We all know that becoming a successful person requires changes in our daily habits, cultivation of some superior skills and learning to behave ourselves in certain ways. But the truth is, at the most basic level, our actions and behavior should be in complete harmony with our mental set-up.

So, while concentrating on personal micro-management throughout your daily routine earns you direct advantages, you can’t fully rely on that as long as you don’t “tune” your mind precisely. That’s what a mindset is. It is a set of core principles that determine how you operate and behave, struggling to find yourself a spot in the world.

Some of them might be pretty damaging, but some can create a mental environment for you to achieve your long-time goals.

Here are five of the most impactful mindsets that every successful person should equip:

1. No matter what happens, I will be ok

How many times did we create an awful mental visualization of ourselves failing before we have to take an important step? Whether it’s that compelling presentation you have to make in front of your boss or a date with a girl you admired for such a long time, we tend to envision ourselves screwing things up.

That is putting more pressure than we can imagine on ourselves by imagining negative outcomes. The truth is that you should never do that again. Never! We all know that whatever is going to happen, at the end of the day, we will live with the aftermath, bypassing it like a school bus full of screaming nasty kids on a highway. Moreover, a negative outcome is also an outcome.

I mean, how else can you learn about how to handle some situations except for mistakes you make? Why do you care that you failed the presentation, you now know exactly know what you did wrong, and you will never make that mistake again. And that girl? At least you now know that you are definitely not a match for her, way better than spending your next year trying to find that out.

2. I am one step closer

Do you have a desire to become great/famous/wealthy/successful? Imagining yourself being on Olympus clearly makes us happy. But then, life does its best to put you right back at your spot, pretty much at the bottom of the mountain.

Our natural reaction to that is to whine about the struggles and hard times that we have to go through to reach the peak. Give it enough time and you will be too exhausted to imagine yourself receiving the Nobel Prize or sailing the Atlantic on your fabulous yacht. You will just have to give it up if you concentrate on the harshness of the daily struggles you encounter.

The trick is to change the perception of the process. If the process is too tough for you, it isn’t going to get better, unless you learn to enjoy it. Set yourself smaller goals, mentally check them off once you achieve them. It will enable you to go through everything a lot easier.

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” – Lao Tzu

3. Do what’s important

The never-ending self-debate we run in our heads is: what is my purpose in life? Who am I? What will I be remembered for? We purposely question ourselves with stuff that can’t easily be answered. Instead of dragging ourselves into eternal philosophical speculation, try putting things into more down-to-earth terms.

We are humans. Humans do things. Some things matter; some don’t. Some are important; some aren’t. What things in my life are important? Do I focus enough effort and attention to this stuff, or I am wasting some of my precious time feeding my harmful habits? Let yourself define what exactly you should build your life around instead of searching for an abstract purpose.

4. Who cares?

We, as social creatures, tend to spend a lot of effort in building our reputation. What would they think of my new haircut? What should I say not to look awkward? We spend a lot more time worrying about our public picture than actually worrying about our character and personality.

Remember, mindset number one? Why bother yourself with people’s opinions, act like you just feel like acting. Put more risk into your daily habits, into your communication with others. Don’t be afraid to tell that old joke that you’ve been afraid to drop. Build your personality and do hard work supporting it, and you will see how your reputation is nesting around that.

“Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.” – Abraham Lincoln

5. Dream vividly

Do you remember your childhood dream of becoming an astronaut? Where did it go? That one was impossible, you would say. But was it? How many times in our lives have we turned down our dreams and ambitions because we could no longer identify with them as realistic? It’s time for a change! Starting from scratch, imagine the best-case scenario for yourself in 5/10/20 years.

Now double it. Set yourself a graphically impossible ambition, dream of being one step higher than the peak of the mountain. Let this ambition steer you up on your career ladder or the development of your business. Only unimaginable goals can motivate you to do unimaginable things in order to achieve your goals.

Mindset number two tells us not to dive too deeply into visualizing the outcome, but you should never give up fantasizing. You should always remember why you are here and where you are going. Feed your aspiration with an unreachable target. Just set your mind in this direction, and you will realize that it is much easier to pass through the challenges that life puts on you.

These five easy instructions will not change your life in an instant. But, tuning your mind in the given directions can create positive conditions for your growth. That is a significant step on your way to becoming a successful human being.

What mindset have you adopted to help you succeed? Leave your thoughts below!