My first blog has to be about mindset. Where does it come from? Can it be changed?
What is a mindset?
Mindsets are just beliefs. A belief that you have taken on board, cultivated and defended as ‘the world according to you’. If it is working for you—bingo. If not, it is something in your mind, and you can change it.
When you enter a mindset, you enter that world. The world of a fixed mindset is about validating who you are, the world of a growth mindset it is about developing yourself.
Different types of mindsets
People with a fixed mindset believe effort is wasted. You either got it or you don’t. You expect everything good to happen automatically because you deserve it. Your fixed mindset has put limits on your potential. You go through life doing stuff that is easy or not doing much at all. Your fear of failure or making a mistake is the biggest road block to your growth. Often, the mistake is less important than what you do after you made the mistake.
People with a growth mindset believe that effort is what makes you smart or talented. Believing that success is about learning, you are taking opportunities to learn. With an attitude, better to have tried and failed, than not tried at all. These growth minded people seem to thrive on challenges. For them, the only way to get ahead is to fail early, fail regularly and fail forward.
Can the mindset be changed?
Are we born with either mindset, or is it an acquired taste? I say, it does not matter. Once you see the truth, you cannot un-see it. The buck stops here. The blaming of nature or nurture becomes secondary. You realise that you are responsible for your mind, your attitude towards life and your dreams.
So, you stopped trying for fear of failure, and you became supersensitive about being wrong or making mistakes? Or you were stereotyped against for being a woman, left-handed, or from a different culture.
You know, I grew up believing that I am accident-prone. Not a moment would be missed by my family, to laugh about my miss-adventures, and declare me the klutz. And of course, you become what the environment sees in you. This has been beautifully described in Max Frisch’s 1961 novel, “Andorra”, where people who were suspected to be Jewish, started to behave like Jews. (collective guilt)
The best thing educators, coaches, or mentors can do, is to teach to embrace challenges, be intrigued by mistakes, enjoy effort (enjoy the journey), and keep on learning. Over-praising personality attributes turns people into slaves of praise. Instead, encourage and praise effort so that they eventually learn and think for themselves.
Every day, people plan to do difficult things, but they don’t do them. They think, “I’ll do it tomorrow,” and they swear to themselves that they’ll follow through the next day. The critical thing is to make a concrete, growth-oriented plan, and to stick to it:
- When will you follow through on your plan?
- Where will you do it?
- How will you do it?
Think about it in vivid detail.
If you are stuck in the fixed mindset, you may find that you often run away from your problems. Believing that if your life is flawed, then you’re flawed. So, you decide it’s easier to make believe everything is alright and continue to live in denial. Just learning about the growth mindset can cause a big shift in the way you think about yourself and your life.
I have personally experienced over and again that what you put into life, determines what you get out of it. A famous saying states that we have power over our minds, but not outside events.
Conclusion
In summary, mindsets are a belief system that can be changed. Once a new seed of belief is planted, the search for confirmatory evidence begins and almost always turns up. Growth, improvement, and happiness are found outside one’s comfort zone. Try it.
Go and prove me right or wrong, either way, I look forward to hearing from you. Get in touch with me here.
(Inspired by the book ‘Mindset’; the new psychology of success by Carol S. Dweck)