What is the Growth Mindset?

“In a growth mindset, challenges are exciting rather than

threatening.  So rather than thinking, oh, I’m going to reveal

my weaknesses, you say, wow, here’s a chance to grow.”

~Carol Dweck

The Growth Mindset is a belief or attitude about the malleability of any personal qualities, meaning they can be shaped or molded into something else, something better and stronger.  This view you adopt profoundly affects the way you lead your life.  It is a transformational belief or way of thinking that determines the rest of your life, what you become and accomplish, and how you think, feel, and act.  It is a term coined by Stanford Psychologist and Professor, Carol Dweck, in 2006, after 30 plus years of research into why failure motivates some and discourages others.

What would our lives look like if we just did what we wanted to do instead of what we need to do to reach our goals, both big and small?  YIKES, that is a scary thought!  Maybe fun at first, but not very beneficial to our overall life.  So, what are your personal goals?  If you want to be more patient, for example, you need to learn strategies to do so.  Initially, you need to stop yourself from overreacting.  To do that, you need a repertoire of strategies in your “toolbox” to change and replace your old behaviors into the new behaviors that will help you become the more patient person you aspire to be.  At first it is difficult, but in time it becomes easier and a habit…trust the process that achieving your goals takes, commit to it 110%, and put in that little bit of extra time that will help lead you to success.

Someone with a Growth Mindset:

Having a Growth Mindset results in reaching ongoing higher levels of personal achievement and promoting lifelong learning.  The abilities we are born with are merely a starting point.  We can choose to develop them through our efforts, perseverance, learning new information and strategies, and seeking help from others who have done what we desire to do.  Everyone has different strengths and weaknesses, but everyone can grow and change…our true potential is limitless from our own personal starting place.  Learning anything takes effort and practice.  Think of an Olympic athlete…it is only through effort, perseverance, learning new strategies, and seeking help from others that he or she is successful.  It looks easy to others who see the 5-minutes of glory, but in reality, it was a lot of hard work and many obstacles had to be overcome.

The 3 rules of the Growth Mindset are:

The opposite of the Growth Mindset is the fixed mindset.  Someone with a fixed mindset:

Most of us are not 100% Growth or fixed mindset…there is a continuum between the two.  Your mindset may also depend on the situation.  For example, I’ve heard too many people say, “I am not a math person,” so when it comes to math, they have a fixed mindset, and that is standing in their way of learning math, the math they could in fact learn with the right effort, new strategies, practice, and some help.  Yet, they are not intimidated by learning a new sport, hobby, or skill and have a Growth Mindset in those areas.  Because of this, knowledge of both mindsets and consistent honest reflection about our own mindset are critical to growth in our life, especially when faced with circumstances that feel challenging.

“We find in life exactly what we put into it.”

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Anything worth having in life takes effort; ”we reap what we sow,” is a Biblical principle lived out by many for thousands of years.  Our efforts must match our goals for them to be achieved.  If you want a lean, healthy physique then you must eat healthy and get exercise, most of the time.  If a farmer wants a profitable harvest, he must get out there every morning and plant and care for his crops.  If parents want a loving, strong family, they must learn and practice best parenting skills.  If you want to be successful in your job, you must give 110% everyday, even when you don’t feel like it.  If you want a healthy, loving relationship you must make the effort and take the time to nurture it.  If you want to feel close to God, you must commit to seeking Him every day.  If the grass appears greener somewhere else, take care of your own grass (life) and it too will be green!  Personal best is a choice we must make and recommit to every day, it takes intentional and consistent effort.  Eventually this way of thinking and acting becomes a habit and doesn’t feel like work, it becomes our nature.

Development of a Growth Mindset, just like anything else we want to achieve must  be deliberate.  We must create a “toolbox” of skills for the life we want to build.  If something isn’t working, don’t complain, instead ask, “What can I do and/or learn to change this?”  Is it work?  YES, but achieving your goals is worth the work!  What seems hard at first becomes easier with practice…we now know that is exactly how our brains are hardwired.  Our brains are like muscles in that they can grow and become stronger.  With effort, learning new strategies, and practice, the connections in our brain become stronger and what was once hard becomes easier.  If you can get through that initial tough period, whatever you are working to attain will get easier and become a habit.  Once you start feeling better and achieving smaller goals you will feel motivated to keep going.  Only pure determination, making yourself do what you need to do to reach your goals regardless how you feel, will get you through those tough beginning stages and any future challenges.

Remember, after much research, today we know that the intelligence we are born with only accounts for 25% of what we achieve, the other 75% comes from factors that each of us has control over, the non-cognitive factors that are not based on our innate intelligence: effort (the hard work), grit (stamina or endurance), perseverance (the refusal to give up), resiliency (bouncing back from adversity), responsibility (self-discipline  and accountability), intentionality (deliberate and purposeful choices), risk (the courage to take a chance), consistency (doing a little bit every day, or steady effort), and self-efficacy (an ‘I can do it’ attitude).  I will discuss these factors in more detail in chapter 5.

“Nothing is impossible.  The word itself says, ‘I’m possible.’ “

~Audrey Hepburn

Life Applications:

>Begin to think about your thinking  (Metacognition) by monitoring your current thinking.  Wear a wristband of some sort (a rubber band, a hair tie, or even an easy on and off bracelet will work) and every time you have a negative thought, switch the wrist you are wearing it on.  This will increase your awareness of your powerful negative thoughts.

>>If you catch yourself in negative self-talk, such as, “I can’t ________,” add YET to your sentence!  You can’t do it YET!  Get in the habit of adding YET, since you can in fact do “it”/anything eventually, with effort and practice.

>>>I never used to be, but now I am good at (fill-in the blank)…

The steps I took to get good at this are:

1)

2)

3)

4)

5)

6)

7)

8)

9)

10)

>>>>Now that I see I have worked to improve at something and achieved it, what I really want to become better at is (fill-in the blank)…

The steps I will take to accomplish this are:

1)

2)

3)

4)

5)

6)

7)

8)

9)

10)

Now work through these steps and watch yourself improve.  Cross off each step after you accomplish it.  Each step achieved is one step closer to your goal(s)!  You CAN do it!  When you accomplish that goal, begin to work toward a new one.  Just imagine what you will accomplish over this next year, a year that will pass quickly regardless what you are doing.