Some people think that we have to make huge changes to change our mindset, but today I’m going to share with you seven small things you can do every day to completely change your mindset. John C. Maxwell said, “You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily.”

I’ve found this to be true in both my life and the lives of my clients. So, what things are you doing every day to change your mindset, strengthen your faith, and draw you closer to the Lord?

Podcast:

Resources Mentioned

The Mindset Reset
Thrive Bible Studies
Video on Peace
Peace No Matter the Circumstance Podcast

Highlights from the Show

Start the Day with Jesus

The time you invest with the Lord is going to come back to you.

Your Bible study time doesn’t have to be an intense hour of crying with your face on the floor. If you try to make prayer time lengthy and elaborate from the start, you’ll get discouraged and stop trying.

Remember, progress over perfection.

Choose a time you can commit to. Start with 5 minutes a day. Then set a timer for 2 1/2 minutes to pray and 2 1/2 minutes to read the Bible.

Do that for a week, and then up your time commitment.

I do recommend finding a time that you can spend uninterrupted. Maybe that means waking up earlier than your family, using nap time, or spending an extra few minutes in your car before leaving the office.

That time you spend with the Lord will completely and drastically change your mindset. When you start off on the right foot by acknowledging that you want to please God, it will change how you see your day.

Cultivate a grateful heart

Spend time giving thanks to God.

I just started implementing something new in my own time with the Lord. I had already been journaling and reading the Bible, but I started using the first part of my prayer time to tell the Lord, “Thank you.”

Thankfulness and being grateful are commanded over and over in the Bible.

In the Thrive Bible study vault, I added Journey Through the Psalms. Each day we’re reading a Psalm, and there’s definitely a recurring theme throughout the book: giving thanks.

And it’s not just something the Bible recommends. It’s backed by science too. People who regularly practice being thankful have more positive emotions, feel more alive, sleep better, express more compassion and kindness, and even have stronger immune systems.

Gratitude doesn’t just give you a better outlook on life, but it also changes your mindset. Instead of focusing on what you don’t have, you end up thinking about everything you have been blessed with.

If you have a hard time finding things to be thankful for, then I want to suggest that you take yourself off of social media (even Pinterest) for a few days.

Why? It’s been my experience that it’s hard to be thankful while you’re comparing yourself to other people. It’s hard to be happy with your home when you’re watching HGTV all the time. It’s hard to be happy with your body when you’re always looking at supermodels’ Instagram accounts.

The truth is, it’s impossible for gratitude and comparison to live in the same heart.

It’s hard to be thankful for the things you have when you’re constantly thinking about what other people have. Let’s make an effort to cultivate gratitude in our lives by stopping comparison before it starts.

Zig Ziglar said, “Gratitude is the healthiest of all human emotions. The more you express gratitude for what you have, the more likely you will have even more to express gratitude for.”

I completely agree with that and would just add that it matters who is receiving your gratitude. It’s not enough to be thankful for what you have. You have to remember who gave you those things in the first place. This is another way that gratitude changes our mindset. It points us towards the Lord.

Fill Your Cup with Peace

So many Christian women have experienced anxiety and fear over circumstances beyond their control. If that’s something you are struggling with, make sure to listen to the episode about peace and fear if you haven’t already.

You have to pay attention to what you are putting into your mind.

News and Podcasts: It might be strange for me to talk about not listening to podcasts when I have a podcast, but what matters is the kind of content you are consuming. Listening to news outlets and podcast rants can steal your peace. Even when you listen to a news channel or news podcast that you agree with, it can still heighten your anxiety.

Sometimes I enjoy podcasts that address current events or politics. After a while, though, I have to turn them off to keep from losing my peace.

My prayer for this podcast is that it encourages and uplifts you. I never want this podcast to be a source of stress for you.

Worship Music: Music is super powerful. Just think about when you’re driving in the car and a song with a great beat comes on. You start drumming the steering wheel, and the next thing you know, you’re driving too fast.

In the evenings, if my boys are hyped up, I’ll turn on instrumental music while I’m making dinner, and it naturally calms them down. That’s the positive power of worship music. When political commentaries and news outlets are filling you with anxiety, try replacing them with worship music.

It is good to work on our mindsets, but there comes a point where we have to acknowledge that there is only so much we can do on our own. We can make good choices and still struggle with mindset issues. We need God to help us when we have done all that we can. That’s why worship music is wonderful for helping us change our mindsets through the power of God.

Choose worship music that sings about God’s greatness and His love, and I guaranty it will improve your day and change your mindset.

Remember this world is not your home

This is a new habit for me, but when I started implementing it, it changed my daily life and mindset.

Remember, this world is not the end-all-be-all. It is not your home. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 13:12 that this world is like looking in a foggy mirror. The Message says it like this, “We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!”

This world is nothing compared to the glory of Heaven. When I started being intentional about meditating on this truth every day, it put my thoughts into a better perspective. It’s easier to let go of day-to-day frustrations and disappointments because I can remember that my life and purpose are more about eternity.

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart.”

Working hard is a quality that I hope to instill in my children. I want them to do their best and enjoy hard work.

We have to shift our mindset when it comes to how we view work. Working hard isn’t valued in our culture as it should be. Too many people work harder to get out of work than they do actually working.

The Bible says in Colossians 3:23, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart as working for the Lord and not for men.”

That means that when you work, whether at a career job or at home, work like you’re working for the Lord, because you are.

This verse really came to life for me several years ago when I was folding clothes. I found myself just doing the job without doing my best and definitely without a good attitude. The Holy Spirit spoke to my heart and said, “How would you fold these clothes if they were Jesus’ clothes?”

I realized that I needed to change my perspective.

I repented right then because I knew that if those were Jesus’ clothes, I would be ironing them, making sure there were no holes or stains, and doing my best.

That day changed the way I do laundry for my family. I’m not saying that I’m perfect or that my kids never have holey socks, but every time I fold laundry, I try to do my best and do it with all my heart.

When I change my mindset to view all work as work for the Lord, it changes how I do everything.

Reflect on your day

Have a daily and weekly reflection time.

“Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it–not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it–they will be blessed in what they do.”

James 1:23-25

Looking back on the way we’ve acted and spent our time helps us to be doers of the Word and not just hearers of it.

Remembering what you studied during your quiet time and seeing how you lived it out during the day is a way to reflect. You can reflect on your week by looking over the sermon notes you took to see how God used the pastor’s sermon to speak into your life.

A while ago, my sister-in-law and I did a Bible study together. At the end of the week, we would go over the devotions and see how they affected our week. There was something about that reflection time that really solidified the devotions in my mind.

Take some time at the end of your day to see if you really applied what you learned in your Bible time.

Maybe your day got off course, and as you reflect on it, you see how you need to apologize to someone or how you could have handled a situation better. Or maybe you had something amazing happen, and as you reflect on it, you see how God showed up in your life.

All these lessons are lost without taking the time to reflect.

Not only do I like to have a daily reflection time, but I also like to have a weekly reflection. I look over the tasks I wanted to complete that week and the stuff planned on my calendar, but I also look through my prayer journal and Bible reading notes to see if they made a change in my life.

Don’t forget to give yourself some grace. There will be times when you study the Bible and learn from it, but then fail to implement it in your life. This isn’t about perfection. It’s about the journey of becoming the person God wants you to be, and that isn’t going to happen right away.

End your day with prayer

You’ve heard about the evening routines that are conducive to a good night’s sleep. They usually look something like this:

• Wash your face
• Brush your teeth
• Shine your sink
• Look at your to do list
• Take a bath
• Turn off electronics
• Listen to calming music
• Turn the lights down

But the most important part of your before-bed routine should be to end your day in prayer. It doesn’t have to be a huge, long, drawn-out, on-your-knees prayer. It can just be a simple, “Thank You, Lord, for another day.”

When you end your day with prayer, you’re focusing your mind on the Lord, and that’s going to change your mindset. Out of all the tips I’ve ever given, the one that is going to make the biggest difference is putting your eyes on Jesus.

More Resources

No matter what you say your priorities are, your daily life reveals your true priorities. Is your daily routine helping you serve God? Here’s how to create a daily routine that honors the Lord.

If you want to go even deeper with changing your mindset, check out The Mindset Reset. With this 6-week course, I’ll show you how you can go from a renewed mind to a transformed life. If you’re stuck in a negative pattern of thinking, this is just what you need to learn how to take your thoughts captive. Join me with this course and see how changing your mindset can change your life!

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