Category Archives: Mindset

Improve Your Life

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“The key to happiness is really progress and growth and constantly working on yourself and developing something.” —Lewis Howes

Self-improvement, improvement of one’s mind, character, habits, and life through one’s own efforts. Life only changes as a result of the improvements you make by the actions you take.

Here are 10 Things You Should Do Every Day to improve your life.

1) Get out in nature

You probably seriously underestimate how important this is. (Actually, there’s research that says you do.) Being in nature reduces stress, makes you more creative, improves your memory and may even make you a better person.

2) Exercise

We all know how important this is, but few people do it consistently. Other than health benefits too numerous to mention, exercise makes you smarter, happier, improves sleep, increases libido and makes you feel better about your body. A Harvard study that has tracked a group of men for more than 70 years identified it as one of the secrets to a good life.

3) Spend time with friends and family

Harvard happiness expert Daniel Gilbert identified this as one of the biggest sources of happiness in our lives. Relationships are worth more than you think (approximately an extra $131,232 a year.) Not feeling socially connected can make you stupider and kill you. Loneliness can lead to heart attack, stroke and diabetes. The longest lived people on the planet all place a strong emphasis on social engagement and good relationships are more important to a long life than even exercise. Friends are key to improving your life. Share good news and enthusiatically respond when others share good news with you to improve your relationships. Want to instantly be happier? Do something kind for them.

Every morning send a friend, family member or co-worker an email (or text) to say thanks for something. There’s tons of research showing that over time, this alone – one simple email a day – can make you happier.

Harvard professor Shawn Achor’s The Happiness Advantage explains:

“This is why I often ask managers to write an e-mail of praise or thanks to a friend, family member, or colleague each morning before they start their day’s work—not just because it contributes to their own happiness, but because it very literally cements a relationship.”

4) Express gratitude

Gratitude is more powerful than you realize. In an experiment, people were asked to spend some time helping a student improve a job application cover letter. After they sent their feedback, the student replied with a message, “I just wanted to let you know that I received your feedback on my cover letter,” and asked for help with another one in the next three days. Only 32% of the people helped. When the student added just eight words—“Thank you so much! I am really grateful”—the rate of helping doubled to 66%.

In another experiment, after people helped one student, a different student asked them for help. Being thanked by the first student boosted helping rates from 25% to 55%. The punch line: a little thanks goes a long way, not only for encouraging busy people to help you, but also for motivating them to help others like you.

Plus, by expressing gratitude:

  • It will make you happier.
  • It will improve your relationships.
  • It can make you a better person.
  • It can make life better for everyone around you.

5) Meditate

Meditation can increase happiness, meaning in life, social support and attention span while reducing anger, anxiety, depression and fatigue. Along similar lines, prayer can make you feel better — even if you’re not religious.

6) Get enough sleep

You can’t cheat yourself on sleep and not have it affect you. Being tired actually makes it harder to be happy. Lack of sleep = more likely to get sick. “Sleeping on it” does improve decision making. Lack of sleep can make you more likely to behave unethically. There is such a thing as beauty sleep.

Naps are great too. Naps increase alertness and performance on the job, enhance learning ability and purge negative emotions while enhancing positive ones. Here’s how to improve your naps.

7) Challenge yourself

Learning another language can keep your mind sharp. Music lessons increase intelligence. Challenging your beliefs strengthens your mind. Increasing willpower just takes a little effort each day and it’s more responsible for your success than IQ. Not getting an education or taking advantage of opportunities are two of the things people look back on their lives and regret the most.

“There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self.” Ernest Hemingway

8) Laugh

People who use humor to cope with stress have better immune systems, reduced risk of heart attack and stroke, experience less pain during dental work and live longer. Laughter should be like a daily vitamin. Just reminiscing about funny moments can improve your relationship. Humor has many benefits.

9) Touch someone

Touching can reduce stress, improve team performance, and help you be persuasive. Hugs make you happier. Intimate contact may help prevent heart attacks and cancer, improve your immune system and extend your life.

10) Be optimistic

Optimism can make you healthier, happier and extend your life. The Army teaches it in order to increase mental toughness in soldiers. Being confident improves performance.

Bonus:

Email a good friend and make plans.

Research says that to keep friendships alive, you should stay in touch every 2 weeks.

Got 14 friends, then you need to be emailing somebody every day and making plans to get together. Research shows the best use of electronic communication, like email or social media, is to facilitate face-to-face interaction:

The results were unequivocal. “The greater the proportion of face-to-face interactions, the less lonely you are,” John T. Cacioppo, author of “Loneliness: Human Nature and the Need for Social Connection” says. “The greater the proportion of online interactions, the lonelier you are.” 

Facebook is merely a tool, and like any tool, its effectiveness will depend on its user. “If you use Facebook to increase face-to-face contact,” Cacioppo says, “it increases social capital.” So if social media let you organize a game of football among your friends, that’s healthy. If you turn to social media instead of playing football, however, that’s unhealthy.

“Beginning today, set an intention and a relentless focus on living your life as the greatest person you can be, in all situations.” —Brendon Burchard

References:

  1. https://bakadesuyo.com/2012/05/what-10-things-should-you-do-every-day-to-imp/
  2. https://bakadesuyo.com/2013/07/make-your-life-better/

Mindset: Steps to Success

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“A mind is a terrible thing to waste.” ~ Arthur Fletcher

The mind is a powerful and extraordinary thing. And, your mindset shapes your happiness, success and ultimately the direction and destination of your whole life.

Essentially, “mindset is a way of thinking; it is a habitual opinion or attitude that affects thinking”, explains Aaron Jarrels, a Licensed Therapist, and Certified Motivation & Mindset Coach. “A strong and growth mindset is confident, focused, determined, and maintains a desire to learn.”

Your life is a reflection of your habits and thoughts, and habits and thoughts are driven by your mind. Thus, the mind is everything… you become what you feed to it and what you focus on.

By developing the right mindset you can achieve almost anything. A growth mindset on the other hand, rewards those who want to get better at something. When you believe that you are capable of learning to do something, it sparks hope in the future.

Thus, it’s important to design your mindset and life for growth, learning and continuous expansion and improvement. Here are several steps:

1. Positive thoughts and outlook. Use positive thoughts and words to evoke feelings of strength, confidence, courage and success about yourself. Practice being kind and loving to yourself. You need to be able to keep yourself encouraged. Focus on the traits and skills that you like and that are productive, because what you focus on expands. Direct your thoughts towards the belief that you will succeed and achieve your life’s goals. But if you fail, embrace the failure, analyze, learn and grow from what went wrong. Give yourself credit and kudos for having the courage to try.

2. Build systems and a routine. Before you can permanently change your thoughts, you have to change your habits and behaviors. You must take responsibility and be accountable for you actions and behaviors. Discipline, patience and long-term perspective breed a positive mindset because you’re motivated by results and concentrating on achieving your goals. Delayed gratification is a key trait of successful people, states Jarrels. If you cannot control yourself and your desires, you will always be a slave to your impulses. When you develop the ability to maintain self-control, you conquer your biggest foe, your impatience. Owning your faults and how you respond gives you the power to change them.

3. See beyond today and maintain a long-term perspective. What the mind believes, the body achieves. Believe you can win. Visualize and focus on the end result, creating a mental image of the future you’re striving to achieve. Visualizing the desired outcome allows you to begin to accept the possibility of achieving your desired outcome. Perception is reality and the brain can be positively hacked with this simple strategy. And, be mindful of your tongue. If, you catch yourself saying “I can’t” you should stop immediately and replace it with “How can I?” Doing this will prime your mind and brain to look for possible solutions that were not imaginable prior. By asking “How can I?” you are creating a place for the desired outcome as well as the path to get there.

4. Step away from safety and liv outside your comfort zone. Operating in an stress free environment and using a limited set of behaviors won’t increase your performance or growth. It’s facing your fears and dealing with your challenges that allows you to realize your goals and to grow mentally, physically and emotionally. If you take risks and are willing to accept and learn from setbacks, nothing can stop you! Remember, if it scares you and makes you uncomfortable, it’s probably the right course of action to catalyze some next level personal growth.

High performance and growth is not realized when you’re comfortable and steering clear of stressful situations. You’re restricted by your self-imposed limiting beliefs. Becoming abundantly successful in whatever goal you want to achieve is simply a mindset shift away.

Developing a strong mindset takes the decision not to give up. It takes a willingness to grow and become more than you currently are now. It takes a strong determination to focus on what’s good, what’s going well and what’s positive in your life. It takes living a life of faith, rather than a life of fear.

Additionally, a strong mindset is one that sees, what others call failure as lessons and successes as steps along the way.

“The mind is everything. What you think you become.” ~ Buddha

References:

  1. https://aaronjarrels.com/how-to-develop-a-strong-mindset/
  2. Peter Oakden, There’sNo Such Thing as Luck: 4 Steps to Abundant Success, Muscle and Health Magazine: The Wealth Issue, Fall 2022, pg. 89.
  3. https://www.setquotes.com/a-mind-is-a-terrible-thing-to-waste/

Thoughts

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Negative thoughts can make you feel sad and anxious. They take the joy out of life-and they can take a toll on your physical health. That’s why it’s so important to learn how to deal with them.

One way to deal with negative thoughts is to replace them with thoughts that make you feel better. Positive thoughts can make you feel better and more hopeful. And it helps your body too.

Do you have any negative thoughts right now?

Take a minute, listen to your thoughts, and see if you do. If you’re focusing on negative thoughts, remember: You are in charge of what you tell yourself. And, it’s up to you to come up with something more encouraging.

Because of the mind-body connection, your thoughts really can affect your health. By telling yourself more encouraging things, you’re telling your brain to produce chemicals that can:

  • Lower your blood pressure.
  • Reduce your risk for heart disease.
  • Make your immune system stronger so you can resist infection and disease.
  • Lower your stress level and make you feel less anxious.
  • Help you avoid stomach problems, insomnia, and back pain.
  • Make you feel happier and more optimistic about the future.

Sometimes negative thoughts are connected to the way you live from day to day. Here are some things you can try right now to help you see the brighter side of life:

  • Be “mindful” and focus on what you are feeling right now. If you’re sad, feel the sadness. But don’t tell yourself that you have always felt this way and are doomed to feel sad forever. Sadness passes. A negative thought can linger… until you let it go.
  • Share your feelings with someone close to you. Everyone has negative thoughts from time to time. Talking about it with someone else helps you keep those thoughts in perspective.
  • Do something nice for yourself. Maybe you could work less today and play with your kids more. Or you could find something that makes you laugh.
  • Take time to count your blessings. There are so many things for each of us to be thankful for.
  • Eat well. Sleep well. Be active. The nicer you are to your body, the easier it is to feel more positive about yourself.
  • Make social connections. Reach out and enjoy some time with family and friends.

References:

  1. https://myhealth.alberta.ca/Health/Pages/conditions.aspx

Stop focusing on how stressed you are and remember how blessed you are.

Mindset Matters: Aging

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Thinking Positively About Aging Extends Life. Positive self-perceptions about aging can prolong life expectancy.

Thinking positively about aging and getting older extends one’s life by seven-and-one half years. This is more than the longevity gained from low blood pressure or low cholesterol or by maintaining a healthy weight, abstaining from smoking and exercising regularly, a study by Yale University researchers have found.

“We found that those individuals who reported more positive self perceptions of aging demonstrated significantly longer survival than those who reported more negative self perceptions of aging,” said Becca Levy, assistant professor in the Yale University Department of Epidemiology and Public Health.

Researchers found that those respondents with more positive views on aging live longer, even after taking into account factors such as age, gender, socioeconomic status, functional health, self-reported health and loneliness.

“We found that the median survival of those in the more positive self perceptions of aging group was 7.6 years longer than those in the more negative aging self stereotype group,” the authors said.

The effects of positive attitudes about aging had a greater impact on longevity than low blood pressure and cholesterol, each of which is associated with a longer life span of about four years.

Positive attitudes about aging also had a greater impact on longevity than lower body mass index, not smoking and regular exercise – each of which extends life by one to three years.

“Our study carries two messages,” the authors said. “The discouraging one is that negative self perceptions can diminish life expectancy; the encouraging one is that positive self-perceptions can prolong life expectancy.”

References:

  1. https://news.yale.edu/2002/07/29/thinking-positively-about-aging-extends-life-more-exercise-and-not-smoking

The Wisdom of Steve Jobs

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“For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: ‘If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?’ And whenever the answer has been ‘No’ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.” ~ Steve Jobs

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it.” ~ Steve Jobs

“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me. Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.” ~ Steve Jobs

Finally…

“The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” ~ Steve Jobs

“When you grow up you tend to get told that the world is the way it is and your life is just to live your life inside the world. Try not to bash into the walls too much. Try to have a nice family life, have fun, save a little money. That’s a very limited life. Life can be much broader once you discover one simple fact: Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you. And you can change it, you can influence it… Once you learn that, you’ll never be the same again.” ~ Steve Jobs

References:

  1. https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/steve-jobs-quotes

The Elephant Rope

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“Whatever Your Mind Can Conceive and Believe, It Can Achieve.” – Napoleon Hill, “Think and Grow Rich”

A gentleman was walking through an elephant camp, and he spotted that the elephants weren’t being kept in cages or held by the use of chains.

All that was holding them back from escaping the camp, was a small piece of rope tied to one of their legs and secured to a stake.

As the man gazed upon the elephants, he was completely confused as to why the elephants didn’t just use their strength to break the rope and escape the camp. They could easily have done so, but instead, they didn’t try to at all.

Curious and wanting to know the answer, he asked a trainer nearby why the elephants were just standing there and never tried to escape.

The trainer replied;

“when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.”

The only reason that the elephants weren’t breaking free and escaping from the camp was that over time they adopted the belief that it just wasn’t possible.

Moral of the story:

No matter how much the world tries to hold you back, always believe that you can achieve your goals and realize your purpose. Believing you can become successful and a your purpose is the most important step in actually achieving the prize.

Believing is achieving!

The Wright brothers, Wilbur and Orville, believed in their flying machine when the majority said it was impossible. Their unwavering belief was based on thousands of hours of research and experiments. And, the underlying secret ingredients were action and perseverance, also known as hard work and pressing on.

References:

  1. https://wealthygorilla.com/10-most-inspirational-short-stories/

Two Wolves

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An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.

“It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves.

  • One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.” He continued,
  • “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.

The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

Feeding yourself with or focusing on negative thoughts can bring out the worst in yourself.

Conversely, positive thinking fuels the goodness within us. We exude joy, peace, hope, kindness, and love.

Essentially, what you focus your mind and thoughts on grows.

References:

  1. https://www.virtuesforlife.com/two-wolves/

Gratitude and Overcoming Limiting Beliefs

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Gratitude enables you to overcome your limiting beliefs.

Limiting thoughts and beliefs are false thoughts and beliefs that prevent you from pursuing your goals and desires. They can affect every aspect of your life from your wealth, health, relationships and emotional well-being. For example, if you believe you don’t deserve to be happy, you may never pursue your dreams or goals, and you will not be happy.
Gratitude in all things

Gratitude enables you to overcome and replace you limiting thoughts and beliefs with positive and abundant thoughts and beliefs. Further, your attitude, mood, behavior and thoughts improve when you practice gratitude.

The three keys to gratitude include :

  • Emote – to feel emotionally grateful
  • Extend – reach out and connect socially
  • Exercise – practice until it’s instilled

Be grateful in all circumstances, no matter what, both in good times and dark times. Although, it is easier to be thankful during good times than during hard times. The trials and sufferings in your life are there to strengthen you. They’re there for you to learn and grow.

Dr. Robert Emmons, known as the “world’s leading scientific expert on gratitude”, andis a psychology profession from the University of California, Davis and also the founding editor-in-chief of the Journal of Positive Psychology, found that being more grateful can lead to increased levels of well-being and that being grateful towards a higher power may lead to increased physical health. Giving thanks to those you are in a relationship with (not only your family) will strengthen the relationship.

Studies found that persons practicing gratitude showed more optimism in life, reduced stress, depression, and anxiety levels. It is a continuous loop.  The more you experience gratitude and say ‘thank you’  the more you will find in life to appreciate. When you choose gratitude over happiness even your self-control is stronger.

Research found that patients with heart failure showed reduced symptoms of heart failure and inflammation, improved sleep, and moods through keeping a gratitude journal.

Daily gratitude exercise

  • Reflect on three things your grateful for
  • Feel the gratitude in your body and
  • Extend the gratitude to others

When you practice gratitude, you change your thoughts and beliefs about yourself. You are happier and experience greater joy in life. And, when you change yourself, you change your perception of the world.

Be thankful for everything that God has given you. Apostle Paul declared, “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want” (Philippians 4:12, NIV).

An attitude of gratitude and a spirit of thankfulness make all the difference. Thus, to change your life and your world, change your attitude and in all things, practice gratitude.

References;

  1. https://www.virtuesforlife.com/33-gratitude-affirmations-to-transform-limiting-beliefs/
  2. https://billygraham.org/story/how-to-be-thankful-in-all-things/
  3. https://lovegodgreatly.com/be-thankful-in-all-things/
  4. http://www.thelife.digital/tl/articles/gratitude-is-the-best-attitude/

“I am grateful to feel stronger, wiser and more confident with each new day.”

Mindfulness

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Mindfulness is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us.

Mindfulness is about fully attending to what’s happening, to what you’re doing, to the space you’re moving through. It is the basic human ability to be fully present, aware of where we are and what we’re doing, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us.

The annoying fact that we so often veer from the matter at hand.

Our mind takes flight, we lose touch with our body, and pretty soon we’re engrossed in obsessive thoughts about something that just happened or fretting about the future. And that makes us anxious.

The practice of Mindfulness can help you overcome anxiety, worry and many of the stresses of life.

Mindfulness can be cultivated through proven techniques. Here are some examples:

  1. Seated, walking, standing, and moving meditation (it’s also possible lying down but often leads to sleep);
  2. Short pauses we insert into everyday life;
  3. Merging meditation practice with other activities, such as yoga or sports.

When we’re mindful, we reduce stress, enhance performance, gain insight and awareness through observing our own mind, and increase our attention to others’ well-being.

8 Facts About Mindfulness:

  1. Mindfulness is not obscure or exotic. It’s familiar to us because it’s what we already do, how we already are. It takes many shapes and goes by many names.
  2. Mindfulness is a thing we already have. We have the capacity to be present and we can cultivate these innate qualities with simple practices that are scientifically demonstrated to benefit ourselves and our love ones.
  3. You don’t need to change. Mindfulness recognizes and cultivates the best of who we are as human beings.
  4. Mindfulness has the potential to become a transformative social phenomenon. Here’s why:
  5. Anyone can do it. Mindfulness practice cultivates universal human qualities and does not require anyone to change their beliefs. Everyone can benefit and it’s easy to learn.
  6. It’s a way of living.  Mindfulness is more than just a practice. It brings awareness and caring into everything we do—and it cuts down needless stress. Even a little makes our lives better.
  7. It’s evidence-based. We don’t have to take mindfulness on faith. Both science and experience demonstrate its positive benefits for our health, happiness, work, and relationships.
  8. It sparks innovation. As we deal with our world’s increasing complexity and uncertainty, mindfulness can lead us to effective, resilient, low-cost responses to seemingly intransigent problems.

When we practice mindfulness, we’re practicing the art of creating space for ourselves—space to think, space to breathe, space between ourselves and our reactions.

References:

  1. https://www.mindful.org/how-to-practice-mindfulness/
  2. https://www.mindful.org/what-is-mindfulness/

Commit to Building Wealth

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“Change your mindset and change your life.”

If you think you can improve your financial situation, you’ll do exactly that.

“Change your mindset around wealth,” said Mandi Woodruff-Santos, co-host of the “Brown Ambition” podcast. “Tell yourself it’s possible to build wealth, that you can learn anything, and that you can do it! Once you begin to internalize your ability to build wealth, it makes it easier to take the steps needed to increase your earnings, start investing and learn along the way.”

It’s important to realize that no one is going to change your life for you. you must make the decision to learn, to grow, and to improve your life. The most important thing is that you get started!

There are five areas to work on in order to create the most efficient and effective change to your mindset – Your beliefs, fears, perspective, self-talk, and support.

CHALLENGE YOUR LIMITING BELIEFS

Limiting beliefs are the stories we tell ourselves about who we really are: shy, overweight, undeserving of love or success. But, they can be replaced with empowering beliefs.

Nearly everyone has some measure of limiting beliefs that prevent them from realizing their dreams and achieving great milestones. Those who are able to challenge and overcome them go on to achieve their goals. Those who don’t continue to live in negative patterns – and often don’t even realize it.

By rebuilding a positive set of habits, we are able to reach new levels of success* in all aspects of our lives.

FACE YOUR FEARS

When we have identified and gotten honest with ourselves about our belief system, we can then go deeper by really examining our fears. When we examine our fears, we ask ourselves questions like; what is the surface level fear? Where is it coming from? Is it a real or perceived fear? What is the underlying fear? What can I do to change my experience of it? And other such questions.

Fear is a destructive emotion; we often carry fears that we don’t need to. Overcoming your fears is a major step toward how to change your mindset for success.

SHIFT YOUR PERSPECTIVE

Learning how to change your mindset can seem overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. Sometimes all it takes to change your mindset forever is the smallest shift in the way you see the world. One choice that we can easily make is the meaning that we give to our experiences. Tony Robbins says, “Nothing in life has any meaning except the meaning I give it.” Do we see challenges as obstacles – or as opportunities?

When we start to make changes to our perspectives, we consider things like; how am I responding to situations? What am I doing, what am I thinking, what meaning am I giving things that I experience? When it comes to our perspectives a small shift with massive results.

CHANGE YOUR SELF-TALK

When you’re thinking about how to change your mindset, do you find yourself mired in negative thoughts? If you do, focus on your language to change your mindset. Change your self-talk starting with how you begin your day. If you plant positive language in your head at the beginning of the day, you’ll feel more energetic. You might find it effective to make a mantra for yourself, depending on how you’re feeling.

Change your mantra as often as you need to, in order to maximize your own power. In addition, remember that it’s okay to need to correct your course many times during the day.

To keep your positivity flowing, surround yourself with people whose mindsets reflect where you want to be. And remember, setbacks are normal. Bounce back from setbacks by reminding yourself why you want to change.

GET SUPPORT

Find some like-minded people whom you can share your experiences with, learn, and grow together.

These days it is pretty easy to find a group or forum online though you might need to try a few before you find a community that really resonates for you. In time many of the people in your life will see you grow and change and want to know more but for now, just find a few people who want to create change in their mindset (or have already done so) and enjoy the process!

References:

  1. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/top-expert-money-advice-better-230111509.html
  2. https://www.gobankingrates.com/money/wealth/top-expert-money-advice-for-how-to-better-build-your-wealth/
  3. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-changing-your-mindset-can-change-life-the-mind-and-body-co/