Surviving Vs. Thriving Mindset

If you’re struggling in life, there’s a good chance that you have a surviving mindset. Stephen Covey calls it a scarcity mindset.

The surviving mindset is about what you don’t have. A thriving mindset is about seeing and creating opportunities and believing in abundance.

Surviving mindset will stop you from seeing opportunities. You see “lack” everywhere. You see competition everywhere. You see life as a zero-sum game. Negativity all around you. It’s impossible to live a better life with this mindset.

Some people also call these “mental blocks”. These mental blocks will create more problems for you. Here are a few examples …

“People who make money are evil”

“People who are happy are lying”

“There are not enough opportunities for everyone”

“Rich is taking from the poor”

There are many others. But you get the point. If you’ve any of these blocks, it’s impossible to do well in life.

Most people have a surviving mindset. That’s why we see so much poverty, hatred and lack everywhere around us. This is why people hate strangers on the internet.

People hate billionaires because they think billionaires have taken away from the poor. It’s farther from the truth.

No matter what they have. People with a surviving mindset are always focused on what they don’t have.

This is the exact mindset that stops people from living a rich, happy life.

I’ve experienced this personally. There was a phase in my life when I struggled with a surviving mindset. I was miserable. Hateful. Struggling in all aspects. It was painful.

No matter how hard I tried, it seemed impossible to think any other way. And get rid of my surviving mindset. That’s when I stumbled upon a YouTube video (I think it was from Tony Robbins) that completely changed my perspective.

I found out the reason why I wasn’t able to change my mindset. It’s a cycle. Here’s how it works

What’s the first thing that happens when you have a surviving mindset? You lose self-belief.

What happens when you lose self-belief? It shows in your action. If you truly believe in yourself, your actions will be positive. When you’ve no belief in yourself, you act out of fear & doubt.

What happens when you act out of fear & doubt? You see poor results. You don’t hit your goals.

What happens when you get poor results? You lose self-belief.

Exercise — Take out your diary. Think of your life. Write down your mental blocks. Where do you see lack? Which area of your life do you find yourself focusing on “what you don’t have?”. Don’t judge yourself. Don’t beat yourself. Just write down what comes to mind. Without acknowledging your flaws, it’s impossible to overcome them.

For now, let’s look at what a Thriving mindset looks like. This is where you need to go. This is where the magic happens.

With a Thriving mindset, you see opportunities everywhere. You see prosperity. You realize there’s enough for everyone. You become more generous with your time and money.

You let go of negative feelings like jealousy, hate, & pity. You realize you’ve complete control over your life. You feel confident in yourself that you can achieve anything in life you set your mind to.

You feel more grateful. You’re excited about what’s possible. Not fearful about failures. You’re happy to see other people win. You love yourself and everything around you.

Now the cycle we discussed in the Surviving mindset section works in your favour when you have a Thriving mindset.

Here’s how.

What happens when you have a Thriving mindset? You believe in yourself.

What happens when you believe in yourself? You take massive, positive actions.

What happens when you take positive actions? You see positive results.

What happens when you see positive results? You increase your self-belief.

The cycle never ends. Soon, you achieve all your goals & desires. You become the best version of yourself.

Exercise — Take out your diary. Think of what you have in life. Make a list of things that you’re grateful for. Write down your strengths and what you appreciate about yourself.

HOW DO YOU MOVE FROM SURVIVING MINDSET TO A THRIVING MINDSET?

Now that we know two different types of mindsets. And the cycle that drives both mindsets. The question is how do you go from Surviving to Thriving.

Here’s how I did it.

When I realized I was lacking self-belief and was stuck in a cycle. The first thing I decided to do was to start believing in myself.

How do you do that? Affirmations? Yes, affirmations help but when you’re in a rut, it’s impossible to come out of it just by writing down affirmations. You need something more.

The first goal was to find out what will help me believe in myself? So I asked myself a simple question.

“Why don’t I believe in myself?”

After some deep thinking, I figured out that it’s because I don’t keep promises I make to myself.

So, I almost never finish what I set out to do. That resulted in low self-belief.

It’s easier to say “I’ll just finish what I start” than to actually do. The problem wasn’t the finishing. It was in my goal-setting. I was setting up the wrong goals. They weren’t logical.

So, I decided to break down the goal into a series of small goals. Goal so tiny that it’ll be impossible for me NOT to do it.

For example,

Having a goal of building six-pack abs is huge. No basis. No logic. No evidence that you can pull it off.

But, doing 2 push-ups right before you sleep is extremely easy. It’s hard NOT to do it. You’ll do it out of guilt.

No, 2 push-ups won’t give you six-pack abs. But, it’ll rewire your brain into believing in yourself. That you keep the promises you make to yourself. You finish what you start.

What happens when you keep promises you make to yourself? You increase your self-belief.

What happens when you increase your self-belief? You take more positive actions. You move from 2 push-ups to 5 to 10 to going to the gym.

What happens when you take massive actions? You start seeing some results. You start getting in shape and feeling better.

When you see results, you believe in your abilities. You believe you can do what you set your mind to.

Every time I get stuck or feel a lack of self-belief, I look for what’s the smallest thing I can do to move in the direction and I start doing that.

This framework has never failed me. I always come out of the rut. I always hit my goals. Give it a try and let me know.

I don’t need to tell you this, but let’s look at some of the reasons what It’s useful to change your mindset.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again. Your mindset is your reality. This is how you experience your life. Your mindset will decide whether you’ll enjoy your life or be miserable. Whether you’ll be successful or struggle. Whether you’ll be rich or broke.

Let’s look at some of the benefits of changing your mindset from Surviving to Thriving.

• You appreciate your life
• You see more opportunities
• You decrease your daily stress & anxiety
• You take control of your daily life and surrounding
• You build happy and fulfilling relationships with everyone

Change your mindset. Change your life.

Use this simple framework to move from a surviving mindset to a thriving mindset.

PS. This is just one chapter from my ebook “Supermind”. If you enjoyed reading… you’ll love this ebook. Check it out here