How to Build a ‘Growth Mindset’
Three tips for having a frame of mind of a successful person
You may have read about it in a self-help book or heard a college professor talk about it during a lecture.
In almost every case, academics and motivational speakers alike agree that success favors those with a growth mindset or the belief that our talents and skills can be developed.
Contrary, those with a fixed mindset believe that we are born with certain talents and are unable to nurture new or underdeveloped skills.
A study by Chow & Visaria even found that having a growth mindset is linked to increased intrinsic motivation, or a natural and internal drive from within, through neural responses.
Most of us generally believe in the growth mindset without knowing the exact definition.
Moreover, it sounds more confident to say we believe we can improve ourselves, while a negative mindset is not exactly popular in the office or at the gym.
But we often impose self-limiting thoughts on ourselves when we are alone at the gym or when we are considering our next goal–it is almost subconscious. In order to help you stay more aware of your mindset, I’m going to map out three tips and even argue that having a growth mindset does not always include “the power of positive thinking”.
1. Embrace challenges
In the book, “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck”, Mark Manson’s central argument is that in order to be happier and more confident, we need to stop thinking that a life without problems is a happy life, and that true happiness comes from solving good, meaningful problems.
Instead of wishing that you could lose a certain amount of weight, think of the situation as a problem to be solved–a good problem that will benefit you in the future.
Working out and eating healthy takes trial and error. Through having a growth mindset, you will start to see “failed” attempts at losing weight as simply small errors in the process of finding what works best for you.
Maybe you are struggling to get to the gym because of what you are eating, not because you will just never be an exercise person.
It comes down to simple changes, like choosing yoga over HIIT because you find that more enjoyable.
2. Start identifying your fixed mindsets
Take time to journal about what you are thinking during the wellness journey you are on–physical, mental, spiritual, or all three.
First off, Carol Dweck, founder of the psychological mindset theory, states interestingly in order to spot fixed mindset behaviors early on, we need to notice what our triggers are.
In her article for Education Week, she states,
“Watch for a fixed-mindset reaction when you face challenges. Do you feel overly anxious, or does a voice in your head warn you away? Watch for it when you face a setback in your teaching, or when students aren’t listening or learning. Do you feel incompetent or defeated? Do you look for an excuse?”
When you start seeing yourself and your abilities as finite, and more importantly, stop seeing your actions and behaviors as things you have control over, you are using a fixed mindset.
Even phrases like “I give up easily”, which may be true based on our past actions, are not useful phrases to tell ourselves while attempting to overcome new obstacles.
Don’t believe that you can essentially fake-until-you-make-it with your self-talk?
According to Mindset Scholars Network, “the brain is malleable and gets stronger through effort, trying new strategies”. In other words, telling yourself that a challenge is something that can be overcome will physically make your brain stronger.
The same is true for the opposite type of phrase–one that involves a fixed mindset.
3. Focus on learning, not the effort
Later in her article, Carol Dweck states that rewarding ourselves and others for the effort is less effective than being rewarded for learning a lesson.
While it is important to be kind to yourself and remind yourself that you are doing your best, it may be better to reward yourself for learning from your mistakes.
This is an easy fix because we can find lessons from every mistake and effort that we make.
Most importantly, Dweck advises,
“We also need to remember that effort is a means to an end to the goal of learning and improving.”
In other words, instead of rewarding yourself for trying to eat healthy for a week, learn why you resorted to old habits by the end of the week, and work to avoid that mistake the next week.
In conclusion, I wanted to leave you with thought-provoking advice my interpersonal communication professor gave my class in college.
She argued that viewing a growth mindset as “the power of positive thinking” is a dangerous ideology because we could easily miss our own mistakes and negative feedback that guides us towards more efficient results.
In order to focus on learning, we have to face negative feelings and thoughts head-on.
However, the difference with a growth mindset is that we are more optimistic–even excited–about solving new problems because we know that’s where the growth comes from.
