How to Quit Holding Yourself Back

We always say that getting organized is about having the education, motivation, and support required to make personal change. Education and support can come from others, but motivation ultimately has to come from within you… so how is it that we keep holding ourselves back?

I am reading a fantastic book right now called Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, by Carol Dweck. It’s one of those books that makes you start to filter the whole world through its lens after reading it. Basically, the idea is that there are two mindsets one can have:

1. The Fixed Mindset. You believe that your intelligence, abilities, talents, and personality are all fixed quantities. Because you believe this, you are reluctant to push further and learn more because you are afraid of reaching that limit and becoming "a failure."

2. The Growth Mindset. You believe that intelligence and abilities are not fixed and can be grown and expanded. You love learning for learning’s sake and you understand the potential of any human to grow through effort. You are not afraid of trying new things because you expect to learn from them, and you don’t worry about the limits. You’re not afraid of failure because it’s all learning.

This week I heard a speaker who said that Michael Jordan did not make his high school basketball team. Isn’t that incredible? That is such a great illustration of the Growth Mindset. Instead of taking that as a failure and stopping himself from going further down that path, he just worked harder. It’s all about learning, effort and practice.

So often I hear our Clutter Diet members use permanent language like "I AM so disorganized," instead of saying, "I am improving my organizing skills." There is a big difference! One is a defeating Fixed Mindset sentence and one is an empowering Growth Mindset sentence. You CAN improve by focusing on effort and learning.

Catch yourself being in a Fixed Mindset… you CAN change, learn and grow!