What you believe and the way you think about yourself has a significant impact on the way you live your life. Do you believe that you are born with all of your talents and abilities already there and these cannot be changed, or do you believe you can acquire and improve your skills by working at it? That’s the basic difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset. If you have a growth mindset, you believe that your intelligence, personality, creativity, and character can be developed and that your potential is unlimited. Therefore you are more likely to take more risks, be more resilient, see failure as a learning opportunity, and learn more over time.
If you have a fixed mindset, you may believe the opposite – that all these things are determined at birth. Conversely, you are more likely to be risk-averse, have trouble navigating difficulty or receiving negative feedback, and disbelieve you can learn new things and improve.
Which mindset do you think Nelson Mandela had? He said: “I never lose; I either win or learn.” We choose what we believe, and it’s never too late to change our view. Which mindset do you have, and is it serving you or sabotaging you?
Dr. Carol S. Dweck, a well-known Stanford University psychologist, first coined the term mindset, in her book: Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Her work with students revealed that one of the biggest factors of their success was believing they can improve. Here is more on the differences between growth and fixed mindsets:
Fixed Mindset: I want to look smart/prove myself. I want to avoid risks and failure at all costs. I’m a failure, dumb, etc. I get defensive with constructive feedback and give up easily. Why bother? It’s not going to change. If you succeed, then I fail.
Growth Mindset: I want to stretch myself in order to grow and learn. I embrace challenge and am not afraid of risks and failure. I failed but learned how to improve from my mistake. I am tenacious, and setbacks only make me try harder. Growth and learning require effort. I find insights and inspiration from others’ success.
Here are a few things you can do to adopt a growth mindset:
1. Observe your self-talk and emotions. A growth mindset begins with your thoughts. What you tell yourself you make real. Are you speaking gently and positively to yourself or sabotaging yourself with negative self-talk? Be aware of your thoughts and emotions, so that you can replace negative beliefs with positive ones. Negative self-talk will keep you stuck. Positive self-talk will move you forward. Using positive language helps you create a positive attitude.
2. Be courageous. It takes courage to face risks and move forward. You have to believe that it’s better to fail courageously than not to take any risks. (“‘Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all” – Alfred Lord Tennyson) You also have to trust yourself that you can handle whatever comes your way and that you’ll be OK.
3. Be tenacious. “If at first you don’t succeed, try try again.” Robert the Bruce, the first king of Scotland, told his troops this shortly before walloping the English at Bannockburn in 1314. To keep going, what do you need to tell yourself? (Success is going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm – Abraham Lincoln)
4. Get in touch with who you are. How well do you know yourself? When you have a realistic view of your strengths and limitations, you are more grounded and are better able to bend with the wind and find a way around roadblocks.
5. Find your “why.” When there is a clear purpose and meaning to what you’re doing…when you’re engaged and even passionate about it, you’ll be more willing to commit to seeing it through.
6. Get a role model. We get inspired when we see others succeed. Perhaps get a mentor, seek a role model, and/or surround yourself with positive, driven people who can support you, while staying true to yourself.
7. Give yourself a break and reframe criticism. Accept yourself with all your imperfections. That’s what makes us unique and human. Singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen said, “Ring the bells that still can ring, forget your perfect offering, there is a crack in everything; that’s how the light gets in.” Reframe constructive feedback from others as just neutral information and an opportunity to learn about yourself from another’s perspective. What’s the kernel of truth? How can you use it to improve?
8. See the big picture. Always keep things in perspective. Take the larger view. Will this matter in a year? What are the greater implications? What’s the best thing that could come from this?
9. Stay curious. Follow your curiosity to discover and learn new things. Maybe you’ll find out something new about yourself and a whole new interest.
10. Be patient. Have patience. It can take three to six months to develop a new habit. Changing your perspective and adopting a new mindset takes focus, commitment, and positive reinforcement over time to be able to automatically go there in your thinking without sliding back. Have self-compassion. How will you remind yourself to always look for potential instead of danger? With a growth mindset, you will be able to face challenges with optimism, bounce back more easily from setbacks, and grow your potential. That’s inspiring and empowering! Reference this article for more about how you can adopt a growth mindset: https://medium.com/change-becomes-you/8-ways-to-build-a-growth-mindset-accelerate-learning-and-success-f49a25dd3b52