The importance of a growth mindset
I am bad at many things. But, I have been bad at many more things. I’m pretty sure most of you reading this have felt the same way. You’re probably still scared of certain tasks, as am I. This is OK, as long as you have one other thing. You need a growth mindset.

Simply put, a growth mindset means you believe you can get better. More specifically, you’re intelligence isn’t fixed. I didn’t always think this way, I was on the nature side of the argument and I thought I had a predetermined skill set.
As an example, I was terrified of public speaking and my school speeches consisted of me standing in front of the class with my head down and reading word-for-word a script I had prepared beforehand. This would be tolerable if it wasn’t for my poor writing ability. Eventually I gave up and attributed my regular C grade to my innate inability.
My view changed at university by accident. I found that I enjoyed talking in front of people about subjects I found interesting. Once I realised I could give engaging presentations, I knew I could improve other skills. I could get smarter. By the end of my degree, I was better at solving problems than when I started.
Everyone’s favourite entrepreneur, Elon Musk, has a growth mindset. When he decided he wanted to learn about rockets, he picked up a book and learnt about rockets. He takes the idea to the extreme and even looks at everything from first principles. This is because he believes he can do it better. Problems don’t intimidate him because he approaches it with the knowledge that it can be solved. He will probably get it wrong the first time, and the second time, but he keeps learning and he keeps getting better at it. He gets smarter.
I’m not mixing up the concept of skills and intellect either, because skills are just different forms of intelligence. A master plumber is a brilliant plumber because he can solve problems and learn from his mistakes. That is intelligence.
I would argue that a growth mindset, along with an internal locus of control, is one of the predictors of successful people. I don’t have any empirical evidence, but I know that logically, successful people must have learnt a skill that brought them success. I find it hard to believe they aren’t smarter today than they were 10 years ago. They didn’t simply emerge from school as intelligent as they are today, they grew. You can grow too. Adopt a growth mindset and get smarter.

