Growth Mindset: The Key to Unlocking Your Potential

Tossed around like confetti in professional environments, growth mindset is a concept that everyone is seemingly talking about (and advocating for), but that very few people use correctly or understand in depth.

Growth Mindset is a deceptively simple concept.  It's easy to explain - but hard to interpret, and even harder to implement into your life, work, or team culture.

What is Growth Mindset

According to Dr. Carol S. Dweck, the Stanford psychologist who coined this term, growth mindset is the belief that human qualities and capabilities can be grown, cultivated, and developed.  This includes things like physical skills (playing a sport) as well as intelligence. (See her book here.)

 Said differently,  growth mindset is the belief that with training, time, and practice, I (and you) can become better at _______________. 

You can become a better parent, a more present partner, a better public speaker, a more patient person, a stronger team leader,  a better tennis player, and so on.

Studies have shown over and over again that what you believe deeply affects who or what you become.  If you sincerely believe that with training, time, and practice, you can improve at something - it is significantly more likely that you will.  (More on why next week.)

Here's the hard part: growth mindset only works for you if you know how to implement it correctly.   And it's not enough to "be positive" or "think positive" (as many who misuse this term seem to believe).  Growth mindset requires much more of you.

But before we get into that, we need to take a pivot.

Yes, it's important to understand what growth mindset it and what it requires.  However, the key to implementing growth mindset into your work and life is understanding its opposite - fixed mindset.

(I know - big shift. Stay with me; I promise it will be worth it.)

Fixed mindset is the assumption that human qualities and capabilities are relatively set. If you weren't born with a throwing arm it is unlikely that you'll ever develop one.  If you're struggling in Algebra it's because you just weren't born good at math.  If you fumble anytime you give a presentation to your team, or if you can't express yourself well, you should just find another mode of communication because public speaking is not one of your strengths.  Sound familiar?

 It shows up in different ways, and it can be tricky to spot. I've included a short exercise to help you.  Whenever you hear yourself say something along the lines of the sentences below (or hear someone else say them about you) - you have likely encountered fixed mindset.

I’m not good at________________

      __________   Is not one of my strengths.

         I always do a bad job with _____________.

        I always have a hard time with __________.

Why do I even bother with _________?  It's clear that I'm not good at it.

Over the next few weeks we'll talk about what to do when we recognize that we're in fixed mindset thinking (as well as mistakes to avoid).

 For this week, focus on this: work on identifying the different ways that fixed mindset enters into your life.  It's ubiquitous for most of us, so this shouldn't be too hard.  Jot down a note when you find yourself in fixed mindset thinking.

Here are some of the examples I've caught myself thinking (and saying) this week:

 "Should I really be doing this?  Do I have something valuable to offer?"

-(After I fumbled part of a pitch call with a client.)

"I always make these mistakes.  I shouldn't be trusted with meeting logistics."

-(After I inadvertently mis-read someone's availability and scheduled a group meeting for the wrong date. It cut deep because that was not the first time)

"No one in this house appreciates me!!"

-(After my children left mess after mess in the house and I'd reached my limit.)

Ok, it's your turn! 

Where did you experience fixed mindset this week?