I’d like to kick off the year with a series focused on mindsets.  The series is partially inspired by the legendary Professor Skinner, my favorite marketing professor from Butler, who continues to teach me to this day.  Anyway, this entry will be focused on mindsets and filmmaking.

We are all filmmakers and our life is basically a documentary that we film 24 hours a day 7 days a week.  We are all editors, producers, directors, camera people, and audio engineers.    As we go through life we witness fragments of the world at a breakneck pace and then try to pull it all together into a cohesive story.  We take what we see, edit it, remix it, and structure it to tell a story.  With any movie there is a lot of footage that ends up on the cutting room floor, and there are a lot of situations that end up being changed to fit an overarching narrative.  

The question of the day, “What guides your mind as it interprets the world around you?”  The way we experience the world is made up of several different mindsets that all combine together.  For example, is the glass half empty or half full?  What does strength mean to you?  What is leadership?  What are the things in life that are worth the most?  If someone would answer these questions you could begin to get an idea of how they see the world and how they might interpret events in the future.

What does this have to do with us?  Every individual we work with is playing a different movie in their heads.  Every person we work with filters information differently to tell their own unique story.  Before you can truly understand someone else, you have to understand yourself.  How do you see the world?  What are some mindsets you have that shape the way you view and experience things?  The other thing to consider is that mindsets are malleable.  Mindsets can be changed and adapted over time.  If you want to change you first have to change your own mindset.  If you want to help others change, then you have to find ways to help them make decisions to change their mindsets.

The challenge: Do you know how your different mindsets impact the way you experience the world?

For grins and giggles, if you’ve ever wondered why I am the way I am here are some of my mindsets that shape how I view the world and respond to things.

• I believe that every day I wake up healthy and happy I’m already better off than the majority of the population on this planet, so I’m incredibly thankful.
• I believe that there is always a hidden option or a hidden angle to consider with every problem, so I’m always trying to look at things from different perspectives.
• I believe that the majority of things in life can be improved with a little humor, so I don’t take myself (or most things) too seriously.

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry