How Your Mindset Dictates Your Behaviour

Do you believe that you can change your mindset?

Yes, you can. When you practise a growth mindset, your beliefs can change your behaviour.

I’ll use the iceberg model to illustrate this.

Anatomy of an Iceberg

You’ve probably seen an iceberg, if not in real life then through pictures or movies like The

Titanic. So, you must know that the part of the iceberg under the water causes a whole

bunch of problems and is responsible for a lot of things that happen.

When you apply the iceberg model on the mindset perspective, you touch on the topic of

behaviours and beliefs.

Behaviours make up the tip of the iceberg, while beliefs make up the rest of the iceberg

under the surface.

Behaviours and Beliefs

Behaviours include your goals, visions, values and strategies—whether it's personal or your organisation’s. These are what you do and where you think you get all the work and results

done. It’s also what people see.

In this age of social media, the highlight reels that people see in different platforms are also

just the tip of the iceberg.

Underneath the water is the big chunk of your beliefs—all the turmoil and actual stuff that

make you behave the way that you do like assumptions, norms, limiting beliefs, culture,

perceptions, stories, conditioning, feelings, and unwritten rules.

In other words, your conscious mind is your behaviours and your subconscious mind is your

Beliefs.

Since it makes up a large part of your mindset, your beliefs can dictate your behaviour.

The Power of Beliefs

You unconsciously imbibe many of the components of beliefs as you grow older and this is

what makes it so powerful. You don’t know or realise that you’re developing something that

affects how you act and think. But once you are conscious of these beliefs, then you can do

something about it.

Let’s take for example stories.

According to nutritional biochemist Dr Libby Weaver, one of the biggest drivers for stress is

the stories that you tell yourself. It’s that internal monologue that governs so much of your

daily thoughts that are probably not true.

Dr Weaver’s research shows that if you can get a handle on it and tell yourself “Stop, this

isn’t true and this is just my mind going completely out of control” then your stress levels will

go down. If your stress levels go down, you become physically and mentally healthier.

A Tip to Get a Handle on Your Inner Monologue

Your inner monologue can affect your behaviours. It can stop you from doing many things by

telling you that it’s scary to go beyond your comfort zone or you’re not good enough to take

on a new project.

When it’s knocking on your eardrum and whispering things to you, ask yourself this: Is this

True?

More often than not, you’ll find that those thoughts are not true. When you start recognising

this fact, you can stop those thoughts in their tracks.

There are different ways to do this.

I tell my mind to cancel those thoughts and tell it what to think of instead.

Another method is to write them down via pen and paper. The act of writing gets the

thoughts out of your subconscious and the act of reading helps you recognise the truth

behind what you’ve written.

When you’ve gotten a handle on your thoughts and your mindset, then you can start creating

new beliefs. These new, more positive beliefs can then change your behaviours for the

Better.

Do you have a unique way to stop those pesky inner monologues, share them with me.