Perception is the lens through which we view reality.
We currently live in a perfection-driven society that strongly values talent and the achievement of goals. However, recent surveys show that very few people set realistic goals for themselves and for those that do, an even smaller percentage are ever able to achieve them.
Psychologist Carl Rogers believed that everyone is capable of achieving their goals, wishes, and desires in life. In fact, he believed that all humans are driven by an “actualizing tendency” or a need to succeed at the highest possible level. Rogers described the “good life” as a continuous state of becoming where people continually strive to succeed:
“It seems to me that the good life is not any fixed state. It is not, in my estimation, a state of virtue, or contentment, or nirvana, or happiness. It is not a condition in which the individual is adjusted, fulfilled, or actualized….The good life is a process, not a state of being…It is a direction, not a destination. The direction…is that which is selected by the total organism when there is psychological freedom to move in any direction.”
Psychologist Abraham Maslow also placed a strong emphasis on human potential. Maslow contended that all humans have an innate drive to reach higher levels of wisdom and consciousness, a state he referred to as self-actualization. Furthermore, Maslow believed that all humans are capable of having peak experiences, which he defined as:
“An almost overwhelming sense of pleasure, euphoria or joy, a deep sense of wonder or awe, feeling in harmony or at one with the universe, altered percepts of time and/or space, a deep feeling of love, greater awareness of beauty or appreciation, and a sense that it would be difficult or impossible to describe adequately in words.”
Maslow believed that peak experiences often follow a period of struggle and resistance to self-actualization and are accompanied by a loss of fear, anxiety, and self- doubts. These experiences help create intrinsic motivation and build a foundation for true authentic happiness.
If Roger’s and Maslow were right and we are driven by a need to become the best version of ourselves, why is it that so few people are successful in achieving their goals? For starters, the process of personal transformation begins by developing and maintaining a healthy self-concept. Our self-concept represents the perceptions and beliefs that we have about ourselves, which has a significant impact on our behaviors and can determine our future success.
If you can’t perceive it, you can’t achieve it — Ako Stark
Our self-concept is composed of two parts: our self-worth (how we think about ourselves) and self-image (how we see ourselves). Not surprisingly, people that have a positive self-concept are more confident in their abilities and believe they can conquer any challenges to achieve their goals. In the workplace, these individuals believe their contributions are valuable and that they possess the necessary knowledge and talent to achieve success. On the other hand, people who possess a negative self-concept tend to be more pessimistic, have lower self-confidence and question whether they have the necessary skills and competencies to achieve their goals.
“A man is but the product of his thoughts…what he thinks, he becomes.” ~ Gandhi
What it boils down to is that with the right mindset, everyone is capable of transformation and achieving their ultimate success. Our mindset represents the perceptions we have regarding our level of intelligence, creativity, artistry, and/or athleticism. Our mindset serves a number of cognitive functions by directing our attention to important social cues and helping to navigate critical information we need to pay attention to. Our mindset also assists us in goal selection and primes us with reasonable courses of action needed to achieve those goals. Of course, the journey towards self-actualization involves being in the right mindset and having self-awareness to avoid any of the following mindset traps that will hinder our ability to be successful.
The Fixed Mindset
People with a fixed mindset believe their abilities are static traits that cannot be altered in any meaningful way. This concept was developed by Stanford psychologist, Carol Dweck, who spent decades reviewing research on achievement and success. According to Dweck, “In a fixed mindset, people believe their basic abilities, their intelligence, their talents, are just fixed traits.
They have a certain amount and that’s that, and then their goal becomes to look smart all the time and never look dumb.” People with a fixed mindset believe that talent alone creates success, eliminating the need to “put in the extra effort” to try and improve. In order to maintain their inherent abilities, people with a fixed mindset strive for success and avoid failure at all costs.
They constantly seek validation and are highly sensitive to any type of constructive criticism.
What’s your reality?
