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Think BIG achieve BIG, The Mindset Game!

August 13, 2020

Author: Sajjad Umar

Mindset plays an important role in almost all aspects of your life, whether it is your carrier-related goals or social life. To do even small tasks like writing, eating, playing, communicating, exercising; the brain has to give some instructions to the body, as a result, the body performs the required task. This article will focus on discussing the importance of a positive mindset and big thinking in achieving our seemingly impossible goals. Let's Discuss!

What is the mindset?

Mindset literally means the settings of mind. How a person or a group of persons think or generates opinions about something, it's a set of assumptions, it can be seen as a person's attitude or a comprehensive view a person has about himself and the world.

Mindset Matters! Why?

Now we know what a mindset is, let's discuss why it matters? A professor, psychologist, and researcher named Dr. Alia Crum studies and investigate how mindset affects health and behavior. Her study proves; The biggest game-changer is “YOU, by harnessing the power of your mind." below are a few examples of studies (experiments) that prove the importance of mindset.

Open vs Hidden treatment

Dr. Benedetti and his team conducted an experiment where the same exact amount of morphine was given to two groups of patients before surgery to reduce pain. One group was openly injected by doctors and the other group was injected by an automatic pump without letting them know.

Both groups should have experienced the same amount of relief in pain during surgery but the results suggested the opposite. The group that was given morphine by doctors reported a significant reduction in pain as compared to the other group which was given the same amount of morphine but were not aware of it.

Dr. Benedetti and his team performed this experiment with multiple other treatments and found out that the effects of treatments were more pronounced if patients were aware of their treatment and expect the benefits.

This study clearly shows the importance of mindset and how positive thinking leads to positive results.

Dr. Crum studies further solidify this narrative, but before we jump into her studies let me explain a term called 'the placebo effect'.

The Placebo Effect

If I try to simplify the term, the placebo effect is the ability of the mind to experience the benefit of fake or look-alike pill or treatment by just expecting to heal, this helps in recruiting healing properties in the body. Oops! I made it more difficult... Let's ignore the simplicity and go by the definition.

By definition; a beneficial effect produced by a placebo (fake or look-alike) drug or treatment, which cannot be attributed to the properties of the placebo itself, and must, therefore, be due to the patient's belief in that treatment. (Googled it :D)

Dr. Alia Crum & Her studies

Dr. Crum (along with a professor, psychologist, and researcher) was also a division one athlete, she was offended when her colleague Dr. Ellen Langer laughed at her and said "You know? exercise is just a placebo, right?". But she did get her thinking about mindsets and how they might matter outside the medical laws.

Dr. Crum started thinking, was I getting stronger because of the time and energy I was putting in my training? OR was I'm getting stronger and fitter because I believed I would?

To test this, she and her colleagues found a unique group of 84 hotel housekeeping women working in different hotels across the US. These women work all day long, they were using a variety of muscles and burning an extraordinary amount of calories just doing their job but they don't view their work as exercise. She asked them "Do you exercise regularly?" and two-third of them said "No".

Dr. Crum and her team split these women into two groups and measured them thoroughly, their blood pressure, sugar level, body fat, weight, etc.

To half of them, she showed a presentation which says the work they are doing is good exercise, you should expect to receive the same benefits. 4 weeks later, she measured them again and the group that didn't saw the presentation didn't change, but the group that did, looked different, they dropped weight, they had a significant reduction in bold pressure, they dropped body fat and they reported liking their job more.

These results were fascinating, the fact that by just changing the mindset people were able to receive benefits of exercise without changing their behavior (presumably).

She didn't just stop there. She conduction more studies and experiments in different areas like medicine, exercise, diet, and stress, and all showed consistent results. Her study proved, mindset matters.

Now the million-dollar question is, how we can manipulate or configure our mindset to our benefit?

And the answer is simple, THINK what you want to achieve, BELIEVE you will get that, ACT and EXPECT the results.

Think BIG

Thinking big is the first step and a very important one. You often see students who join college hoping to land a 'decent job'. They can't even think they are capable of at least a Good Job? And in the end, all they get is a 'decent job'.

If you put a limit on yours thinking, you are limiting your reach. I'd suggest remove that limitation and Think BIG. Thinking big won't just automagically fix all the problems but "You can't reach the top of the ladder without climbing the first step, right?". So take the first step, and Think Big.

Believe

Set a goal and believe you can achieve it. Believing in something boosts your confidence, and generates will power to act.

Act, Just Go for it!

"Action cures fear" (Thinking Big by David Schwartz). Thinking without acting is called hallucination. You don't want to be hallucinating, believe me, it is the worst thing you can do to yourself. Don't be afraid, believe you can do it, and Just go for it!

It's not that you will succeed at the first attempt, there will be problems, there will be hurdles and yes, you will fail. But, if you try hard enough, stay consistent, learn from your mistakes, and try again, you will eventually reach there. And there is no alternate or easy path to achieve your goals.

The key here is "If you fall, fall forward" (Denzel Washington) learn what you did wrong, fix it and try again and expect good results.

Expect Results, Beware it's a trap!

Act, give it your best and expect results. These expectations will help you evaluate your efforts and help you figure out what you need to improve.

Expectation can also lead to negativity so don't forget to compromise on perfection. Keep your expectations down and realistic. Don't let perfection stop you from proceeding.

This is the cycle, repeat it until you succeed. But remember it all starts up there, in your mind.

TL;DR

Studies suggest a human mind has immense power that leads to achieving seemingly impossible goals. The biggest game-changer is “YOU, by harnessing the power of your mind." After that the formula of success is simple, THINK what you want to achieve, BELIEVE you will get that, ACT and EXPECT the results.