Mind Matters Most: The Science of Meaning, Mindset, and Lasting Fulfillment
This post is part of the THRIVE Blog Series in which we guide you through an integrative approach to
Achieve more with less
Thrive in life and work
Find more fun, lightness and fulfilment in life.
In the previous article (The Clarity & Purpose Blueprint), we talked about how every fulfilling life starts with a simple yet powerful question: What do I truly want, and why does it matter?
Both Clarity & Purpose form the foundation for taking ownership of your life and experiencing more of what truly fulfills you. It’s not about perfection or checking off boxes—it’s about aligning your energy and actions with what feels meaningful to you.
In this article, we’ll dive deeper into how purpose is linked to fulfillment and why your mindset is the most powerful tool you have in shaping a meaningful and fulfilling life.
Purpose & Fulfillment: the gateway to a meaningful life
Purpose is one of the strongest gateways to fulfillment. True, deep fulfillment indeed becomes easier to experience when you contribute to something beyond yourself (cfr. The Clarity & Purpose Blueprint). Put in another way, fulfillment arises from engaging in something meaningful and few things are as meaningful as making a positive contribution to the world and the people around you.
And here’s the key: purpose doesn’t have to be grand.
Inviting a lonely neighbor for coffee.
Helping a friend through a tough time.
Doing work that contributes to something meaningful.
Taking a walk in nature while picking up litter.
These are all meaningful and purposeful acts that can create fulfillment.
Of course, we can also feel fulfilled by personal achievements—completing a challenging task, improving our health, or reaching a goal. But purpose takes fulfillment to a deeper level when it’s tied to something greater than ourselves. For example, focusing on your health to feel better is great. But focusing on your health so you can stay fit enough to play with your grandchildren when you’re older adds another layer of meaning. The action (maintaining a healthy lifestyle) is the same, but the purpose behind it transforms the experience.
The stronger your sense of purpose, the greater your motivation and fulfillment.
The power of your mindset
When it comes to purpose and fulfillment, there’s a crucial truth to remember: the level of fulfillment you experience is largely shaped by how you perceive what you do.
Take, for example, a doctor. Despite having a job that is inherently full of purpose, they may experience little fulfillment. Meanwhile, a janitor could find immense fulfillment and purpose in their role, seeing it as a vital contribution to the people who use and rely on the building they maintain. They might take great pride in their work, even if others view it as a low-level job without much purpose.
The difference? Mindset.
The way we choose to interpret our work and daily actions determines how much fulfillment we draw from them. It is all about the meaning you give to it, and that is 100% within your control.
This reinforces the idea that purpose doesn’t have to come from changing the world. It can be, of course, if that resonates with you—but it’s equally valid and meaningful to find purpose in smaller, everyday contributions.
The key is how you define and connect with it. Both big and small purposes are valuable, and both can bring deep fulfillment.
This “how you define and connect with it” is what mindset is all about. So let’s jump into the Mind Matters Most Model that explains in detail the importance of this amazing tool we all have available and can apply almost immediately to our lives to experience more meaning, joy and fulfilment.
The Mind Matters Most Model: a framework to transform your life
Your mindset is the lens through which you view yourself, your circumstances, and the world around you. “It’s the established set of attitudes held by someone”.
The Mind Matters Most Model for success, happiness, and fulfilment.
Simply put, the core of this model explains the following:
👉 Your mindset determines what you focus on and the meaning you give to things.
👉 This strongly influences how you feel (your emotions).
👉 Your emotions shape your energy and the actions your will take.
👉 Your actions determine your results or the outcomes you get, which feed back into your beliefs and identity.
👉 And this loops back into your mindset.
In this way, it can be summarized as:
Let’s break this down further, linking back to the full model.
Meaning, Purpose & Fulfilment
Diving a bit deeper into the meaning part of the Mind Matters Most Model: you can give any meaning to any situation and it’s a trainable skill. As Viktor Frankl famously said:
Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.
You decide if you give something a positive or a negative meaning. We can look at a setback as a failure or we can look at it as an opportunity for growth and learning, for example.
From that understanding, as mentioned above, the meaning you give to something can make it more purposeful and more fulfilling. And purpose and fulfilment strongly contribute to your baseline happiness levels.
Linking this back to the previous article: the more aligned you are with who you really are and what your mission or purpose is in the world ánd start living in line with that, the more flow, happiness and fulfilment you will experience.
What do you focus on?
Diving deeper on the focus part, this is something I picked up from a Tony Robbins course which is a simple yet powerful explanation for how you feel on average and what you can look at to shift your emotional home and your happiness baseline. This also is a trainable skill.
For a scientific explanation of how our focus is naturally shaped, see the end of the article (*).
Here are three major focus areas that influence strongly how you feel.
Missing vs. Having
Do you focus on what you lack or on what you already have? Many frustrations and stresses come from focusing on what’s missing. Shifting your focus to what you’ve already accomplished, the progress you’ve made, and what you have creates a sense of abundance.
It’s where the Buddhist philosophy on misery comes is, based on craving and aversion: when we want something, don’t have it now and start craving it, our mind gets out of balance. We experience lack in the present moment. The same way, when we are experiencing something we don’t want, create an aversion for it and want to get rid of it, we also put ourselves out of balance and experience lack in the moment. In both scenarios, we are denying the current reality and want to have something we don’t have. We’re focusing on what’s missing (this links also to the 3rd point below about past, present and future).
Another cool concept that relates to this is the GAP and the GAIN. Let’s say you progress towards one of your goals but your expectation was that you would have gotten further ahead already. In that moment, are you usually focusing on the GAP between where you are versus where you wanted to be or are you mostly focusing on all the progress you already made (the GAINS)? For most, the focus is on the gap.
With this awareness, you create the possibility to choose to focus more on the GAIN. As with everything, the more you do it, the higher the chance that it can become a habit. Once a habit, it can completely transform your life.
💡 Tip: Keep a daily gratitude and wins list. Write down at least three things you appreciate each day and three successes or wins of the day. This small habit rewires your brain for a more positive outlook.
Gratitude is the most powerful gateway to a feeling of being deeply satisfied with what you have, shifting your focus away from lack.
Inside vs. outside of your control
The second domain where we might benefit from shifting our focus is related to what we can control. Do you often focus on things beyond your control? So often we get wound up or frustrated by things that are not within our direct control, which gives frustration, a feeling of helplessness and stress. If you learn to shift your focus to what you CAN control, you’ll experience more strength, self-confidence and overall more pleasant emotions.
💡 Tip: To bring more positive emotions into your life, you can try to focus on things that are always within your sphere of control: your own actions, thoughts and behaviors. If on top of that, you succeed in seeing that independently of the outcomes (which we usually cannot fully control), you create a tremendous sense of empowerment. It is a very powerful way to experience more happiness and more peace of mind.
💡 Tip: When faced with a challenge, ask yourself: “What is within my control right now?” And “How can I respond differently to this situation?” This simple shift reduces stress and increases confidence.
Past & Future vs. Present
Lastly, do you focus more on the past and the future or rather on the present? Are you stuck in regrets about the past or anxieties about the future?
Focusing on great past memories or happy future prospects is great, yet oftentimes we focus on the things that were not good or the potential bad things that might happen in the future. We’re constantly pulled between sadness & frustration (coming from past mistakes, things we think we should have done better or should have done differently, etc.) and stress & anxiety (coming from the fear that the future will not be what we hope it will be or the fear that we will make a fool out of ourselves and will be judged or rejected).
💡 Tip: Practice being present—whether it’s mindful breathing, savoring a moment, or engaging fully in a conversation. Whenever stress, sadness or frustration is coming up, take a moment to see how you can put this in a bigger perspective and find more calm in the present moment.
As the Buddha wisely said: Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift.
Bringing it all together: The path to a more fulfilling life
Fulfillment isn’t just about what you do—it’s about how you see and connect with it.
✅ Align your actions with a purpose that feels meaningful to you.
✅ Train your mind to focus on abundance, what you can control, and the present moment.
✅ Shift your mindset to assign positive, growth-oriented meanings to your experiences.
When you do this, you unlock a greater sense of joy, confidence, and fulfillment in everyday life.
Let me know how The Mind Matters Most framework could help you!
Take the next step
Want to go deeper? Here are ways to start:
🎯 Get full clarity on your purpose with the self-paced online masterclass: The Clarity & Purpose Blueprint, part of the THRIVE Academy. Subscribe today for 60% off! Use coupon code: crazydeals60
📖 Download the comprehensive workbook on this topic (free for a limited time).
📞 Book a free introductory coaching call for personalized support on your journey.
📩 Subscribe to the newsletter for regular insights and inspiration on achieving more with less and becoming yourself.
🎙️ Listen to the podcast for short, impactful episodes on mindset and fulfillment.
📝 Stay updated on the blog for fresh articles.
📲 Follow me on social media for daily tips and inspiration:
Have a wonderful day,
Jan Aquarius - Live. Grow. Matter.
Your happiness, my mission.
#becurious #becourageous #beyourbest
Click to get to know me better.
(*) The Reticular Activating System
As humans, we have a tendency to focus on the negative (risks, problems and potential danger, explained by The Negativity Bias, coming from our survival instinct). By being aware of this and consciously bringing in more focus on positive things, we can have great impact on how we feel on a day-to-day basis.
Without going in too many details, you have a part in your brain that determines which stimuli come into your awareness, called the Reticular Activating System (RAS). Your beliefs are one of the information gates that your RAS opens up to let information in. In simple terms, you will always find the evidence to confirm your beliefs (called The Confirmation Bias). If you believe that you’re bad in stress management, you will mainly notice those events in which you felt you didn’t manage your stress well (and probably ignore all the situations where you actually did quite well). In this way you keep confirming to yourself your belief (“you see, I’m so bad in managing my stress”).
The other information gate the RAS uses to let information in is what you focus on. If you are considering buying a red Mazda, you will notice suddenly that there are many more red Mazdas on the street, not because suddenly there are many more but because this information has become relevant to you now which reveals more of whatever supports that focus. So if you learn to shift your focus to the things that are supportive for your happiness and well-being, and for your dreams and your goals, your mind will automatically let in information that supports that focus. Incredibly powerful tool to start shifting things in your life!