Imagine your goal, vision, or ideal lifestyle as a physical destination.

What’s going to get you there is a map — a clear idea on what the right directions are, ideally step by step.

But how fast and how efficiently you get there primarily depends on one very important thing: your vehicle.

The vehicle is you and your mindset. Pause and reflect on this analogy for a second.

We all tend to think and act on autopilot (and this saves us a lot of time), but to be at our best we need to reprogram our mindset.

This means to consciously change, improve and/or replace our set of attitudes, thoughts, beliefs as well as levels of motivation and willpower.

Just like you would carefully choose the best vehicle to get to your destination — choose the best mindset to maximize the chances of getting what you want in life.

Keep reading…

Empowering mindset vs limiting mindset

An empowering mindset is a set of thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes that allow you to perform at your best in all areas of your life.

Limiting beliefs can be replaced by empowering ones; negative, inaccurate thoughts about yourself can be replaced by positive, helpful ones.

It all comes down to our own choice. If your goals and dreams are not average, don’t choose an average mindset.

Choose to be empowered by your own thoughts and beliefs. Choose to turn your mind into a loyal ally. Most importantly, choose what you want!

What you want is the destination, which will determine the path and the vehicle — the person you need to become and the mindset you need to develop.

To develop a mindset that empowers you…

1. Question everything

As we grow up, we seem to gradually lose one of our superpowers — the ability to observe things around us and ask why.

In reality, we simply forget that we can ask questions, and question the way people think and behave.

Rule number one for a truly empowering mindset: never take things for granted and refuse to accept any rule that says some things are impossible.

For example, people around you may say it’s impossible to do this or that, but why? Is it objectively impossible? Or is it a limiting belief?

2. Say goodbye to guilt

The feeling of guilt and/or shame is a bit like mild depression — it often goes unnoticed simply because the person can still function.

However, few things are as toxic as guilt when it comes to reaching your goals and living the best possible life.

Guilt says: you don’t deserve it; so you don’t ask for it. Guilt says: you are not enough; so you try and change yourself rather than your environment. And so on.

Before you even think of pursuing any goal, you first have to say goodbye to guilt and know that you deserve the best. You really do.

3. Be an imperfectionist

Perform a task with very high expectations of yourself and, paradoxically, you may end up making more mistakes.

Not only that, you will also create unnecessary stress and tension. Not to mention the fact that it’s harder to take action if your standards are too high.

The solution? Ditch the perfectionist within you. And yes, there is one in all of us. It’s just that in some of us it’s especially controlling.

To develop an empowering mindset means to allow yourself to do, to act, regardless of the end result.

Don’t think of it a thousand times; do it a thousand times. That’s how you achieve excellence.

4. Have a safety net

Much like ridiculously high standards, a strong element of risk can make any task seem daunting.

So the fourth tip is to always have a plan B or different strategy you can rely on just in case.

This could be the help of a friend, savings, outsourcing what needs to be done, or simply the thought that “it’s not that important”.

Because you’ll find that in most cases, life has a huge safety net and what we call “risks” is simply our own fear of making mistakes.

5. Say no to overcomplexity

Fifth tip: do not engage in any activity that distracts you from your true goals and takes up mental energy.

This doesn’t mean not having fun, etc. It means prioritizing and making your life as simple as possible.

You have no idea how much time, energy, and even money people tend to invest in things that do absolutely nothing for their growth and/or wellbeing.

Embrace minimalism. Turn off your phone once in a while. Don’t do what you are supposed to do — do what needs to be done. And you’ll achieve your goals much faster.

6. Eat, sleep, repeat

I am going to be boring and say that your physical health plays a big role as well. Duh. We all knew this, right?

Yet it had to be part of this list. Mind and body are interconnected, and if you ever need proof of this, try and think quickly after a massive meal.

Digestion literally slows down your mind, and some studies suggest that being slightly hungry even boosts happiness levels.

You don’t need any super strict diet, though. Just eat mindfully. And of course never sacrifice sleep — it’s vital.

7. Monitor your mind

This is a big one. Learn to do this and you’ll automatically be happier, calmer, and more motivated than the vast majority of people.

To develop an empowering mindset, pay attention to your own thoughts so you can then carefully choose which ones to focus on.

The first part, not the latter, is the hardest. It’s relatively easy to see which thoughts are empowering, and which should be ignored.

What’s tricky is to detach from the mind simply because we all tend to identify with it. Tricky, but it can be done. Meditation, mindfulness, or even just writing down your thoughts helps massively.

8. Focus on your strengths

You have positive and negative traits — more than you could ever think of. Which ones do you think you should be focusing on?

Sadly, a big percentage of the population has somehow learned to direct their attention to their negative qualities (what they lack, or don’t like about themselves).

At that point, efforts are made to make up for those. Wouldn’t it be smarter to identify what you are good at, and make it even better?

Try to compensate for what you lack and you’ll be, at best, average. Honor your unique strengths and you’ll be unstoppable.

9. Never use this word

The word “average”. Though I guess “normal”, “normality”, “common” etc. could have a similar effect.

Why are these words a problem? Because average should not interest you. Nor should it ever define you.

If you are reading articles like this one, then I seriously doubt you want to have an average life. The idea itself probably scares you a bit.

So don’t look at what’s been done already. Don’t base your chances of success on statistics and all that. Be realistic… but not too much.

10. Have your own goals

Lastly, make sure what you are trying to become, pursue, or achieve comes from your heart and your heart only.

Cultivate dreams that belong to someone else and you will self sabotage, at best, or succeed and realize you have wasted precious time, at worst.

The tenth tip to be unstoppable and develop an empowering mindset is to look within and ask yourself what it is meant for you and what isn’t.

Yes, you can do anything, but only if the goal/dream is yours. If not, all sorts of obstacles will come up and you’ll call them “bad luck” even if they are warnings from your higher self.