How to achieve a goal in life. How to force yourself

Theses on self-development are full of training and conferences. And sales gurus have made a fortune by touring and telling banal things in public, such as set yourself a goal, moving towards the goal, etc.

Perception plays a key role. Change your mindset and you can change your life.

Cognitive activity

So Perception determines everything.

The "I can grow up" attitude is well researched and told by Carol Dweck at Ted Talks with the thesis "Not yet". She talks about how she found out about an interesting assessment method in one of the schools in Chicago, where when the exam failed, they did not give a low grade, but a mark like "I haven't passed yet."

Later, having devoted many years of study to this assessment methodology, Carol Dweck conducted a study in which 10-year-olds were given a problem of slightly increased complexity for them.

Children reacted differently to the solution of the problem:

1. Some are unexpectedly positive – "I love a challenge." They were interested in solving a difficult problem, perceiving it as something new, unknown. And when faced with a negative situation, they get excited. And if they fail, they understand that it did not work out due to lack of knowledge or the wrong approach. And something needs to be changed in order to be more successful next time.

   
   

2. Others react negatively to the task, get upset. They fixate on an unsuccessful assessment and fall under its oppression, thinking that the assessment is "Now and forever". In the next difficult task, they will be cunning, or say that they are not interested in it or they are not strong in it. And even get satisfaction in the fact that others turned out worse. They will run away from difficulties in the future for fear of leaving their comfort zone, so they will stop developing.

In further assessments of academic performance in children of the first group, academic success grew, and in children who negatively perceived difficulties, academic grades only worsened.

Carol Dweck's idea is that if we change the perception of evaluation - to evaluate efforts that can be corrected by further development - this will significantly increase the ability of personal growth.

A number of schools have used this approach as an experiment.

The introduction of this approach to the Haarlem School (a disadvantaged area in New York) allowed achieving a score of 95% of the National Achievement Test. At the same time, many of these children could not hold a pencil in their hands before they came to school.

Another example, the Bronx School in New York: a year of putting into practice a new teaching and evaluation methodology helped to win the school math test (state Olympiad).

The third example: Students from the school of the peoples of the reservation from the very bottom of the list moved to the very top in the performance of schools in the district, overtaking schoolchildren from Seattle, where children from Microsoft study.

It all happened thanks to a change in mentality. The perception of complexity and effort has changed, which has now become a tool in achievements. Previously, poor grades led to students becoming stupid and even dropping out of classes. Now difficulties caused a positive reaction and a desire to overcome them, which made efforts to study or work more productive.

Development of thinking

What it gives:

1. Positive attitude to difficulties and failures. Failures are not fatal, but another test with a cyclical nature: effort, attempt, failure ... more effort, another attempt, success! This rule works universally in school, entrepreneurship, working with projects, sales and in simple human relationships.

   
   

2. It develops a strategy for achieving success and cultivates perseverance in solving problems.

   
   

3. Involves in solving the problem. Instead of perceiving some complex transformation as unrealizable, employees in the organization can positively participate in changes, be motivated and involved.

   
   

4. The mental attitude "it didn't work out now" trains our capabilities. It becomes a simulator of our mental and physical abilities.

Mindset is simple and clear, instead of getting upset over failure, you need to say "so what?! It will definitely work out next time, we must try again" and direct all energy to solving the problem so that next time it will be successfully solved.

So change your mindset and you can change your life. The main thing is to understand that our abilities can develop.

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