Developing a Growth Mindset

How many times have we come across people who say things like, “I am not good at numbers” or “I don’t understand technology” or “Finance is not my cup of tea”? I assume, too many to remember off hand. So, when there is a task that involves the field which is not their ‘cup of tea’, they may either refuse to do it or if they are forced to do it, may believe that they won’t be able to do the job well. Believing that they will mess up the task may become a self-fulfilling prophecy and they may actually end up with a bad job. This further perpetuates their belief that they are not good at the subject. They value the outcome and base their worth on it, rather than on the effort.

In contrast, there are also people who do not know a subject well, but do not refuse a challenge. They do not let their lack of knowledge stand in the way of giving it their best shot. They may also not do a very good job of the task but that does not deter them. It makes them feel that they have learnt something new and different and that the next time they are presented with a similar task, they wouldn’t need to start from scratch. These people value their effort more than they value the result, for the lessons the process teaches them.

So, what is the difference between these two sets of people? Knowledge? No, because both sets do not possess the knowledge. Skills? Again, no, since you could have people with the same skillsets belonging to either set. Then what is the difference? The difference is mindset.

Rigid Mindset and Growth Mindset

The first set has a rigid mindset. This set believes that it is the result that counts and not the effort and if they do not do a good job and are not praised for it, it is not worth spending time on it, as they may never be able to learn it. The second set has a growth mindset. People in this set value their efforts and embrace challenges. They look at challenges as opportunities to grow, regardless of the final outcome.

It is abundantly clear that people with the growth mindset are the ones who are more likely to not let minor failures in their journey deter them and succeed.

The bad news is that not everyone is born with a growth mindset. The worse news is that the type of education we get, where final results are considered to be the measure of a person’s intelligence and capabilities, has the ability to quash a growth mindset. But the good news is that whether a person is born with a fixed mindset or has been moulded into one, developing a growth mindset is possible at any age for anyone. The better news is that the process is not even very difficult to follow.

How do we develop a Growth Mindset?

Developing a growth mindset is easy. But it requires constant practice. Here are a few things that you can do to develop a growth mindset.

1. Recognise and accept that your mindset is fixed (at least in certain areas). The first and the most important factor in building a growth mindset is the recognition that in some areas even you could have a rigid mindset.  One of the biggest deterrents to making any improvement in life, including (but not restricted to) developing a growth mindset is denial. People refuse to acknowledge that they may be having a problem and try to hide it from others (for fear of criticism, ridicule, or censure) rather than acknowledge it and actively take steps to deal with it.

2. Identify your limiting beliefs. Nothing holds us back more than the beliefs that we hold on to. Maybe you have had a bad experience in your earlier years repeatedly, making you believe that some things are just not possible for you to do. So, you may have ended up developing limiting beliefs. Limiting beliefs are statements that generally are a reflection of your ability or inability and could start with ‘I can’t’. So ‘I just can’t give up smoking’, ‘I can’t for the life of me learn to play the guitar’, ‘I can’t cook to save my life’ are all examples of limiting beliefs.

3. Embrace imperfection. People with fixed mindsets generally believe that their abilities are hard cast in stone and that there is no way that their abilities can be improved. As such, they choose to pick up only those tasks which they can excel at, and not take up anything outside their comfort zone because they wouldn’t be able to do those tasks perfectly. Hence, if a growth mindset is to be developed, one needs to step out of the cosy cocoon one stays in and extend efforts to more difficult tasks. These may not be perfectly accomplished and that is fine. The more important part is to allow oneself to grow, despite the imperfection.

4. Face challenges head on. Pre-determining that if a task is difficult and outside your comfort zone, and hence it will not be done well is a sure-fire way of not doing it well. Judging yourself on merely the outcome of the task and not on the effort that has gone into it is a sure-fire way of resisting challenging assignments in future. If you decide that a challenge is a growth opportunity, because it teaches something new, rather than looking at it as another area which you will most definitely fail in, will nudge your mindset towards growth.

5. Use the word ‘yet’ more often. Carol Dweck, the author of the book, Mindset, states that the word ‘yet’ is a game changer, when it comes to mindsets. She proposes that if mindsets need to be more growth oriented, every limiting belief that a person attaches himself to, should be suffixed with this word. So, ‘I can’t do this’ becomes ‘I can’t do this yet’ and ‘sales is not my cup of tea’ becomes ‘sales is not my cup of tea yet.’ This word automatically converts a definite statement to a ‘work-in-progress’ statement.

6. Stop seeking external validation.  Seeking external validation makes you dependent on other people’s approval for what you have done. It undermines the effort that you have put into the task in your own reckoning. If others judge you only on the basis of the final outcome and their validation means something to you, you will only choose tasks which you know they will approve of. This will keep you in the fixed mindset. Even if the others judge you on the basis of the effort you put in, you are still unlikely to truly embrace the growth mindset because rather than the challenge of the task, you may still be taking it up only to prove your effort to others to garner their appreciation.

7. Be open to failing. One of my favourite mantras is ‘It is okay to fail, not okay to give up’. When you are willing to fail, you are willing to try. As the story goes, Edison failed 1000 times before he succeeded in making the light bulb. When he was asked how he felt to have failed a thousand times, he said, ‘I didn’t fail a thousand times. I learned a thousand things that didn’t work’. That, is reflective of a growth mindset. When instead of saying ‘I failed at something’, you begin to say ‘I learnt this lesson from my attempt’, your mindset reflects growth.

8. Be open to criticism. It is certainly not a pleasant feeling to be criticised, but if we are unable to differentiate between constructive criticism and being put down, we may be averse to both, be defensive when criticised and miss out on learning how to become better. If a growth mindset needs to be developed, it bodes well for you to be open to all criticism, and identify parts of that which will help you grow.  

9. Understand neuroplasticity. Simply put, neuroplasticity is the ability of the brain to build new neural pathways through repetition. Studies have shown that people well past their prime also can learn new skills if they put their mind to it, through repetition. We often hear of geriatric people who have taken to learning new skills like playing the guitar or running the marathon after retirement. Understanding neuroplasticity and knowing what your brain is capable of will enable you to look at challenges as opportunities to learn and you will be more open to them.

10. Value the process over result, effort over talent. For a growth mindset, the end result is not as important as the process. Even if you fail, the process helps you learn. Similarly, even if you do not possess the talent, putting in the effort needs to e valued more.

Mindset does not always have to remain fixed; abilities are not etched in stone. With effort, one can mutate from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset. However, just as you need sufficient insight to know that your mindset can be changed from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset, you also need sufficient insight to understand what is really important. Ignoring more important things for learning less important things just to prove to yourself that you have a growth mindset defeats the purpose.