Do You Have a Fixed or Growth Mindset and Why It Matters
What is a “Mindset?”
To begin, let’s talk about what constitutes a mindset.
Basically, your mindset is a way of thinking. It is your thoughts, beliefs, = your perspectives of the world around you. Your mindset is everything to you. Your mindset determines how you think and feel about yourself, your abilities, others, and the world.
When you hear “mindset,” you may think it’s just another term for a way of thinking. But it’s really not that simple.
These days the term mindset is broken down into two main categories. These comprise a “fixed” mindset and a “growth” mindset.
In simple terms, a growth mindset involves taking on new challenges, embracing change, and learning new things, even if you fail. Anyone can achieve any goal if they work hard enough. Those with a fixed mindset think their intelligence or talents remain static, that it is limited and if you don’t have it, well you don’t have it.
To be successful in any area of life, you need to have the right mindset to support your actions.
Let’s start by learning more about these two very different ways of thinking in more detail.
Get our Terrific BookBundle on understanding and adopting a Growth Mindset available HERE for only $7.99
A Fixed Mindset
If a person has a Fixed Mindset, it translates into believing that you are who you are and you cannot improve or change. What you were born with is all that you will ever have. Basically, your life direction and your capabilities are what you were gifted with when you were born.
The person with a fixed mindset believes that abilities and intelligence are unchanging – “I am just not good at this” or “This is not something I cant do! Characteristically, people with a fixed mindset believe that their intelligence or talents are god-given and cant be changed or improved. This attitude further translates into their belief that what they have is what they have and nothing will make lifes’ circumstances any better. In many ways, it limits what is possible based on their thinking process.
People who have a Fixed Mindset become very good at things they’re already good at doing. Unfortunately, they can find it very difficult to try new tasks outside of their comfort zone due to their fear of failure. Failure confirms that someone with a fixed mindset is correct in assuming that they are not good at the task. As a result of this thinking strategy, this type of person tends to avoid challenges or rise above their limiting expectations. They seldom go for new opportunities. They do this because they don’t want to risk failing or wish to be seen as good or gifted as others.
A Growth Mindset
In contrast, people with a Growth Mindset believe that their intelligence and talents are unlimited and can improve with effort and action. Improvements can result from learning new skills, getting more knowledge, trying new things, etc.
This type of person will view setbacks or when they don’t achieve their goals as an opportunity to learn something new! They can use setbacks to motivate themselves to move forward. They know and grow further and continue to raise their standards.
A challenge is simply a challenge for a person with a growth mindset. Challenge means “I need to try harder.” Additionally, a challenge is a gift, a way to expand and grow! Growth Mindset people don’t just sit around waiting for success to happen to them. Instead, they will vigorously seek opportunities by putting their nose to the grindstone and persevering despite obstacles.
Mindset and Success
To succeed in any area of life, we need to have the right mindset. The right mental attitude translates into embracing change and regarding failure as an opportunity to learn and grow. If you want to achieve great things in life, you need to have a growth mindset. Growth is inherent in all of us, and we can’t avoid it – so if we want to be successful as human beings, let’s embrace the change!
Get our Terrific Book Bundle on “Understanding and adopting a Growth Mindset” available HERE for only $7.99
Where Are You in Your Life?
It’s important to understand that one type of mindset is not necessarily better than the other – they are just different. Each has distinct advantages and drawbacks. Just understanding the two types of perspectives can be helpful. It can help you to understand yourself better. I can also help you to understand others better.
By bringing these distinctions into your awareness, you will be more conscious that there are other options when you come up against obstacles, especially if you have a fixed mindset.
It is essential to understand why some people may think and feel the way they do, even if their views are different from yours. You never know when understanding someone else might help you get through a challenge or solve an argument more easily (or, more importantly, to be able to avoid one altogether.
Taking on a Growth Mindset
If you identify most with the Fixed Mindset, which, for several reasons, is unfortunately very common, please know that it’s never too late to change! Like anything, it’s just a skill to be learned. I’m sure you’ve learned lots of skills, from riding a bike to driving a car. A Success mindset is just another skill to take on. And this one can be gratifying.
Your fixed mindset was just a thinking process that you picked up due to your upbringing. Your thinking style is not something you are stuck with maintaining. It’s just an ingrained habit!
A Growth Mindset can be learned and mastered at any age. You can master it irrelevant of your experiences, your formal education, what your family life was like, what country you grew up in etc. etc.
Yes, it is crucial to understand that you will have to expand yourself. It will demand you change your perspective and learn some new skills. Know from the get-go that if you decide and put in the work, anything is possible. Know that changing to a growth mindset could dramatically improve your life as you will see a new life filled with more possibilities.
The Benefits of Having a Growth Mindset:
There are many benefits to taking on a growth-focused mindset. These include:
– as you no longer see obstacles as a reason to stop, it will facilitate you developing more creativity and way better problem-solving skills.
– Developing much more resilience or thicker skin in the face of perceived or real setbacks or failures.
– Knowing that obstacles are steppingstones will give you much more motivation to learn new skills and will facilitate you continuing to grow throughout your life.
– Expand possibilities in your life. Increased ability to have success in multiple areas of life.
– Growth Mindset is about believing that you can improve and grow through experience, knowledge, feedback, failure – whatever it may be.
If You Already Have a Growth Mind
People who have a Growth Mindset believe they are always learning throughout their lives – even when things become difficult or seem impossible at first glance, there is always room for growth and improvement if we work hard enough towards figuring it out.
If you have a Growth Mindset, that’s terrific-keep going!. It’s great that you know how to see challenges simply as opportunities instead of daunting hurdles. Your Growth Mindset is all about believing that you can improve and grow! You will continue to seek new experiences and knowledge, learn from your mistakes, learn from your failures, and never give up.
Get our Terrific Book Bundle on “Understanding and Adopting a Growth Mindset” available HERE for only $7.99
Strategies To Cultivate A Growth Mindset:
Most of the strategies contained herein are about changing how you see yourself and the world. It’s about learning to see opportunities where in the past you may have seen nothing but obstacles; one’s it cause you to give up.
To begin, you need to start with the goal and that you no longer want to give in so easily to like and what life gives you. You have to promise yourself that you will step past things that will or had stopped you in the past.
From this point forward, commit to saying yes to life. Where you may have found yourself in the past stopping, you have to tell yourself that it is okay, no, preferable to keep going. From now on, I commit to:
- Setting clear goals and going for them!
- Believing (and knowing) that I can always improve and get better at virtually anything, no matter what my current skill level may be.
- Being open to new opportunities and experiences, and I’m willing to try something new every day!
- Seeing any obstacle to my goals is nothing more than in indication that I am one step closert to the result I want to createe!
- Seeing obstacles as nothing more than feedback (positive and negative) that I may need to learn more, try harder, do things differently and use it to learn and grow
- Not taking failures personally and seeing them as nothing more than a part of of lifes learning process
- Seeing failure as simply a temporary stop on my way to success!
Check out our post on defining what you value most HERE
Summary
Growth is not something that you can avoid at all. Growth is what makes life worth living. Without physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual growth, life would have little meaning. Growth happens for a reason, and it’s called change because nothing ever stays the same forever. Growth also doesn’t mean perfection or being perfect either. Change may come with challenges, but you will grow as an individual by embracing them.
People with a fixed mindset, on the other hand, believe that their abilities are fixed and cannot be changed. They see setbacks as personal failures. As a result, they are more likely to give up easily and avoid challenging tasks.
So, what are the benefits of having a growth mindset? Research has shown that people with a growth mindset tend to be more successful. They achieve more academically, have better relationships, and are more creative and resilient. People with a growth mindset believe that they can develop through hard work and practice. They see setbacks as opportunities to learn and grow. As a result, they are less likely to give up in the face of difficulty. All in all, they can have a better quality of life.
Have it ALL (don’t Settle)