What Is a Growth Mindset & Ways to Develop It

There is one thing that all successful people have in common: a growth mindset. The area doesn't matter; you can be successful in your job, family life, or as an independent artist, but having a growth mindset is what will help you achieve your dreams.

You might have a natural talent for something or simply be skilled in your profession, but your fundamental beliefs are often the determining factor of success or failure.

In this article, we look to dig deeper to understand what a growth mindset is and how one can develop it if they have a fixed mindset. If you've been wanting to change your perspective, a growth mindset might just be what you need!

What Is a Growth Mindset?

Carol Dweck and her colleagues first became interested in the attitudes of students about success and failure more than thirty years ago.

They saw that although some pupils bounced back from even the slightest losses, others were crushed by them.

At Stanford University, Dr. Dweck developed the phrases fixed mindset and growth mindset to characterize people's fundamental assumptions about intellect and learning after researching the behavior of thousands of youngsters.

She and other students in her team realize that a group that believes in work makes them stronger when they think they can get smarter. They invest more time and energy, which results in more success.

Recent neuroscience developments have revealed that the brain is significantly more flexible than what we previously thought. Experience may change the connection between neurons, as evidenced by research on brain plasticity.

Neural networks develop new connections, reinforce old ones, and create insulation that accelerates impulse transmission with experience.

These advances in Dweck's research have demonstrated that students may enhance their brain growth through their behavior, including practicing, asking questions, adopting smart methods, and maintaining healthy eating and sleeping patterns.

Differences Between Fixed and Growth Mindsets

A fixed mentality holds that a person's talents are intrinsic and cannot be altered, whereas a growth mindset holds that a person's abilities may be developed and enhanced over time. According to research, those with a growth mentality are often more resilient, tenacious, and driven. Rather than seeing obstacles as dangers to their self-worth, they welcome difficulties and see them as chances to develop and learn.

On the other hand, those who have a fixed mindset could actually be more prone to quit when faced with difficulties since they think that their skills are established and cannot be changed. It's critical to understand that adopting a development mindset does not guarantee that you will never fail. Instead, it implies that you will see failure as a necessary component of learning and seize the chance to acquire new abilities and methods.Individuals possessing a development mentality are inclined to actively seek out feedback and utilize it to enhance their performance, whereas individuals with a fixed mindset could be more prone to dismiss or react negatively to criticism.

Characteristics of a Fixed Mindset

• Failure demonstrates the limit of my abilities.
• I am either very good or very bad at something.
• I am stressed when facing a challenge.
• I stick to what I know and feel comfortable with.
• Other people's stories make me jealous.

Characteristics of a Growth Mindset

• Failure is an opportunity to grow.
• I am able to learn anything that interests me.
• Challenging environments help me to grow.
• I love trying new experiences.
• Other people's stories inspire me.

Ways to Develop a Growth Mindset

If you don't have a growth mindset, don't worry. You can change your mindset and notice soon that your most basic beliefs are slowly changing.

After all, this learning process aims to provide fixed mindsets with a more positive mindset.

So, if you're looking to change your concept of power and focus more on your progress, these are the strategies that will have a big impact on developing a growth mindset.

1. Step Outside Your Comfort Zone

Think about the things you are afraid to do. They don't have to be big challenges for you to feel that you've stepped outside your comfort zone.

Maybe you've wanted to learn new skills like pottery or creative writing, but you were too uncomfortable to start a class and be surrounded by a bunch of people you don't know.

2. Be Curious About Everything New and Unfamiliar

You don't have to only try certain experiences to gain a growth mindset. You can also read books you typically won't read, watch movies someone recommended to you, or even start applying a new technique or practice in your life.

Whether it's something that improves your well-being or it's purely for fun, new things are exactly the kind of excitement you need to continue growing.

3. Seek Constructive Criticism

Many people with a fixed mindset are afraid of criticism as they see it as something negative. However, the basic abilities of people with a growth mindset owe a lot to asking for constructive criticism from people around them.

Being open to criticism is probably one of the main differences between these two mindsets, along with being open to a new challenge.

If you want to be a person who is constantly learning and evolving, the ability to hear, accept, and apply a healthy dose of criticism is crucial.

4. Celebrate Your Success

We are all successful at something. Success can be something as simple as preparing a delicious lunch or completing an entire workout at the gym.

By doing so, you are embracing a growth mindset in which you are more focused on the positive than the negative.

Simple, tiny things are just the starting point. As soon as your growth mindset starts developing, you will notice that some of your initial talents have surfaced and are asking you to focus on their growth.

5. Surround Yourself with People with a Growth Mindset

You probably know which of your friends and family members always look at life from a more positive perspective and are not afraid to fail sometimes. Spend more time with those people to learn from them.

Hear how they approach challenges, which skills they use in their everyday life, which problem-solving techniques they use, and so on.

Don't forget; it's easier to achieve a growth mindset if you can see it in action and see how much difference it makes in a person's life.

6. Decide on Actions to Develop a Growth Mindset

The best way to achieve a growth mindset is to decide on things you can actually do to develop its most basic characteristics. For instance, you might read an article on Carol Dweck and her research on these two mindsets.

You can focus on one or more skills you've been wanting to develop for years and dedicate some time to it. Accept challenges and practice something you've never thought about before. A growth mindset is allowing yourself to be influenced by things you don't even think about.

Conclusion

Whether you have or are looking to achieve a growth mindset, you will agree with us that it's full of interesting growth and learning opportunities.

When a person has the ability to not be afraid of new challenges and skills, they are open to living a more exciting, fulfilling life! Human motivation is a powerful tool to achieve great things, and being your own cheerleader is more important than you'd think!

A growth mindset enables people to succeed. When developing such a mindset, the process is not easy because you have to eliminate the old beliefs that are limiting you and replace them with the ones that allow you to focus on improvement, growth, and hard work that delivers results.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Are the Basic Qualities of a Growth Mindset?

A mindset is a set of beliefs that can either allow you to thrive or limit you in life. If you have a growth mindset, you will be more open to new challenges, developing new skills, not being afraid of the unknown, etc. In other words, people with a growth mindset see everything as an improvement process. They don't limit themselves to the idea of success or failure but treat everything as a learning opportunity.

What Is a Common Belief of Someone with a Growth Mindset?

To succeed, all someone with a growth mindset needs to do is try. If they don't succeed, they will learn something from this experience. Having a growth mindset allows you to not only work harder but also smarter. Instead of blaming themselves when something doesn't happen as they want, their growth belief helps them see it as something positive and simply let it go.

What Is an Example of a Growth Mindset?

The best example of a growth mindset is the ability to dive into a new challenge without fear or limitations, which is typically for a person with a fixed mindset. In theory, the effort someone with a growth mindset puts into learning new things results in more intelligence as well. While someone with a fixed mindset might feel deficient, a growth mindset allows you to start working on a belief, in which you feel insufficient instead of dwelling on the negative.