10 things to help guide you into an unshakable mindset
Feel stuck, soft, or spinning in circles?
You don’t need another productivity hack, maybe you just need a mindset overhaul. Most of us lose before we even begin. Not because we’re weak, but because our mindsets can be.
No matter what you’re doing, whether it is starting a business, chasing fitness, writing a book, or rebuilding your life, your mindset is the game-changer. No “ifs”, “ands”, or “buts” about it.
This is your no-fluff, hard-hitting guide to building a bulletproof mindset that works across anything and everything.
1. Ruthless Ownership
First and foremost, It’s on you.
No one is coming to save you. No one owes you anything. The moment you stop blaming others is the moment you become powerful. What people think of you is not your business.
- If it fails, own it.
- If it succeeds, keep earning it.
- Excuses are nothing more than delays in disguise.
- Adapt & Overcome.
Sometimes, the only thing in your way is you. You can be your biggest obstacle and not even realize it.
It’s time to tear down that wall.
Ownership = Control. Control = Freedom.
2. Process over Outcome
Stop chasing results, start mastering the process.
Results are outside your control. Your input isn’t.
Focus on:
- The reps, not the trophy.
- The craft, not the likes.
- The today, not the someday.
Get obsessed with showing up right, not showing off.
Everything worth building is a marathon, not a sprint. Life is a constant build to the finish line.
- Sprinters like to compare their times in relevance to others.
- Marathon runners tend to compare the duration, build and overall time with their previous.
The consistency, the progress, the longevity… those should be your key moments to build.
The process builds you, makes you better, much more efficient, and eventually faster.
Speed matters, but without efficiency, you’re just rushing toward disaster.
3. Resilience is Non-Negotiable
You will fail. get used to it. Come back better.
You’ll be rejected, ghosted, mocked, ignored. Good. It means you’re in the arena.
- Failure is the price of ambition.
- Pain is the receipt for growth.
- Setbacks are training, not signs to quit.
Build bounce-back muscle.
While you should be your biggest fan, you should also be your biggest critic. Nothing will ever cut you deeper than your own doubt.
4. Clarity Kills Chaos
Vagueness is a dream-killer.
If you want to make progress, you need to get specific.
- What do you want?
- What does it matter?
- What is your next move?
Clarity transform chaos into action. it sharpens your direction, guides your focus, and eliminates wasted effort.
Clarity doesn’t just mean knowing your goals though, it means knowing your language as well, knowing yourself.
Misunderstandings often come down to terminology. You might think you’re arguing, when really, you and the other person, are saying the same thing with different words. Learn to define your terms. Speak with intent.
Then there’s familiarity, the feeling when things start to click. Suddenly, tasks feel natural. You act with confidence, not confusion. That’s the result of repeated exposure, pattern recognition, and the discovery of familiar territory.
Understanding terminology helps you communicate with others. Then you know what they are talking about.
Understanding familiarity helps you communicate with yourself. Then you know what you are talking about.
5. Discipline > Motivation
Motivation is a mood. Discipline is the muscle.
Motivation asks: “Do I feel like it?”
Discipline says: “It’s time to move.”
- Build habits.
- Stay Consistent.
- Stop waiting for inspiration.
Consistency beats hype, every time.
If you are a WWE fan, you can look at a lot of those people and what they went through to get where they are. A perfect example here is The Rock, Dwayne Johnson. Fans hated him at first, chanting things like “Rocky sucks” and “Die, Rocky, Die”.
He stayed his course and eventually flipped his character to being the “People’s Champ”.
Now he is a bona fide movie star, worth millions, nothing left to prove, yet still hitting the gym every day at 4 am. He’s not motivated, he’s dieciplined.
6. Stay Humble, Stay Hungry
You’re never finished.
Even if you win, there’s more to learn. The best stay curious. The weak get comfortable.
- Learn from everyone.
- Stay uncomfortable, get comfortably uncomfortable.
- Let ego die, and growth live.
Be a student. Always.
7. Act Fast, Iterate Faster.
Real Talk: Why I move fast- because overthinking is a silent killer.
- Start ugly.
- Ship early.
- Fix later.
Done is better than perfect. Action creates clarity. No matter what route you take, or how much you put into something, people are going to love, and hate it.
- I built this website, it is a constant work in progress but it helps me release my thoughts.
- I published a couple books just to get the stories out in the world and out of my head.
- I have knowledge and skills in a variety of trades because I wanted to stop thinking about doing it, and just doing it.
I don’t consider myself great at anything.
- There will always be a better web-designer.
- There will always be more imaginative authors.
- There will always be more skilled tradesmen across every field I know well.
But,
- That master coder probably can’t tell a better story.
- That creative and passionate author probably can’t use a tape measure.
- That master tradesman probably has no patience for computers.
The point is, just do it, repeatedly, consecutively… consistently.
I am not great at any skill I have, knowing that helps me grow, but I am great at juggling multiple skills, because I am not afraid to just get it done.
8. Build Mental Fortitude Daily
Mental strength isn’t inherited, it is trained.
- Choose hard things.
- Practice discomfort.
- Learn to suffer with purpose.
Every time you pick the harder right, over the easier wrong, you level up. Read that again.
9. Filter Feedback, Don’t fear It.
Not all criticism is equal.
- Consider the source.
- Accept the truth.
- Ignore the noise.
Refine, don’t retreat. Let feedback sharpen you, not break you.
“Don’t be distracted by criticism. Remember, the only taste of success some people have is when they take a bite out of you.” – Zig Zigler
Embrace constructive criticism. Don’t be afraid to tear down your own walls and build fresh, create a stable foundation first and foremost, and that stable foundation is you, your principles.
There is nothing wrong with taking steps back, sometimes we need to stop and observe, step back, recalibrate, and move forward, with purpose. Two steps back, three steps forward… still progress, but now it’s calculated so next time maybe it is only one step back, three forward.
Not everyone is going to like what you say, some won’t want to hurt your feelings, it is understandable. In reality, what people think of you isn’t your business. So accept all the feedback.
10. Relentless Consistency
Most people don’t fail, they just stop.
The secret? Keep going:
- When it’s boring.
- When it sucks.
- When no one is watching.
Show up. Every. Damn. Day.
Get. Shit. Done.
There is nothing to it but to do it.
There will be obstacles and on that ride. You will have to:
- Run through them.
- Go over them.
- Go around them.
And, Just don’t be afraid to move away from them. Some times we end up on different paths not meant for us. Dont be afraid to walk away.
Just. Keep. Moving.
Bonus Principle: Embrace the Beta Mindset
The world idolizes the alpha; loud, competitive, dominating.
But the real work is done by those who lead from the shadows: the true beta mindsets. They create false alphas time and time again.
True “betas”, act with quiet confidence, empathy, and intelligence. They don’t crave the spotlight or burn out in pursuit of dominance. They support, strategize, and stabilize. They listen more than they speak. They build, while others boast.
The beta mindset isn’t weak, it’s wise. It’s not passive, it’s purposeful. In a world drowning in ego, true betas are the ones who actually make it all work. They’re the steady hands behind the scenes delivering without applause and not afraid to check alpha behavior when it crosses the line.
“The loudest one in the room is often the weakest.” – Frank Lucas (American Gangster)
Don’t aim to be the alpha in a noisy world. Be the beta who silently shapes everything.
A true Beta mindset is that “right-hand” personality that tends to handle all the problems for the Alpha. Nobody can command the ear of the Alpha like the right-hand.
The true Beta needs the Alpha to run interference up front. The Alpha needs the Beta to keep it’s position.
Final Words: Be Constant.
Trends will shift. People will flake. Circumstances will collapse.
Adapt to your surroundings. Overcome the obstacles.
A lot of this comes down to the growth and fixed mindset comparisons. Most would say we should all have a growth mindset but I see advantages to fixed mindsets as well. But I am not here to differentiate between the two, there are plenty of articles out there on them, here is a great read from Harvard Business School if you want to dig deeper.
I’m trying to focus on utilizing both, you can break the case down to see there are two sides to everything. There is a “black and white” area to everything. Some of these might contradict each other at first. That’s okay. That tension is where clarity forms, once you stop thinking in black and white. There is always a third option that lies in between;
- Good / Evil… Neutral
- Democrat / Republican… Independent
- War / Peace… Truce
- Love / Hate… Apathy
- Black / White… Grey
There are always three sides, usually that third side is the best of both worlds.
With that, some of these examples may contradict each other, but it comes down to how you use them. Context and interpretation are key. You are playing with a constant puzzle, just like a coder, an author, or that skilled tradesman, you are grabbing pieces of the puzzle and seeing what matches, constantly.
You need to play Devil’s Advocate to truly understand.
If you dwell in the “black or white” viewpoint, you’re limited with the pieces you can use.
Live in the grey. That’s where flexibility, clarity, and power meet and you will learn to appreciate and use pieces from both sides to complete your puzzle.
When you build this kind of mindset, you become the one thing that doesn’t waver.
Mindsets don’t just win battles, they shape lives and build empires. Forge yours. Be unshakable.
That’s how you win, at anything, and everything.
Do you enjoy critical thinking? You should, it helps open doors in your mind you may not know exist.
Next we will dive deeper in this with playing Devil’s Advocate. You need to in order to maintain the grey area.