How a Questing Mindset Leads to More Meaningful Work

Maybe you’re feeling worn out, empty of ideas, or overworked and depleted.

You can’t always change your circumstances, but you can change your mindset. When we talk about mindset, we talk about attitudes – your attitude towards your work, your team, your business, your long-term goals, your family, your relationships, your vision, your future. Reframing your mindset gives you the power to reshape your life and reimagine your future. Are you eager to make your side hustle your full time gig? Is city life draining you? Are you running out of energy crossing off to-do-list items, leaving no energy for your passions? Are you in a rut and in need of inspiration? 

Building a new mindset and putting your ideas into action is important for any visionary, business owner, or creative who wants to manifest their goals into reality. If you’re ready and willing to change the way you view your life, you will find yourself moving towards the path you’re eager to be on.

Changing Your Mindset

According to research conducted by the University of Scranton, 92% of Americans don’t complete their New Year’s goals. So it begs the question: how do the 8% of Americans achieve their goals?

We know mindset matters. Studies have shown that our perception of pain, for instance, can be altered. If you’re dealing with chronic pain, you can actually rework your brain to lessen the pain. The same is true for your circumstances – and your goals. Change begins with you. But how do you actually adjust your mindset?

Start with intention. If you really want to change your mindset, you must be deliberate in this choice. Saying you want to change the way you perceive your work or your day-to-day circumstances is only the launching pad. To really take off, you must carve out time for intention.

Start with one hour. One full hour of you. Bring an unfilled notebook and your mind. Then, break it down to once a day for fifteen minutes. Open yourself up to meditation. Take mind-fuelled walks. Ask yourself the difficult questions. Let your mind wander. Let your mind imagine, create, and yes, change your reality.

Are you considering adding a new product or service to your existing business? Are you thinking of rebranding your company? Do you want to start your own podcast? Instead of fearing what might go wrong, what negative feedback you might receive, start to think about the “how.” How will you bring this idea to fruition? When will you carve out time to work on this idea? How will you make this new venture successful? How much time can you reasonably spend on this project?

The Questing Mindset at Work

You might dislike your job, your industry, your financial circumstances. Changing your mindset doesn’t mean that you’ll suddenly wake up loving these things, but it will help you to adjust your perspective and place agency in your own hands instead of in the hands of circumstances so you have the keys to thrive.

For instance, one of my clients heads up a division within a renowned organization. His days are full of meetings. Yet he does have relevant ideas of his own that he is not allowing time for. His current mindset is, “My job demands so much from me that I can’t pursue my own projects until I retire.” That’s a self-defeating mindset.

The Questing Mindset begins with a quest. A quest, by definition, involves seeking and being curious. If you’re seeking, you’re curious and open to pursuing your own obsessions and projects, one day at a time. You’re embarking on a path of purpose defined in part by your own initiative. A quest awakens a desire for meaning, for mastery. It also awakens your own agency instead of passivity.

A quest requires you to step out into the unknown. To face uncertainty. To tackle challenges rather than shy away from them.

As you begin problem-tracking, not problem-fleeing, you begin to shift your attitude. Instead of facing each problem and hurdle with frustration or anger or disconnect, the Tracking Wonder mindset will help you push yourself to adjust, to problem-solve, to overcome.

For instance, with the same busy client who’s saturated with meetings, it turns out he has four waking hours each morning before he goes to work. We shifted his mindset to be curious by having him do a few simple things. First, he got an analog notebook devoted only to a set of ideas he has about a project. Each morning he writes down what he’s curious about. Then he pursues random observations and memories related to that.

Now each day for work his day is primed with questions of his own making. Then, as he’s attending meeting after meeting, part of his mind can connect random dots between the meeting content and his own ideas. His filled up days become that much more potentially fulfilling.

The Takeaway

You may not be able to change your circumstances at the moment, but you can change your mindset. A Questing Mindset is intentional, personal, and purposeful.

Wonder is the singular experience that momentarily dissolves our habits and biases so we can see what is real and true, beautiful and possible right here today. You don’t have to leave your home or your office to find wonder (though, it sometimes helps). Wonder is designable. It can be shaped and adapted to best fit your needs at this moment.

Remember, you have the power to change the quality of your days and ultimately of your life. Instead of facing a challenge thinking I can’t do this; this is too difficult, start getting curious and questful.

With wonder, you open up to more surprising solutions that appear even when you’re not expecting them. This stress, frustration, or challenge is temporary, but your future is forever. Welcome the journey and embark on the quest to live a more meaningful, creative life.