Skills are the abilities one has to create value out of time (ignore resources for now - they are basically a fractal structure of skills).
Over simplified:
value = time + skills
Skills give you the power to transform things into other things, adding value in the process.
If I had to write it in an oversimplified reaction equation it would be:
thing_a + skills -> thing_b + value
Say you are a worker in a factory, you could be using your skill to transform a sheet of metal into a part. This sheet of metal was transformed from stock by another worker using his/her skills. Etc.
Skills are incredibly important and I can't emphasize enough how valuable it is for yourself to continuously develop your skills. This applies for your personal and professional life. In practice, I often recommend engineers to work at home on something else than what they do at the office. A pet project or something alike. That's because it will give them the best opportunity to build up their skills. Some decide to follow online courses. Regardless, all paths that lead to improved skills are worth exploring.
It's not enough to have a lot of skills though. It's also important to know how far each go.
I live what I preach when I highlight the importance of understanding the depth of our own skills as much as its nuances. I've spent an insane amount of money and time on building my skills. There is a lot I can do, but even better, I also know really well what I can't do, and what it takes to revive certain skills to match certain challenges. I encourage you to reevaluate the state of your skills and your understanding of their nuances.
By now, I've probably got you confused because this part is called mindset beats skills, and I'm defending how incredibly important skills are.
That is to prepare a stage for how critical mindset is.
I'll dive deeper into the motivation segment later - as it relates to mindset heavily. So make sure to catch this section as well.
Mindset is a state of mind at rest. It effortlessly expresses itself in your attitude and impacts everything you do. What I mean by rest and effortlessly is that, a mindset isn't your own if it requires a conscious effort to express.
There is this saying in French that translates to "The eagle doesn't have the urge to show its talons". This is to say, that when you are - truly are - as fierce, strong and powerful as an eagle, you don't have the urge to flash your strength around. A mindset is just that. It is yours when it has become a second nature. This takes time, practice and deep mental exercise to appreciate why you adopt said mindset. Accept this going in because it's unlikely you will adopt the whole substance in the first try.
Mindset is a complex and layered concept.
If we start from a simple mindset: positive vs negative; we can easily extract a few attitudes that will come out of it. There is of course the ultra famous glass half-full vs half-empty situation, but I prefer the barely-open door metaphor because it easily translates to opportunities. So for those who don't know, there is a door that is barely open, just a few millimeters. The question is, is it open or closed? It's open for arguing (same as the glass), but factually it's open. This is because a closed door is a static state. If you consider the door range of motion from 0 to 100% - 0 being closed - while 1 to 100% is open.
Now onto opportunities. The work environment is full of opportunities, but they never manifest themselves in a 'door-barely-open' kind of way. It does present itself in the same state structure:
If your mindset is to believe that there is no opportunity (negative) and act towards closing the metaphoric doors, you've created a static finite state: There is no opportunities coming, the door is closed.
If your mindset is to believe that there could be opportunity (positive) and act towards keeping the metaphoric door open - even if it's just the slightest -, you've created a variable state: There could be an opportunity coming; There could be an incredible one too.
The funny thing is that opportunity are the same in any context. Learning a new skill is an opportunity, but just like the door, it requires a mindset to be open to it.
Some people's mindset is to believe that they are too old to learn new things. Some, will end up in inspirational articles about how they went back to university at a senior age. The difference is the mindset, and the difference isn't so binary most of the time.
You can get pushed to follow a track that will burn skills into your brain (maybe by your parents), but I guarantee you that you don't have the same skills as the person with the positive mindset. That's not to mention that sooner or later, the push fades away, and you're back onto your own energy to find in yourself to move forward. That's the motivation piece.
Now if we extrapolate this simple example further, a good mindset opens doors everywhere, create opportunities, drives people to follow you in your endeavour, etc.
Mindset beats skills because without mindset, you can't acquire new skills - or not at the same level of nuances, while with the right mindset, there is no limit.
I'm obviously pushing for a mindset here but there are as many mindsets as there are people. Just make sure yours is pushing you forward and not anchoring you to the ground.