I am about to give you some tools to put it somehow that will help you live a little better or set the base ground for an idea to grow in you. As a result, you might, if you need to, start making the changes in your life that will bring about success. Let’s talk growth mindset.
In my previous post, I put together a list of 9 steps to follow to get rich. The first step was about adjusting your mindset and your limiting beliefs.
After writing that article, I started diving deeper into the psychology behind mindset change. I was looking for a proven way to adjust my mindset. In other words, a way that would be backed by some scientific evidence and research, yet were easy and practical to implement.
Certainly, our core beliefs play an important role in the way we live our lives. In the same token, it makes sense that our thoughts also influence our decision making processes and how we handle failure and value success.
So, what is Mindset?
Mindset is your general attitude and your way of thinking. According to Carol Dwe, a renowned Standford University psychologist, in her book Mindset: The new psychology of success, she shares the idea that there are 2 kinds of mindset the fixed mindset and the growth mindset.
Once you learn to identify the traits of each way of thinking, you can start making changes towards progress.
Having a fixed mindset means that you think that your intelligence, skills, and character are fixed, and they can’t be changed because you are either born with those attributes, or you are not. If you think that way, you will have an urgency to prove yourself over and over again.
As a result, people with fixed beliefs will pass on opportunities to learn and grow because what’s the point on learning if they won’t get smarter than they are. They also give up easily and see effort as fruitless.
On the other hand, people with a growth mindset believe that intelligence skills and attitudes can be developed. As a result, they experience a desire to learn and cultivate themselves. They embrace challenges and see criticism as a way to learn. They believe that effort can expose your hidden potential.
This growth mindset is the base foundation for development, and it is essential to achieve success in life.
Just to give you a clearer perspective of the two mindsets and how they work, take a look at this passage of Carol Dwe’s book, for example.
imagine—as vividly as you
can—that you are a young adult having a really bad day:
One day, you go to a class that is really important to you and that you like a lot. The professor
returns the midterm papers to the class. You got a C+. You’re very disappointed. That evening
on the way back to your home, you find that you’ve gotten a parking ticket. Being really
frustrated, you call your best friend to share your experience but are sort of brushed off.
What would you think? What would you feel? What would you do?
When I asked people with the fixed mindset, this is what they said: “I’d feel like a
reject.” “I’m a total failure.” “I’m an idiot.” “I’m a loser.” “I’d feel worthless and
dumb—everyone’s better than me.” “I’m slime.” In other words, they’d see what happened as a
direct measure of their competence and worth.
This is what they’d think about their lives: “My life is pitiful.” “I have no life.”
“Somebody upstairs doesn’t like me.” “The world is out to get me.” “Someone is out to destroy
me.” “Nobody loves me, everybody hates me.” “Life is unfair and all efforts are useless.” “Life
stinks. I’m stupid. Nothing good ever happens to me.” “I’m the most unlucky person on this
earth.”
Excuse me, was there death and destruction, or just a grade, a ticket, and a bad phone
call?
Are these just people with low self-esteem? Or card-carrying pessimists? No. When they
aren’t coping with failure, they feel just as worthy and optimistic—and bright and attractive—as
people with the growth mindset.
So how would they cope? “I wouldn’t bother to put so much time and effort into doing
well in anything.” (In other words, don’t let anyone measure you again.) “Do nothing.” “Stay in
bed.” “Get drunk.” “Eat.” “Yell at someone if I get a chance to.” “Eat chocolate.” “Listen to
music and pout.” “Go into my closet and sit there.” “Pick a fight with somebody.” “Cry.” “Break
something.” “What is there to do?”
What is there to do! You know, when I wrote the vignette, I intentionally made the grade
a C+, not an F. It was a midterm rather than a final. It was a parking ticket, not a car wreck. They
were “sort of brushed off,” not rejected outright. Nothing catastrophic or irreversible happened.
Yet from this raw material the fixed mindset created the feeling of utter failure and paralysis.
When I gave people with the growth mindset the same vignette, here’s what they said.
They’d think:
“I need to try harder in class, be more careful when parking the car, and wonder if my
friend had a bad day.”
“The C+ would tell me that I’d have to work a lot harder in the class, but I have the rest
of the semester to pull up my grade.”
There were many, many more like this, but I think you get the idea. Now, how would
they cope?
Similarly, this idea emphasizes a positive mental attitude as a key attribute to thrive in life. I challenge you to find a pessimist, successful person; if you can think of one, let me know in the comments. Even the most obscure figures in history have put great effort and had a clear purpose in accomplishing their goals. And what is Success, if not the accomplishment of your dreams?
How to develop a growth mindset.
The beauty of all this is that you can change the way you primarily think. Cognitive-behavioral therapy(CBT) offers resources that can help you change and adjust your mindset. Even though it is mainly used to treat mental disorders, CBT offers powerful techniques that can be applied in restructuring your way of thinking.
Firstly you need to identify the thoughts and patterns that you think need to be changed. Be aware of your automatic thoughts, those that show up naturally. Write them down and examine them.
Secondly, be aware of how those thoughts can impact your life. Let’s say you need to lose some weight. Success for you would mean losing those 15 you set as the definite goal. But you find yourself making excuses to start your weight loss plan and postponing for next Monday or tomorrow to stop eating ice cream. You repetitively think your mom is overweight, and maybe you are destined to be fat too. Then six months have passed, and now you need to lose not 15 but 20 pounds. See how your thoughts are preventing you from achieving your ultimate goal?
Thirdly you need to reshape those thoughts. Start thinking positively and restructure your thoughts. For example, to continue with the previous weight loss goal, you can reframe the fatal genetic as follow- I don’t have to be overweight just because my mom is.
Keep writing your thoughts and progress as you change your view.
In addition to all that, consider practicing mindfulness meditation. According to headspace, Mindfulness meditation doesn’t only change our mindset and perspective; it can actually change our brains’ shape. Generalized neuroimaging meditation studies found that eight weeks of mindfulness meditation also changes our brains, rewiring them towards more positive thoughts and emotions.
Check this guide to meditation and mindfulness is the perfect way to start; get it HERE.
Conclusion
To sum up, I am only scraping the surface with this subject, and as I mentioned earlier, I only intend to spark an idea in you that can change your life. I loved the fact that there are formal studies to back all this information. On top of that, you can successfully change your mindset if you work on it.
Let me know in the comments if you recognize your way of thinking and if you are up for the change.
See you next time around!!
Get Rich, Succes Habits, Personal Growth
