New year, New mindset
I’ve always loved the word practice. It sounds so light and accepting. Reminds us we are all a work in progress. Still learning! As life coaches we should always be learning. We should practice the best of what we learn and then share it with our clients. Does practice make perfect? Not likely. But it often makes progress!
At Upways Coaching we practice the growth mindset on a daily basis. Psychologist Carol Dwek first presented this popular theory in 2006, with her book “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success”. According to Dwek, those with a growth mindset believe in continued learning and growth throughout their lives, while those with what she calls a fixed mindset believe their capacity for growth is limited.
So, if you’re to practice a growth mindset yourself, our coaches can show you the way! Plenty of studies have shown it can be learned and practiced – to create and sustain a less stressful, more open, fulfilling life.
Like most transitions, building a growth mindset is a process. Embracing the concept is the first step. A curiosity and willingness to learn more comes next. And third, as breakthrough coaches, the process starts by quite literally taking action. We begin! Through small and gradual action steps, we introduce the process slowly through the course of a client’s normal week. Both the philosophy and actionable steps are introduced in succession.
How can a growth mindset change the course of your life? Take a look.
HOW WE COACH TO A GROWTH MINDSET
Because the Growth Mindset is at the core of all we do at Upways Coaching, we encourage our clients to start their process with an open mind and show up to their sessions with an open and curious “what if” mindset. We review the key distinctions (see above) between a growth vs. fixed mindset and review our core beliefs as the process begins.
CORE BELIEFS OF A GROWTH MINDSET
We believe that intelligence can be further developed throughout adulthood.
In the face of setbacks, we believe in persistence. We embrace mistakes as opportunities from which to learn. When our plans go awry, we ask “what can be learned from this?” Then we make a list of all that comes to mind and form a few takeaway thoughts. (We call this upleveling an experience). We extract the best ideas to practice next time. We leverage our lessons learned and reframe negative experiences.
We believe in learning from criticism, and we discuss the specific ways our emotions affect our learning. A better understanding of this is a key step in building a growth mindset. During each coaching session we review the previous week and discuss how the pros and cons were handled – both at work and at home.
We believe in facing anxiety, shame, overwhelm and other core feelings head on. We believe in asking the questions to process them and how to harness the power of “yet” – as in, “I haven’t reached this goal yet, but I’m on the right track”.
We introduce habits that encourage self-praise and self-grace and we share how to set smaller, specific goals and then be patient and positive as they evolve. We believe that our efforts carve the path to mastery.
NEUROPLASTICITY: OUR BRAINS ARE STILL GROWING
Through the course of Dwek’s research she has also built on the science of neuroplasticity - the brain’s ability to keep forming new connections throughout our lives. In one of her most famous quotes, she defines a growth mindset concisely through the lens of two worlds:
New year. New mindset. Are you ready?
