“Growth mindset” is the name given by psychologist Carol Dweck to the idea that your self-belief, intelligence and basic abilities can develop through dedication and hard work.
What are mind-sets?
A mind-set is a series of self-perceptions or beliefs people hold about themselves, for example, believing you’re either “intelligent” or “unintelligent”.
Growth and fixed mind-sets
Someone with a growth mindset is likely to:
- Be keen to learn from the people around them
- Understand that to get what they want, they’ve got to put in the effort
- Recognise that failure is an opportunity to learn
- Be aware of their weaknesses, and be focused on improving them
- Welcome challenges because of a desire to learn
- Be open to new things and new ways of learning
- Learn from criticism
- Find lessons and inspiration in the success of others.
Someone with a fixed mindset is likely to:
- Desire to look smart and therefore avoid challenges where he/she thinks he/she might fail
- Become defensive or give up easily
- Try to hide his/her mistakes
- Be convinced that his/her abilities are limited to one area, for example, believing that he/she is a “creative” type, an “athletic” type, etc.
- Practise negative self-talk by saying things such as “I can’t do it”
- Feel threatened by the success of others
- See effort as fruitless
- Ignore useful negative feedback.
How to turn a fixed mind-set into a growth mindset
- Engage in hobbies, interests and activities that elicit laughter, smiling, fun, play and positive feelings.
- Identify your personal strengths and passions and put as much effort as you can into practising your skills and learning new ones.
- Build healthy relationships and connections with others based upon shared interests, values and mutual respect for each other’s needs.
- Set achievable and meaningful goals, linked to what is important to you. Celebrate both the process and outcome of these tasks.
- Take responsibility for your health by increasing your physical activity, sleep quality and nutrition. Cultivate positive stress management techniques and an optimistic attitude.
- Watch your self-talk and avoid negative thinking. If you tell yourself that you can do it, chances are that you will, even if it doesn’t happen straight away.
- Put in the hard work. You’re unlikely to reach your goals if you’re not putting in the effort to match.
- Practise your skills and make an effort to learn new ones.
- Be open to new ways of doing things. You can never be sure of how something is going to turn out if you’ve never tried it before.
- Don’t let setbacks get you down. Setbacks don’t mean you’ve failed, just that you need to try a different approach.
If your present mindset needs a boost, chat about it with someone whom you trust such as a friend or counsellor; he/she will work with you to help you understand what’s going on and figure out how to improve your growth mind-set.
Sources
Dweck, C. 2008. Mindset: the new psychology of success. New York, USA: Ballantine Books
http://au.professionals.reachout.com
Written by Life assist
Leave A Comment