“A reasonable man adapts himself to his environment. An unreasonable man persists in attempting to adapt his environment to suit himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”
― George Bernard Shaw
The Two Types of Mindset
Do you have a fixed mindset or a growth mindset?
If you have a fixed mindset, then you feel comfortable and don’t want to improve yourself and your life. You lack drive and will turn away from anything that remotely scares you. You sit in the passenger seat of life.
On the other end of the spectrum is the growth mindset. Having a growth mindset, you’re able to overcome challenges because you view them as opportunities for growth.
You are always looking for ways to improve yourself and your current situation. You take full responsibility for your life and are content with where you are, but not complacent.
What separates the fixed and growth mindset are six key distinctions. Let’s highlight those differences.
The Fixed Mindset
In the world of career and business, the fixed mindset is also known as the employee mindset.
The employee mindset put emphasis on:
- Entitlement
- Output
- What is asked or requested for
- Working for job security
- Not making decisions despite having authority to do so
- Viewing circumstances as fixed and permanent
You’re reactive by sitting around and wait for the perfect opportunity before you take action. You don’t take risks because you don’t give yourself permission to go after what you want. Your victim mentality causes you to think life is out of your control and that “success” only happens to a selected few.
The Growth Mindset
The growth mindset in the professional world is the entrepreneurial mindset.
The entrepreneurial mindset focus on:
- Contribution
- Outcome
- What is needed or required
- Becoming indispensable
- Taking risks and making big decisions
- Viewing circumstances as temporary
Having an entrepreneurial mindset, you take “success” into your hands. Now having this mindset doesn’t mean you have to be an entrepreneur or in business because this mindset also applies to employees.
It’s also possible for entrepreneurs to have the fixed (employee) mindset and it usually results in stagnation or failure in their businesses. With a true entrepreneur mindset, you’re always aware if you’ve fallen back into the employee mindset.
To distinguish the differences in each category, let’s dive deeper.
The Difference Between Entitlement and Contribution
Entitlement is present when you believe something should belong to you without you having to actually work for it. If you’ve experienced losing a job in the past, did you feel angry and resentful your previous company had let you go?
If you did, then you have felt entitlement.
Focusing on contribution in that situation, you would have questioned where you could have added more value in the workplace. When you concentrate on contribution, you have other people’s best interests at heart and are constantly serving and adding value to them.
What drives me to write this is to serve you. My only concern is to help you understand the benefits of the growth mindset, so hopefully, you would want to adopt this mindset.
As a result, you will grow as a person and become a more powerful version of yourself. I don’t care about how many views or shares I get on this post because I’m not driven by external factors.
The Difference Between Output and Outcome
If you focus on output, you put emphasis on following through with the motion of doing what is purely requested and expect the outcome to magically appear.
A prime example is the formal education system.
You’re told at a young age that if you focus on going to school five days a week and diligently do all the necessary work to receive good grades, then positive outcomes such as a guaranteed job after graduation.
This belief is no longer true.
Getting a field-related job after graduation is quickly becoming the exception rather than the rule. How many people do you know have graduated with a college degree but have to settle for unrelated jobs just to pay the bills?
Just because you received good grades in school doesn’t translate to earning money in the real world.
People with a fixed mindset purely focus on just working harder and harder (output) without deliberating if the efforts are directly correlated to producing the results that they want.
But when you emphasize outcome instead of output, you specifically engage in activities that directly produce the results and outcomes that you want in your life. You put importance on real-world outcomes and skills that will deliver the results you want in personal or professional endeavors.
If you’re able to create value in the form of real-world results for others, you will have people willing to pay for those results.
The Difference Between Requested and Needed
How many times have you done just the bare minimum of what is asked of you to get the job done?
Instead of focusing on what is requested of you, focus on what truly is needed in any given situation. You first must understand what the situation needs and give a solution. Many times it’s about solving problems and if you can give that, then you’re adding value to others.
In the professional work setting, if you can help your coworkers and boss solve problems, they will gravitate towards you. You will be the first to be promoted, to win businesses, and the last one to be laid off.
For personal settings such as being out with friends, ask yourself how you can add value to the interaction. Perhaps you can tell them a funny joke or genuinely compliment your friends to make them feel appreciated and valued. Your friends will like you more and would want to hang out with you again.
The Difference Between Working for Job Security and Being Indispensable
You have heard the best way to be valuable in an organization is to be indispensable.
But what does that really mean?
This actually means you have to become dispensable. This might be counterintuitive, but please allow me to explain.
Let’s imagine you want to climb up the corporate ladder in your company. The best way to move up and become a leader is to make yourself obsolete in your current role. You can do this by outgrowing the role you’re in. To begin, you can learn new practical skills and proactively acquire new responsibilities only you can do.
Because of the new abilities and tasks, you’re now more valuable and your time is worth much more than what you were previously assigned to do. Your previous position will be assigned to someone else and you will be focused on performing more important jobs. If you can continually do that for each new role you’re in, you will soon be at the top because you have outgrown each role that you’ve been assigned to.
You have become indispensable by being dispensable!
In the business world, you can become dispensable even at the highest level. To achieve this, you must pick great people to keep the business going strong despite your absence. This is only possible if you have a flawless system that involves meticulous hiring, delegation, automation, outsourcing, and anything else required to allow your organization to run smoothly.
The Impact of Making Big Decisions Despite Not Having Authority
The biggest difference I see between “successful” and “unsuccessful” people is their permission to allow themselves to make decisions and take risks.
Successful people don’t let others dictate if they can or can’t do something. They give themselves permission to make decisions that could impact and change their lives.
Most times, you’re too afraid to make big decisions because of fear. You’re afraid of uncertainty and the unknown because you cling to comfort and safety.
With a fixed mindset, you won’t make big decisions because you’re scared of losing your job. Now granted, the decision you’re making should be something you honestly think will help the company in one way or another.
Only big decisions will lead to huge impacts. And if you’re not making a positive contribution, you will be on top of the list when the time comes for layoffs.
The Power of Being Unreasonable
Do you view the world as a place full of rules, regulations, and protocols?
I’m not talking about societal rules you must obey to be a law-abiding citizen. I’m speaking about the hidden “rules” such as you have to get a formal school education degree to pursue what you want. Those who believe that will follow and do what is told and expected of them so everything will turn out as they have hoped.
But all successful people I know have created their own rules and opportunities for themselves.
Before helping others with their health and life challenges, I constrained myself with a limiting belief that I don’t have the qualifications for it.
I was held back with thoughts such as:
- “No one would listen to me.”
- “I don’t have the credentials for it.”
But one day, I simply decided and gave myself permission to start helping others. I realized I don’t “need” to have a teaching degree or any other certification although it would help.
All my clients care about is for me to help them solve their problems by providing progress and results. If I can deliver what they want, they will continue to pay and work with me.
Just like the quote stated in the beginning, your progress depends on you being unreasonable. Therefore my suggestion to you is to be unreasonable!
How you perceive your environment plays a key role in your actions because your perspective becomes your reality. You could either let a past traumatic event cripple you or allow it to teach you a powerful lesson.
Ask yourself:
- “How can I learn from my past challenges and use them as fuel to propel me forward?”
- “How can I see the world as more flexible and mold it into the shape I want it to be?”
Closing Thoughts
Most successful people didn’t get to where they are now by accident. It all started with a simple but difficult decision to take risks. They may not succeed on the first attempt, but they use their “failures” as feedback to learn and grow.
Each setback brings them more wisdom and the opportunity for development. For them to succeed, they just have to do it once!
Often times you only hear about many entrepreneurs’ success stories but rarely about their countless collapses. However, they wouldn’t be where they are now without their disasters.
Not viewing their defeats as permanent, they persisted. They were unreasonable and created the progress and results they have envisioned for themselves.
Whether if you’re an employee in a company or an entrepreneur, you have the power to choose how you want to live your life and write your story. Knowing you have this choice can empower you to become the creator of your life, rather than the reactor of life.
Take full responsibility for your life.
Go create your dream life and ultimately become the man you’ve always want to be.
I am on a mission to help 1,000,000 people, but I can’t do that without your help. Please share this article with anyone who you may think will find it valuable and helpful. Thank you very much! I greatly appreciate it!
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