How to Upgrade Our Mindsets
When we understand that our mindsets are neural connections, how we upgrade our mindsets becomes obvious. We need to rewire our mind.
Good news, this is easier than you might think (Although it is not always easy).
Pro-tip: If you haven’t read the article “What are Mindsets?” read that first before reading this article.
Shifting Our Mindsets Means
Shifting Our Mindset Neural Connections
Let me give you a simple example. We each have a neural connection, or pathway, spanning our three major brain regions that is prone to interpret risk as being bad (i.e., prevention mindset). We also have a different neural connection that is prone to interpret risk as being a signal for growth and progress (i.e., promotion mindset).
The neural connection that is stronger is going to be the one that we primarily filter information through when we encounter a risky situation or decision. This is because that stronger neural connection fires more rapidly and loudly.
So, if we want to shift our mindsets, we need to activate and strengthen our less-dominant mindset neural connection. As we do this over time, we will come to primarily rely upon the previously weaker mindset because it will be the one that now fires more rapidly and loudly.
Shifting Our Mindsets Is Easier Than You Think
It is a great thing that our brains are incredibly plastic, making this prospect of shifting your mindsets more doable than you might initially think.
An interesting research study demonstrates this.
The researchers split a large group of financial professionals in half. Half of these people watched a three-minute video about how stress is debilitating, and the other half watched a three-minute video about how stress is enhancing. This was an intervention designed to activate and strengthen different mindset neural connections.
Then, they tracked their engagement, performance, and blood pressure over the next two weeks.
They found that those who watched the stress-is-enhancing video had higher engagement, higher performance, and lower blood pressure.
One three-minute video designed to shift mindsets had effects on these professionals’ emotions, behaviors, and even their physiology for two weeks.
If watching a single three-minute video had these kind of effects for two weeks, what do you think would happen if we continued to engage in similar mental exercises on a regular basis? Sure enough, we would continue to strengthen our positive mindset until it becomes the dominant way that we process information.
