes, and facing uncertainty. 

And to take that one step further, to greet these aspects of being a human with grace, flexibility, forgiveness, and kindness, particularly toward myself, but also extended to others. 

Let’s go deeper. It is all too common for us to call ourselves “dumb” or “stupid” when we make a mistake. Sadly, the mistake doesn’t even have to be one of great caliber for us to even grant ourselves the title of “idiot” – yet, we still do it and we do it so naturally. 

A few years ago, I started intentionally paying attention to how effortlessly I was calling myself names in the face of making silly mistakes – mistakes that definitely did NOT warrant the name-calling that ensued. Once I started realizing how commonly I was saying these things to myself, I started looking at how often other people around me were doing it.

I quickly learned that it has become a very casual thing to make fun of ourselves, to call ourselves names, to laugh at memes that poke at our mental health (or lack thereof), etc… hmmm and yet we are also saying that we are trying to prioritize our mental health and improving our mindset?

Something was not adding up for me. 

I started to ask myself how seriously I could possibly be taking my mental health and my mindset if I was so easily making comments that were harmful to my mindset and mental health after something as human as making a mistake occurred.

The answer was simple: I was not taking it seriously. I was quite literally making it into a joke. 

So I decided to change it. I made an intentional shift to interact with myself with more grace, flexibility, forgiveness, and kindness. Some of the shifts were easier than others: for example, instead of calling myself an “idiot” when I make a mistake, I started to call myself a “silly goose”, which I highly recommend for anyone who wants to invite some silliness into their lives. 

Some of the shifts took more commitment and practice to implement, such as changing my inner dialogue. When I caught myself judging myself, I would show myself grace and flexibility by saying something like “this is something I used to judge myself for but as an imperfect human, I know I don’t need to judge myself for this anymore”. It sounds like a mouthful… and it kind of is. This isn’t exactly a one-and-done shift that takes place after saying that to yourself one time. It has taken years of repeating this and similar affirmations for me to start feeling the powerfulness that comes with embracing my humanness instead of judging myself for it. 

To summarize, the mindset trick that truly changed the mindset game for me has been to embrace the very human experience of making mistakes, facing uncertainty, and not being perfect.

It really is something to celebrate. In hindsight, I can lovingly laugh at the fact that I used to take making a simple mistake so seriously to the point where I would be mean to myself. Think about that!! It really is not something to throw your mindset and mental health over. 

Are there parts of your inner dialogue that can shift? I challenge you to check in with how you speak to yourself when you have a human moment. Are you graceful? Or are you unkind? Perhaps there is some room for some flexibility in the way you experience your own humanness. 

If you enjoyed this blog post, please share it with someone who you think could benefit from learning this perspective!

Stay magnetic,

zoë

PS: Interested in cultivating a healthy, abundant mindset? Learn more about my Magnetize breakthrough sessions and see how 90 minutes can change your life!