Introduction:
The mind is the most powerful part of ours, and if we understand and take control of it, our mind will do wonders for us. If you read this along with me, you are taking the first two steps in that direction. We as humans have learned some predictable techniques to stimulate our minds. So, it will be best to get those to the forefront of our consciousness before we proceed further.
Most of us are trapped in our own ideological bounds, without the capability to free ourselves. Remember, if we do not know the root cause of a problem, we cannot rectify it. This gives others tremendous advantage to manipulate us. It is always good to recognize and distrust our ideological perceptions. Always remember what you think, know, and your perceived thoughts and senses could be wrong.
Mindset Frameworks, Tips and Techniques:
Cultivating a positive mindset is essential for overall well-being, this is not in dispute. But when we talk about techniques they may be because what motivates one or generates a positive mental reaction may not be the same for another person. For this specific reason we will just lay them out. Mindset is a powerful tool that can influence your experiences and outlook on life. By acknowledging the techniques below and then incorporating those in your actions, you can cultivate a more positive and resilient mindset.
⁑1⁑ Focus on Your Strengths: Instead of dwelling on what you lack, recognize, and utilize the dominant strengths within you, and build upon them. Those eventually will make you outshine, among others.
⁑2⁑ Practice Gratitude: Instead of thinking or complaining about what you lack (tangible or intangible), be grateful for what you already have and develop your strengths to achieve what you lack.
⁑3⁑ Reflect on Your Positive Qualities: Identify what makes you unique and valuable, in the environment you participate in. Those are exactly your positive qualities. Once identified, use them to sharpen your mindset.
⁑4⁑ Cultivate Self-Compassion: That simply means treat yourself & others kindly and gently. Acknowledge achievements and be understanding when faced with setbacks. Self-compassion helps improve your overall mindset.
⁑5⁑ Mindfulness: Practicing mindfulness meaning being present in the moment (Now) and not getting carried away by the 70,000 [1] or so thoughts that our brains produce and processes every day!
⁑6⁑ Prioritize Self-Care: Recognize that taking care of yourself is essential. Design your work in a way you enjoy, and it should suit your psychological needs. Use breaks, engage in activities that bring you pleasure. The main goal is your well-being because a healthy body contributes to a positive mindset.
⁑7⁑ Shift Your Attention: Our minds primarily tend to focus on negativity. Practice intentional redirection of your thoughts away from negativity. I know this is better said than done but recognizing it and then practicing overcoming it will make you achieve it.
⁑8⁑ Acceptance of Imperfections: We all strive for perfection; nothing is wrong in that. There is no diamond without an imperfection. To live a fulfilling life, you must embrace the imperfections that exist within you and try to refine them over time and same with the other interactions you will be having.
RICE
Now let us investigate another motivational framework of mindset that is commonly referred to as:
RICE is an acronym that stands for Reward, Ideology, Coercion and Ego.
RICE acronym stands for the four (4) most basic motivation techniques for our mind, which makes RICE the most common mind-control / mind exploitation framework, which everyone of us must be aware of. So that we know when this framework is utilized on us.
RICE is also a method used by medical professionals, then it stands for Rest, ICE, Compression and Elevation. That is not the term we are discussing in this article. The RICE we are discussing is mostly used by someone who surely wants to get something accomplished from you, without you recognizing that they are making you do what they want. This is accomplished via powerful RICE’s four motivators that are often multifaceted, meaning each motivation factor has many distinct parts or sides to it depending upon the individual we are trying to apply this motivation to.
⁑1⁑ Reward: Reward is one of the most powerful motivators that can push individuals to achieve goals and complete tasks assigned to them. Everyone is aware of this and needs no explanation.
⁑2⁑ Ideology: Ideology-driven motivation is rooted in an individual’s beliefs, which nourishes certain values and principles within them. This is the most powerful motivator among these four. When you speak to people through the lens of their ideology, you can make them do incredible and irrational things.
⁑3⁑ Coercion: Is the simple practice of persuading someone to do something via an implicit use of force or threat and it involves manipulation, pressure, and/or fear. The best and the universal example of this is the use of hell vs. heaven in our religions. But just pause and think over it, you will find ample examples within the environment you are participating in, where coercion is deployed as a technique. This is the third most powerful motivator among these four. And last but not the least one is…
⁑4⁑ Ego: Is the second most powerful motivator among these four. It is exceedingly difficult to go against someone’s ego and make them do what you want. But, if you work within their ego, you can make them do what you want, even though what you want them to do is against their own best interest. This is utilized in politics today across the world. Ego based motivation stems from an individual’s inner desire for personal achievement, recognition, and self-validation. It works by fanning one’s ego or personal pride by giving them a reward of self-recognition or self-validation, or a sense of importance or other missing fulfilled gaps of their life. You understand someone’s ego and then laser focus on it, to get them to do what you want. It will always work.
SADRAT
SADRAT is an acronym used by intelligence services to describe the cycle of recruiting an asset.
It stands for Spotting, Assessing, Developing, Recruiting, Agent Handling, and Termination [1].
All human interactions including marketing follow the SADRAT process. Each of those tactics become self-explanatory when you start thinking those being applied to you from a marketing point-of-view:
MICE
Is another intelligence service mnemonic called MICE is important to understand for the motivational tactics used to steer someone to become an informant or spy, and this tactic is consistently applied to us, when someone wants us implicitly to do something.
MICE stand for Money, Ideology, Compromise, and Ego.
Once you understand it you can see how effectively and visible it is being applied to our own politicians and others in our daily lives.
⁑1⁑ Money: Is the biggest motivator for all. From corporate boards to politicians to recruiting spies, to our celebrities. However, it is not always the most effective method, especially for our privileged friends with resources (when money is available in abundance) and for those where “I” of MICE takes priority over “M.” If this is the case, then “ICE” of MICE needed to be engaged, if you know what I mean. Keep reading…
⁑2⁑ Ideology: When you speak to people through the lens of their ideology, you can make them do incredible and irrational things. For more details refer to the RICE section on Ideology above.
⁑3⁑ Compromise: Is a tactic that involves the use of a “technique of coercion”, to persuade someone to cooperate. Recall your memory of the past extortion incidents you are aware of or in Cybersecurity there a few dedicated exploits that are designed on this tactic and one of those is Ransomware, a malicious software designed to block your own access to your own computer, unless you pay the blackmailer what they want. Another one is extorting someone based upon their compromised pictures / information / data and a few more.
⁑4⁑ Ego: as explained above in the RICE section.
So, the key in human interactions is to understand what motivates a specific individual, as it will be different for each one of us, then apply the above proven frameworks, techniques, and tactics to accomplish your goals.
Growth versus a Fixed Mindset Framework:
#1 Growth Mindset:
A growth mindset [1], [2] is a belief system where intelligence, abilities, and skills can be developed over time through effort, learning, and persistence. A person with growth mindset welcomes and accepts individual’s growth, embracing challenges that comes along with it, look-over failures as opportunities for new learnings, and believes that their mindset is on a potential growth trajectory and is a moving target.
Advantages of a Growth Mindset:
⁑1⁑ Lifelong Learning: People with a growth mindset have a love for learning and continuously seek to improve themselves throughout their life.
⁑2⁑ Resilience: Leads to an adaptable, innovative, and resilient you. You can bounce back from setbacks, adapt to change, and remain optimistic even in challenging situations.
⁑3⁑ Persistent Effort: A growth mindset encourages hard work and dedication, leading to their own personal growth and achievement overtime.
⁑4⁑ Open to Feedback: They welcome “constructive feedback” as a chance to enhance themselves, learn and keep growing.
Disadvantages of a Growth Mindset:
⁑1⁑ Overemphasis on Efforts: Sometimes, individuals with a growth mindset may focus too much on effort without paying enough attention to effective learning the winning strategies.
⁑2⁑ Fear of Failure: While they embrace failure as a learning opportunity, the fear of not meeting expectations can still be present and if that is the case it will work negatively.
⁑3⁑ Impatience: The desire for growth may lead to impatience, expecting rapid progress and feeling frustrated but in real world results take time. If you have a growth mindset and if you find impatience as a characteristic within you, it is best to consciously work to erode it.
#2 Fixed Mindset:
Alternatively, a fixed mindset individual always assumes that intellect, brainpower, judgment, and reasoning are static traits predetermined at birth. You are locked-up with those in this life. Here are few pros and cons of a fixed mindset:
Advantages of a Fixed Mindset:
⁑1⁑ Stability: Fixed mindsets provide a sense of stability and security, as individuals rely on their existing abilities.
⁑2⁑ Expertise: Focusing on a few key skills can lead to expertise in specific areas.
⁑3⁑ Risk Avoidance: Fear of failure may prevent individuals from taking risks beyond their comfort zone.
Disadvantages of a Fixed Mindset:
⁑1⁑ Limited Growth: Individuals with fixed mindset may miss out development opportunities due to their belief that human idiosyncrasies are static and non-developable.
⁑2⁑ Insecurity: The fear of not being good enough or smart enough can lead to feelings of insecurity.
⁑3⁑ Resistance to Learning: A fixed mindset may hinder openness to new experiences and learning from others. This can gradually leave you behind in new skills development, put you in an inertia where new initiatives will become out of your reach and many more complexities can arise out of this trait.
Summary & Conclusion:
Our mindset has or will become a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy. Our mindset in probability will have a lasting impact and consequences on your everyday life. As it influences our behaviors, which in turn affects our life outcomes. If we believe we can improve, we work harder and achieve more. Conversely, if we believe we are limited, we may not put the required efforts needed for success. So indirectly our mindset influences our motivation and achievements.
Both mindsets have their merits and drawbacks. A growth mindset is more than a belief system; it is a powerful change in basic assumptions. It acknowledges that intelligence, abilities, and skills are malleable, evolving through deliberate effort, via continuous learning, and unwavering persistence. Those who embody this mindset not only welcome challenges but also see failures as steppingstones toward improvement. They recognize that their potential is not static; it is a dynamic trajectory, constant recalibration is required to achieve their commitments to growth.
It is up to you to identify which mindset you fall into because of your affinity towards your “personality traits.” Then match those with the advantages or limitations for that mindset and verify if those are compatible. Remember, oil and water will not mix!
It will always be possible for you to switch from one to another. Meaning, alternatively adopt a position on one aspect which is completely in the growth mindset and in another area, on a fixed mindset. This hybrid approach is challenging to achieve but possible as our minds are normally not wired for that.
Learn to strategically position yourself so that you can thrive despite the circumstance’s life presents. This is possible with education, persistence and being conscious of the fact what you want to accomplish, the route you would like to take, and the environmental challenges that you must overcome to succeed in whatever you are trying to accomplish.
The frameworks, tips and techniques discussed in this article are just an aid to help you hone your mindset, which in turn will help you successfully accomplish your goals. These will also help you in accomplishing your “Magnum Opus”, more on that here. Wishing you success in your endeavors towards a growth mindset!
About The Author:
Asad Syed is a graduate of Mathematics, Applied Mathematics and Statistics. His experience spans in Security Architecture, Security Operation Management, Digital Investigations & Forensics, Crisis & Threat Simulation, GRC Management, Threat Hunting, Cybersecurity Emerging Trends & Threat Mitigation, Database Security, Identity & Access Management, and Identity Federation. His interests are in the application of newer technologies, to enhance the output performance of technologies with which he is working. He is a writer, teacher, and cybersecurity evangelist, who has worked for multiple fortune five hundred companies and currently providing cybersecurity consulting to the upstream operations of the oil and gas industry. Reach him via Asad at ASyed dot com. ■
