Do you know someone who just seems to have energy, is always improving, and likes to go out of his comfort zone?
Maybe you met this person, who doesn’t feel easily discouraged and is always willing to learn.
He sees opportunities instead of obstacles, failure for him is just an opportunity to learn and adapt.
Well, in this article we are going to explore the mindset of that person – a growth mindset, how to get it, and what we should know about it.
Life’s challenges are not supposed to paralyze you, they’re supposed to help you discover who you are.”
– Bernice Johnson Reagon
What is a growth mindset?
A growth mindset it’s a theory coined by Carol Dweck. By her definition growth mindset mean: “A growth mindset is when students understand that their abilities can be developed,”
In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment.” (Dweck, 2015)
Obviously, by ‘students’ she doesn’t mean only students, but people in general. Although her work is used and implemented mostly in schools. The original idea of the theory is that kids in school, students can improve their skills with time. As long as they believe they can improve and see the failure and setbacks as a learning experience and opportunity to learn instead of a fixed result that can’t be changed.
What is a fixed mindset?
“In a fixed mindset, people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence or talent, are simply fixed traits. They spend their time documenting their intelligence or talent instead of developing them. They also believe that talent alone creates success—without effort.” (Dweck, 2015)
A growth mindset makes you try again.
People claim that a growth mindset is all about developing your intelligence. Others think it’s about you improving your performance in a particular field.
What I believe though it’s that, a growth mindset it’s about you trying again, because you believe you can improve with time by learning from the previous experience.
“When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you…never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.”
– Harriet Beecher Stowe
This may not necessarily mean that you will become more intelligent by just trying again.
It may not increase your intelligence, may not even your performance in a particular field.
But it will make you go out of your comfort zone and try something new, that you otherwise never would, because of your negative belief that you are not good at it.
It will make you try again, and even if that wouldn’t increase the performance, etc, it will just put you in a situation where just by you trying again you have another chance. A lot of stuff in life is a numbers game and we need to be more persistent.
I’m not good at it…
I’m not good at playing football, let’s say that’s my belief. I wouldn’t try to play again because I associate the game with something negative. But let’s say I know I suck at playing football, but I believe I can get better at it. I would try to play football again. Just by trying again, I have better chances to improve my skills and change my belief, because of that.
With time this can change the way I perceive myself as a football player. But if I didn’t try to play the game again in the first place, because I had one bad experience with the game, I wouldn’t know that actually, I’m not that bad.
What could make me try again, is the mindset of believing that results over time could change, and you can get better at a particular skill. Trying again, it’s about you giving yourself the chance to succeed.
“If you don’t make the time to work on creating the life you want, you’re eventually going to be forced to spend a lot of time dealing with a life you don’t want.”
– Kevin Ngo
Growth mindset vs fixed mindset.
A person with a fixed mindset sees failure as something that just confirms his beliefs of inadequacy. He believes that there’s not much to do or influence and everything is set and fixed already.
He wouldn’t try a new thing again, if he failed previously, because the one failure just reinforced the belief he already had, the belief of inadequacy. Failure it’s something scary and something to run away from, in a fixed mindset person’s head.
Meanwhile, a person with a growth mindset would see failure as something to learn from. Failure for him it’s not the end result, it’s a part of the process of achieving the goal. He isn’t scared to try new things, because he is not afraid to fail.
Since failure, it’s not something to run away from, taking action toward a goal it’s easier. He can go out of his comfort zone, even when he knows that failure it’s almost inevitable. A person with a growth mindset doesn’t see the next step and failure as the result, he is long-term focused on the process of learning from the failure and achieving his goals.
The main voice in his head, before attempting to achieve something, is the voice telling him that he can get better, even if he fails at first, with time he can improve.
What are the 5 characteristics of a growth mindset?
1. You believe that you can archive something through effort, not just a given talent.
– Effort very often beats talent. No matter how talented you are, if you don’t put effort into it, you will not beat the person who has the desire and time to do so.
2. You see failure as an opportunity to learn.
– Failure it’s inevitable however, we can choose to see failure as something to learn from and take advantage of it, instead of the result of our goals.
3. You believe that your intelligence and ability can be developed.
– The key concept of the growth mindset it’s the ability to develop and improve yourself. Most people in the self-improvement community, believe in a growth mindset. To improve you need to believe you can develop your abilities and grow.
4. You’re willing to ask questions and admit when you don’t know something.
– A person with a growth mindset, knows that he doesn’t understand everything and he is willing to ask the right questions to the right people. In the process of growth, you need to learn new things. One way to do this is by asking questions and being curious. No one knows everything.
He also knows when and how to admit mistakes, because he values growth and finding the right answers, even if that hurts his ego in the process.
5. You seek out challenges and you are willing to take risks.
A growth mindset person is aware that by leaving his comfort zone and taking on some challenges/risks, he can grow and learn from the experience. He is not afraid to challenge himself. He also understands that safety and staying in his comfort zone would not create growth. New experiences and challenges create new opportunities.
What are 3 things people with a growth mindset believe?
1. Failure it’s something to learn from.
A person with a growth mindset sees failure as an experience to learn from, they are not afraid to fail. Fail = opportunity to learn.
2. They believe they can improve.
The main belief in a growth mindset is the idea of getting better and being capable of improvement. People with a growth mindset believe intelligence and ability are not fixed and they can develop them through effort.
3. They believe effort can beat talent.
Talent is a natural gift and it’s great to have it. But the effort can beat talent every time if the talented person relies only on his talent. A person who is persistent to go to the gym 5 days per week will grow muscle faster than a person who is naturally gifted with great genetics, but only trains once per week.
Better chance to succeed
Even if a growth mindset doesn’t give you the advantage to perform better, it’s a mindset that would make you try again, which can guide you to achieve your goals and succeed in what you aim for.
Meanwhile, a fixed mindset would stop you from attempting again, since you don’t believe in a different outcome.
Trying again and again sometimes is the definition of stupidity. however, as we said already, in life, a lot of things are a numbers game and not everything happens how you want it the first time. You need more time and attempts.
“Be not afraid of growing slowly; be afraid only of standing still.”
– Chinese Proverb
When you try something more times, you have a better chance of succeeding. If you don’t try again you may lose the opportunity to succeed, since most things require you to try again and again, day after day with the belief that eventually, you will succeed.
An excellent example of a person with a growth mindset.
Tom Bilyeu – Tom Bilyeu is the co-founder of the billion-dollar brand Quest Nutrition and the co-founder and host of Impact Theory.
He is always willing to learn new things and listen to smart people. Obviously, he has a big show on Youtube interviewing great and smart guests. That helps for sure. But he had the growth mindset way before Impact Theory. That’s how he builds the billion-dollar brand Quest Nutrition.
He seems to be a motivated and full of energy person. I truly believe that his mindset is what made him so successful.
Is the effect of self-achievement stronger than the effect of self-perception?
Self-achievement may predict stronger effects on performance, however, I would argue that both self-perception and self-achievement are necessary and can work together.
Why do we have to choose one or another? Sometimes to archive something we do need to believe (self-perception) we can archive it, which would make us try, and then, if we succeed (archive) we would change our perception of ourselves and our capabilities. I believe both are interconnected, if not all the time, most of the time.
A growth mindset doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to push in life, where you are not good, and neglect the other parts in which you are naturally good. Probably that’s a fair concern to have, we should focus on our weaknesses, but also take advantage of our natural strengths.
Misinpritations of what is growth mindset.
The theory of the growth mindset it’s easily misinterpreted. A growth mindset it’s not a mindset that would make you grow just by believing in it. Action is required most of the time and growth is the result of it. You need to step outside of your comfort zone and take action toward what you want to change and grow.
Working hard to archive good results it’s just a part of having a growth mindset. But working hard it’s not a guarantee you will achieve the desired results or grow from the effort. It’s good to know that while we work hard, we need to be smart about it. Working hard toward the wrong goal, the wrong course, or the wrong aim of action in whatever we choose to accomplish, will not bring us the desired result.
Your energy should be put in the right direction. It’s not just about believing and pushing yourself. We should understand ‘why’ we are pursuing a goal or path in life, and why we want to grow. What are the rights steps and what works and what don’t? So judgment and reevaluation, it’s most of the time necessary along the process of growth.
Does a growth mindset work?
Without me going deep into what the research says, I would say it works but depends on your definition of what a growth mindset is and what result you associate with it.
Does a growth mindset make you more intelligent? Well, by the so-called general definition, it may not. I don’t have the answer to that. I believe that even science doesn’t have the definitive answer to that yet. Obviously, we have inherited intelligence from our genetics. But we can improve our IQ, when younger, or lower it by life choices.
When we are adults our intelligence, it’s not as fluid and flexible as the young person’s brain’s ability to learn new things and acquire knowledge.
However, we can still learn new things and improve almost every aspect of our life. It may take us more time than a young person, but the adult brain it’s still not fixed and is capable to learn new things.
That’s for intelligence, but a growth mindset it’s much more than that.
Why do I believe the growth mindset works?
To say that a growth mindset doesn’t work, you are saying that effort, learning new things, and different perspectives in life, don’t work also…
For me to believe in self-improvement, I need to believe in a growth mindset as well. Both are connected and work together. By definition, they may be slightly different, but I don’t see how (a growth mindset) one can function without (improvement) the other.
The moment I understood I can change and grow as an individual, was the beginning of my journey of growth.
We can improve, and a growth mindset is an essential mindset to have if we want to improve.
A person with a growth mindset believes he can improve, and the belief it’s actually what makes him pursue a goal and growth in the process.
Can we teach a growth mindset?
People change only by indirectly influencing them or by their desire to change. I believe like everything in life, teaching something a person doesn’t want or doesn’t believe in it, will result in failure. Cultivating a growth mindset it’s not just learning a new fact about life. It requires a change in the person’s view of how life works. Change is not easy and the best way to teach a growth mindset would be by influencing the person indirectly.
If you just tell the person to change in the way you want him to change, do you think that would change him? But influencing him indirectly by showing him how he would benefit from the transformation, without pushing him to do so in a demanding way.
We can only teach a growth mindset to 2 types of people:
People who are willing to learn and have a desire for it. Or people who don’t want to change, but we can influence them indirectly to ignite their desire to change
As humans, we are pretty well-adaptive creatures.
Neuroplasticity and epigenetics:
Neuroplasticity is the ability of the nervous system to change its activity in response to intrinsic or extrinsic stimuli by reorganizing its structure, functions, or connections
and epigenetics is the study of how your behaviors and environment can cause changes that affect the way your genes work.
The environment can influence the way our genes work.
Your body cells change all the time. About 330 billion cells are replaced daily, that’s about 1 percent of all our cells. In 80 to 100 days, 30 trillion will have replenished – the equivalent of a new you.
Why do I mention that? I believe that change it’s the only constant in life, and the ability to adapt it’s an essential skill to have.
In life, many times and in different circumstances, we need to adapt. The ability to recognize when, where, and how to adapt it’s necessary. That, plus a growth mindset, makes you a winner in life.
A growth mindset makes you responsible for your success.
A growth mindset is something that you can learn and this gives you control over your success. Which brings responsibility. This is could be a good and a bad thing. When we believe we have control of something, we often blame ourselves for the results in our life. This could lead to stress and build too much pressure on ourselves. It’s a double-edged sword.
I believe you do have control over your success and mindset, but not for everything and every time. With a Growth mindset, we need other adaptive understanding and mindsets to navigate the concept of growth in a healthy way, which wouldn’t make us miserable.
Focus on what you can control and not on what you don’t have control over. Judgment in the process of growth it’s necessary, but you can’t blame yourself for something you don’t have control over.
5 tips on how to develop a growth mindset:
1. The first step is to believe in a growth mindset.
- You need to know that you can change and improve. Now, let’s say you don’t believe you can improve. You need to change that belief. The way to change that belief is by just looking at your past achievements and seeing how you achieve them. The process and the steps.
You can read about stories of people that didn’t have the best beginning in life, but with time and effort, they got to where they want to be.
I think I start to believe in the growth mindset from reading books about how other people changed their lives. Then I experienced growth in my personal life, which just prove to me that it’s possible to grow and that things aren’t fixed.
2. Next we should put things into practice.
Get out of your comfort zone, and try something you wanted to learn before, but didn’t because you didn’t believe you can improve.
Most of our problems in life come from inaction. We learn best from applying what we know to practice.
3. Learn from the experience.
When you try something new, you should learn from the experience and apply next time what you’ve learned.
4. Change how you view failure.
We said many times already that failure is just an opportunity to learn and it’s part of the process of achieving your goals. Think about it… Failure can stop you or correct you. What do you choose and think it’s beneficial for you?
If you fail an exam, you see your mistakes and learn the right answer, so the next time you attempt an exam you have all the answers. You can apply this mindset to everything.
Did you lose your job? Alright, we may need to step out of our comfort zone and find another (opportunity) job which may improve our life differently.
Don’t see the failure like it’s the end of the world. It may be the beginning of something new, learning something new, etc.
5. Embrace imperfections and weaknesses.
You need to face and embrace your imperfections. Don’t hide from them. Usually, we don’t confront our imperfections or weaknesses. We are scared of them.
You may be terrified of talking to strangers, perhaps you feel anxiety just from the thought of speaking with a person you never met. So you don’t do it, because it makes you feel anxious. Well, that’s okay… do it anyway. You may suck at it at first, but just embrace it, and in the long term, you would get better.
Conclusion:
A growth mindset it’s a way to view life, where you have some control over your success, instead of blaming external factors. It’s a good mindset to have when you confront life challenges. Life is about adaptability. A growth mindset will make you more resilient and adaptable.
It’s not only about improving your weakness, as most people think, but also utilizing your strengths. It’s about allowing yourself to learn from failure. Accepting life challenges.
The growth is outside our comfort zone. Don’t be afraid to feel uncomfortable, with time uncomfortable situations become comfortable.
