Growing the ‘Growth Mindset’ – You Can Do It, Too

“Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed no hope at all.”
-Dale Carnegie-

As we all know, there is no such thing as overnight success. Perhaps, it can be an illusion that gives us the motivation to strive harder to reach that goal. But the real success would take you to a long journey of mistakes and failures before you can get there. Although challenges may be tough, this gives the opportunity to push ourselves to the limits. And mind you, only those people who have a “growth mindset” can overcome such process.

The crucial point in having a “growth mindset” is the positivity of a person. They have the tendency to learn and grow from their experiences, instead of making it as a barrier. For instance, whenever there’s a complaint from the client, growth-minded marketers strive for the better to have a guaranteed SEO. Yes, it is all in the mindset which brings a great impact to different aspects of an individual. And if one hits a setback, then a smart judgment will be made. But what really is a “growth mindset”?

There are actually two types of mindset – the “fixed mindset” and the “growth mindset”. According to Carol Dweck, a world-renowned research and psychologist from Standford University, the single quality that separates successful people from unsuccessful people is whether they think their intelligence and abilities are fixed. Moreover, she categorized people who think they have fixed abilities as having a “fixed mindset”, while people who think they can grow their mindset as having a “growth mindset”. Let’s try to break it down.

What is a growth mindset?

A growth mindset simply believes that the intelligence of a person is something that can be developed through hard work. They know that every challenge they encounter in life is inevitable. Moreover, they also expect that addressing that particular challenge may sometimes be a challenge on their part. Although they don’t intend to commit mistakes and fail, but they still strive to be better by learning how to approach such challenge later on. This mindset allows an individual to have their own development.

What is a fixed mindset?

Basically, a fixed mindset is the opposite of the growth mindset. These people believe that their talent and intelligence are static, and it cannot be changed. Instead of learning and growing from their experiences, they rather see challenges as an obstacle. They tend to devaluate their capabilities and are afraid to put an effort on things thinking that the way they were determines their success and not their hard work. You will know if a person has a fixed mindset since they are threatened by the success of others.

You definitely don’t want to go down to that path, right? So, scrap the idea of having a fixed mindset. Good news is, having a growth mindset can be developed. Here’s how:

How to develop “growth mindset”

Effort – first things first, you cannot achieve an outcome when you don’t make an effort to it. Take an action or the first step that you need to do. Perhaps, you can try focusing on the process most successful people do. Moreover, isn’t it amazing when someone praised your effort? There are studies shows that a praising effort has a long lasting impact and can enhance someone’s intrinsic motivation.

Different strategies – never implement the same strategy when you know it is going to fail again. Perhaps, there are flaws you need to address before you move forward. Or even you need to change the whole strategy for you to come up a better outcome. When one fails, then don’t be discourage to look for a better and effective strategy than the previous one.

Learning – everyday single day is a learning day. Whether you realize it or not, what you see, hear, smell and touch can give you a new learning experience. Although there are times it can be as simple as counting 123 or as hard as algebra, try to learn as much as you can without wasting such opportunities that pass once.

Asking for feedback – this is one of the things most people are hesitant to do. Yes, there are feedbacks that may hurt our ego. But do you know that through asking feedbacks from the people around you can make you even more productive? It is in their feedbacks where you can learn what and what’s not good when approaching situations. Moreover, it is also in their feedback where you will mostly strive not to commit mistakes just to have their good and satisfying feedbacks. Success also starts from getting negative and bad feedback from the people.

Persistence – being persistent is one factor that brings you to success. Without persistence, you might not stand the challenges you encounter each day. No matter what setbacks you are into, you can overcome such since you are persistent in achieving your goal. There are also studies that show that having a growth mindset can persist longer than those with fixed mindsets.
Choosing difficult tasks – just because one chose to do a difficult task, that doesn’t mean they want to show off that they have the skill and talent. By choosing to do such will help them develop more on their growth mindset. They will have a sense of courage and curiosity on how to achieve a better outcome on a messy mistake. Moreover, people who used to do difficult tasks will not be afraid of committing mistakes since they know they can handle such circumstances.

Setting high standards – being ambitious enough is not a bad thing at all. In fact, this will motivate you to exert more effort for you to reach a specific goal. Whether you realize it or not, there are risks when you tend to set your standards low. Perhaps, you will most likely not be motivated enough to pursue the things you need to do. Of course, you’re not going to get the desirable outcome like you want it to be.

Generally, developing a growth mindset is not that hard as you think it is. Yes, it is undeniable that it takes a lot of your time and effort for you to be able to achieve the right mindset. But you will eventually realize how important and helpful it is in our everyday lives. Moreover, having a growth mindset will lead you to a path where you want to be – success!

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