What is a Growth Mindset?
A growth Mindset is the belief that our basic abilities can be developed and improved through dedication and hard work. It’s not so much that this belief is some kind of magic. It’s just without a growth mindset, we don’t exert the required effort, so we remain perpetually stuck. Stuck in the everyday habits that inhibit us from growing in maturity and character. With a fixed mindset we are unable to break free from the limiting beliefs that prevent us from achieving all that we desire. Whether that be in our careers or in our relationships.
We can build a growth mindset by embarking on a personal development journey. Personal development can include any skill that you build to improve yourself. Your emotions, thoughts, or behaviors. It doesn’t really matter which skills you want to improve. The key to personal development is taking the right steps. Steps that help ensure that you reach whatever goal you are pursuing.
The Growth Mindset – Joshua Moore
Do you have a Growth Mindset?
Do you believe you were born and raised with a fixed set of skills and abilities – such as your IQ – that you had from birth and will stay with you your entire life? Or do you believe your ideas and beliefs are ever evolving and you can learn new skills if you work at it. That your wisdom and intelligence grow with each new experience? If you said “yes” to the first question, you have what is referred to as a “fixed” mindset. If you said “yes” to the second question, you probably have what is called a growth mindset. Don’t worry if you currently have a fixed mindset, you can develop a growth mindset with a little work.
Why does a Growth Mindset Matter?
Fixed Mindsets prevent us from taking the necessary risks in life that allows us to grow. We fear making mistakes. Shying away from challenges because of embarrassment or humiliation. This kind of mindset can be problematic in that it prevents us from experiencing new things. Some experiences are helpful in the improvement of ourselves, and some challenges help us take the risks that create a life we truly desire.
With a growth mindset we seek out challenges, despite the risks, because we value learning and growing in maturity and character. With us always trying new things, we begin to learn that taking risks and accepting challenges is a good thing. Even if we don’t know what we are doing. Those of us with a growth mindset often build new skills more easily because we believe we can.
Developing a growth mindset could contribute to a fuller, more meaningful life. The range of experiences that such a life encompasses will be considerably broader.
6 Ways to Develop a Growth Mindset
Changing one’s mindset from a “fixed” perspective to a “growth mindset” may seem daunting, but by taking baby steps, anyone who wants to can build a “growth mindset”. These following 6 steps can help you on your journey to building a growth mindset.
Face Your Challenges Bravely
If you find yourself terrified in the face of a serious challenge, Stop! Reframe the situation in your mind. Consider reframing your challenge as an “opportunity”. Shift your perspective slightly. Each challenge or opportunity invites us to new experiences that can be viewed as adventures.
Try different tactics to coach yourself about how to explore new paths. Develop new skills. Interact with new people. Navigate new circumstances. A new adventure. Fear is an acceptable feeling. Press forward anyway, because it’s exciting and new. Take this same attitude with any crisis at work or any challenge. You can discover your abilities that you never knew you possessed.
- Explore your strengths and weaknesses.
- Develop entrepreneurial thinking.
- Learn to calm yourself.
- Develop resilience.
- Create a personal development plan.
Three Ways to Overcome Fear of Failure
Pay Attention to Your Words and Thoughts.
Start to pay attention to the words you speak. The words in your mind. If your thoughts are of a negative nature, or self-deprecating, the results you experience will be the same. Listen to what you are saying to yourself and thinking. Censor yourself. Become your own guide on your road to growth.
Replace negative thoughts with more positive ones. Replace judgement with acceptance. Hate with compassion. If you are disrespecting yourself and others, you are lowering your ethical standards and the outcome of your decisions and consequences will reflect that. Intend to think higher frequency thoughts and hold yourself to it.
Four Ways to Boost Positive Thinking
Find Your Purpose
Does your life feel like it is purpose-driven? If yes, define for yourself what that purpose encompasses. If you are drawing a blank on what your purpose is, ask that your life’s purpose become clear to you. Meditate and/or contemplate “purpose” and see what tidbits come through until you feel like you know the essence of your purpose. Then pursue it. This will help you build a growth mindset.
Turn Criticism around.
How would you feel if I said you weren’t perfect? How would you react? Would you get angry? Sad? Resentful? These are all natural responses to receiving criticism, even constructive criticism. Criticism of any kind can be hard to swallow, especially when it comes to something you’ve spent time and energy on. Good, constructive feedback can help you improve and guide you towards new heights you might not have achieved otherwise. The purpose of criticism is to allow us the opportunity to Improve. Others can see what we are doing from a slightly different perspective and may have some valuable suggestions for you. If you are open to hearing suggestions, you can more easily develop your growth mindset. Here are some tips to help you receive constructive criticism.
-Avoid immediately reacting or responding. Give yourself a few minutes to breathe and think about how you should react or respond.
– Remind yourself that constructive criticism is given with the intent to help you improve. Whether it’s expected or not, it is given with the best intentions at heart.
– Listen to understand, not respond. When you listen to understand instead of responding you are more Intune with the message being delivered. You are more likely to hear the intended message.
– Connect the feedback to your role and do not take it personally. Feedback feels personal, -but with the correct mindset – and delivery of said feedback – the feedback can help you improve in your job.
– Always show gratitude for feedback. This may seem weird, but it took a lot for that person to come to you with their feedback. Regardless of what you think of the feedback, you should always thank the person for their energy and commitment in helping you improve.
– Instead of challenging the feedback, ask questions to better understand. You may not have any immediate questions, and that is ok. Set up a follow-up meeting. Challenging and/or denying the feedback is a reactionary response to the feedback and can be counterproductive for you and the person giving the feedback.
Learn from the mistakes of others.
There is a reason you sometimes hear “history repeats itself”. It means that as a society we have not learned from the mistakes we have made in the past. So, society continues to repeat them time after time. This concept relates to learning from other’s mistakes as well. If you learn from the mistakes of others, then you may be able to make fewer mistakes yourself. You can learn a lot from others just by listening. Learning from others can sometimes calm the fear of trying new things. A key aspect of building a growth mindset.
Everyone must make mistakes to learn how to grow in maturity and character. However, it’s not necessary to make the same mistakes as others if you just pay attention. This is especially true with a parent trying to teach their child right from wrong based on their own personal life experiences. How does one gain this experience? Usually by making their own mistakes along the way, which they then turn into a lesson for others.
Be realistic.
It takes time, sometimes lots of time, to learn a new skill. Like learning a new language. With a growth mindset that time can seem minimal. Speed is not important. When you have a growth mindset, the result is far less about the focus, but rather about being fully engaged and committed to the effort of the process. This improves the result as it is generally because you did put in the effort along the way.
Growth mindset means one embraces challenges, persists in the face of setbacks, takes responsibility for their words, actions and acknowledges the effort is the path toward mastery. Practice Makes Perfect. By choosing to make the extra effort to build a growth mindset, you can make your mental processes work for you. This results in a greater likelihood that you get the outcome you are looking for.
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