The Power of YET — Growth VS Fixed Mindset
Are you the type of person who thinks that skills and abilities are based only on talent and gift, or are you a person who considers the power of learning anything and being able to acquire any ability in due time? Check out this text and get to know why the second option is a much better view when facing the idea of learning new skills, such as hard, soft, or even language-related ones. Come, and get a look into it!
What is a Fixed Mindset?
Having a Fixed Mindset means that a person considers us as having a pre-wired capability when it comes to knowledge, intelligence, and talent. In this way, people who foster this kind of logic most times feel very frustrated when making mistakes while learning a new skill, and often give up in the middle of the process, believing that they will never be good enough at that skill (be it learning a new language, a new musical instrument, a new hobby or even a soft skill that is needed in the workplace).
This type of mindset normally relies on the idea of “I can’t”, when facing a hard task or problem, and this can really get in the way of the learning process, especially when it comes to acquiring problem-solving skills, working with creative procedures, or even starting a job that offers new challenges.
The reasons for this type of Mindset are diverse, but they come specially from our own beliefs. A lot of times we think others are capable of acquiring anything, and failure is okay in the middle of this, but we really self-criticize ourselves and believe we always fail or are not good enough at something (the mistakes made during the learning impact even more this idea). With this, the imposter syndrome takes care of us, and we think we are not worth of praise, new opportunities and such.
Thus, believing that you are not talented enough to do something can really lead you towards failure, not because you are making mistakes through the process, but because you are feeling frustrated, and your mental health will make the task even harder that it is in reality, harming your self-esteem and making you give up.
If you are reading this text and recognizing yourself in the middle of these words, worry not! Our mindset is a flexible thing, so if we change our beliefs and way of facing things, we can surely acquire new perspectives and avoid most of the suffering that comes from challenging situations.
What is a Growth Mindset?
On the other hand, having a Growth Mindset means that you consider that all human beings have the capability to learn any skill or ability in due time, only needing to make effort, study, and practice. This Mindset releases a heavy burden from our shoulders, since it leads us towards seeing hard situations as a way of challenging ourselves and testing our capacity. In this way, we don’t focus on the “I can’t” logic, but rather the “I will be able to do it sometime” logic.
In this Mindset we also consider the importance of practice in the process, because the more you practice, the more you understand a concept and can put it into action, surely enabling you to learn a new skill, sooner or later.
Also, this type of thinking takes into account the conception of mistakes much more lightly than the Fixed Mindset, since mistakes, according to this idea, are not an indicative of failure, but rather a signal that we need to improve ourselves even more.
It also considers mistakes to be an important part of the learning process, since by mistakes you remember much better the issue or the context that drove you to making them. You don’t normally remember the things you get right, but if you take criticism and your mistakes are pointed by someone, you will surely remember this and pay even more attention to not repeat them. This is good for learning, since it helps with the memory of how to do something.
What is the power of YET when it comes to learning new skills?
Yet: a little word that has the power to change everything. “How so?”, you might be asking yourself. By considering that we haven’t learned properly the ability YET, but we will soon learn it, no matter the intensity of the challenge. In this way, we don’t focus on what we can’t do, but rather the things we will still learn. This creates a sense of humbleness that allow us to see ourselves as always being capable of improving ourselves more and more, with practice, study, and search for knowledge. This is really useful, especially for entrepreneurs, or even employees, because this enables us to see ourselves as continual learners, since knowing absolutely everything about something is impossible.
The power of YET also fosters a kind of resilience related to the new challenging situations, increasing your resistance against frustration, suffering, lack of self-esteem and imposter syndrome feelings. Since you haven’t learned YET, there is no reason for being frustrated, because you are still going to learn it, sooner or later.
Having this kind of mindset and using this way of thinking not only helps to increase productivity and mental well-being, but also enables new possibilities, such as the capacity for moving outside your comfort zone (trying new things, new fields and even new job positions/occupations).
Thus, when facing an issue, think about the fact that you haven’t solved it YET, but it is just a matter of time and practice to be able to deal with it. That’s your chance to be more friendly with yourself, and not put so much pressure on your shoulders.
Life will always bring challenges, but it’s the way you face them that makes all the difference.
What about language-learning?
Okay, but what about language-learning? How can I apply this concept of Growth Mindset and the power of yet to help me learn a new language, such as English? That’s a good question, young Padawan!
Learning a language, like any other skill, is acquirable through practice, time, and effort. But, if you focus only on the things that you are not able to express or do in the language, this gets in the way of your learning, and can get you frustrated, causing bad feelings, discontinuance, and even a kind of trauma, creating a blockage when you try expressing yourself in the target language.
In order to avoid this, it’s always good to face language-learning as a matter of due time. It’s not that you can’t use the Simple Past or remember the Phrasal Verbs, and will never know how to do them properly. It’s just that you don’t know how to do these things YET! But soon you will be able to do them, by improving yourself constantly and viewing how knowledge is never a stable thing, always requiring new information. You might be studying English for your whole life, be fluent etc., but you will never know everything the language has to offer, I assure you. So, let’s be humble, and face it: we need to improve ourselves constantly and always study, so why put pressure on ourselves to learn fast or learn “everything” (which is a wrong idea, as I told you, because we never know everything, no matter how good you are at that)?
Another thing is the way we consider mistakes. Those who see mistakes as chances of learning will surely take them lightly, won’t need to receive validation from others to believe themselves capable, and will use these mistakes to help them grow. This makes learning much easier, since we understand that it’s okay to get things wrong. This is really important when learning a language, as this removes our blockage about speaking, because we won’t be nervous about making grammar mistakes or anything like that, but rather focus on the communication (which is the most important part, indeed).
In conclusion
Embracing a Growth Mindset and believing in the power of YET can get you much further while learning a language, relieving mental stress, increasing productivity and making the learning process much more fun and light. What are you waiting for? Try applying it asap! I’m sure you won’t regret it!
See you next time!
Written by Teacher Alanis
Sources:https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/growth-mindset-vs-fixed-mindset
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Dr. Carol S. Dweck
