Becoming a person of value and achieving your dreams begins with a change of mindset. That’s the first place to start. And by your mindset, I mean your mental attitude or inclination or your fixed state of mind. To achieve success, your established set of attitudes towards success and successful people must change first.

Some years ago while rotating in one of the surgical departments, I was chatting with a resident surgeon about who is doing what among the consultants. You know that among the consultants in heart surgery, for instance, there are people who specialise in doing aortic valve repair/replacement and others on the mitral valve; there are those who savour mini-thoracotomy and others who are good at doing off-pump; some people focus their attention on artificial hearts while others cherish heart transplants. And the list goes on.

The young resident was willing to share this piece of information with me, mentioning what each attending did and how good they were in their areas of specialization. But he didn’t stop there; he also identified the people he admired most and why he admired them. He appreciated their skills and knew that with hard work and consistency in his craft, he’d get there someday. Today, he is a cardiothoracic surgeon in a good hospital in one of the European nations, doing well for himself, his family and his patients.

I also knew someone that whenever he saw great preachers of the gospel who were impacting their world, the next thing that would come out of his mouth would be unfounded accusations. He’d accuse them of witchcraft, occultism, wrong doctrines and the rest. While those might be true of some pastors, such generic unsubstantiated reaction towards anyone who is prospering in ministry showed his mindset towards ministerial success. You can be sure that he won’t attain that level of growth in ministry; he’ll remain spiritually stagnant. Constantly associating Church expansion with unbiblical practices on the part of her ministers is a mindset that some Christians have. Just like the Pharisees and Scribes who accused Jesus of casting out demons by Beelzebub.

I’m sure you’ve encountered people who are always ready to point accusing fingers at the rich people in society. Whenever a bad thing, even a small loss in business, happens to the rich, this group of people would accuse them of all kinds of dubious and illegal things, citing those as the reasons behind their misfortune. This mindset is prevalent with some people living in some parts of the world. Well, you can be sure that they won’t smell that level of success as long as their mindset remains unchanged.

The wrong mindset unconsciously makes you comfortable in your present state. You just feel that anyone above your spiritual, financial or academic state must undoubtedly be doing something wrong. So, you don’t even attempt to discover what may be the secret(s) behind the numerous successes happening around you; why the people around you are thriving, but you are striving. You’re just interested in criticism without knowledge nor understanding. That’s a perfect recipe for paralysis and stagnancy.

So, having a change of mindset is the place to start first if you want to be great in any field of endeavour. If your mindset towards success and successful people hasn’t changed, you may never attain that height. But when it does, achieving your goals will become closer than you imagined.

So, who do you want to become in the next 5 -10 years? When you hear of success and see successful people, what’s your first thought? Do you possess the right mindset?