Do successful people and unsuccessful people (generally) have different mindsets?

[Classist.]

I've been mulling this over in the back of my head for a few weeks now, and I think that although I was thinking about this in monetary terms it applies to almost all forms of success. Basically, it seems like if you discount people who got their wealth through luck (inheritance, lottery, etc.) rich people tend to look at opportunity differently from poor people. Of the people I personally know, often the wealthy or in some other sense successful people tend to look at the future in terms of opportunities to be found and find work engaging and almost game-like. Conversely, many of the people I know who live paycheck to paycheck seem to look at the future like some inexorable wall they must somehow force themselves to climb, and tend to complain about problems more than they look for solutions. I know that many people are in terrible situations that are nearly impossible to lift themselves out of, but lots of other people almost seem to enjoy wallowing in mediocrity and failure. Basically, I'm wondering what frame of mind separates those who accomplish their goals from those who don't.

 

[Otis Boi]

I think everyone starts off with the same mindset. Everyone tends to want to get a good job and make something of themselves. It's just when years of success or failure are taken into account then thats when the mindset changes.As an example If you where living paycheck to paycheck you might be trying to find a way out in the beginning but 5 years down the line you might become disheartened because you suffer major setbacks or maybe there never was a good opportunity to actually make that change.

As for the rich I think there becomes a point where failure is not so much a setback but a learning experince. If you have money saved up to live off of a few months then maybe qutting a job to move to a area with better jobs wouldn't be a bad gamble. I think a lot of the time its becomes an enviormental thing when it comes to mindsets espically when you get late into someones adulthood.

 

[Pomniman]

Successful people tend to be more motivated/driven overall. The main thing is that they're not afraid of both working hard and taking calculated risks with their resources to advance themselves in their career or business/investments even if there's a significant chance of failure. Average joes tend to complain more about having to work and have more trouble stepping outside their comfort zone when it comes to potential opportunities. That being said, being motivated to work hard and take risks to advance your station in life doesn't necessarily guarantee that you'll succeed, it's just a pre-requisite to exploiting opportunities that you may have otherwise slept on or would've found too dangerous to pursue with a more risk-averse mindset.

 

[Harnessed Carcass]

Small loan of a million dollars = successful
not that = fix ur mindset bruv, u gotta grind.

hehe, jokes aside, absolutely they have different mindsets. People are driven by different things, and when someone is driven to achieve within their field or Career they will inevitably become more successful then their counterparts due to a bigger time investment, more risk taking, the confidence needed to excel your career, etc. Personally though, I'm driven by my hobbies and don't really care to be an over achiever outside of what makes me happy in my free time. (EDIT: now that I think about it though, I've found sucsess at those hobbies and getting by with my career, so....)

 

[Lemmingwise]

I think everyone starts off with the same mindset.

This is just completely false. Even kindergarten kids are already so different from each other as they approach things.

--

Short answer to OP, success is a mixture of luck, IQ, hard work. Success is as likely to breed complacence as it is to breed a winning mindset, so the mindset itself is an independant psychological challenge whether you are succesful or not. People that deal with hardship can use that to either motivate them or feel sorry for themselves.

Motivation is far from the only thing you need though. As they say, the mount everest is covered with the bodies of highly motivated people.

 

[La Luz Extinguido]

Yes but it's very personal and complicated.

You can actually chose to live your life as a bitch or not tho, if that helps.

 

[Quijibo69]

Being born rich helps 80% of the time.

 

[JosephStalin]

All other things being equal, believe the two things that distinguish successful people from unsuccessful people are:
1. Successful people are willing to put in the effort necessary to get the mission accomplished and to succeed.
2. Successful people always have confidence in themselves and their abilities to get things done. When they are given an unfamiliar or tough job to do, successful people ask themselves, "Can I do this?". Then they immediately answer themselves, "Sure I can! And I shall!".

That's it. If you are willing to put in the effort and not shy away from the tough jobs you'll succeed. Just a matter of mindset and attitude.

A little power level - at times I asked myself question 2, and I answered, "Sure I can! And I shall!". And I did it - successfully.

The seeds of success, if not greatness, lie within all of us. Get off your ass, stay off your ass, never quit, never give up, just get it done. That's all it takes.

 

[sadbird]

Mindset really is important. Plenty of people with opportunities either handed to them or success gained through hard work completely squandered because they grew up poor and couldn't get out of it even when they had everything. Either because of crab bucket failure parents who can't stand to see their children rise above them, or things like depression creating mental hurdles.

 

[Crabbo]

Being able to learn from your mistakes plays a huge part into it.
I work with many clients who refuse to acknowledge their roles in their own failures, and tend to repeat these issues for years.

 

[Slappy McGherkin]

People are driven by different things

This is kind of the root of it all. Success in life can be defined by so many things, just not how many digits of shekels squirreled away in a bank account. Of course, having money to risk/invest/etc. can lead to a better, well-off life, but consider an average working Joe that has raised a loving family, kids grown and on their own, now raising their own families, grandchildren. Would you not consider Joe successful at life, even though his bank account may not reflect an enormous sum?

I would also agree with @JosephStalin in that we all have the seeds of success within. It truly is the care in which we plant and nurture them to become successful. And "successful" by our own measure, not the guy next door with the 9/10 wife, new sports car, the "fantasy" of success shown in the media, etc. Set your goals realistically and have a plan to achieve them. That will make you 90% more successful than most of the people on this planet.

I also firmly believe that there's nothing wrong in being "content" with your life as it is. Not everyone wants to be a CEO, a big wig, whatever. On a personal level, that's something I realized about mid-point in my career climbing the corporate ladder. Moving into management was an eye-opener as to the higher you go, the more back-stabbing and political everything you do becomes. Wasn't for me; I don't suffer idiots very well at all. I found I was much happier doing my standard 9-to-5 as an individual contributor; it let me do cool shit I already loved to do and I got to stay current with technology, rather than "manage people." Successful or not? I'd say that it was for me.

 

[Irrational Exuberance]

Bear in mind that mental illnesses or disorders (depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, autism, and so on) can be sort of a "wild card" that can make certain things easier or harder to accomplish, and using medication and/or therapy as intended are simply means to bring a person closer to the sort of "normal" mental state that the majority of people have.

(In short, don't start immediately kicking yourself when you read threads like this and feel like an outcast or a failure.)

 

[Lemmingwise]

Mindset really is important. Plenty of people with opportunities either handed to them or success gained through hard work completely squandered because they grew up poor and couldn't get out of it even when they had everything. Either because of crab bucket failure parents who can't stand to see their children rise above them, or things like depression creating mental hurdles.

I mean it makes sense to put strong emphasis on mindset. It's the main area that you have control over. Just remember that there is also a part that you don't have control over and you can have the right mindset and fail hard. Keeping a good mindset despite that ensures that you have the best possible chances.

BTW, anyone that wants to improve their mindset should probably read either "mindgym" by gary mack or "the war of art" by steven pressfield.

 

[Eigengrau]

It's debatable whether success is a consequence of the mindset or vice versa. The system is set up to favor rich people, so it's not unreasonable to become pessimistic after working hard for a few years and getting nowhere, especially with all the people running around telling you that being poor is your fault.

What's clear is that there's quite a big difference, and I'm sure both things influence each other.

 

[Hereitis]

Stop posting here and focus on being a better person faggot. You won't get confirmation for being a loser from anyone else than other losers myself included.

Stop being a coward and make something of yourself rather than blaming others.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

It's more that certain mindsets are more likely to help you achieve your goals while others can keep you away from it.
The farms has a lot of examples. People with good abilities that completely fuck up their lives because shitty mindsets (Spoony).
People with no abilities but mindsets that reached more than they deserve (Movieblob).

 

[Unyielding Stupidity]

Bear in mind that mental illnesses or disorders (depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, autism, and so on) can be sort of a "wild card" that can make certain things easier or harder to accomplish, and using medication and/or therapy as intended are simply means to bring a person closer to the sort of "normal" mental state that the majority of people have.

(In short, don't start immediately kicking yourself when you read threads like this and feel like an outcast or a failure.)

Alternatively, if you do have one of those illnesses or disorders that makes things harder to accomplish, do yourself a favour and an hero. No point in attempting to fruitlessly extend an existance that'll achieve nothing. It's like a fundie trying to keep their tard baby alive that really should've died minutes after birth, except somehow more pathetic.

 

[Irrational Exuberance]

Alternatively, if you do have one of those illnesses or disorders that makes things harder to accomplish, do yourself a favour and an hero. No point in attempting to fruitlessly extend an existance that'll achieve nothing. It's like a fundie trying to keep their tard baby alive that really should've died minutes after birth, except somehow more pathetic.

:shadowthehedgehog:, dude.

 

[Idiotron]

The really successful people, the ones who made it out of nothing, are the people who are willing to work 12 hours per day, every day for 10-15 years, forgetting about things like love life or social life in general, just to succeed.
Most people aren't willing to sacrifice that much.
That's the main difference, I think.

 

[HunterHearstHelmsley]

I think everyone starts off with the same mindset.

I disagree with this. I think your parents/upbringing will significantly impact your mindset. My attitudes have changed significantly since high school and I regret not having a more studious approach and not having applied for the best university I could instead of going to the one I visited when I was 8. My mindset at 17 was not the mindset you described in your post

Being able to learn from your mistakes plays a huge part into it.

I agree with this.

It's debatable whether success is a consequence of the mindset or vice versa. The system is set up to favor rich people, so it's not unreasonable to become pessimistic after working hard for a few years and getting nowhere, especially with all the people running around telling you that being poor is your fault.

I’m just not sure how you can be poor without being stupid, lazy, just very unfortunate or choosing it in the first world. Maybe that’s just my privilege speaking but I see a lot of people spend their money as fast as it comes in and complain about muh rich people.