From Jim Kwik – Limitless.
I had always felt that there were only two things you can control in your life; attitude and effort.
Your attitude is your thinking and thought patterns. It represents your mindsets, beliefs and habits, and they, in turn, express your how you view the world. How you view the world governs your behaviour; the reactions and actions you take as a consequence of some external phenomena. Even more than this, your attitude will normally reinforce your existing beliefs and habits, thereby making the thinking you think into the “you” that you think you are. That is why we will more often than not behave in the same way again and again.
Attitude.
Attitude is not set in stone though, it can and often does change. Sometimes external factors, such as trauma or environmental change, will force a change in your attitude. Sometimes though you can decide to change your attitude and therefore change your behaviour. It works in reverse too; if you change your behaviour, you will change your attitude.
Effort.
Effort is the amount of resources you can apply to a problem or challenge to achieve a desired goal. Resources may also involve mental factors too, such as will power, determination or grit. However, more often than not it represents the resources you can mobilise, external to yourself, to move closer to a goal.
This mental model has served me well for many years when thinking about setting a goal and working out what I need to do to get closer to that goal. What actions do I want to produce and what mindset (attitude) do I need to produce those actions and what other resources might I need to gather around me to keep moving forward.
There is another very powerful way to view this mental model. Jim Kwik, in his book Limitless, suggests a model called the 3 “M’s”; Mindset, Motivation, Methods. A Limitless Model.
The Limitless Model.
Jim Kwik suggests that to live a limitless life, to be able to better use the potential of your whole brain, you need to address three areas. If any or all of these areas are not working to the optimum potential they will more than likely hold you back. Where there is a gap between your current reality and your desired reality, the reason is that you are probably limited (as opposed to limitless) in one or more of the three areas; Mindset, Motivation and Method. Limits need to be released or replaced to achieve potential.
Mindset.
Mindset the WHAT, represents your deeply held beliefs, attitudes and assumptions that you hold about who you are, what you are capable of and how the world works. It represents a possibility. Self-belief and habitual thinking patterns are one, if not the main, reason that we do not achieve our goals. We may feel we are not capable or deserve what is possible. Limited mindsets often mean we tell ourselves that we are not capable, worthy or deserving of what is possible.
Carol Dweck in her ground-breaking studies suggests that this is due to having a “fixed” mindset as opposed to a “growth” mindset.
A growth mindset is open to learning (failure is part of the learning experience), believes that talent can be developed and nurtured, embraces challenges and will persist in the face of obstacles. As a result, a growth mindset can achieve higher levels of achievement.
However, a fixed mindset will avoid challenges (they may expose failure), believes that talent is fixed, and will see effort as fruitless (if you have “natural” talent you shouldn’t need to make a lot of effort). As a result, a fixed mindset may plateau early and achieve less than their full potential.
Whilst it’s not a case of either-or, we all have both mindsets, it is clear that one of the primary things that hold us back from full potential, is our own mindsets.
Motivation.
“He who has a WHY to live for can bear almost any HOW.”
Frederick Nietzsche.
Motivation is the WHY. We need a reason to take action and reason gives us purpose. Without purpose, an action is fruitless and pointless. Purpose is the energy and fuel for action and motivates behaviour. A limited or lack of reason and purpose (motivation), will result in a lack of drive and energy and therefore little or no action.
Simon Sinek explains in his book, Start with Why, “if you can articulate the belief that is driving you (your why) people will want what you are offering”, “people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it, so it follows that if you don’t know why you do what you do, how will anyone else?”
Goals are the thing we want to achieve. A purpose is the reason we want to achieve that goal.
Purpose, the reason why we do things guides life decisions, influence how we behave, gives us a sense of direction and, most importantly, creates meaning to what we do.
If a behaviour is a manifestation of our values, our thinking, then it makes good sense to get the values right first to drive the right actions. Good reasons reap good rewards.
Method.
Method is the HOW. This is the specific strategies and tactics we use to manifest our purpose and goals. It’s the process for accomplishment. Even if you have the right mindset and the right motivation, you still need to develop the methods to implement the plan. A lack of method will lead to a lack of effectiveness in achieving goals. Although there is every possibility that if you do have the right mindset and the right motivation, you will find ways to implement the right methods.
Method is the orderly, logical and systematic part of the trio. Method shows itself in the ability to learn and implement a plan.
We all need the requisite skills to support the journey to the goal we have set. This journey requires a process, a step-by-step plan that keeps us moving in the direction of our goal.
It is the combination of all three of these elements that creates what Kwik calls a limitless mind, a mind that can achieve its full potential. But, even looking at it from a simple practical viewpoint these three elements combined, Mindset, Motivation and Methods, are a very strong conceptual method of understanding what thinking, attitude and skills we need to apply to any goal-orientated desire.