“With the right mindset, we can’t lose, we either practice what we’ve learned or we learn what we need to practice.” – Nodra
Before you read the rest of this article, take a minute and complete the mindset quiz below:
Growth Mindset / Fixed Mindset Test (idrlabs.com)
Done? Ok great, jot down your results and keep reading.
When discussing mindsets, experts have proposed that there are two: a growth or a fixed mindset. The type of mindset we have can affect the way that we view the world, our experiences, and our opportunities.
Growth mindset: views intelligence, abilities, and talents as learnable and capable of improvement through effort
Fixed mindset: views intelligence, abilities, and talents as inherently stable and unchangeable over time
When we believe that we are malleable and can improve, we are able to achieve more. A growth mindset allows us to reflect, be resilient and grow. In a study done by Mindsetworks, a program was implemented at a middle school to train students to use a growth mindset, and after a year, they saw a GPA improvement in 59% of students and reading score improvements in 70% of students.
With a fixed mindset, we are less resilient. It is harder to see beyond our failures and our weaknesses. Since we think failures and weaknesses are unchangeable, they prevent us from growing.
As we look at the challenges and opportunities in our lives, here are a few ways to reframe those to move towards a growth mindset.
- Focus on purpose: Remind yourself why you are doing what you are doing. This will help you to refocus and persevere toward your goal. For example, when you set a goal to improve your eating habits, you may get off track, but remind yourself why you created that goal.
- Value efforts over outcome: Appreciate the learning process and what you gain on the journey. For example, if one of your goals is to exercise 5 times this week, and you are able to exercise 3 times, focus on how you were able to achieve your goals on the 3 days you were successful and resist the temptation to dwell on not achieving your overall goal of 5 days of exercise.
- Say “not yet”: It takes time to achieve the things you want, so when you start to feel frustrated that you’re not where you want to be, remind yourself that you’re not there yet. You are still on your journey. For example, when prepping for a run, it may feel a little discouraging to not be able to run as far as you want or make the time that you want, but this is something that takes consistency, so remind yourself that you can still reach your goal, just “not yet”.
Lastly, remember that your mindset is not all or nothing, Carol Dweck says, “Let’s acknowledge that we’re all a mixture of fixed and growth mindsets, we will probably always be, and if we want to move closer to a growth mindset in our thoughts and practices, we need to stay in touch with our fixed mindset thoughts and deeds…if we watch carefully for our fixed mindset triggers, we can begin the true journey to a growth mindset.”
References
Growth Mindset vs. Fixed Mindset: What’s the Difference? (hbs.edu)
Your powerful, changeable mindset – Stanford Report
Changing Mindsets (mindsetworks.com)
How To Move From A Fixed To A Growth Mindset I Oxford Open Learning (ool.co.uk)
Carol Dweck Revisits the ‘Growth Mindset’ – Education Week (studentachievement.org)