The majority is not always right. Let's get that straight. Going against the majority means adopting a minority mindset. How much of life consists of people following what they see others doing.
They say that most people in the workplace look around to see what everyone else is doing. If we see a crowd of people looking up, we will look up and try and see what everyone else is seeing.
The dream for countless parents is to send their kids off to college, but why? There has been mass brainwashing with the message that you need to go to college to get a good job. No college degree and your kid will be a failure.
The minority mindset is taking a different path. It is deciding to take the approach that very few will go. Once you adopt this mindset, your entire life will change for the better. It's still encouraged to be cautiously optimistic to help you avoid making big errors.
The minority mindset is taking a different path. It is deciding to take the approach that very few will go. Once you adopt this mindset, your entire life will change for the better.
What is The Minority Mindset?
In the United States, a lot of minorities are immigrants. When most people think of a minority, they think of this, or they think of a race that is not the majority in an area. The minority mindset includes some of what minorities people bring to the table.
I am an immigrant to the United States. I moved from Canada in 2008 for college, and I have been here ever since. One day one of my bosses asked me why Canadians that move to the states always seem to thrive.
It reminded me of the minority mindset. People willing to leave their home and culture for another country are different. Minorities bring hunger and tenacity to their new country.
The minority mindset is less about nationality, race, and culture, but rather a way of thinking. The majority of people in life follow the exact same path. They go to school for as long as they can stand and they go out and look for a job with excellent benefits. They save enough so that one day, when they are 65 years old and almost dead, they can finally "retire" and enjoy life.
The minority mindset does not shun all these things, but it thinks about them more. The goal is always to think at a higher level. If you are not thinking, it means you are going through life doing what you see others doing. The majority is not always right. The wealthiest people in the world are the minority. It's a small group of people who choose to bet on themselves.
Obsessed Over Learning Not School
The purpose of school should be to learn, but it's not. Schools have become about good grades and test scores. If you do well on a test and forget everything the next day, you did not learn anything. Learning sticks with you. Most learning is often self-directed. It is hard to force another person to learn.
When you obsess over learning, it means that you understand that it's a life long process. When people focus on school, they graduate and never pick up another book. Stop learning, and you start dying because the only thing constant in this world is change.
Obsessive learning does not care about grades, it just looks to solve problems and get better. It does not matter if the information is coming from a mentor, audio book, podcast, or a book. Learning is learning, and people with the minority mindset want a piece of it daily.
Minority Mindset Focuses On Identity Then Habits
The majority focuses on goals.
I want to be rich
I want to lose weight.
Those with the minority mindset first change their identity to match what they want. They say:
I am rich
I am a runner
Once they change their identity and they see themselves as what they want to be, others soon follow. Once that identity changes, then you can move to the process and habits that will get you there. When you have the right identity, the correct habits, the outcome you want follows.
If the goal is to be a rich, thin, expert, you have to ask what these people do every day. Most of the time, these things are common sense. We know our lives consist of yesterdays habits, but we try and act like its not true.
Daily Habit Options
- Run
- Read
- Practice public speaking
- Stretch
- Improve math skills
The above points are some of the things that rich, skinny expert might do. The habits are for you to decide. The point is that they need to be there, and they need to move you closer every day to being the person that you want to be. Habit Stacker is the best tool you can use to make sure that you are tracking your habits from day to day.
If your habits matter to you, then you should want to know how often you skip them. When you track your habits day today, you can be sure that in the long run, you will begin to see fruits. When you are cautiously optimistic with your habits you don't take success for granted.
The Minority Mindset Is Long Term Oriented
Those with the minority mindset are always focused on the long run. Those with the majority is often caught in what will bring gratification right now. That is why most people spend all day scrolling on Instagram, not working out, or saving money. These actions need a long term mindset to understand their implications.
The reason the long term mindset is so crucial is that anything significant takes time. If you are too focused on the now, you will always give up on a big dream for something safe.
Entrepreneurship is a risk, that takes time to build. Getting a job, you can do it now, and you get rewarded with a check every two weeks. Sounds like a job is much better. Fast forward 10 years to a successful business, and the story can look much different.
Kids who are better at delaying gratification turned into more successful adults. Why is this? It's because of all the good things in life demand patience. The only way to get there is not to get distracted by all the options dangling in your face today.
Focus On One Thing
The modern world has too many of them, and it is killing us. Focus is the most precious commodity of those with a minority mindset. We have so many things vying for our attention every day. Facebook wants your attention! Instagram wants your attention! Netflix wants your attention!
The minority mindset understands that only a few things deserve your attention. If they do not help you to do this, then they don't matter. Distractions feed on your short-term mind that is craving something right now. Your goals thrive on your long-term mindset. Results only come after time and some grind.
The most important of this is choosing one thing to work on at a time. Too many options have made the majority believe that they can do 50 things at once. You will see people with a full-time job and four side hustles. Matter of fact that guy was once me. I thought I could do it all. The more I did, the better right? The truth is that we need more focus! Focusing on one thing lets us put all our resources, money, and mental energy into making sure it succeeds.
Question Everything
As a minority, when you first come to a new country, it forces you to be curious but also to question things. You don't understand the way your new environment works. If you are not a minority, then you need to develop this mindset. Look at things that everyone accepts as the normal and begin to question them. Doing this will speed up your learning.
After a while of questioning everything, you will see that you are no longer stuck in your own ways. I remember starting a business, and there were clear signs that there was trouble coming. I choose to ignore all the warning signs.
You should enjoy being around people who think differently. They will challenge you to get outside of your box. The minority mindset is not for the faint of heart. Ridicule will become your norm because some hate to see another break free and become cautiously optimistic.