Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
“Although people may differ in every which way – in their initial talents and aptitudes, interests, or temperaments – everyone can change and grow through application and experience.” – Carol S Dweck
Most if not all of us face challenges in life that can stop us in our tracks or propel us towards our destiny. Those with fixed mindset can have very difficult time in when faced with challenges unable to adapt and employ different approaches to overcome setbacks as they only see one way of solving the problem. In other words, people with fixed mindset are thought of as being set in their ways.
However, people with a growth mindset have an inner belief that they are able overcome challenges and find a way to get to the other side. They are adaptable and flexible in their approach while learning new ways how to solve problems. If something does not work, they will make some changes be it smaller or more substantial and will keep adapting their approach until they get a desired result. In essence this is viewed as a learning opportunity and as a result of this experience they will grow and become a stronger and better able to deal with similar challenges that may come their way in the future.
Fixed Mindsets Inhibit Growth; Growth Mindsets Encourage Development
People that have a Fixed Mindset tend to believe that ability is fixed without possibility to change. They have the need to prove themselves, tend to worry about opinions of others and in turn judge others on their talents. In essence, their whole world seems to revolve around their talents. They feel the need to gain approval of others. And those thought not to have this natural talent are viewed as being unable to develop it. There is one attempt to get the outcome you want and if you don’t achieve that outcome, this is deemed as a failure. In a corporate setting, some companies expect their new employees to do job perfectly from the get go instead of allowing people to learn, grow and adapt. These companies are set in their ways and think that people cannot learn and grow.
On the other hand, people with a Growth Mindset seem to thrive on challenges, which they see as an opportunity to learn and grow and find new ways to solve problems and do things. They do not have the need to prove themselves or receive acknowledgement. It is enough for them to accomplish something bigger and more complicated, to solve the problem thought so difficult or almost impossible to solve. They invest a lot of hard work and effort to practice and get better in what they do and understand that there may be setbacks along the way. But they have the inner belief that they are able to overcome these setbacks, learn and grow along the way. They understand that they can learn from others that are more experienced and have greater knowledge than themselves. More importantly, they are able to pivot and adapt their approach until they get the desired result. In the process, these individuals also encourage others to improve and get better as they value the importance of the teamwork. In a corporate setting this is represented as allowing your employees to provide their input and your willingness to accept their input, learn from them and adapt your strategy to achieve desired result.
Fixed Mindsets Seek Approval; Growth Mindsets Seek Development
People with fixed mindset seek approval. They tend to feel insecure and have this constant need for the external approval. This stifles advancement and keeps them stuck unable to take advantage of the new opportunities as they present. Such behaviour is not only disadvantageous for personal growth, it can also seriously undermine success of the companies.
On the other hand, growth mindset thrives on new ideas, new ways of doing things, working together as a team to achieve common objectives. They are interested to learn and grow and do not have the need for the external approval. This mindset is very useful for both individual that can get their lives to another level but also for companies able to adapt, innovate and find new ways to solve problems.
Fixed Mindsets See Failures as Disasters; Growth Mindsets See Failures as Opportunities
Failures Define Us
Failures can have both positive and negative impact. Failures are not ever pleasant. But if we are willing to examine them closely, there is a lot to be learnt that can propel us to another level of success. But if we are people with Fixed Mindset are stubborn, set in our ways and unwilling to learn, this can prove fatal to our dreams and aspirations.
Impact of Your Mindset
People with Fixed Mindset are unwilling to look at their failures from the empowered point of view from where they can learn and grow. Instead, they are so set in their ways that they see the failure as the end of the road where nothing positive can be gathered from. They think that this is all outside of their control and are prone to blame anything and anyone other than themselves for not getting the outcome they desired. What is more, they are unable to see anything positive from the experience and see how they can improve the next time. This in turn negatively impacts their self-confidence, which can plumet as a result.
On the other hand, people with the Growth Mindset understand that they are responsible for the results they are getting. They understand their own strengths and weakness and are keen to learn more and improve what did not go according to plan the next time. Their approach this from the point of empowerment where they see the shortcomings in how they arrived to the result and are determined to dedicate the necessary time and effort to achieve desired outcome the next time but also to improve themselves. What is more is that people with Growth Mindset get other people on the journey too encouraging them to reach for the stars.
Fixed Mindsets Avoid Difficulties; Growth Mindsets Relish Difficulties
People with Growth Mindset thrive on challenges. The more complex and more challenging the assessment is, the greater sense of satisfaction for them. However, people with Fixed Mindset are comfortable with routine and easy tasks, something they have done many times so much so that they could do it has become like a habit. They find it very difficult to face challenges mostly as there is a great deal of effort that needs to be invested to succeed. And there is no guarantee that they will be successful in the end despite all the effort invested. So, they tend to avoid situations like these for fear of failure after investing so much time and effort only to be unsuccessful in the end and potentially expose themselves as not skilled or talented as they thought. But above all they see this as an embarrassment to themselves.
Childhood Role Models Define Our Mindset
Impact of Your Parents
We are all born with Growth Mindset. But through time we tend to adopt a Fixed Mindset as we observe people around us mostly our parents and learn from them. Not all babies will adopt a Fixed Mindset, however. Some will continue to foster their Growth Mindset if their parents have this mindset. Those children will continue to explore the world around them, learn and grow along the way as that is how they have been brought up. They will be a team player willing to help others. On the other hand, children with Fixed Mindset will not be allowed to explore, ask questions and seek new ways of doing things. Their parents resort to punishment and judgement scolding them for doing something they perceive was wrong. These children prefer to keep to themselves rather than be part of the team.
Impact of Your Teachers
After our parents, it is out teachers that play the most influential role in our lives. If teacher has a Growth Mindset, they will believe in their student’s abilities to learn and improve over time. This has positive impact on students. However, if they have Fixed Mindset, they will think that student has reached ceiling unable to improve any further. This has negative impact on students.
Anyone Can Adopt a Growth Mindset
The good news is that we are all able to develop a Growth Mindset. But to get there we need to make a conscious effort to go in that direction. We make a decision to work hard towards the outcome that we want to achieve even if we did not do well previously. With Growth Mindset we will work hard to succeed knowing that we are able to do that although we may have not achieved that level of success previously. In other words, while you may not have been happy with the result in the past, you know that there is a way to succeed if you put in the necessary effort. But Fixed Mindset will keep you from reaching your full potential mistakenly believing that you have gone as far as you can go and there is no possibility to improve. To develop a Growth Mindset, we need a support network around us who are going to help us on the journey and tell us the truth as to where we really are and what is needed to get to our destination. There are new opportunities that open up as a result as we develop our vision and plan for our life.
Breaking Away from Fixed Mindsets
It is possible to break away from a Fixed Mindset. But this can be very difficult and arduous process. There are ingrained habits build over a long period of time that will need time and effort to break and replace with the new more empowering ones. Even if it not possible to adopt a Growth Mindset in every area of life, you may be able to adopt it some of the most important ones. So, the most important task is to identify which mindset is present is each of the areas of your life and then work on implementing Growth Mindset to the most important ones.
Growth Mindset does not settle for mediocrity. In fact, they thrive on challenges that seem impossible to conquer. Nothing is impossible in their minds. One of the strategies to help us is to think of the most successful people in the world and think how they would deal with the challenge we are facing and whether failures would stop them. More often than not, they will keep going until they find the way, until they achieve their desired result even if it not achieved the way they firstly conceived.
Some Have Greater Opportunities, but We All Have a Chance
There is no doubt that some people have greater opportunities and resources to succeed. But even if we don’t have all the opportunities, we are able to get there with hard work. In other words, we all have chances to succeed and it is up to us to take these chances. You get up each time you fail and you keep going and doing what is necessary to get the outcome you desire. Sure, it will be easier for those people with more resources and opportunities. But this alone will not be sufficient to guarantee success. They will also need to put in the effort just like those without similar resources. However, those with smaller resources will have to work much harder to get to the end result. The most important thing is to keep going and not give up, keep learning, improving and adapting your strategy. Growth Mindset will enable us to learn and grow, to keep going despite all obstacles and seeming failures. Nobody is perfect. But we can all improve. However, Fixed Mindset will stop us at the first obstacle when things do not turn out how they expected.
The book delves into how our conscious and unconscious thoughts affect us and determine whether we succeed or not. Our mindset can propel us towards our destiny as well as prevent us from reaching our full potential. Fixed Mindset will keep you stuck thinking you have gone as far as you could go unwilling to see the opportunities to learn from your mistakes. On the other hand, growth mindset encourages you to learn and grow, to take the necessary lessons from the past and incorporate them into what you are doing now so you can do it even better. In other words, you believe that you can do even better, that you can build on and improve. We can develop a Growth Mindset, learn new skills and gain new knowledge and experience. But this takes effort.
The Three Big Ideas outlined in the book include:
1. The way you see yourself will affect how you live your life and ultimately determine your level of success in life.
2. Fixed Mindset believes that you have reach your ceiling and there is no opportunity to learn and improve but instead, there is the need to prove yourself and gain approval.
3. Growth Mindset thrives on challenges and keep going despite facing obstacles which they see as opportunities to grow and improve.