What two types of mindsets does David Emerald explore in The Power of TED*? How can you switch from one to the other?
David Emerald claims that most people feel helpless in life because they don’t have the right mindset. He presents a transformative approach to overcoming life’s challenges and achieving personal growth: shifting from a reactive, problem-focused mindset to a proactive, vision-driven outlook.
Below, we’ll look at the helpless and visionary mindset to show how the switch can change your life for the better.
The Helpless Mindset
Emerald argues that many people’s mindset prevents them from finding happiness, building lasting relationships, and achieving their goals. Here, we’ll explore the first of two types of mindsets: the helpless mindset and its four key characteristics. These characteristics are seeing yourself as a victim of circumstance, focusing on problems, responding to problems, and viewing others as either oppressors or saviors.
Characteristic 1: Seeing Yourself as a Victim of Circumstance
Emerald contends that when you have a helpless mindset, you see your life as being determined by external circumstances beyond your control. You blame others for personal problems and see yourself as an unfortunate victim in the story of your life. In looking back on your life, you focus on all the bad things that have happened to you, and use these bad things as explanations for your problems. You perceive these setbacks as having permanently limited who you are and what you can achieve. For example, a student with a helpless mindset might think, “I failed this test because the teacher doesn’t like me. There’s probably nothing I can do to pass the class.”
Emerald explains that this outlook leaves people feeling out of control, stressed out, and depressed. After all, if your life is determined by external circumstances, that places you in a position of powerlessness, where all of your actions are futile.
Characteristic 2: Focusing on Troubles
Furthermore, Emerald explains that when you have a helpless mindset, you focus primarily on the troubles in your life. Any negative circumstances tend to consume your attention, so that you’re unable to see pleasurable life experiences, new discoveries, and opportunities to pursue personal goals. This mindset not only directs your attention but also influences how you interpret your daily experiences: If you have a helpless mindset, you’re more likely to see experiences as problems. For example, if someone is given a particularly challenging project at work, they may focus on how stressful and difficult the task will be, overlooking the opportunity to develop their skills and impress their supervisor.
Characteristic 3: Responding to Worry and Fear
When you focus on your troubles, all of your energy goes to trying to “solve” them. However, Emerald argues that much of this energy is wasted. This happens because, with a mindset of helplessness, you’re likely not actually responding to the situation itself, but rather the worry and fear your situation causes.
This wastes energy in two ways. First, by focusing so much on your feelings, you may not be looking clearly at the issue itself. This inhibits your ability to find a solution. Second, when responding to fear, your body has three default solutions: fight, flight, or freeze. Often, these responses fail to solve the problem. At worst, they exacerbate it.
For instance, imagine you’re facing a looming work deadline. Instead of calmly assessing the situation and creating a plan, you become overwhelmed with anxiety. You spend hours worrying about potential consequences, procrastinating out of fear, or frantically working without direction. This emotional response consumes your energy and time, leaving you less equipped to complete the task efficiently.
Characteristic 4: Viewing Others as Either Oppressors or Saviors
Emerald explains that a helpless mindset also shapes the way you see and relate to other people. In this mindset, you tend to view others as only one of two roles: oppressors or saviors. This is because you’re so focused on your troubles that you only see other people in terms of how they relate to those troubles: Are these people alleviating them or exacerbating them?
The Visionary Mindset
Emerald advises that you can overcome the cyclical problems of the helpless mindset by adopting a visionary mindset instead. With this outlook, you orient yourself to long-term goals, take proactive steps forward, and grow from challenges and setbacks in life. This section will discuss four steps to change your mindset: telling a new story about yourself, focusing on your vision for the future, responding to that vision, and changing how you view others.
Step 1: Tell A New Story About Yourself
Recall that in a helpless mindset, you view yourself as a victim of circumstance, harmed by events beyond your control and limited by the effect of these harms. To adopt a visionary mindset, Emerald calls on you to begin seeing yourself as someone capable of changing your life. In the visionary mindset, you have the power to define yourself and steer your own life rather than being defined by others.
Emerald recommends that you make this shift by telling a different story about your life. He argues that the stories we tell ourselves act as filters through which we interpret the world, and therefore play an enormous role in how we see ourselves. Thus, you can improve your outlook by telling a story that casts you as someone capable and responsible for your life.
For instance, imagine someone who struggles to make friends and says, “I’m shy and awkward, so I’ll never have friends.” They could revise this story to say, “I’m a caring person who’s learning to express myself better. Each day, I’m taking small steps to connect with others and build meaningful relationships.” In this new narrative, they see themselves as having the power to improve their life.
Step 2: Focus On Your Vision
Recall that in the helpless mindset, you focus primarily on troubles. Emerald argues that to adopt a visionary mindset, you must start focusing on a vision of the kind of life you want instead. Rather than dwelling on obstacles and setbacks, focus on what you want most and on where you’re trying to get. He also encourages you to aim high with your goals, even if they feel out of reach right now.
However, there’s a good chance that you might not know what you want in life. It’s a vulnerable and sometimes uncomfortable question to ask yourself, but one that Emerald considers essential to achieving a better life through this mindset.
Step 3: Respond To Your Vision
In the helpless mindset, your actions primarily respond to your worries and fears about your troubles. However, in the visionary mindset, your actions bring you closer to your ultimate goal. You can think of it like navigation: With a clear destination in mind you can direct your energy toward getting there, rather than simply trying to navigate away from obstacles and barriers you encounter, which could send you off course.
However, you’ll still experience anxiety with this approach. Emerald stresses that when you look at where you want to be, and also look honestly at where you are now, the difference between the two can make you feel anxious. He advises that you don’t try to ignore or rationalize the gap. Instead, respond to this anxiety by taking at least one small, proactive step toward your goal. Day by day, these steps will bring you closer to the life you want.
For instance, imagine someone whose ultimate goal is to become a published author. Instead of worrying about potential rejections or writer’s block, they focus on their vision of holding their own book someday. They acknowledge the gap between their current draft and a finished novel, which causes anxiety. Rather than letting this anxiety paralyze them, they respond by committing to write 500 words every day. This small, proactive step gradually brings them closer to their goal of becoming a published author.
Step 4: Change How You Relate to Others
Lastly, Emerald explains that to adopt a visionary mindset, you must stop viewing others as either oppressors or rescuers. Recall that this outlook makes others, not you, responsible for your life and well-being. To change this mindset, he recommends reframing the roles of oppressor and savior as catalysts and mentors.
