Level Up Your Activism with a Growth Mindset
The most successful advocates know they can improve over time.
Don’t let a “fixed mindset” stop you from becoming a better activist. Here’s how to leverage the new psychology of success in politics.
Are you working to improve your activism by acquiring core skills such as public speaking, canvassing, and writing quote-worthy letters to decision-makers? If not, it’s time to ask why.
Progressive activists like myself can fall into the “fixed mindset” trap: We feel inadequate and struggle with all the actions we should do, becoming overwhelmed with the work it may take to make a real difference.
It’s tempting to tell others what you are definitely going to do, that you are not going to give up… but then you do quietly give up, as your everyday life takes back over. You may feel you never were that good at the skills you think you need; that they don’t come naturally to you; and that you just don’t have the time and energy.
Many of us over 40 were educated with exactly this sort of “fixed mindset” approach: We felt judged by the grades we got, as if we were born with certain talents and skills and there was nothing we could do about it. This “old-school” approach kept me from writing for years and labelled me “bad at math” after I failed a speed-addition record in front of my fourth-grade class.
The growth mindset in teaching and learning
Carol Dweck’s seminal work Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (as summarized in this TED talk) explains the learning theory she calls “growth mindset.” The growth mindset treats the brain as a trainable muscle: Intelligence and talent can change with effort, “by taking on challenges and setbacks on the way to learning.”
“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,”
— Carol Dweck, Ph.D., Mindset — The New Psychology of Success
IQ test scores purport to measure intelligence, but their results vary based on things like time of day, time of life, what you’ve been doing, if you are distracted or preoccupied, if you have had prior practice at that kind of test, and more. Imagine that: IQ is not an immutable number stamped on your forehead. Merely understanding this will itself make you more likely than people who have a fixed mindset to try a harder test next time and score better in the end.
Of course, there’s more to it than the sheer, dogged effort that the “10,000 hours to become a genius” meme from Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers implies. Achievement in anything from chess to musicianship also benefits from deliberate, mentor-guided practice as well as genetic predisposition. But that initial effort and a willingness to take on challenges — to mess up, dust off, get a bit of input from an expert — really does help improve a desired skill or talent, including the skills to be an effective activist.
I was so relieved 15 years ago, when I first learned about the “growth mindset.” It meant maybe I could get better at writing and math the same way I was trying to get better at rock climbing. It also meant I could get better at teaching middle-school science. I was not a teaching “natural” — 30 years in, I’m still paying attention to what worked and what didn’t, taking some risks, trying to forgive myself, and making improvements based on big and small fails.
How all this education theory applies to progressive activism
If we get stuck in a fixed mindset and try to only take the perfect action, we’ll give up 9 times out of 10. It’s easy to get trapped playing through a million scenarios: “What if I sound like a fragile white person?” “What if I’m helping uphold the patriarchy?” “Will I hurt _______’s feelings if I _______?” “Maybe I should research this more…” Falling down the Google rabbit hole and overthinking are symptoms of perfectionism and a fear of failing. It can keep us from stepping up, stepping out, and using our privileged connections, education, and economic advantage to making the difference we desperately want to see.
Reframe “failing” as forgiveness
The fixed mindset suggests that when it comes to political and social discourse, there are finite resources and “losers and winners.” Imagine a child you love growing up and seeing their political narrative as this sort of dog-eat-dog Hunger Games. How can we interrupt that mindset for them and for us? After all, what we do for ourselves is the glow we cast for others.
Take a moment alone or with a trusted friend and ask, “What’s a recent ‘fail’ you’ve had in your progressive activism, or in your life? What happened? What did you do about it? How did you feel before, during, and after it? Was it worth it? What would you do differently next time?”
Be humble
As we get older, we tend to stick to what we know and can do. That can make learning especially humbling, sometimes even humiliating. As a teacher, I try to learn some new skill every school year so I don’t forget how hard and scary it can be to not know something. (For example, I’ve tried and initially been crap at rock climbing, poetry, story writing, and gardening. Still looking for something to be a natural at… maybe bowling?)
Being a persistent trier/fail-er forces me to develop strategies to cope with real deficits (direction finding) and gives me empathy (and stories) for my students. Plus, learning to forgive myself allows me to be more playful and take a few risks before saying “no” to something. (I did eventually say “no” to ice skating, but I continue to climb — badly — and not all my plants are completely dead.)
Embrace the fun of imperfection
When it comes to effective progressive activism, adopting a growth mindset can help us try something intriguing outside our wheelhouse and comfort zone.
Instead of focusing on a fear of failing, I treat getting better as a “challenge.” The trick is to choose challenges in the “zone of proximal development’ (ZPD) — things that aren’t boring, overwhelming, or dangerous. The ZPD is where flow and fun can be found. My favorite business strategy is Black Swan Thinking: “What’s the worst that can happen?” If it’s just being embarrassed by a first-time “fail,” we need to be as kind to ourselves as we would to the children we love. Most people will be impressed we stepped up and tried and might be inspired to do the same.
So, let’s get out there, take some risks and have a little fun with activism. It’s not going to be perfect, but we need to take the hard, first small step. A stumble is starting place — from there we can seek advice, learn, grow, improve, and rediscover how well we can bounce back even better than before.
About the Author
Sue Boudreau M.Ed. is a Teacher of the Year for a top-performing district in California. She loves teaching, developing engaging science curriculum, writing, and bicycle riding, and runs the Take Action Science blog.
