In a previous role I was fortunate enough to get invited onto a mutual mentoring program at the Australian Institute of Sport. The aim of the project was for business leaders to provide guidance to elite athletes in areas of interest such as career planning, public speaking and exploring business opportunities. In return, we would receive the opportunity to learn about what it takes to be an elite, best in the world, performer in a field of endeavour.
This was a great opportunity to spend time with ten champion athletes as they prepared for the Rio Olympics. It was fascinating to meet them as individuals, to understand their passion for performance and to see the sacrifices they make in pursuit of their dreams.
One of the great takeaways I took from this experience was learning about the concept of a Growth Mindset. This concept was made famous by Carol S. Dweck in her book “Mindset”, where she contrasts a Growth Mindset with a Fixed Mindset.
A person with a fixed mindset tends to believe that capabilities are inborn talents which are hardly changeable. On the other hand, a person with a Growth Mindset believes capabilities are not fixed and can be enhanced by effort and effective learning strategies. These differing mindsets can lead to vastly different outlooks.
For example, the person with the Fixed Mindset will try to appear as capable as possible (because if they are not capable, they must be untalented), may avoid challenges because, in case of failure, they can give the impression of lack of talent, will view a requirement for effort as an indication of a lack of talent, and may respond to failure or adversity by giving up because it indicates a lack of talent.
On the other hand, the person with a Growth mindset will try to learn and improve as much as possible, will embrace challenges because you can learn from them and they can lead to growth, views effort as a normal and necessary step for growth, and sees failure as an indication that more effort or better strategies are needed.
In reflecting on the characteristics of these types of definitions, I was pleased to recognise that I tended to utilise a Growth Mindset in my sporting endeavours. For example, I was a good, but not great cricketer with many limitations compared to some of the very talented people I played with. However, I wanted to play at the best possible level and I trained hard and worked at my game which did enable me to improve sufficiently to play with and against some oustanding cricketers. My growth mindset helped me to reach the limits of my potential.
However, I also realised that I had developed a Fixed Mindset around academic pursuits, possibly influenced in part because I am fortunate to have been naturally gifted with a high IQ. I’m slightly embarrassed to admit that I had a tendency to look down on people who “worked hard” to achieve good results. My results were good because I had natural abilities, but I realise now that I could have done much better if I had been more open to growing.
So the lesson in this Life Hack is that you should not try to be good at something, but that you should focus on getting better. Give yourself permission to make mistakes, embrace challenges and don’t be afraid to turn to people around you for help. A growth mindset means practising, and when you make a mistake you go back and do that part over and over again until you see improvement. Rather than saying, “I can’t”, say, “I can’t — YET”. Focus on the process, rather than the outcome.
And most importantly, don’t compare yourself to what others are doing today, but to what you were doing yesterday. And no matter what level you have achieved, you can always work to get better.
For more information, read Carol S. Dweck’s book “Mindset” or watch her speak on Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiiEeMN7vbQ).
