10 Feb Are you stuck? Perhaps you just need some growth.
How we perceive learning and challenges has direct impact on our behaviours, beliefs and how we tackle life.
Carole Dweck’s ground-breaking work, which recognises and defines the difference between what she calls a ‘fixed’ mindset verses a ‘growth’ mindset is significant for all of us, no matter our profession or circumstances. Understanding how we can work towards altering our mindset to incorporate a more growth-oriented one, can have a substantially positive effect on our entire lives.
A ‘fixed mindset’ is a belief that our abilities, intelligence and traits are set – that no matter our actions there is a specific and static amount of talent and intelligence that we cannot change or control. By buying into this mindset, this can result is us focusing on taking actions that we can guarantee will maintain our perfect infallible appearance; avoiding the risk of looking unintelligent by staying well within our comfort zones. With a ‘growth mindset’, however we change the focus by recognising that talent, skill and intelligence are not fixed; rather they are the results of persistence, effort and continuous learning. Simply changing our mindset from fixed to growth can result in reduced anxiety, increased productivity and a new love to push ourselves outside of our comfort zone.
We all have times when we are in a fixed mindset. We stop ourselves from taking risks or trying something new; afraid we’ll make a mistake, look stupid or vulnerable. It is these moments that we are allowing our mind to hold us back from embracing life and to find out what we are truly capable of.
Embracing a growth mindset takes time and practice. Below are ways you can all go about changing your mindset to a more positive growth-inclined one, one step at a time.
1) Work towards changing your inner voice to speak growth mindset phrases. Simply tweaking your inner talk can have profound results. For easy-to-follow ideas suggestions on what to say, download my poster here.
2) Start seeing mistakes as feedback; an opportunity to find out what more you can learn rather than as absolute failure.
3) Embrace new challenges by seeing them as exciting opportunities to learn new things about yourself and the world.
4) Love what you do. In whatever capacity, whether it’s work, leisure, family life etc. when you are passionate about what you are engaging in, effort and persistence is fun! When you enjoy the journey of persistence, success is easier to achieve because it’s woven into the daily practice of your own tenacity, rather than just the end results.
5) Celebrate successes! Both yours and those of others around you.
6) Remind yourself that the brain is always changing, therefore it is never too late to make a shift in your life or learn something new.
7) Take risks, actively and whole-heartedly. Approach them with curiosity rather than fear.
8) Understand that you are responsible for your life, your choices and your attitude. Taking the time to cultivate them to ensure you lead a full life with a growth mindset is time well spent. You are worth the effort.
Growth mindset as a whole is about seeing the process as the achievement, rather than the destination. It is overcoming challenges, learning new things from your mistakes and having the courage to continue to move out of your comfort zone that brings a deep sense of satisfaction. By focusing on the process, life reveals itself as a continuous and progressive path, rather than a series of unrelated events.
To help you, I have created a poster of growth mindset phrases for you to refer to. Repeating these phrases or using them as inspiration to come up with your own, is a great first step towards growth mindset. Click here for your free download.
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