The 3 Core Beliefs in Having a Growth Mindset I Wish I’d Implemented Earlier
It’s only natural — if your goal is development and growth, then perhaps you need to focus on establishing a growth mindset.
“Interesting!”, I thought to myself years ago when I parted ways with a friend after a lunch date. They had just started this new enticing and exciting, yet challenging at times job and were really distressed about all the requirements and important business decisions they had to make from now on.
They told me that they would happily press the button of a time-travel machine if we had stumbled upon one and turn back in time to their early teen years where everything was just so peachy. No one expected us to make important business decisions, yet we weren’t expecting ourselves to be building top-notch careers as we speak. “Life was so much easier back then!” my friend exclaimed!
Well, perhaps it was, but was it really exciting enough?
In all those years during my professional development, I’ve never expected it to be easy. Quite on the contrary, if I have to be honest. I remember with years passing by I was convinced that success would come after tons of hard work. As a matter of fact, all those times I had something figured out quickly and without much effort, I always found myself filled with doubt and suspicion. Wasn’t it supposed to be harder than that?
And for years, I thought that I perhaps had this overall pessimistic mindset that things just don’t happen too quickly. Then, sometime later on, as I began to educate myself on the matters of entrepreneurship, leadership, management, and all things business, I read about having a growth mindset. I thought to myself: “Hey! Perhaps you’re not pessimistic! Perhaps you simply expect success to come after hard work and strong dedication!”
The way I found myself thinking about having a growth mindset forever changed my business development
We’ve all seen photos of plants making their way out of concrete, right? Well, I cannot think of a stronger point about success needing hard work to thrive.
When you come to think about it, growth always requires having a goal. And a goal is called “a goal” mainly because there is a path toward it we all need to overcome. In order for us to do so, we need to show endurance, bravery, willingness to deal with discomfort and challenge, etc. Rarely do people manage to achieve their dreams and goals by simply trying to make themselves feel comfortable all the time. It’s just not how it works.
In terms of business development, we again aim at achieving different types of goals. Be it climbing up the career hierarchy, getting that pay raise, attending that workshop, or simply elevating our own experience — goals are the ultimate formula when it comes to establishing a successful professional life.
But it appears that goals are best achieved through having a growth mindset — or at least on most days.
The growth mindset enables us to view the entire work process in a completely different way. Instead of seeing piles of tasks and never-ending to-do lists, the people who have implemented a growth mindset see a majority of opportunities to further elevate their professional expertise. Because, you know, the ones who actually succeed and are happy enough to have sustained inner peace at the job, are usually the ones who managed to overcome the tremendous efforts and workload.
Those 3 core beliefs that are part of having a growth mindset have helped me out tremendously in my career path
- The growth mindset teaches us to take failure with bravery and ever-going endurance. The truth is that it’s rather naive for us to think that we won’t ever fail. So few are the individuals who managed to nail an idea the first time around and who didn’t have to deal with all kinds of downfalls and obstacles. But what’s important here is even though failure occurs, it’s important not to avoid it altogether at all costs, but the way we deal with it once it happens. The growth mindset teaches us that each mistake or failure is actually an incredible opportunity to view things from a perspective and to implement a different approach the next time around.
- One cannot expect enormous profit if they first haven’t done the work needed. Nowadays we live in a world of impatience when it comes to getting the stuff we want the minute we think about wanting them. This “on-demand” type of thinking often leads us to give up way earlier — merely because the expected results take too long to occur. But imagine all the missed opportunities! Many successful people share that their present success is because of hard work and patience. This has a lot to do with my above-mentioned point that deals with failure — the key is to be consistent and willing to sacrifice both time and energy. We all know that hard work always pays off in the end.
- In order for your business development to grow, you need to take care of your personal development as well. Oftentimes we tend to focus too much on a specific work task entirely sacrificing our overall well-being and mental health. I know we do so in order to succeed in our careers, but this way we risk burning out and neglecting our needs as individuals. Equally nourishing both our professional and personal growth is vital for us to end up as healthy, happy, and fulfilled individuals.
To wrap things up
Having a growth mindset is actually an amazing opportunity for you to further explore your willingness to work hard and hustle for your goals and dreams. It helps you acknowledge what’s actually worth it while also cherishing the path ahead in order to achieve the end goal. In the long term, this behavior helps you to appreciate everything you’ve accomplished — this way you’ll never take anything for granted.
