THURSDAY, MAY 02, 2024
Bryce D’souza
The infinite mindset or rather 'infinite thinking' can be defined as a state of mind, characterised by constant learning and unlearning, constant reworking and tuning of past beliefs and attitudes and more importantly, the cultivation of a growth mentality when approaching any situation or circumstance that involves other people around with similar interests. It seeks to create or stimulate a world, where all people shift from aggressively competing with each other, to a world where people indulge in a health competition as a way to learn from each other and grow both in a deeper understanding of themselves and the world around.
This comes as a stark contrast to a world where people are constantly on the rat-race as they strive for what is commonly referred to as 'exponential growth'. In the whole process, they are hardening their identities and personas leading to all the possible divisions that we see in today's age and time. The 'tit-for-tat' world or the 'I'm better than you' world is what currently earmarks the society we all live in today. A constant desire is often seen to 'beat our competition' rather than actually 'learn from it'. This is exactly the reason why we are not able to bear or reap the fruits of the work or the things we do in our day-to-day lives. It is also a very much observable fact in the workplaces and specially, the education systems that exist as of this date. From the very beginning we join these educational institutions till we enter the job market, we are engrained in our psyche to 'compete' for better prospects or results instead of 'competing' as a way to learn better from the world around us and 'ourselves'.
This is an extremely dangerous phenomenon to the world and the society all around. It adds up to creating what we often hear as 'toxic workplaces', 'toxic societies' and 'toxic neighbourhoods' all of which have a significant detrimental impact on the people all around. It is here that the concept of developing an 'infinite mindset' comes into practice. By incorporating this into our work-cultures, our education systems and even the society at large, we are able to effectively transition from a 'toxic competitive atmosphere' to a more collaborative atmosphere. In this way, we make way for increased learning, a deeper understanding of each other and more importantly, great personal and professional development.
With more and more people beginning to realise the negative consequences of toxic work-cultures on their mental health and well-being, a lot of them are making a significant shift to jobs that harness their productivity while at the same time, respect their mental health boundaries and spaces. This in turn goes about to highlight how much of an impact the mindset we have cultivated right from a younger age, is having on our lives in the corporate space. It also goes about showcasing a dramatic shift in preferences amongst job-seekers, most of whom now believe that perks and benefits in a job alone do not supplement for boosting a positive morale in the workplace.
Taking all of these arguments into consideration, we could definitely arrive at a consensus to the fact that there appears to be a greater 'movement' orchestrated towards cultivating the 'infinite mindset' in our societies and the world around.
