You can do it! The power of believing you can improve

We’ve heard the term bandied about, but what exactly are we talking about when we talk about a growth mindset?

By FW

We’ve heard the term bandied about, but what exactly are we talking about when we talk about a growth mindset?

By FW

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Perhaps the easiest way to think about the term ‘growth mindset’ in relation to this anecdote, shared by Carol Dweck, the founder of the term and a pioneering researcher in the field of motivation.

Curious to see how children coped with difficulty, she gave a group of 10-year-olds a series of problems that were slightly too hard for them. She was surprised by the results. A portion of the children responded with overwhelming positivity, sharing insights like, ‘I love a challenge!’ and ‘I was hoping this would be informative’. Others responded negatively, ‘catastrophically’ as she describes it, believing that their intelligence was up for judgement, and that they had failed.

The kids who responded positively understood that their abilities could be built upon and developed.They could see what they needed to do next, and were motivated to try again. This is the essence of a growth mindset. The kids who believed they had failed had a fixed mindset: when presented with problems in the future, they ran from them.

It’s easy to see the advantages of a growth mindset versus a fixed one: there’s a hardiness, a sense of curiosity, a spirit of inquiry present in those with a growth mindset that brings energy and life to a workplace. And the good thing is, we can train ourselves and our brains to adopt this approach. You can change your mindset with practice and repetition, just like you can build muscles with exercise.

The research-validated mindset assessment at Mindset Works identifies elements of your mindset that are fixed and helps you to develop strategies to move towards growth.

Intrinsic to a growth mindset is the belief that learning is lifelong, so what better way to live that belief than by trying something new? Get comfortable with being uncomfortable! Bonus points if it’s something that scares you a little bit. Go out dancing, try your hand at fishing or head to a karaoke bar. If you want to really push yourself, take the 21 day challenge and keep a journal of all the new things you try.

Wondering how to get the whole family to switch their thinking? You can start at dinner, by going round the table and taking turns to share something good and something gritty from your day. Ask each other what went well, and what required you to show up with determination – maybe it was a tricky maths test, or a client at work who challenged you.

By sharing these examples with each other, you’re supporting your family to problem-solve, learn from their mistakes and focus on growth and behaviours, rather than results and attributes.