Introduction:
Coming into 2020, we all had goals we hoped to achieve. But, in all the goals we set out for ourselves, I don’t think anyone set out Corona Virus or Lockdown as a Goal for himself or herself. But, here we are, the seventh month of the year and we have practically spent more than a quarter of the year already under lockdown.
We now live in a time of great uncertainties and fears. All thanks to the Corona Virus pandemic. There have been several predictions on how jobs will be lost, and truthfully jobs have been lost and will still be lost. But, another truth which many of the naysayers and doomsayers fail to let you know is that as these jobs were being lost; many more jobs were/are being created.
If you are conversant with History, you will understand that times like the one we are in are not common to this generation. Humans in the time past have faced worst situations than these and still pulled through.
Again, I need you to understand this –life is full of challenges, trials, ups and downs; each of these presents you with different choices on how to react or respond to it. The quality of the choice you make in these times will determine whether or not you thrive.
In situations and times like this, it is always easy to turn on negativity and let yourself wallow in self-pity and panic.
But, the question is, does that always help?
In fact, as humans, that is our default mode (Auto-pilot) when faced with a challenge. We are endued with the emotion of fear so we could turn away from danger (this kind of fear is called survival instinct). But, we were not designed to continually live out our lives in fear.
The fear was to be the first reaction so we could turn away and have time to carefully prepare on the best line of actions to take. This is why, when you are walking on the road and you hear shouts, your first reaction is to turn away from the road.
When you turn away from the road, you will then carefully process the situations around you and know the best steps to take in order to avert any danger.
And for most parts of the first half, that was our ways of doing things – fear and panic.
Now, we are in the last part of the year already, you must carefully plan out how to win despite the challenges and the fears going on in the world, so you will end the year on a great note.
Your ability to survive and thrive in the remainder of the year will depend largely on two major factors – your MINDSET and your STRATEGIES.
MINDSET
What is Mindset?
Mindset refers to a set of beliefs you hold which are shaped or formed by your past experiences and which affect or determine the way you think, see yourself and act.
Your mindset is what you believe to be possible or impossible for you as an individual. It determines and creates your reality.
According to Carol Dweck, there are basically two types of Mindset – the fixed mindset and the Growth Mindset.
…the fixed mindset
Those with the fixed mindset believe that the things which happen or go on in their lives cannot be changed as they happen because they either have the talents or don’t have the talents for them. These persons believe that those who are successful are those who have talents to be successful.
They believe that those who are able to bounce back from challenges are those who have been naturally given such talent to bounce back from challenges.
…the Growth Mindset.
While the Growth mindset believes that everything which happens or go on around them could be changed and improved upon through their hard work, dedication and the help of others. They believe that people are successful not necessarily because they have been endowed with it but because they worked on becoming successful.
How they (mindsets) develop
Now, I need you to understand this, the fixed mindset or growth mindset start taking roots in you right from your early beginnings. From the way, your parents brought you up to what you were exposed to or what you were made to believe about yourself.
Earlier I mentioned that as humans we have the tendency to almost always panic when faced with challenges. While many (who have the growth mindset) move on away from this as soon as it sets in, many others (with fixed mindset) dwell on this, thereby creating for themselves negative energy that soon begins to affect them.
This is because everyone and everything, including situations turn away from negative energy and negative emotions. Even success and winning are turned away by negative energy.
That is just the law of the Universe. For those who are of the Christian Faith, they believe that God will do for you abundantly above all that you could ask or think, while those who do not have any defined faith profession, believe that the universe will bring to you what you wish for. So, it is a Universal Law.
Need for Mindset Switch
If you must be able to thrive and win in the remainder of the year, you must choose to switch your default mode from negativity (fixed mindset) to progressive (growth mindset).
How do you carry out this switch?
- Acceptance: If you have been affected in one way by the pandemic, you need to first accept that it has happened. It was no fault of yours and it did not happen to you alone but to all humanity.
- Adapt
- Take charge again of your life: by taking charge here, I mean you taking control of your thoughts, emotions and actions. Taking charge also involves you owning your situations. Unless you are in charge of any situation, you cannot change anything about it.
Understand that the current pandemic and lockdown situations are not under your control, so you can’t change them. The things you can change are the things you are in charge of and those are your thoughts and your actions.
To improve on your thought pattern, change the quality of information you feed your mind. Because the information you take in is what go on to become your thoughts.
One way to do this is by studying books – here are two books I think everyone should read: here are two books I think everyone should read
STRATEGIES
Strategies here refer to plans towards winning. To develop the strategies for winning in the remainder of the year you need to do the following:
- Review the journey so far for you: when you have accepted the situations we are all faced with at this point in time in our history, the next thing you need to do for yourself is to sit down and review your past six months.
- Make up your mind on the things that are most important to you for the remainder of the year. This is because you may not be able to achieve all the plans you had coming into 2020. So, be clear on what is now most important to you as an individual. Those who will win in the remainder of the year are those who are clear on what they want. So, be clear on the things most important to you in the remainder of the year.
- Develop a Plan on how to achieve them: according to Tom Landry, “setting a goal is not the main thing, it is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with the plan.” Not sure about how to develop a plan? check out this piece I wrote on how to create a Personal Growth Plan.
- Go again!
You may like to check out my simple guide on keeping yourself productive, including this post on my list of top books on Productivity. Also, check out my article on how you could stop growing backwards and start growing forward.