The Growth Mindset is a mental tool that we can use to enhance our productivity beyond our current capabilities. It consists of belief in growth, our future, and our abilities. The opposite of a growth mindset is a fixed mindset; essentially the opposite to the traits that make up a growth mindset. Carol Dweck is a psychologist and the author of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. In this book, Dweck discusses growth and fixed mindsets. Dweck reveals how each mindset impacts individual success in school, work, sports, and more. Furthermore, Dweck describes how our mindsets affect our behaviour when approaching our goals. Specifically, those with a growth mindset are typically more likely to flourish than those with a fixed mindset. This transcends work and has vital significance in every area of our lives; this includes parenting, health, fitness, and more. If you would like to read the book, please click here for more information. As described by Dweck, “[Her] work bridges developmental psychology, social psychology, and personality psychology, and examines the self-conceptions (or mindsets) people use to structure the self and guide their behaviour. [Her] research looks at the origins of these mindsets, their role in motivation and self-regulation, and their impact on achievement and interpersonal processes”.
What is a Growth/Fixed Mindset?
What are the consequences of thinking that your intelligence or personality is something you can develop, as opposed to something that is a fixed, deep-seated trait?
– Carol Dweck, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
So, what is the difference between a growth mindset and a fixed mindset? Based on the previously provided description, a growth mindset sounds like it could be simplified to just believing in yourself. This is a fraction of a growth mindset, but not the whole. Here are the qualities of each mindset:
Fixed Mindset
- Believe you are either good at something, or not good at something by nature
- Static amount of intelligence or talent, no amount of effort can change this
- Avoid challenges out of fear of failure or embarrassment
- Believe failures define you, so why even try
- Feedback is perceived as negative as it reflects your personal flaws or limitations
- Prevents you from acquiring new abilities that would likely fulfill you
Growth Mindset
- Believe talents and skills can be manifested through hard work, strong efforts, feedback, and learning
- The more effort you input, the greater the skill you output
- Mistakes are essential in the learning process
- Failures are great opportunities to learn and grow
- Challenges are gladly welcomed because it encourages you to cultivate new skills or improve on your existing abilities
- Feedback is welcomed as it provides an external perspective on a part of your learning process you may not have noticed. Constructive criticism is impersonal and enhances the abilities you are working hard to improve.
- Tend to achieve more than those with a fixed mindset due to embracing failures, working hard, and the belief that you can manifest your goals into reality.
With each mindset, your progress toward your goals will be handled differently. An excellent visual, created by Nigel Holmes, excellently depicts how an individual with a growth mindset versus an individual with a fixed mindset may approach a challenge:
The key points to remember are that individuals with a fixed mindset believe that the reasons for one’s successes are the specific innate qualities in certain lucky individuals. Opposingly, individuals with a growth mindset believe in expanding their current abilities or cultivating new ones through practice and habits. However, note that it is rare that a person only embodies one of these mindsets. We in fact switch between the fixed and growth mindsets quite frequently. Although, as one with a growth mindset would note, we can certainly become better at approaching challenges in our lives with a growth mindset with practice.
Common Misconceptions About The Growth Mindset
The Understanding of The Growth Mindset
A growth mindset is not defined as working hard, setting high expectations or having incredible grit. A growth mindset is simply the belief that skills and abilities can be formulated; our nature can be changed through the nurture for ourselves. A fixed mindset is the opposite of this belief, in that skills and abilities cannot be created and are born with us; our nature overpowers our nurture, so there is no sense in even trying. Typically, a growth mindset will inspire us to work hard, set high expectations and have grit. But the growth mindset is not a consolidation of these traits directly.
The Growth Mindset and Parenting
A growth mindset cannot be fostered in a child through only praise for effort. Yes, praise supports the development of a growth mindset in a child, but it is not the only factor to consider. Praising only effort does not encourage them to work smarter, only to work harder. A student becoming an effective learner is an important part of the developmental process; the avoidance of this essential skill could lead to struggle, frustration, and a lack of success in the classroom or beyond. This, of course, does not mean to stop encouraging hard work. Hard work is obviously important to success, and it is one of the vital components that can assist in surpassing the competition. But rather than only encouraging hard work, encourage different approaches to work or study. This promotes a different way to learn and grow and could help the student discover the most productive way for them to get stuff done.
The Growth Mindset and Success
A well-developed growth mindset is not the only attribute that one should strive for when trying to become successful in their work and in life. There are many other factors that can influence one’s success, occasionally those factors are out of their control. These out-of-control factors can include a negative or abusive environment, a lack of reliable and functional resources, or any other outlying situations that could truly inhibit one’s progress; although, it is important to note that one’s environment can be controlled to an extent. For example, if you are trying to sleep more deeply, it is probably not a good idea to charge your phone overnight in your room as it can cause distraction while falling asleep. Also, an environment can be optimized to cultivate a habit. If you were trying to get yourself to create a better skincare routine for yourself, maybe placing your new facial cleanser in your shower where you wash the rest of your body will encourage you to start using the cleanser more often. Fundamentally, a growth mindset is an incredible asset to have, and it should be strived for to achieve greater successes in life. However, it is not the only asset one should possess to achieve success. Other assets include an optimized environment, the inclusion of a hard-working culture, and proper systems in place, such as proper study habits, to ensure that one is on a journey towards success.
11 Methods for Developing a Growth Mindset
Acknowledge Areas of Weakness
When we are aware of our weaknesses, we often try to avoid them. This is typically due to fear of failure or embarrassment. A growth mindset can assist in acknowledging these lacking areas and encourages improvement in these areas as well.
Challenges are Opportunities, Embrace Them
An individual with a fixed mindset sees challenges as impassable barriers that must be avoided. Similar to the previous point, this is due to fear of failure or embarrassment. An individual with a growth mindset sees a challenge as an opportunity to expand one’s abilities beyond their current capacities. Approach your next challenge with positivity and a growth mindset and discover how much less intimidating the task may become.
Failing is Simply a Step on the Learning Curve
Fundamentally, a fear of failure does not allow for growth. Thomas Edison failed 1,000 times before the light bulb worked. When Edison was asked about his missteps by a reporter he responded, “I did not fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was an invention with 1,000 steps”. Edison, an individual with an obvious growth mindset, had no fear of failure. Rather, Edison embraced his mistakes as steps on the path to success. Next time you fail a task, assume a growth mindset and remind yourself that failure only exists when you stop trying.
Seek Approval Within Yourself, Not From Your Surroundings
You cannot make someone appreciate the hard work you put into a project. But you can put hard work into a project that might make someone notice. You cannot make someone use a social service you’re developing. But you can make a social service that is so good it is almost impractical to ignore. Once this concept is practised, you begin to stop seeking outside approval and look inward to see if you truly believe in the product you’re trying to develop. The growth mindset, in this situation, develops like a snowball effect. At some point, admiration from others is simply a lower-value byproduct of the higher-value end result you are working towards.
Value the Process, Not the Result
When one expects a demanding task to be completed within their set timeframe, they will get disappointed when it reaches beyond their deadline. Falling in love with the process of growth and expanding your abilities does not put unnecessary stress on yourself with unrealistic timelines. All your attention is directed towards the next small step which ensures consistent improvement. No matter the goal, it is easy to compare yourself to another person that has already achieved what you are currently striving for. This comparison is unreasonable and distracting to us. Value the process of improving yourself and becoming better every day. Eventually, your end result will be beyond what you ever imagined.
Reward Your Actions, Not Your Traits
Many compliments are directed towards our traits and not our actions. “You have beautiful eyes” or “You’re so smart” are common examples of this. Rather than congratulating yourself in a similar way to this, try to have an internal voice that compliments your efforts. Some examples may include, “I am proud of running today, despite how much I did not want to when I woke up this morning” or “I am proud of how studious I have been today”. Changing this internal commentary of yourself into a narrative that rewards actions over traits can greatly benefit the development of a growth mindset.
Take Constructive Criticism Positively
Constructive criticism is not a personal attack. Good constructive criticism is never directed to who you are fundamentally, but it may be directed toward actions you are taking. Take this criticism into account and reflect on it if it is not presented ignorantly.
Allow for Self-Reflection
Self-reflection is one of the most valuable habits that is seldom put into practice. Reflecting on your day creates a subconscious score sheet for how well you believe that day went. If you were hoping to have a productive day, a 10-minute period to journal at the end may reveal that you may have wasted more time than you had initially hoped. If the day was productive, then the 10-minute period for journaling allows you to reflect on what worked well today. Once you know what worked well, you can implement the strategy next time you need to be productive. Self-reflection is excellent for both productivity and the development of the growth mindset
Use the Words, "Not Yet"
Returning to the concept of your internal commentary, a lot of self-doubts circulate our minds every day. Simply changing this commentary from “I can’t” to “not yet” has a profound effect on personal motivation. Promoting improvement within your own thoughts can greatly improve internal drive and the cultivation of a growth mindset.
Continue to Make Newer Goals After You Accomplish the First One
Constant stimulation with new aspirations feeds the growth mindset. Creating new goals once you achieved the first provides an individual with a ‘checkpoint’ feeling. Similar to the point on self-reflection, it allows for one to reflect on what worked and what did not. The upcoming challenge will be approached with greater motivation and more thorough, tangible knowledge.
Carry a Positive Attitude Toward Your Work
Be proud of your mindset. Wear your growth mindset like a badge when going to work or expanding on your abilities. This positive self-affirmation motivates and inspires one to keep pushing through new challenges. The growth mindset is like a positive feedback loop. Once the first goal is accomplished, the next one is prepared, and the individual is excited to begin working on it. Before the following goal is completed, the individual is already thinking of how much further they could go from there. A positive attitude toward your work and your goals helps cause the snowball effect with the growth mindset.
Conclusion
To conclude, the growth mindset is an excellent tool we can use to enhance our abilities and productivity. A fixed mindset, the antithesis of a growth mindset, restricts us from achieving all we can achieve in our lives. As discovered in the 11 habits to developing a growth mindset, those with a growth mindset are more likely to succeed than those with a fixed mindset. Apply this concept in every area of your life, not just work, and see yourself become the person you have always wanted to be.
References
Farnam Street Media, “Carol Dweck: A Summary of Growth and Fixed Mindsets”
The Peak Performance Center, “Fixed Mindset vs. Growth Mindset”
MindShift, “Growth Mindset: Clearing up Some Common Confusions”, Published November 16, 2015
Tchiki Davis, Ph.D., “15 Ways to Build a Growth Mindset”, Published April 11, 2019