Moving from a Fixed mindset to a Growth mindset

How do you view yourself? Do you see your intelligence, creativity, and potential as characteristics you’re born with, or do you believe that these traits are things that you can shape? Your answer could determine your whole life.

There are two main types of mindsets when it comes to how we perceive ourselves and our potential for success: fixed mindset and growth mindset.

Most of us were raised to have a fixed mindset. We were told that our intelligence is set in stone and that our successes in life would be directly related to how smart or how creative we are. A fixed mindset teaches that failure is an end. It tells you that you shot too high when you don’t succeed and to aim lower next time.

Growth mindset is different, and developing it can be the difference between a life well lived and a life full of regret.

There are many theories about how long it takes to truly master a new skill or form a new habit, ranging from more than a year to less than a week. No matter what your school of thought is, there are some simple tricks to speeding up the process.

Bite size

When was the last time you swallowed a pizza in one bite? Unless you’re a competitive eater or half snake, the answer is probably never. There’s a reason it’s cut into several slices. The same principle applies to learning.

If you want to master something, you’re going to need to do it one bite at a time. That means setting goals you can accomplish within a reasonable time frame. Don’t attempt to learn everything in one day. Instead, break it up into chunks and be realistic.

When you set make-it-or-break-it expectations for yourself, you are falling back into a fixed mindset. You are marking your progress as either success or failure. This ignores the process. When you don’t celebrate the process, you’re less likely to follow through with your plan.

Accept you aren’t perfect

We all make mistakes, especially when learning a new skill. You have to embrace the mistakes to learn from them. Your mistakes are your map to success, and you must treat them with the respect they deserve if you expect to get anywhere. I find I learn more from my mistakes then I do from my successes. When you reflect on the past, do you pat yourself on the back for how awesome you are or do you look back with new wisdom about how you would handle something differently now?

Recognizing mistakes is not always easy.

We are embarrassed by our mistakes. We want to leave them in the past and move forward. However, if you want to truly learn, you are going to need to carry those mistakes with you. Dissect them. Befriend them. Use them to inform your future choices.

Remove practice barriers

Motivation comes in waves. Trusting our brains to remain focused solely on our ultimate goal throughout our process is nice in theory, but nearly impossible in practice.

Instead, focus your energy outward. Do you have what you need to be successful? If you’re learning to knit, do you have yarn? Do you have the needles? Do you have a pattern to learn?

Having the tools necessary to learn makes you a lot more likely to buckle down and get to work,but having the right materials is only half of the puzzle.

The other important question is: What does your environment look like? Are you surrounding yourself with distractions? It’s just as important to eliminate what you don’t need as it is to have what you do need.

Give yourself time

Starting is the hardest part of doing anything. You’re going to make excuses to put it off. There’s going to be resistance. You’ll tell yourself that you’re busy or that you don’t have the time (probably while you’re watching Netflix on your couch).

Your barrier isn’t the clock. It’s your brain.

The pushback you feel when you start a new task comes from that fixed mindset mentality. You don’t want to do something you don’t know how to do. You are bad at it, and you don’t want to take the time out of your day to feel incompetent.

Everybody feels that. But not everybody pushes back against it. Put your hours in, and maximize every second. With passion, discipline, and the internet, anything is possible.

Now it’s up to you to learn and grow

It’s time to break free from the cage of a fixed mindset and allow yourself to dream big. With a growth mindset on your side, there isn’t much you won’t be able to accomplish. It’s going to be scary at first and it won’t always be easy, but a growth mindset comes with growing pains. You’ll thank yourself in the long run.