“If you imagine less, less will be what you undoubtedly deserve,” said Debbie Millman, a writer, designer, educator, artist, brand consultant, and host of the podcast Design Matters. She urged on having a positive and open mindset, “Do what you love and don’t stop until you get what you love. Work as hard as you can, imagine immensities…” 

Today modern psychology talks a lot about believing in ourselves and our capabilities. It is the only way towards success. Both our conscious and unconscious beliefs shape our lives. The belief system about our abilities and potential that we carry within us shapes our personality, predicts our potential, and the future. Bringing a change in our thoughts can bring a profound impact on nearly every aspect of our lives.

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How we perceive ourselves in our own eyes is how the world sees us, in the true sense. The most basic belief we inculcate about ourselves is what our personality becomes. 

As Steve Goodier puts it “The first secret of success: Believe in Yourself. Nothing changes in your life until you believe you can do things that are important to you. And if you have a low opinion of yourself, nobody else is likely to raise it.”

Psychologists say that there are two basic mindsets that shape our lives: Fixed mindset and Growth Mindset.

A ‘fixed mindset’
This is limiting, a ‘fixed mindset’ believes that what and how they are is fixed and cannot be changed. Their intelligence, creativity, character, habits, and the way they feel cannot be changed. It is static and cannot adapt to change in any meaningful way. This mindset strives by avoiding failure at all costs, perceive success as the result of their inherent intelligence, avoid challenges, give up easily. Most of the fixed mindset individuals are threatened by others’ success, desire to look smart, and avoid feedback. Individuals carrying fixed mindsets believe that people are born with special talents. And every person has different abilities and intelligence that cannot get better with time, persistence, and effort. 

A ‘growth mindset’
On the other hand, a ‘growth mindset’ is free, thrives on challenges, sees failure, not as evidence of unintelligence but preserves in the face of it. Always ready to stretch their existing abilities. Finds inspiration in others’ success, up to put more efforts and learn a new skill, embrace challenges, and accept criticism. Growth mindset people enjoy the learning process that comes from criticism or feedback, They take hurdles and challenges as a way to develop new skills and grow. 

“Happiness depends on your mindset and attitude,” said Roy T. Bennett, the author of the book The Light in the Heart.

We manifest a mindset from a very young age, we are either carrying a ‘fixed or growth’ mindset. This sets a great deal of our behavior, our character, how we perceive the world. Our relationships with success and failure in both professional and personal contexts and our mindset decide ultimately our capacity for happiness.

“In a fixed mindset, everything is about the outcome. If you fail—or if you’re not the best—it’s all been wasted. The growth mindset allows people to value what they’re doing regardless of the outcome. They’re tackling problems, charting new courses, working on important issues. Maybe they haven’t found the cure for cancer, but the search was deeply meaningful,” written by the author of the book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck.