Douglas: Welcome to the Unleash Your Potential Blog, what question can I answer for you today?
ProgressPal: How can I cultivate a growth mindset?
Douglas: I am so glad that you asked this question. It is at the heart of almost everything we talk about as life coaches. Some of you reading this, might not know what a growth mindset refers to. I am going to dig into my motivation research bag and give you a little bit of background.
There are two types of mindsets, fixed and growth. Those who believe in a fixed mindset feel that at birth we are each endowed with a static amount of qualities such as talent and intelligence in a variety of categories and that this amount does not change as you age (you either have it or you don’t). Folks who come from the growth mindset believe that while we may be born with some innate ability in a variety of areas, with hard work you can change these abilities. This concept has been investigated extensively by many motivation researchers, most notably in the work of Carol Dweck.
Whether you are a fixed or growth mindset person has been shown to impact how you approach feedback. In a 2006 study, Dweck and her team found that people with a growth (incremental) mindset were more likely to learn from failures and capitalize on opportunities to learn than those with a fixed (entity) mindset. What this suggests is that if you have a fixed mindset you close your mind to the possibility that you can learn from your mistakes.
How do you know if you have a growth or fixed mindset? If you are someone who believes that you can learn to do anything if you put in enough work, you are leaning towards a growth mindset. If, on the other hand, you look at someone else who you believe is good at something and you think, “They are so lucky to be so talented,” you might be leaning towards a fixed mindset.
I grew up in the musician's world and I heard so many times, “_____ is so talented, it just comes naturally to them.” I cannot think of anyone I know who it just came naturally for. The people I know who are successful musicians work their butts off. I was born with a fair amount of innate musical skill. Howard Gardner might suggest that I scored high in musical intelligence. However, I worked just hard enough to keep myself ahead of most of the people I knew in middle and high school, but I did not work any harder, so all I had was my innate ability. I knew many people (including my wife) who worked way harder than I did…and it showed.
If you think you have more of a fixed mindset and you think you want to have more growth mindset, CONGRATULATIONS!! You are already moving towards a growth mindset by thinking that can change. Spend some time thinking about the things you have done throughout your life. Find places where you have exerted effort and gotten better. Celebrate these moments as they support the idea that you can and have grown!
When you encounter a situation and you catch yourself thinking, “Wow, they are so talented, it must come so easy.” Remind yourself that it is a pretty safe bet they did tons of work that you didn’t see to be able to do what you just saw. It is also important to remember that a growth mindset doesn’t mean you believe you can be awesome at everything. It means that you can get better at something, by believing you can develop…and by practicing and learning from your mistakes.
I hope my answer sheds some light on your question. If you want to dig into this concept further, I encourage you to reach out and set up a conversation. In the meantime, check back tomorrow for the next question in the Unleash Your Potential Series!
Be Well!
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