Introspection: Personalities vs Mindset
by Anna Murphy on December 18th, 2020
Looking into ourselves to better understand why we are
Who you are and who you choose to be dictates your direction in life. The latter of the two often stems from a process called introspection. The act of looking within yourself and observing your thoughts, emotions, and actions. Personality and mindset are two key components that make up these observations.
Many people think of introspection as an emotional journey that takes us through the history of our lives, but introspection can also be looked upon as the meticulous act of collecting data. We collect this data so that we may evaluate our thoughts and actions and apply our findings to our daily lives.. Just as we make a financial blueprint, we may also make a blueprint for our inner self. Detailed within it, the understanding of our personality and mindset, what we like and dislike about ourselves, and the path we can take to work towards betterment in order to achieve our goals.
The first step is being aware of what parts of our thoughts, emotions, and actions belong to our personality and what parts belong to our mindset. Once we do, we can harness our strengths and build upon them, taking note of which areas are still in need of improvement.
Personality
According to the American Psychological Association, “Personality refers to individual differences in characteristic patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving”. Personality is something that grows with us throughout our lives - shaped by our personal experiences and interactions. Although personality can be characterized into groups, many psychologists believe that each person's personality will always be slightly different than everyone else’s because no one experiences the same life as another.
That’s not to say that we can’t change certain aspects that we don’t completely enjoy about ourselves. Our personalities are composed of complicated layers of feelings and choices, strengths and weaknesses. Pulling out those strengths, learning what they are, and leaning into them is the first step. The next is to take a look at your weaknesses, those limiting thoughts and beliefs, and work to acknowledge and improve upon them. Phrases like, ‘That’s just how I am,’ or ‘I've always done it that way,’ are part of a limiting belief cycle that can be damaging to our growth.
In order to achieve growth we have to take the time to learn about ourselves. Finding out more about your personality is key to taking steps towards betterment.
Resources to learn more about your personality type are:
Mindset
It’s you vs. you. A phrase that is directly applicable to your mindset. Mindset is the way you think, process and apply information, and the assumptions you take away from it all. It directly correlates to your success, or lack thereof. At the moment you wake up and roll out of bed you alone decide what kind of mindset you’ll take with you throughout the day. It affects how you’ll react to situations or handle adversity as it arises. Whether consciously or subconsciously, we make a choice everyday to rise to our challenges and grow or give up and succumb to them. In fact, research has found that there are two main types of mindset, fixed and growth.
Fixed Mindset
When faced with negative feedback do you get defensive and shut down? Are you someone who defines themselves by their mistakes? If you answered yes to either of those questions you might have a fixed mindset. People who have fixed mindsets typically believe that intelligence, creative ability, and talents are abilities granted to us, and are otherwise unobtainable. A fixed mindset means you don’t believe you can work hard to increase your learning or to develop new skills. It often leads to people giving up easily, sometimes before they even try because they see a challenge as something negative and would rather avoid failure at the risk of never succeeding. This type of mindset deters you from achieving goals and dreams, leading to cycles of defensiveness and maintenance instead of growth. If you’re reading this and feeling defeated, please don’t give up! You can change your mindset with a little bit of introspection and practice. Know that you developed this mindset early on in life, but it doesn’t have to define you or carry with you forever. In the face of every challenge or obstacle take a moment to hype yourself up and list your strengths and advantages. When you fail, and believe me, we all fail sometimes, pick up the pieces and learn from each and every mistake.
Growth Mindset
Growth mindset is the opposite of a fixed mindset. It's the belief that we can gain intelligence through learning and skills through practice. A person with a growth mindset uses criticism as fuel to be better and grow. When they hit obstacles and roadblocks they search for better paths, pivoting in the wake of a challenge rather than throwing in the towel. They’re constantly looking at ways to improve and are resilient when faced with adversity.
The key to mastering your mindset is being aware of your thoughts. It’s a constant process of checking in with ourselves and reflecting on our inherent mental reactions. A few things that will help to maintain a growth mindset are:
Forgiving yourself for mistakes - they’re bound to happen!
Taking the time to check in with yourself and where your thoughts are at. It may be helpful to keep a journal in order to reflect on these thoughts.
Do not compare yourself to others - everyone’s journey is different!
Set small, attainable goals. Proving to yourself that you can accomplish something, even if it’s small, has a positive impact on our mindset.
Take time to do an activity that relieves stress and makes you happy.
Putting our Introspection to work
The act of looking within ourselves is not easy and sometimes takes hard work. But Sis, you’re not a quitter. It’s important to learn about your personality and mindset, and use that information as a roadmap towards the person we hope to be. If you don’t make time to refocus your thoughts and actions, you can’t expect to see any changes. Start by allocating 30 minutes every day to self-reflection. 15 minutes in the morning to think about the day ahead, write down your goals, and make an action plan on how to tackle them. In the evening, reflect on what went right and wrong throughout the day, how you reacted to these challenges, and the little wins you made along the way.
Lean in to who you are to discover who you can be.