I’m currently getting certified in ‘Health Mindset Coaching’, a curriculum written and taught by a PhD in behavioral science Dr. Kasey Joe. This is a series of posts about what I’m learning and how you can use the science of behavior change to help make positive changes in your life and career.

What is mindset anyways?

Mindset is the set of your beliefs that shape how you make sense of the world and yourself.

Mindset is the collection of beliefs that shapes how you perceive the world and yourself. These beliefs often stem from your environment or community—I know many of mine come from my mother. For instance, pursuing further education, especially away from family, can lead to significant shifts in your mindset.

What many people don’t realize is how much these beliefs influence what we see as ‘possible,’ ‘easy,’ or ‘worth pursuing.’ This directly impacts the changes we’re willing to make and the challenges we’re willing to take on in life.

Examples of beliefs that influence mindset

Here are some examples of beliefs and how they can influence your behavior.

These beliefs don’t end up matching to the behaviors I listed every time – these are just examples to help you understand the concept.

Belief	Related Thought	Possible Behavior
Houses should be clean	“I should keep my house clean”	Take off shoes at the door
Reading helps me unwind	“Even reading a few pages will help me relax”	Reserving a little bit of time before bed to read
Exercising boosts my mood	“I’m having a challenging time at work, a short walk will help.”	Taking more walks and exercising more as a stress release
Diabetes runs in my family	“I am going to get diabetes”	Taking fewer preventative steps, such as eating healthily, exercising regularly
Girls are bad at math	“I will never be good at math”	Choosing not to take a more difficult math class. Choosing not to major in a math based subject in college.
Career success comes with hard work	“I need to work more to succeed”	Working longer hours
I got this job by luck	“Having this job is not a sign of my skill”	Not seeing accomplishments at work as evidence of skill
I am not good at my job	“I can’t afford to make a mistake”	Constantly anxious about messing up at work

As you can see from the table above, these beliefs can (and do) have an actual impact on your behavior and career. But there are things you can do to help yourself with your negative beliefs, once you’re aware of them.

What beliefs do you have that are impacting your behavior?

I’m going to write more about how you can gain more awareness of the beliefs that are impacting your behavior and how you can slowly change them to help you achieve your goals.

Subscribe to my blog to learn more.

Wishing you a fulfilling career,

Rachel