Having the right mindset is extremely important for success as it shapes the way that you approach and live your life.
Be it in your personal or professional spheres, the type of mindset that you have will play a part in how your life pans out.
Types of Mindsets
Generally, there are two types of mindsets that prevail, a fixed mindset and a growth mindset.
The difference between the two is that a growth mindset sees a challenge and thinks “Wow! An opportunity to try and learn something new!” whereas a fixed mindset on the other hand thinks “I’ve tried and failed before, nothing is going to change.”
Whichever one of these two mindsets that we carry then influences our behaviour and how we interact with and perceive the successes and failures in our lives.
Obviously the ideal is to have a growth mindset, which is essentially believing that you have the capacity to grow.
Research by Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck found that the growth mindset “creates a passion for learning rather than a hunger for approval.”
An individual with a growth mindset is not afraid to take on challenges, and sees failure as a window to grow and expand on their existing abilities, rather than as a signifier of their incompetency.
With a fixed mindset, people are likely to be afraid to fail, as they would see it as exposing their weaknesses and inadequacies. In turn, this can lead to them being afraid to try new out new things as well, as they remain stagnant in those areas.
This affects the level of satisfaction and happiness that you would feel as well.
Challenges are inevitable, and will surface in all areas of our life, be it school, work, or even in our personal lives. So how then would you want to approach them? Do you want to work towards growing and making it better for yourself, or are you just going to settle for how things are.
Ultimately, those with a growth mindset are likely to reach higher levels of achievement while those with a fixed mindset may plateau early and achieve less than their full potential.
Growth Mindset in Practice
So how then do you develop a growth mindset?
1. Embrace failures and imperfections
Instead of being ashamed of them, allow yourself to acknowledge and accept them. Learn from your mistakes and try again
2. Try a different method
What worked in the past may not always work again. What worked for someone else may not work for you. Don’t be afraid to switch things up and try another method.
3. Alter your perspective
Indeed challenges can be tough, however, it is important to see them as opportunities for self-improvement. Yes, it can be tough trying to overcome a certain thing, but when it’s done, you’ll come out of it stronger and having learnt something new.
4. Value the journey over the end product
Enjoy the learning process and actually learn! Don’t just focus on trying to get to the end, but be present throughout the journey.
5. Emphasise learning well over learning fast
Sometimes we just want to get things over and done with. However, we are robbing ourselves of the knowledge that could have been gained in the process. Learn well, and sometimes that means allowing yourself to make mistakes as well.
Implement these practices into your life and take ownership of your mindset.