Do you want to expand your social circle? Love learning about new things? Want to improve the quality of your relationships? Want to create a better business by producing prototypes that understand and incorporate your customers needs?
In order to reach the abovementioned goals, a growth mindset is the lens one should be looking through. A mindset that is fueled by learning through opportunity is an unstoppable force. Reason being is that no matter the outcome, one will use the lesson(s) to improve their attitude, success, outlook, relationships, work/careers, health, business..etc.
When a person believes a certain idea about themselves (be it a skill, ability, characteristic or view) the concept becomes real and internalized as an adaptable fact (growth mindset) or internalized and set in stone (fixed mindset).
The benefits of using a growth mindset in your life are endless. Today we will be reviewing the reasons why one should adapt their mindset to one of a growth mindset.
Everyone can change and grow through action, focus and strategy. To achieve both personal and professional success you must constantly produce growth in your mind.
1) Your beliefs will change for the better because of your willingness to learn, change and grow ... or not
Your mindset is the extension of your intellectual and/or physical abilities. Science backs up the notion that you need to have a predisposition as well as train for more than 10,000 hours to become extremely proficient in a skill by practicing. Our mindsets heavily influence the way in which we view ourselves and others in the world.
In summary... our mindset shapes our self confidence and belief in the ability of accomplishing something.
These two ideas form the basis of the two extremes. A fixed or growth mindset. People with a fixed mindset believe that they are born with abilities to do something but also born with the inability to do something. Those with a growth mindset believe they can become anything so as long as they try hard enough.
People with a growth mindset continuously grow over the course of their life because of their openness to learn new skills without holding back. Life is always in a constant state of change, development and growth.
On the other hand; those with a fixed mindset will view nearly all situations in a black and white fashion. This type of thinking stunts one's personal and professional development. When they fail at something they will blame others or try and hide their failures - as to not look bad in front of others. For example they'll wish for ever-lasting love instead of putting in the work to build and grow a relationship organically, themselves.
2) A fixed mindset means that your ability is static
People with a fixed mindset believe that talent rules above effort. You can still be in the process of learning from your mistakes, that is ... until you start denying their existence.
People with a fixed mindset think that people are intelligent and gifted or incompetent and useless from birth. They believe there is no way to change your ways and that your destiny is set in stone.
It's not only individuals who think in this manner. Some Human Resource departments in corporate companies scout out the top talent in college and universities to boost their company's sales, productivity and performance with their natural talents. To add to the situation the new grads are given less training and less promotional opportunities to keep them in that one specialty job.
People (managers) with a fixed mindset believe that employees (or new and talented grads) that are not perfect from the very beginning -never will be- so they let them go. The reason this happens is because they are quick to judge themselves and other people's abilities and believe that people can only do what comes to them naturally.
Those with a fixed mindset believe that they could only do things that they are naturally good at and that practice doesn't equal perfect. They constantly seek approval and validation from others to validate if they are really as good as they say they are while protecting their egos. Leaving all abilities to be set in stone.
3) Growth mindset means that your abilities can and should be developed
People with a growth mindset believe the sky's the limit and they don't put a cap on the level of how much they can learn. They are continuously refining their skills in order to limit their chances of failure. Individuals with a growth mindset believe that success comes your way because of your willingness to learn and grow.
As they work on themselves, those with a growth mindset also encourage and inspire others around them to follow suit. They always want to eradicate their flaws and weaknesses and look around to learn from the best of the best.
People with a growth mindset put their energy into bettering themselves and the world around them. However inconvenient the road to get there may be. The reason why they take this route is because it demands growth, learning and development in order to attain your goals.
4) People with a fixed mindset seeks approval from others but those with a growth mindset seek learning and development
For example...Say a company used Human Resources to headhunt top talent. Once the company finds their individual, they expect that talent will turn the company around from the brink of disaster.
The hired talent will use their specialties to bring the company back to life. Now that the company has been restored... imagine if the hired talent's behavior changed and they began putting more energy into their own image instead of their company's?
Imagine if the hired talent's sole mission at work was to seek approval from others. Clearly this talent would have what we call a fixed mindset since they are focusing on intrinsic needs instead of focusing on the needs of the company they are representing. Instead of finding ways to improve the company they are working for; they worry about looking good and how intelligent they appear to others.
Now let's take a look at this situation again and see how things would be different if the hired talent possessed a growth mindset.
The hired talent used their specialties to penetrate a work environment saturated in a fixed mindset. The hired talent then strategized a way to convert the environment into one of a growth mindset by reorganizing the company's organizational chart and restructuring channels of communication to allow employees of all levels to connect to one another.
The introduction of incentivizing teamwork was introduced and employees were recognized when they demonstrated supporting their co-workers. The environment then changed from individualized success to group success because of changing the environment to one that supports learning and growing together. This creates lasting results for companies because their employees focus on teamwork and development.
5) Those who have a fixed mindset let their numerous failures define who they are as a person. They also look for approval from others because they want to continue appearing intelligent and likeable.
Those who have a growth mindset know that personal development happens through facing challenges and view them as opportunities to develop.
"It's not always the people who start out the smartest who end up the smartest.” “In the fixed mindset, everything is about the outcome. If you fail—or if you're not the best—it's all been wasted. The growth mindset allows people to value what they're doing regardless of the outcome" - Carol Dweck
Failure feels like the end of the world for people who have a fixed mindset. People with a fixed mindset don't believe that they can learn from their mistakes whatsoever. In all honesty, they truly believe that their failure is proof that they are and will forever be losers. One failure wipes out all of the past successes that they've ever achieved.
In order to keep their self confidence, people with a fixed mindset tend to make excuses, cheat, lose interest and just give up. They don't seek help, advice, or try to improve themselves by analyzing their weaknesses. Those who have a fixed mindset don't try to get better by practicing. They see themselves as a finished product instead of a work in progress.
6) Those with a fixed mindset favor the avoidance of difficult things. Those with a growth mindset embrace difficulties that are within their control.
There are many things in life that we can only achieve when we put fourth effort. You see... those with a growth mindset see difficult situations as opportunities to grow. Those with a fixed mindset hesitate to practice because it then leaves them with less excuses when things don't turn out successfully.
Those with a fixed mindset think that gifted people shouldn't need to try so hard, because they believe that people either have natural talent or they don't. Meaning: don't even bother trying to get better.
It's near impossible for those with a fixed mindset to better themselves because they see no benefit in practice, learning new things, facing challenges or receiving feedback. They question themselves, abilities and talent. Another fact is that they avoid difficult situations as to not make a fool of themselves in front of others.
People who exhibit a fixed mindset will get so afraid of failing that they'll make-up excuses to stop facing their challenges.
Those who have a growth mindset make the near impossible, very possible. Challenges give an individual with a growth mindset the opportunity to act on actions that fill them up with purpose.
7) Your mindset is strongly influenced in early life by your earliest role models. These role models impact the way we think about our fate in life.
Let's take a look at the growth stages of a human life. We all start off as babies who have a growth mindset. As infants into early childhood we are at our greatest peak of learning (ages 0-5 years old). This fact alone shows that whomever is rearing the child has the greatest impact on the child's mindset.
The adult who is rearing the child will either continue guiding the child into having a growth mindset or the child will adapt a fixed mindset early on in life. Simply put guardians set a mindset example for their children whether they realize it or not.
Children will want to continue learning if their guardians have a growth mindset and encourage them to do so.
On the other hand if a child's guardians have fixed mindsets, they will constantly judge and set limitations on the child's talents.
Overall, our mindset is not predetermined. It can change in childhood because of the people that we look up to.
8) Anyone can adopt a growth mindset to achieve massive amounts of success
Your perspective can change from a victim to a victor mindset from training your brain and teaching yourself to grow incrementally everyday.
Having a growth mindset fosters better relationships because we can talk about our mistakes and talk about strategic ideas to overcome challenges.
That is why those with a fixed mindset usually don't have great relationships with others in their personal and professional lives to support them.
In return, individuals with a fixed mindset use it as a blanket of comfort and safety to protect them from facing failures. They have this "If you never tried, you'll never fail" - type mentality that serves them no purpose.
Adopting a growth mindset from childhood and carrying it through the rest of your life is a gift by making the impossible, possible.
The growth mindset is the key to self fulfillment!
Conclusion:
To achieve high levels of success it's important to adapt a growth mindset as early as possible in life. Anybody can do this. When developing your mindset be proactive on limiting distractions and what is within your internal control.
How do you grow your brain? Just take small steps daily to undo the fixed mindset mentality that has been engrained into your being. For example if you have a typo in you IGTV video don't think to yourself "gosh I'm such a dumb ass" think "I will make sure to check my work once more before posting it next time I create a video".
Seek out other individuals who are like minded to help you set goals/plans to cultivate your mind. Catch yourself when you are exhibiting fixed mindset behaviors because it's not an easy thing to just let go of overnight. Give yourself love, patience and understanding that you are on a path of self-discovery. Remember that it takes time to shift your actions, behaviors, thoughts and perspective.
I hope these points have helped you to decide on how important it is to grow your mindset in order to reach higher highs in life!
- Articulate Tee
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