The Growth Mindset: What it is, and how you can have it.
If you Googled the words “Growth mindset,” several definitions will come up, and you may become unsure which of the multiple descriptions you should pick. I’m ahead of you, I checked it on ChatGPT, and this amazing pre-trained transformer told me that “A growth mindset is the belief that intelligence and abilities can be developed through hard work, good strategies, and continual learning.
Dr. Carol Dweck, a psychology professor at Stanford University, defined it as “when students understand that their abilities can be developed,” I love both definitions. By the way, are we seeing the demise of Google? I don’t think so. As of the time of writing this, Google is developing its own chatbot version. It’s the world of AI, ML, Big Data, Blockchain, Robotics, and so on. Let the race begins.
Going back to our topic — Growth mindset.
Are you someone with a growth mindset or a fixed mindset?
I’ve defined a growth mindset, and I know it makes sense to provide a quick definition of a fixed mindset.
Okay, here you go, “A fixed mindset means you believe intelligence, talent, and other qualities are innate and unchangeable.” If you’re not good at something, you typically think you will never be good at it.
There you have it. If you love your fixed mindset, then you can stop here. There is no need to waste your time reading further. As a productive guy, I love to save time. So, I’m letting you keep your 3 minutes to scroll through another article on your device.
For my growth mindset, folks, let’s continue.
A growth mindset is critical if you want to make any meaningful progress in life; because this mindset empowers you to believe that you can be better than what you are right now.
It means:
- You can make more money than you are currently making.
- You can land a higher role than your current position.
- You can learn new skills.
- You can lose weight.
- You can improve your skills.
SIMPLY PUT, consider everything you are or have, and imagine an improved version of it; you can get it.
Now comes the challenging part, to grow and attain that improvement, you need to apply some effort — sometimes, more significant effort than you can imagine. This is where many people would give up. They will rationale that it’s not worth the stress and choose to shrink back and stay in their cocoon where it is warm and cozy.
We have further shrunk the number of people that really want to grow. Let’s continue.
Someone with a growth mindset sees challenges as an opportunity and obstacles as a springboard that will propel them to their desired state. They apply effort, persevere, learn, improve, and then result — GROWTH.
Next step, how can you develop a growth mindset.
Here are five quick tips for you.
- Embrace Criticism: What a way to start an article about a growth mindset! No one enjoys criticism. We all would like to be in the “feel-good state” where we believe we know what we are doing and everyone agrees with us. Any contrary opinion will immediately put us on the defense. We will think that people are against us for no reason. However, people with growth mindsets see things differently. They take in those criticism and extract lessons that will make them better. So if you want to improve your situation, you should be willing to use criticism as a feedback mechanism to help you become better. The fact that you are being criticized shows that you are doing something many others may not have thought of. Keep your head high, embrace criticism, and use it to improve.
- Expect more for you: People often get stuck in the same situation or position when they refuse to do anything about their circumstances. They may wish for a change, and they may even deserve the change, but their mindset about change is that it will get them out of their comfort zone, so they automatically cling to the same situation and conditions. Those with a growth mindset always expect more for themselves because they believe they can do more and have what it takes to succeed, so they continue to grow. If you want to grow, expect more for yourself, and be ready to shoulder more responsibility.
- Enjoy Challenges: If you constantly run away from challenges, you will soon find your life boring. Challenges are not meant to stop us, but they are there to make us grow. When you overcome any challenging situation, you have learned some important lessons and will be better positioned to grow. Don’t be perturbed by obstacles on your path. Keep moving forward toward the life you desire.
- Exceptional appetite for learning: When was the last time you learned anything new? If it is more than a year, it shows you have a fixed mindset. You must challenge yourself to find something new to learn that will help you in your career, business, and life. To grow, you may need to learn a new skill, earn a new certification, learn some new technologies, etc. The more you learn, the more you can potentially grow.
- Efforts lead to mastery: Nothing happens unless something is done. A fixed-mindset person enjoys coasting around and watching things happen to them. Growth mindset, people are different. They make things happen, and they understand that to achieve any meaningful thing, they need to apply some effort, so they work, plan, brainstorm, and take action before seeing the result of their aim.
Growth mindset individuals are often more successful in various areas of their lives and are also better able to deal with setbacks. I highly encourage you to continue on the path of growth. It may not be the easiest path in your life, but it will deliver greater rewards than following the path of safety you get from being a fixed-minded person.
