??How to Develop a Growth Mindset to Outperform: a Practical Approach to Start Right Now!

Developing and practicing a Growth Mindset has been one of the key takeaways from my time in the 美国麻省理工学院 - 斯隆管理学院 Advanced Management Program during this summer 2023 ??. The concept was explained by Professor Elsbeth Johnson in our last session Being Resilient Leaders. Thank you, Elsbeth, for presenting this concept and igniting my curiosity for deeper exploration.

Growth Mindset has become a buzzword that needs some explanation to really learn how to adopt it. To do so, I resort to Dr. Carol Dweck's research (Professor of Psychology at Stanford University and one of the world's leading researchers on motivation and mindsets): Individuals who believe their talents can be developed (through effort, good strategies, and input from others) have a Growth Mindset. They tend to achieve more than those with a more Fixed Mindset (those who believe their talents are innate gifts, meaning they are born with a certain amount of intelligence and talent, and there's little to nothing they can do to change that).?

Why is it so important to embrace a Growth Mindset???

Numerous studies highlight that a Growth Mindset can correlate with outperforming. It allows you to perceive the world not as a fixed set of immutable rules and innates capabilities but as a spectrum of opportunities. It can dictate your reactions, decisions, and, by extension, your life's quality improvement.

The main behaviors of this Growth Mindset are:

1. Challenges: You normally pick superior challenges and have no fear of trying new things.?
2. Effort and Progress: You put your attention and effort on the process of learning and practicing that leads to the outcome (rather than the outcome itself). Note: outcomes matter. Unproductive effort is never a good thing. It’s critical to focus not just on the effort but on the progress of learning and to emphasize the processes that yield these things.?
3. Obstacles: You learn from analyzing errors objectively and persist in overcoming them. You do not quit when things get harder. On the other hand, you persist even more.?
4. Feedback: It is considered a path for growth; it's not a criticism. You seek it out and incorporate it; you do not avoid it.?

These attributes tend to collectively drive outstanding performance across the fields you choose to focus.

How to cultivate a Growth Mindset? ??

Transforming a Fixed Mindset into a Growth-oriented one is indeed achievable, but challenging. During my recent holidays, I stumbled upon Professor Andrew Huberman enlightening podcast that dives deep into nurturing this Growth Mindset.?

Here’s a summarized version of the research he explains in detail:

1. The type of praise/reward you receive (or how you talk to yourself) reinforces different types of behaviors that promote or inhibit future performance. If the praise is related to a label tied to your identity (e.g., "You are so smart; you got such a good score"), research shows we tend to choose easier challenges in the future to maintain that praise (or even hide our errors). Thus, it inhibits future growth and outperformance. If the praise is related to the effort or progress linked to the result (e.g., "I congratulate you for the significant effort and progress you've made to achieve such a good score"), the behavior produced is to exert even more effort and select even greater challenges for the future, thereby boosting further growth. Bonus tip: Use a verb for praise, not a noun/label. Try to be specific.
2. The second point is directly linked to how you talk to yourself, which is the narrative that you build about your skills. Shift your narrative from an intelligence/performance narrative to an effort/progress narrative. (e.g.,?if you label yourself directly as “I'm a bad skier" it's going to be much more challenging to become a good one than if you tell yourself, “I haven't practiced enough and I am not sure of the mistakes that cause me to progress slower than I'd like.”
3. The third point is to focus on what you can control. The two things you can control are your attention and your effort. Invest 150% of these into what you want to develop. Results may come, or at least you'll have a higher probability of achieving them. Other distractions might arise but intrinsic motivation comes from within, based on these two elements. Keep pushing forward.
4. The fourth point is about your response to feedback. With a Growth Mindset, you believe that intelligence is not fixed, and that you can always learn and progress. When faced with negative feedback, those with a Fixed Mindset often react emotionally, while others try to identify the mistake and learn from it. Everyone can change their mindset. There isn't an easy process to "detach from your ego," but you can focus on a more cognitive and less emotional approach.
5. Fifth, last but not least, combine the Growth Mindset with a Stress-Enhancing mindset. The key takeaway is that how we think about stress affects how we react to it. Stress, with the right duration and intensity, mobilizes our resources. It makes us focus on our mistakes and helps us understand where we went wrong. You might feel uncomfortable in some situations, but understanding this is a normal part of growth that can be helpful. Both Mindsets combined are the perfect tool for improving performance.

What to do next?? ??

To help cement this transformation, Professor Andrew Huberman offers practical “Cognitive tools”:

1. Feedback Tool: Whenever you provide feedback (to others or to yourself), use verbs instead of labels. Focus on the effort and progress, not the outcome. If you use a label related to intelligence/performance, you might undermine the ability to address challenges effectively in the future.
2. Error Analysis Tool: Analyze errors objectively, especially what led to the errors. Avoid focusing on the emotions you are feeling. Sometimes it's not easy to do so be gentle with yourself.
3. SOS Socializing Tool: A key way to analyze errors is to seek help in order to understand why you made these errors. We can correct our self blindness with other people's point of view.?

Lastly, Dr. Andrew Huberman offers a final piece of advice that I've adapted while writing this post: write a letter to someone you want to adopt a Growth Mindset, explaining what it is and how to adopt and amplify it.

For my side, I commit to redefine my narrative around “my bad memory”. It's time to challenge the belief that memory isn't my strength, and instead, cultivate it through conscious efforts and measurable progress.

In this changing era, a Growth Mindset isn't just a preference—it's essential to enduring success. As we navigate foggy roads, may we see every challenge as an opportunity, every failure as a lesson, and every triumph as a reminder of our huge capacity to grow and innovate. To a future shaped by insight, resilience, and relentless pursuit of knowledge! Long life Learning! Long life Growth!??????