Develop a growth mindset
Got a Growth Mindset?
The power of a positive mindset has been studied for decades, with tens of thousands of therapists, thought leaders and life coaches guiding clients to fuel their negative energy and procrastination cycles into greater focus and achievement. Yet despite these well-founded results and the millions of people who enjoy a Growth Mindset daily, plenty remain who still doubt the validity of this life-changing habit. Can we really transform our negative emotions and self-defeating thoughts into more productive and positive action?
The answer, those still doubting, is YES. Absolutely.
Growth vs. Fixed Mindset
The concept of these two opposing mindsets – the Growth and Fixed mindsets - and the belief we can alter them – was first introduced by psychologist Carol Dweck in 2006, with her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Her TEDTalk “The Power of Yet” has more than 17 million listens to date. Earning her PhD in psychology from Yale and going on to teach at Harvard’s Laboratory of Human Development, Dwek’s work has helped millions of people worldwide learn how to embrace life challenges and overcome setbacks. She says our innate or natural talents are just the starting point for us in life and that those in a growth mindset have learned that dedication and hard work can help them develop and expand upon their core abilities. Dwek says it’s this Growth Mindset that ignites our continued love of learning and more positive approach towards life in general.
At the opposite end of this pendulum is the Fixed Mindset. Those who see life through this lens believe their general life skill sets and intelligence levels are firmly fixed. They believe they will never expand or grow beyond where they are now, Dwek says. A fixed mindset says “I am who I am and life is what it is. End of story.”
Except it’s not.
Permission to grow
“You can’t know what your full abilities are until you commit to developing them,” Dwek says, and adds that embracing a growth mindset begins when we give ourselves permission to think greater thoughts and acknowledge our deeper feelings. When we are willing to step out of our comfort zone – to get out of our own way - there’s no limit to what can take place. But to do this requires that we open our minds wide enough to ask “what else might be true for me?” or “what’s the worst that might happen if I gave this a try?” The key point is we’ll never know if we don’t try.
The transition from a fixed to a growth mindset is gradual; it requires consistency and patience and some time to get unstuck. Our fixed minds are happy to work overtime to protect our fragile egos from all that doubt and uncertainty.
Test drive your potential
At Upways Coaching we excel at reversing these negative narratives and creating a safe space where clients can ask the “what else? and what ifs?” We mute that limiting voice that quite literally shouts down your potential to be happy and try new things. We help you replace it with the “also could happen” stories that, with practice, get to see the light of day through this transformative process. We help you start to see what’s possible!
So if your interest is piqued and you’re ready to try a growth mindset on for size, the place to begin is acknowledging you have a choice in how your life plays out. Every choice we make each day will bring a different outcome. Within reason of course, the choice is ours. Whether it’s a limiting set of beliefs or more open-minded “what could be possible?” mindset – every choice is shaping our lives.
Four key steps you can take today
Challenge your thoughts. By asking “what else might be true?” you are challenging internal doubt replacing any self-defeating thoughts with other possible, plausible options. Other examples include, “What’s one path I would take if I knew I would succeed?” or “What’s one way I could make this happen?” The idea is to retrain our brains to support us. To consider all of our possibilities and potential. And then to tell ourselves about them.
Keep practicing. Any new habit we want to teach ourselves requires consistent practice to get those neurons in our brains firing on that new and healthier track, until soon our Growth Mindset is highly functioning. As we continue to tell our negative thoughts there are more positive options possible, this becomes the new narrative – the new story of our lives. It becomes our reality.
Hire outside support. Your family and friends may love you and want the best for you, but a hired coach is going to be there every week with the support and attention you need to make this powerful mindset shift. Find a professional therapist or professional certified life coach who has experience with and actively practices the Growth Mindset model.
Stop seeking the approval of others. When we begin the habit of building a positive mindset, a natural side effect happens. We start believing this new narrative and make a higher priority of our own inner peace and contentment. We think less about pleasing others and begin to prioritize what we think. We begin to care more about how we feel.
Are we there yet?
It was the ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu who famously said, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” It is that small, consistent series of actions we take every day that will soon become a habit. And soon a better way of life.
We have to keep on challenging our self-doubt and our negative “fixed” thoughts through each new challenge in our lives. We have to keep that sense of hope and a love of learning that propels us to keep asking “what else might be true” in the next moment. And the next.
That’s how we build a Growth Mindset. It’s how we keep the fire burning and come to discover what is possible for us. Every day!
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