Mindset is the way you regularly think.
- Mindset is your overall attitude towards living.
- Mindset is the intentions you take to the world.
- Mindset is the mood you convey to others.
- Mindset is the disposition you take in controlling your own destiny.
- Mindset is your inclination to see things as either possible or impossible.
- Mindset is your tendency to see things in their simplest truths.
People with Gumption have a mindset that includes three key characteristics: positivity; possibility; and simplicity.
Today we’ll examine the 3 traits of a Gumption Mindset in more detail:
1. Positivity
Is your bottle of Dr Pepper half-full or half-empty?
Forrest Gump’s bottle was continuously overflowing with positive thoughts. He saw good in the people he met … even when they were indifferent or unkind. He saw good in the circumstances of life … even when they were challenging or without the desired results.
I’m not suggesting a positive mindset is easy to maintain 100% of the time. It’s not … it requires continuous effort. It’s challenging to constantly fill your mind with positive thoughts. It takes diligence to prevent negative thoughts from entering, accumulating and overwhelming.
Fortunately, it’s possible to do. Living with positivity is a learnable skill.
Think of positivity as your front porch thoughts before you start your run across America. Positivity is the belief you have in yourself. Positivity is your willingness to cast aside the doubter’s doubts.
2. Possibility
Is something possible or impossible?
Too often in today’s world things don’t get done because they are doomed even before they get started. Why? A mindset of impossible prevents action. A mindset of impossible prevents solutions from ever being found. So nothing gets done.
Forrest Gump wasn’t stopped because he believed things to be possible. He believed he would be a successful shrimp boat captain. He believed he would be a good soldier. He believed he would find love. He believed all these things were possible. He lived a life of possibility.
Possibility starts when you get up and run down the driveway. New possibilities emerge as you make your way into town. Further possibilities start happening as you cross the state line. And, endless possibilities will start to appear by the time you reach the ocean.
Possibilities happen when you get up off your buttocks and start running.
3. Simplicity
“Explain it to me like I’m a four-year old.”
In Tom Hanks’ 1993 Academy Award winning role in the movie Philadelphia, his lawyer (played by Denzel Washington) used that line repeatedly … “explain it to me like I’m a four-year old.”
Forrest Gump repeatedly saw life circumstances and the people he met in the simplest way. Forrest didn’t make things more complicated than they had to be. In fact, Forrest did the exact opposite. He continuously took the complicated and broke it down to the simplest truths. Simple has big advantages.
I’m not suggesting that the world isn’t complicated. I can imagine that you have complex challenges facing you right now in your world. “It happens!”
The Gumption mindset takes the complexities of life and breaks them down so that even a four-year-old can understand them. Simple is as simple does!
Positivity … Possibility … Simplicity … constitute the Gumption Mindset.
Is your bottle of Dr Pepper half full or half empty?
Do you believe things are possible or impossible?
Can you explain it to me like I’m a four-year-old?
Next Blog Title: Life is Like a Run Across America … Four times!
Next Blog Date: July 21, 2011