6 strategies to shift your mindset and manage stress

Waking up with a negative mindset can easily carry through the day, affecting your interactions with others and your overall productivity.

Your ‘mindset’ is your internal compass. It’s responsible for how you think about the world and yourself, and it plays a crucial role in shaping your life, affecting how you perceive situations, make decisions and react to events.

Your mindset can either empower you to achieve your goals or hold you back from realising your true potential. And research suggests that shifting your mindset to a more positive state can have major benefits on your health, helping you manage stress and overcome life’s challenges.¹

Thankfully, it's possible to reframe your mindset with a bit of effort and intention. Here are 6 strategies to help you get started.

Before you can change your mindset, it helps to understand your current one.

Spend some time reflecting on your thoughts and beliefs, particularly the ones that may be limiting you in life. You might do this by asking yourself questions like:

• "Why am I feeling this way today?"
• "What beliefs do I hold about my abilities and limitations?"
• "What’s my inner voice telling me?"

Limiting beliefs are thoughts and ideas that hold you back from achieving your goals. They are often based on past experiences, social conditioning or negative self-talk.

These beliefs can be so deeply ingrained that they’re often hard to recognise. To help identify them, pay attention to your self-talk and thought patterns. When you notice any negative self-talk, such as “I can’t do this” or “I’m not good enough,” challenge them with a question like, "What’s the evidence behind this thinking?"

You can then replace your limiting beliefs with more positive and empowering affirmations.

Your environment can have a significant impact on your mindset. That’s why you can improve your mindset by surrounding yourself with people who uplift, inspire and support you.

Seek out positive role models who embody the mindset you wish to adopt. After all, positivity is infectious.

In the same way, limit your exposure to negative people and to news and social media that fuels negative thinking. This might include being more mindful about what you look at on social media and, if something online is triggering to you, hitting that ‘unfollow’ button.

Gratitude is a powerful tool for shifting your mindset. When you focus on what you’re grateful for, you tend to shift your attention away from negative thoughts towards more positive ones.

Take a few minutes each day to reflect on what you're grateful for, whether that’s the people in your life, your health or your achievements. Take part in some positive affirmations, write them down in a journal or share them with a friend.

Research shows that gratitude and optimism go hand in hand.²

Optimism can lead to a range of major benefits, including:

• better coping skills
• lower stress levels
• better physical health
• increased persistence when pursuing goals.³

In fact, one study found that more optimistic women were 29% less likely to die from any of the serious illnesses the project tracked over an 8-year period.⁴

Optimism is more than just ignoring the bad. By actively focusing on the good, you’re more likely to handle stressful situations better, in turn reducing the harmful effects that stress can have on your body.

While it doesn’t feel like it, stress is actually designed to help, not harm, you.⁵ And, as some research shows, framing stress as a challenge rather than a threat can improve your response to it.⁶

One way to reframe stress is to arm yourself with resources and possible solutions to stressful tasks and situations. This can help you feel more comfortable in your ability to complete the task, instead of panicking or avoiding it altogether.

Changing your mindset takes time and effort. It requires consistent practice and a willingness to challenge your beliefs. Take small steps towards your goals and celebrate your progress as you go. And don't be discouraged by setbacks, these are just opportunities for even more growth.