Carol Dweck's bestseller "Mindset" was one of the most impactful reads I have come across yet. In our previous blog "How Satya Nadella Can Help You Become A Better Leader" we helped distinguish between a fixed and growth mindset. We will dive a bit further here, to look into the middle of the two extremes; despite which category you fall into, we can always train our mindset to grow.
How Carol Dweck Defines a Growth Mindset
Many people have a combination of fixed mindset and growth mindset characteristics embedded within their nature. The most challenging part of this process is identifying where one is fixed. Without this identification process, we won't be able to understand how to improve our mindset.
Below are some quotes from Mindset that exemplify the finding of her case studies.
“College students, after doing poorly on a test, were given a chance to look at tests of other students. Those in the growth mindset looked at the tests of people who had done far better than they had. As usual, they wanted to correct their deficiency. But students in the fixed mindset chose to look at the tests of people who had done really poorly. That was their way of feeling better about themselves”.
“This growth mindset is based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts. Although people may differ in every which way—in their initial talents and aptitudes, interests, or temperaments—everyone can change and grow through application and experience”.
“When you enter a mindset, you enter a new world. In one world—the world of fixed traits—success is about proving you’re smart or talented. Validating yourself. In the other—the world of changing qualities—it’s about stretching yourself to learn something new. Developing yourself”.
“For [people with a growth mindset] it’s not about immediate perfection. It’s about learning something over time: confronting a challenge and making progress”.
-Carol Dweck
What you can do to Move Towards a Growth Mindset
Learn from mistakes
See every failure as an opportunity to learn. They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results. Don't make the same mistake, learn from your failures. Its also a great idea to learn from other peoples mistakes. Success stories always come with hardships and mistakes made. Who better to model mistakes than those who’ve overcome them?
Set Clear Objectives
Makes sure these are SMART objectives: Specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time based. Its easy to stray away from a goal and change it if the goal is not specific and has metrics to evaluate if the goal was met. These goals should be within a relevant time frame to avoid procrastination or being set to the side.
Reflect
Self reflection is crucial in learning. Its important to ask yourself questions to reevaluate your strategy and understand the process. Not everything goes according to plan, and identifying what went well and what could be improved will set you up for success in your future goals.
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