Your mindset – how you view yourself and the world around you – plays a fundamental role in your personal and professional success. A positive, proactive mindset inspires you toward transformative growth, while a negative or complacent mindset has the power to halt or even suffocate your goals and dreams. Many people refer to these mindsets as Growth or Fixed.
But how can you evaluate your current mindset and build an internal dialog that will elevate you toward your best self?
Understanding your mindset
At Siegfried, we categorize mindset into one of four categories – the Fixed Complainer, Disappointed Striver, Satisfied Achiever, or Growth Leader. Fixed Complainers are those who refuse to transform their lives. This “why bother” mindset is characterized by fear, defeat, pessimism, self-pity, and anger, and it is dangerous because it does not allow any room for growth.
On the other hand, Disappointed Strivers can’t transform. Like Fixed Complainers, they are frustrated, discouraged, and stuck, but unlike Fixed Complainers, they still have hopes, dreams, and desires; they still strive for success.
Satisfied Achievers have attained success, but they are done evolving. They are comfortable and content with staying where they’re at. While being a Satisfied Achiever is nice, at Siegfried, our higher purpose is about transforming ourselves, and we want our people to become Growth Leaders. This is the mindset of continual transformation and growth, characterized by highly motivated, inspired, committed, and enterprising individuals.
Transforming your perspective
These mindsets are dynamic states of being, and we all fall into each of these categories from time to time. But if you can successfully recognize the mindset you’re in, you can easily reframe it to become one of ambition and growth. For example, if you’re feeling overwhelmed, a trait of the Fixed Complainer mindset, you can transform into a Disappointed Striver or even a Growth Leader by considering the situation as complex but surmountable, rather than overwhelming and impossible.
Below are some other key words that can help you to evaluate your current mindset and reinforce the forward-thinking mindset of a Disappointed Striver or Growth Leader. By simply incorporating these words into your internal dialogue, you can shift to a more energized and impactful state of mind and exponentially improve your life and success.
Fixed Complainer – Distracted, Losing, Resentment, Inferiority, Overwhelmed, Reactivity, Negativity
Disappointed Striver – ‘Not Yet’, Complexity, Dreaming, Desiring, Hoping, Competition, Mistakes
Satisfied Achiever – Comfortable, Secure, Rewarded, Settled, Complacent, Relaxed, Retirement
Growth Leader – Commitment, Vision, Exponential, Capability, Risk-Taking, Confidence, Ambition, Change, Challenging, Teamwork, Surpassing, Innovative, Courage, Optimism
About our CEO Perspectives series: These insights and perspectives were adapted from sessions and conversations hosted by our CEO and Founder, Rob Siegfried.
