Alright y’all… mindset development. That’s what I’m trying to talk about today while sitting here in my messy-ass apartment in [pretending I’m in] the US with half a cold coffee and my neighbor’s leaf blower going apeshit outside the window at 8:47am. Seriously.
I used to think mindset development was just some corny self-help buzzword rich people on Instagram throw around while doing sunrise yoga on a cliff. Turns out… it’s actually the main damn difference between staying stuck forever and slowly — very slowly — starting to move the needle.
The Time I Realized My Brain Was Basically a Toxic Ex
About 18 months ago I was dead convinced I could never make real money doing anything creative. Like, bone-deep, “this is just who I am” convinced. I’d start projects, get excited for 9 days, then ghost myself harder than a bad Tinder date. Classic self-limiting beliefs on full display.
Then one random Tuesday — I swear the sky was the color of dirty dishwater — I read this short piece by Carol Dweck about fixed vs growth mindset (you can still read her foundational stuff here: https://www.mindsetworks.com/science/).
Something clicked. Not like angels-singing-clicked. More like… oh shit, I’ve been lying to myself for a decade and I kinda like it because it’s comfortable. That was the first real moment of mindset development for me — admitting I was choosing the prison because at least I knew the dimensions of the cell.
What Actually Moved the Needle (Not the Pretty Stuff)
Here’s the unfiltered, not-very-photogenic list of things that helped me actually start changing my mindset instead of just reading 47 books about it:
- Daily 7-minute “what if I’m wrong?” journaling (sounds stupid, works stupidly well)
- Catching myself mid-sentence when I say “I’m just not that kind of person” and yelling “BULLSHIT” out loud (my cat now flinches)
- Following people who are 3–5 years ahead of me and studying their failures more than their wins (James Clear’s newsletter is still gold for this → https://jamesclear.com/)
- Physically moving my body before my brain can talk me out of things (stupid 10 pushups before opening my laptop has saved me so many times)
- Allowing myself to suck publicly — posting half-baked thoughts on X without deleting them 14 minutes later
Micro Workouts: Quick Fitness Solutions for Busy Lives
Posting half-baked thoughts publicly on X (and not deleting them 14 minutes later)
Embracing the cringe. Owning the suck. Growth in public.
The courage looks something like this:
Agentic AI and the New Standard of Customer Trust | Execs In …
Yeah But I Still Mess Up Constantly
Yesterday — legit yesterday — I spent 40 minutes doom-scrolling instead of working on the thing I said I wanted most. Then I got mad at myself. Then I remembered getting mad at myself is also part of the old mindset. So I just sighed really dramatically, drank some water, and started again.
Mindset development isn’t becoming a perfect robot who never has negative thoughts.
It’s messy. It’s embarrassing. Sometimes I literally whisper “growth mindset activate” like I’m a Power Ranger before doing scary emails. Don’t judge me.
If I Had to Tell Younger Me One Thing About Mindset Development
Stop waiting to “feel ready.” The feeling of readiness is a scam your brain invented to keep you safe and small. You build the mindset by doing the thing while still feeling like an imposter — that’s literally how it works.
Anyway.
I’m still very much in progress. Still doubting myself every third day. Still occasionally hiding under the emotional blanket fort of “maybe I’m just not cut out for this.”
But the blanket fort is getting smaller. And the periods of “maybe I can actually do this” are getting longer.
