The Intentional Mindset: Don’t Leave Your Success to Chance

Understanding the power of your mindset puts you in control of your life and work.

Do you consistently make good decisions—ones that drive you toward more and more success? Or do you seem to constantly derail yourself instead? 

Your decisions are based on your mindset. And when you have an intentional mindset, you put yourself in control—fully free to navigate your life and work en route to your desired destiny. The world, as the adage goes, is your oyster. 

Mindsets are just facts of life. But when left to chance, they serve little purpose. More importantly, they can cause otherwise fine people to fail, especially in the challenging and chaotic 21st-century workplace, where things—particularly post-pandemic—are fast, often remote, continuously changing, and infinitely tech-driven. The bottom line: Only those who manage their mindsets and make good and relevant decisions reap the rewards. 

The power of your mindset can’t be overstated. It is pivotal to how you think, act, behave, and make decisions, and to how your decisions drive or derail your success. To misjudge or ignore its might is a major mistake. 

To better understand your mindset, begin with its key components—your goals, values, beliefs, and mode of work. And in this case, start from the perspective of your present job and workplace. 

Goals 

Goals play a critical role in your mindset, as they give you context and direction. They not only serve as targets to aim for, but as guideposts to show the way, particularly when you’re feeling unsure about what to do next. Additionally, goals, in going beyond money, help inject purpose and meaning into your work. 

So, ask yourself: What are you striving for at work? What will satisfy you and make you happy? And what will provide a sense of purpose? Take the focused time you need to ponder the possibilities. Also, remember that all goals are pointless without metrics. Be sure, then, to spell yours out in tangible terms. 

Keep in mind, too, that goals can be personal, community-oriented, or focused on your area of expertise. 

Values 

Values are the core principles by which you aim to live your life. And like goals, they offer useful context and direction. The inventory of potential life values is virtually endless, and only you can define your own. Among those to consider are family, health and well-being, achievement, belonging, creativity, selflessness, spirituality, personal growth, concern for the environment, and financial independence. 

Also, be aware that goals and values frequently complement one another. Your goals, for example, can reveal your values, while your values can point you toward your goals. 

Beliefs 

Beliefs have a momentous responsibility in your mindset, as they translate your values into choices, behaviors, and decisions. 

By definition, beliefs are your opinions, assumptions, or biases about a whole host of issues, projects, communities, and groups of people. And, notably, your beliefs can explain some of your thoughts and behaviors, such as, hypothetically, why others’ opinions have a controlling influence over you, how you choose to stereotype certain races or cultures, and what causes you to unjustly make snap judgments about people or their personal causes. 

Behavioral economists have identified several beliefs that play a key part in people’s mindsets and often lead them to make seemingly poor or irrational decisions. Among them are overconfidence (the belief that they will always succeed), entitlement (the belief that they are owed something), and a fear of risk (the belief that something bad will inevitably happen). 

Mode of work 

Finally, your mode of work is also vital within your mindset. It informs how you go about doing your job, and how that affects your stakeholders, collaborations, and results and outcomes. 

How do you like to do your work? What are your chosen communication channels? Is the process more important to you—or the end result? Does the way that you work sync with your coworkers and collaborators? And how does the culture at your company help or hinder how you want to show up and just do your job? 

Answer those questions, and you’ll better understand your mode of work and how you can best align it with the individuals and environment around you. Your projects will go smoother, and when obstacles do crop up, you’ll use your goals, values, and beliefs to be more prepared to nip them in the bud. 

In closing, why leave your success to chance? Have an intentional mindset—and put yourself in control. You’ll be fully free to navigate your life and career en route to your desired destiny. And the world will be your oyster.

Written by Jane Frankel.
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