Moving from a passive to an active mindset
Ya girl is happy!
I noticed/realised something really cool this week.
I’ve been working really hard on my podcast and a couple of other side/passion projects (if you haven’t listened yet, you can do so here or find me on Spotify and Apple Podcasts) and I’m absolutely loving it.
I get to speak to amazing women every week on the show and through social media and it’s a whole lot of fun.
While this is great in itself, what I’ve noticed is that I'm just feeling my life in general shift in a positive direction.
Not only do I personally feel more positive, but I’m just noticing that things are moving in a really great direction in all aspects of my life. I’m doing well (all things considered) at work right now, my podcast is going well, my training and diet is going well, I feel like my friendships are becoming stronger (again, all things considered).
The coolest thing about this, and what I realised this week, (an epiphany if you may) is I know it's because I'm intentionally pushing it there.
I've noticed I'm no longer being passive in life. Instead, I’m being really active in pursuing things I enjoy, chasing positivity and hunting down opportunities. I’m not waiting for things to happen to me. I’m not waiting for those experiences (negative or positive) to just fall into my lap anymore.
For so long I was under the assumption that great things just happen to people. Well, that’s not true. I knew people worked hard for opportunities, I wasn’t discounting that. But, I just wasn’t making the connection on how to make that happen for me.
I knew something awesome was going to come my way one day and I was patiently waiting my turn. Maybe, I wasn’t waiting for the opportunity to land in my lap per se, but definitely waiting for it to make itself known.
It feels so liberating to shift into a mindset of making shit happen for myself rather than waiting for it to.
OMG it’s like the part in Harry Potter where he’s waiting for his dad to come and save his past self from the dementors with the patronas but then realises THAT IS HE WHO MUST SAVE HIMSELF. Wow. I just blew my OWN mind.
I digress.
It’s liberating. Really liberating. And additive. The more I work on myself and my goals, the more positive feedback I get. I don’t mean people giving me actual positive feedback (although that has been nice). I mean, feedback from my surroundings, from the universe. The more I move forward and the more positive I am, the more I notice the momentum building. The more consistency I apply, the more I notice the shift into positivity, the doors opening, the experiences multiplying.
It also felt incredibly liberating admitting I was in the wrong too for two reasons:
Because failure isn’t really that scary in the end (well, failure on that scale)
It meant I was then able to move forward and learn something
Breaking it down...
So what is a passive mindset? A passive mindset is the expectation or assumption that life happens TO you and that you have no responsibility over it. Exactly how I was thinking before. It’s a shirking of responsibility and therefore easy for us to default to. Ultimately, it means you’re not in control.
Whereas an active mindset is (surprisingly) the opposite. It’s the knowledge that you ARE in control. It’s acceptance of responsibility over your thoughts, your actions, your wins and your failures. It’s harder because you’re opening up yourself to self doubt, fear of failure and urge for perfection.
By moving from passive to active, I’ve shifted the blame back on to myself. It means I am the one with the control over the outcomes. I can’t blame someone else, nor can I let someone else take the credit.
Passivity is sense of aimlessness
Activity is a sense of direction
Passivity is surrendering
Activity is ownership
It all sounds a bit wishy washy, but what I realised it has come down to is awareness. I have become AWARE of how I am approaching things and now I move towards tasks with INTENT, whether that’s my podcast, work, training, diet or relationships.
An active mindset is simply one of intent.
I train with intent, so I should be able to apply the same purpose to the rest of my life.
I feel empowered in the knowledge that I am an agent of my own success and I’ve become focussed on being conscious of all areas of my life where I am either passive or active. Now I constantly ask myself; how I can be more intentional about who I am, what I want and ultimately how I move through life?
As I mentioned before, being aware is half the battle, but it is and forever will be a constant work in progress. I know it’s not as simple as flicking a switch. Certain ways of behaviour and thinking are engrained. They’re habits (don’t get me started on habits, I’m obsessed). They’re automatic systems that we default to. But, habits are learned pathways and that means we have the opportunity to change them.
Some questions to help us along the way:
What does moving from passive to active look like in different areas of our lives?
Which of our habits are holding us back?
What areas of our lives are we just waiting to see what happens to us?
How can we facilitate change in these same areas?
Go forth and be active!
R x
The knock on effect into other areas of my life has been tremendous too.
Since this realisation, my general outlook on life has been a lot more positive, as has how I speak to myself. I’m a lot kinder in my inner dialogue.
I’ve been a lot more open to catching up with friends, as weird as that sounds. I think just being more positive means I’m a bit more at ease with where I am at in space and time. I’m more confident in my ability to contribute, ask questions and be an active participant in a conversation.
I actually think I’ve just been a lot more open in general – open to new things, open to taking on more – this is partly because what they is true about ‘if you want something done ask a busy person’ but also just being more comfortable in who I am I think is a big part of it.
R x