Mindset

Your Mindset - does it matter?

Brain image Our mindset creates our whole mental world. It explains how we become optimistic or pessimistic. It shapes our goals, our attitude towards work and relationships and ultimately predicts whether or not we will fulfil our potential.

Professor Carol Dweck and her colleagues at Columbia and Stanford Universities have spent 35 years studying motivation and achievement. Their research indicates that everyone has one of two basic mindsets:

Fixed (Entity) Mindset
Growth (Incremental) Mindset

How does Mindset affect learning and confidence?

Growth mindset – In a “growth” mindset, people believe that their most basic qualities (including their intelligence, abilities, competencies and worth) can continually be enhanced and developed with effort and practice. As a consequence, they actively enjoy opportunities to learn and improve – to become more competent – even at the risk of appearing to others as less than perfect at something. The confidence levels of “growth” mindset individuals are therefore robust as people in this mindset appreciate learning from failure and seek further learning to remedy any perceived deficits.

Fixed mindset – In a “fixed” mindset, however, people believe that their basic qualities are basically carved in stone and that mistakes mean these qualities are somehow inadequate. Thus, they believe that their reputations and sense of self rest on appearing flawless to other people. Carol Dweck discovered that people with a “fixed” mindset often avoided opportunities to improve their skills and abilities, because (a) they didn't expect effort would make any difference and (b) that having to put effort into something only proved that they weren't good at it in the first place. Self confidence in this mindset is fragile and requires constant success and praise to maintain it.

It is possible to have a fixed mindset in one area of your life (for example, your attitude to how good at sport you are) and a growth mindset in another area (for example, your attitude to learning languages). However, research also shows that developing a “growth” mindset overall is much more likely to lead to success in life. For example, research with university students found that “growth” mindset students achieved significantly better grades than “fixed” mindset students regardless of how they scored in measures of intelligence. In other words, mindset was the better predictor of success. Intelligence is not fixed but grows with effort and practice.

And the Good News is...it is never too late to modify a mindset because the brain is a muscle which improves with exercise!

How to change from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset…

Step 1: Learn to hear your fixed mindset “voice.”

As you approach a challenge, that voice might say to you “Are you sure you can do it? Maybe you don't have the talent.” “What if you fail-you'll be a failure.” “People will laugh at you for thinking you had talent.” “If you don't try, you can protect yourself and keep your dignity.”

As you hit a setback, the voice might say, “This would have been easy if you really had talent.” “You see, I told you it was a risk. Now you've gone and shown the world how limited you are.” “It's not too late to back out, make excuses, and try to regain your dignity.”

As you face criticism, you might hear yourself say, “It's not my fault. It was something or someone else's fault.” You might feel yourself getting angry at the person who is giving you feedback. “Who do they think they are? I'll put them in their place.” The other person might be giving you specific, constructive feedback, but you might be hearing them say “I'm really disappointed in you. I thought you were capable but now I see you're not.”

Step 2: Recognize that you have a choice.

How you interpret challenges, setbacks, and criticism is your choice. You can interpret them in a fixed mindset as signs that your fixed talents or abilities are lacking. Or you can interpret them in a growth mindset as signs that you need to ramp up your strategies and effort, stretch yourself, and expand your abilities. It's up to you.

So as you face challenges, setbacks, and criticism, listen to the fixed mindset voice and...

Step 3: Talk back to it with a growth mindset voice.

Chequered Flag indicating success As you approach a challenge:

THE FIXED-MINDSET (FM): “Are you sure you can do it? Maybe you don't have the talent.”

THE GROWTH-MINDSET (GM): “I'm not sure I can do it now, but I think I can learn to with time and effort.”

FM: “What if you fail – you'll be a failure.”

GM: “Most successful people had failures along the way.”

FM: “If you don't try, you can protect yourself and keep your dignity.”

GM: “If I don't try, I automatically fail. Where's the dignity in that?”

As you hit a setback:

FM: “This would have been easy if you really had talent.”

GM: “That is so wrong. Basketball wasn't easy for Michael Jordan and science wasn't easy for Thomas Edison. They had a passion and put in tons of effort.”

As you face criticism:

FM: “It's not my fault. It was something or someone else's fault.”

GM: “If I don't take responsibility, I can't fix it. Let me listen – however painful it is – and learn whatever I can.