Hello dear reader!! Welcome to another Becoming LionHeart blog post! Thank you for taking the time to read this, I truly believe the mentality I am going to talk about here can help you change your life and Become LionHeart! This is perhaps my second favorite mindset I’ve ever been taught by anyone. The reason being is that this mindset is really the reason I am writing this blog for you to be able to read, because this has pushed me to focus on growth and constant improvement, which led me here! This is another mentality that comes from my Penn State Wrestling experience, taught to me by my head coach Cael Sanderson. For anyone who doesn’t know that back story feel free to check out my Who I am page! Anyway, onto the mindset, which as you might have guessed from the title is called Permanent Beta.
What is Permanent Beta?
Good question! Permanent beta can loosely be summarized as a growth mindset, but I like to say that it’s with a twist! In our society there is often a focus on growth and getting better but I believe there’s too much emphasis on mastery. You see too many trying to become “Perfect”. In any endeavor there are those who chase perfection, even those who have claimed to have achieved it. This is something that I believe just leads people down a path of feeling like a failure or generally leads to unhappiness. I have known many “perfectionists” these people have been some of the most successful people I’ve ever met but they are also often heavily stressed. They want perfect grades, perfect relationships, the perfect life. But life isn’t meant to be perfect. We as people are not perfect beings, we are quite literally evolving daily! The world our grandparents knew is vastly different from ours, our grandchildren will know a different world, that is called constant change and improvement. This leads me into what my coach calls the “Permanent Beta” a concept that we are in a constant state of improvement, an infinite beta testing if you will. Picture your phone for example. Only 25 years ago a phone of the magnitude we now possess was unthought of, but now we are constantly improving them. Even once our phone is released there’s constant updates to the operating system, to the apps we use, etc. We are always improving every facet of our lives, so we should always be improving ourselves as well!
How do I apply the Permanent Beta to my life?
Anytime you learn something you should always be working on the practical application of it. Knowledge is power only to the extent that it is actually utilized. If I know how to do math very well but I refuse to do it, that doesn’t help me or anyone else. Applying the permanent beta is very simple, you must learn to love the process of growth rather than the results you achieve. Now, I say simple, but not EASY. There’s a difference. Simple means that it’s clear how to do it, easy would mean that there’s no difficulty in doing it. Changing your mindset to focus on the process of constant improvement is not easy for most people. It was not easy for me. I grew up someone obsessed with the results, I wanted the best grades I could get, the coolest friends, the nicest things. I was worried about the results because I worried what other people would think of me. When I was taught this Permanent Beta I learned to love learning more than the grades, I learned to cherish friends who made me better and supported me, and I learned to care about the opinion of few overall because I know where I am heading. Applying the permanent beta means making life all about the journey, the process, and learning to constantly improve on the yesterday you. I personally love learning from YouTube, audiobooks, books, and podcasts. These are some of my favorite mediums to use to improve myself but you have to do whatever works for your learning style!
What will change once I adopt this mindset?
You will begin a life of constant growth and change; you won’t stress about the results because they will come as you improve, you will focus on learning from results rather than dwelling on them. You’ll become a better version of yourself each and every day! Ultimately I truly believe that this mindset can help bring others more happiness by not focusing on things they can’t control much, the results, but ultimately make you happy to go through life constantly feeling like you’re improving! One caveat though, no matter how great you become always remember you can always be better. Even the greatest athletes in the world are always working their game because that’s how you stay great!
In summary, always remember that life is about the process, when you focus on process improvement the results will come! Thank you so much for taking the time to read this post, if you enjoyed it and found value please take the time to share with others that you believe will find value in this as well! I also appreciate any and all feedback! If you like this concept and want to hear more about it please also check out my Podcast episode on it where I will dive into it a little deeper! That can be found on the Becoming LionHeart Podcast page! If it’s not there at time of reading it may have been moved out of the recent episodes, I will have details on the page to find a way to listen to it!
Thank you again for allowing me to help you Become LionHeart!!-Pat Higgins
Becoming LionHeart 