What It Really Means to Have a Growth Mindset

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Mindset is a way of thinking upon which the general course of decisions, actions and reactions of a person is based. Generally, there are two kinds of mindset. Fixed mindset and growth mindset. Growth mindset is a concept derived in deviation from fixed mindset. Before we delve into what growth mindset really is, let us first discuss fixed mindset.

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A fixed mindset is a person’s way of thinking which sees intelligence, talents, skills and abilities enclosed within certain established standards. Usually, a person with a fixed mindset believes that intelligence, talents, skills and abilities are inherent and cannot be further developed unless one is born with it. Consequently, if a person has a fixed mindset, then success, achievements and victories are products and trophies of a person’s innate abilities.

Given this view, most often, success, achievements, and victories are validations of a person’s capacity. Which is why if a person has a fixed mindset, often, failures and challenges are ought to be avoided, because failures reflect incapacity.

Also, when a person has a fixed mindset, he or she is inclined to give up following failure, because failure is equivalent to a person’s inability to meet the standards of success. Hence, invalidating the value of passion and effort.

In addition, people with fixed mindset tend to avoid criticism and they also often feel threatened by other people’s success, achievements, and victories.

So now what is growth mindset really?

The concept of growth mindset is written and discussed widely by Carol Dweck.

Growth mindset is a person’s way of thinking in which intelligence, talents, skills, and abilities are things that can be developed and improved through passion and hard work. Growth mindset is focused on learning instead of winning, because of this people with growth mindset tend to become more progressive and innovative.

So having a growth mindset enables a person to seek beyond his or her limitations, as opposed to people with a fixed mindset who perceive that intelligence, talents, skills and abilities can only be proven to be possessed upon successful display or achievements and victories.

But don’t confuse growth mindset as something you innately have. A growth mindset is developed through a series of experiences – a combination of success and failures. At one point, we all have had a fixed mindset, besides, a fixed mindset is a traditional way of thinking, for instance, “there is no room for failure”. Also, cultivating a growth mindset is easier said than done, because shifting towards a growth mindset means breaking pre-existing and traditional beliefs we have regarding success, victories and achievements.

Because growth mindset is founded heavily upon the concepts of – learning, innovation, hard work, and passion, people with a growth mindset tend to continue pushing for improvement instead counting success as validation of their abilities. This is because success and failures are not the end of one’s journey, because improvement never really ends.

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Growth mindset enables a person to create goals in order to learn and progress, instead merely achieve quantifiable success and victories. Due to this, failures and challenges are not seen as entirely negative. This does not mean that it’s okay to fail repetitively and habitually (this, of course, is wrong). Growth mindset instead advocates that it is okay to try again after failing, bearing the lessons that a person can use to avoid failing in the same aspects, and also using these lessons to surpass challenges.

How is this possible? Because progress really is preceded by mistakes. Generally in life, nothing really is unchanging or static. We only progress if we learn to adopt to changing circumstances in any aspect of life.

Lastly, having a growth mindset is also crucial in improving a person’s performance. Learning and innovation are crucial processes required in improving performance, it makes a person teachable hence making it easier for a person to collaborate. Under these conditions, a person maybe more inclined to engage in risks even though there are chances of failing.

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Conclusion

As I have mentioned at the beginning of this blog article, mindset drives our decisions, actions, and reactions. Hence, having the correct mindset, thus the right approach is – crucial. Given the discussions above on the two different types of mindset, growth mindset seems to be the right way to go.

Growth mindset, as opposed to fixed mindset, destroys limitations, thus helping a person not only to improve, but cultivate confidence. Failure can no longer attack a person’s confidence and esteem because success and failure are no longer the determinant factors of a person’s intelligence, talents, skills, and abilities, but instead the ability of the person to learn, progress and innovate.

This blog article is written by Charm from Inkmypapers.

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