Why You Need To Change Your Mindset
Do you want to achieve your goals in different areas of life, such as parenting, education, sports, work, or relationships? Do you want to learn new skills, overcome challenges, and grow as a person? Do you want to feel more confident, motivated, and resilient? You must change your mindset if you answered yes to these questions.
Others may have their opinions about you, but what truly matters is your perspective of yourself. The beliefs you hold about yourself have a profound impact on your life, shaping your actions and choices.
Carol Dweck’s book ‘Mindset’ can help you change your mindset and achieve anything you want. As a renowned personality, social, and developmental psychology researcher, Dweck offers valuable insights into business, parenting, education, and relationships. If you’re seeking a better understanding of the mindset and how it can lead to success, this book is a must-read.
In this blog post, I will show you how mindset influences your success in different areas of life, such as parenting, education, sports, work, and relationships. I will also show you how to recognise and avoid the false growth mindset trap when you think you have a growth mindset but don’t act on it.
Finally, I will show you how to change your mindset with simple strategies and habits that will make you more open-minded, curious, and persistent.
What is Mindset, and Why Does It Matter?
Mindset is a simple idea that has a profound impact on your success. It is the way you think about yourself and your abilities. According to the world-renowned Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck, who has spent decades researching achievement and success, it is the belief that you can improve or not improve through your efforts. There are two types of mindset: fixed and growth.
A fixed mindset believes that your qualities are fixed and cannot be changed. On the other hand, a growth mindset believes that your qualities can be developed and improved through hard work, learning, and feedback. So, in a nutshell, you need to change your mindset.
Your mindset affects how you approach your goals, how you deal with setbacks, how you interact with others, and how you cope with emotions. As a result, it can either limit or enhance your potential.
But before we dive into the details, let me tell you how I came across this concept and why it is so important. I first learned about Carol Dweck’s book Mindset as a recommendation by a dear friend. My bestie became a little worried about how I was allowing hostile acts to control me.
As I read the book, I became fascinated by her findings and decided to try and apply them to my life. I realised I had many fixed mindset qualities in many areas. While the ultimate application will not happen overnight, I have started questioning my motives and viewing negativity as a learning opportunity. Changing your mindset can change your life.
The Difference Between Fixed and Growth Mindsets
Your beliefs about yourself and your abilities can shape your attainments. This is where mindset comes in – the impression that you can improve through effort. Dweck’s mindset falls into either fixed or growth.
A fixed mindset is the belief that your qualities are unchangeable. As a result, you avoid challenges and view effort as pointless, leading to low self-esteem and a fear of failure. You may suffer from perfectionism and procrastination and think that success only comes to geniuses.
A growth mindset is a belief that your qualities can be developed through hard work, learning, and feedback. You embrace challenges and persist in facing obstacles, viewing effort as essential for improvement. You celebrate others’ success and have a passion for learning, enjoying experimenting and trying new things.
The difference between the two mindsets is reflected in how you act. Fixed-mindset individuals are non-learners who avoid situations that may result in failure or mistakes. They are more concerned with proving themselves than improving themselves, missing out on opportunities for growth and improvement.
People are either willing or unwilling to change. A point highlighted by the quote from the political theorist Benjamin Barber:
…don’t divide the world into the weak and the strong, all their successes and the failures… I divide the world into the learners and nonlearners.
People with a growth mindset are learners who seek growth opportunities and prioritise improvement over validation. To determine your mindset, observe your reactions to challenges and failures.
Consider taking a mindset assessment to identify areas for improvement. However, more than simply recognising your mindset is required. The following section will explore strategies and habits that can help you cultivate a growth mindset.
How Mindset Affects Your Success in Different Areas of Life
Parenting: How to Praise Your Kids for Their Effort, Not Their Ability
Parents often praise children for intelligence or talent instead of effort and dedication. While this may seem beneficial, it can lead to fear of challenges, giving up easily, avoiding feedback, and dishonesty about performance. To many parents, you need to change your mindset on this.
Praising effort and process helps children develop a growth mindset, believing that skills and talents improve through hard work, learning, and feedback. The 1960s saying stated:
Becoming is better than being.
To praise effort over ability, consider these tips:
- Be specific and sincere. Describe what they did well and why you appreciate it, e.g., “You worked hard on that project. I like how you added details to the people’s faces.”
- Focus on the process, not the outcome. Highlight the child’s effort and strategies rather than grades or rewards, e.g., “You studied every night for your social studies test. You reviewed your notes and made flashcards.”
- Praise them during struggles, not just successes. Recognise when they try something new, make mistakes, ask for help, or overcome challenges, e.g., “You tried a harder level of math today. That was brave of you.”
- Encourage continuous learning and improvement. Help children see there’s always more to learn and ways to grow, e.g., “You did well on this assignment, but there is always room for improvement. What do you want to work on next?”
Dr Carol Dweck stated:
After experiments with hundreds of children, we have had some of the clearest findings I’ve ever seen: Praising children’s intelligence harms the motivation and it harms their performance.
By praising effort and process, you can help your child develop a growth mindset, benefiting them throughout their life and fostering a positive relationship based on trust and respect.
Education: How to Learn from Your Mistakes and Embrace Challenges
How you view mistakes and challenges is crucial for educational success. Do you see them as threats or opportunities? Do you avoid or embrace them? Do you learn from them or repeat them?
Your mindset significantly impacts your approach to learning and coping with difficulties. It also influences your educational success, determining how you approach learning and tackle challenges.
Carol Dweck’s research shows that students with a growth mindset, believing they can improve through hard work and feedback, fare better than those with a fixed mindset. Who think their abilities are unchangeable.
Growth mindset, students see mistakes as feedback and challenges as opportunities. While a fixed mindset, students view challenges as threats and errors as evidence of their lack of ability.
You must change your mindset to learn from mistakes and embrace educational challenges. Try these tips:
- Adopt an experimental mindset, treating every mistake as a chance to grow.
- Praise yourself for effort, not ability, and focus on the process.
- Seek out exciting challenges within your zone of proximal development.
- Learn from role models who overcame difficulties in your areas of interest.
- Seek support from teachers, peers, and family when needed.
With the importance of mindset in education established, let’s explore how the right attitude can also impact success in sports.
Sports: How to Develop a Champion’s Mindset and Overcome Obstacles
Having competed at a high level and coached national athletes, I’ve experienced that mindset plays a crucial role in sports success. In my blog post, ‘Beyond the Myth of Child Prodigy: How Talent Can Be Created Through Practice and Dedication‘, I argue that talent comes from practice and dedication, not just natural ability.
Success in sports depends more on mindset than talent. Carol Dweck’s research highlights the difference between fixed and growth mindsets. A fixed mindset believes abilities are unchangeable, while a growth mindset believes they can be developed and improved.
To develop a champion’s mindset and overcome obstacles in sports, try these tips:
- Believe in yourself, replacing negative thoughts with positive affirmations.
- Set multiple SMART goals to measure progress and improvement.
- Seek out challenges that interest you and push your abilities.
- Learn from mistakes and failures, using them as feedback to improve.
- Learn from others who have overcome difficulties in sports or other fields.
Now that we’ve seen how a champion’s mindset can help overcome obstacles in sports let’s look at how a growth mindset can enhance motivation and performance in the workplace.
Work: How to Motivate Yourself and Others with a Growth Mindset
Motivation is essential for success and happiness at work. A growth mindset, believing skills can be improved through hard work, learning, and feedback, can boost motivation and performance.
Conversely, a fixed mindset focuses on rewards or recognition and avoids challenges. To motivate yourself and others with a growth mindset, follow these tips:
- Focus on the process, not the outcome. Set goals based on actions, e.g., instead of “I want a promotion,” say “I want to improve my skills and performance.”
- Treat challenges and failures as learning opportunities. Don’t be discouraged; use them as feedback to grow and improve.
- Celebrate achievements and efforts, both your own and others. Recognise the hard work behind success and share accomplishments with others, appreciating their actions.
While a growth mindset can improve motivation and success at work, it’s equally important to consider how our mindset impacts our personal relationships. So let’s discuss how adopting a growth mindset can foster better communication and growth with our partners.
Relationships: How to Communicate and Grow with Your Partner
Relationships can be both rewarding and challenging. So how can we make our relationships more positive and productive? A growth mindset, believing you can improve through hard work, learning, and feedback, can enhance relationships. In contrast, a fixed mindset can limit them.
A growth mindset can lead to more open communication, support, willingness to work through conflicts, and coping with challenges in a relationship. On the other hand, a fixed mindset can result in defensiveness, criticism, and resistance to change. This is the point when you need to change your mindset.
To communicate and grow with your partner using a growth mindset, consider these points:
- Accept your partner’s strengths and weaknesses, but encourage growth. Support their interests, passions, and goals while pursuing your own.
- Give constructive feedback, not criticism. Instead, offer specific, helpful, and positive feedback. Use “I” statements to express your feelings and needs.
- Listen actively to your partner. Pay attention to their words, tone, body language, and emotions. Then, ask questions to clarify and show empathy for their experiences.
Beyond our personal relationships, a growth mindset can also help unlock our artistic potential. So let’s explore how adopting a growth mindset can help us learn to draw and develop our artistic abilities.
Artistic Ability: How to Learn to Draw with a Growth Mindset
Many people believe that artistic ability is innate and drawing is a magical skill that cannot be learned. However, with a growth mindset, you can develop your artistic potential.
A growth mindset can help you learn to draw and enjoy it more. People with a growth mindset see drawing as a process of trial and error, motivated by curiosity and mastery.
To learn to draw with a growth mindset, consider these:
- Practice regularly and consistently. Celebrate your progress and improvement, not just success.
- Learn from different sources and methods. Experiment with various styles, techniques, and tools.
- Seek feedback and guidance from others. Listen to their feedback with an open mind and use it to improve your work.
Below are two portraits, one before and one after five days of drawing practice. The impact of the teaching is clear, improving their abilities. Despite lacking natural talent, they learned to perceive edges, relationships, light and shadow and put them together.
Drawing is often viewed as a gift for a select few. First, however, people need to understand the learnable components of drawing. First, they see skills like perceiving edges, stasis, and relationships.
Drawing requires learning each skill and combining them into one process. While some people pick them up naturally, everyone can learn to draw.
Artistic ability is just one of many areas where a growth mindset can make a difference. But first, let’s focus on how this mindset can help us cope with depression and negative feelings.
Mood and Emotions: How to Cope with Depression and Negative Feelings with a Growth Mindset
A close friend recommended this book to help with my ‘Domesday mood’, which felt like a midlife crisis. The book aimed to shift my negative mindset and improve my mood, highlighting the connection between mindset and depression.
Depression is a common, debilitating mental health issue but can be improved and overcome with a growth mindset. People with a growth mindset are more optimistic, proactive, and resilient, while those with a fixed mindset (I am leaving this group behind and joining the growth group) tend to be pessimistic and helpless.
To cope with depression and negative feelings using a growth mindset, you may want to check these out:
- Challenge your negative thoughts, questioning their validity and replacing them with more realistic, positive thoughts.
- Improve your situation by setting small, achievable goals and engaging in activities that bring happiness or fulfilment.
- Practice self-care and gratitude, taking care of yourself physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually while appreciating what you have.
By adopting a growth mindset, you can better manage depression and negative emotions, leading to a more positive outlook on life.
While a growth mindset can help us overcome various challenges, it’s crucial to ensure we’re not falling into the trap of a false growth mindset. So let’s learn how to recognise and avoid this common pitfall.
How to Recognise and Avoid the False Growth Mindset Trap
Embracing a growth mindset can be transformative for achieving goals and improving your life. First, however, it’s essential to recognise and avoid the false growth mindset trap.
One may believe they have a growth mindset but must genuinely practice it. Adopting a genuine growth mindset is a challenging journey but a conscious effort to learn and grow.
To recognise and avoid the false growth mindset trap, consider these common signs and how to overcome them:
- Believing flexibility and open-mindedness are enough: A growth mindset isn’t just about being adaptable but actively challenging yourself to improve. It demands consistent effort and dedication.
- Thinking praising effort is enough: A growth mindset involves praising effort with a focus on improvement, progress, and results, along with providing constructive feedback. But, again, it’s about fostering a learning environment, not just empty praise.
- Assuming a growth mindset is easy: Adopting a growth mindset requires a positive attitude, high self-esteem, and resilience. It’s about understanding that challenges and failures are opportunities to learn and grow. It’s a continuous process of self-improvement rather than a simple switch in mindset.
How to Change Your Mindset with Simple Strategies and Habits
In this blog post, we’ve embarked on a captivating journey, exploring the concept of mindset and its profound impact on success and happiness.
A growth mindset propels you to new heights, whereas a fixed mindset anchors you down. Yet, adopting a proper growth mindset is no walk in the park. Unfortunately, many stumble into the pitfall of a false growth mindset.
But fear not! Here’s your grand finale, the fireworks moment, bursting with tips to help you ignite the spark of a genuine growth mindset and evade the lurking trap of a false one:
- Be aware of your mindset: Observe your thoughts and reactions in various situations. Are you a growth mindset enthusiast, a fixed mindset prisoner, or a false growth mindset pretender? Self-assessment tools are your compass, guiding you through the maze of your mind.
- Challenge your mindset: Confront your beliefs and assumptions. Like a detective, gather evidence and examples to prove that flexibility, intelligence, and talent can grow through effort and learning. Banish the fixed mindset to the realm of myths and legends.
- Change your mindset: Embrace the winds of change and adopt new beliefs and attitudes, championing a growth mindset. Adjust your habits and behaviours, like an artist fine-tuning their masterpiece. Set SMART goals, transform challenges into learning opportunities, and seek feedback to flourish.
By weaving these strategies and habits into the tapestry of your life, you’ll ignite a dazzling fireworks display of personal growth. So, let’s hit it like Nike (I must add that there are other sporting brands, lol) and just do it!
Unleash your potential, and bask in the vibrant colours of success and happiness that light up the sky with a solid Mindset!
p.s. I would highly recommend Carol Dweck’s book ‘Mindset’.
Sources
- Dweck, C.S. (2017). ‘Mindset – Updated Edition: Changing The Way You Think To Fulfil Your Potential‘. Robinson
- Mindset Works. ‘Take the Mindset Assessment to Learn More About Your Mindset’