what is a growth mindset, and how do i cultivate one

The growth mindset: a concept that can help you be more successful in your endeavors through changes in perspectives

I was first exposed to the term “growth mindset” years ago in a college class. It was only briefly touched on and at the time I took it as a textbook phrase that meant essentially just meant to be positive… have a good outlook! Needless to say, it wasn't something that sunk in at the time. It wasn’t made obvious to me how I could actually use and apply a growth mindset into my everyday life and thus I wrote it off as one of those concepts you see in a textbook and never see or use again. 

Throughout my own journey, I realized that the times I was able to make big shifts in my actions and habits came when I had made shifts in my mindset. This, along with always having had a knack for psychology, made me really interested in all things mindset. Now here I am, years later, and growth-based mindsets are near and dear to my heart and one of the things I find the most joy in helping people cultivate. 

I’m not going to lie, I feel very cliche every time I say or write out “growth mindset,” but it’s a term coined by Carol Dweck based on her research and findings on how mindset ultimately shows up in our behaviors. 

Why people talk about it and why it’s worth cultivating:

This mindset is associated with:

• higher rates of success (in whatever your endeavor may be)

• better performance in a variety of contexts

• more perseverance

• better response to feedback

• making decisions that are more aligned with your goal

• having a better reaction to setbacks

And in my experience, it brings more happiness as well. The former is backed by science, the latter is just my personal observation.

A growth mindset is not “be positive” or “be optimistic.” By definition, the growth mindset is believing one can change their capability and characteristics, that qualities like our intelligence are not set in stone. On the flip side of the coin, we have the fixed mindset, where people believe their traits cannot be changed. 

How we might see a fixed mindset play out: 

• Feeling the need to prove intelligence or ability 

• Fear or jealousy of the success of others

• Not believing one’s traits can be changed (i.e. if you haven’t been someone who could work out consistently in the past, you see yourself as someone who cannot work out consistently rather than as someone who has not yet learned how to be someone who works out consistently)

• (Inadvertently) avoids challenges 

• Fears making mistakes or being wrong; sees these as “bad” things 

• Gets defensive in response to feedback 

• Sees having to put in good effort as a sign of lack of ability 

• Gives up somewhat easily

What a growth mindset looks like:

• Does not feel the need to prove intelligence or ability 

• Gets inspired by the success of others

• Believes they can develop characteristics and abilities

• Embraces challenges; sees them as an opportunity for growth

• Sees mistakes as a learning opportunity 

• Sees feedback as a learning opportunity 

• Sees putting in solid effort as the key to success 

• Persists when there’s setbacks 

I would love to have been able to say that I historically have been someone with a mostly growth mindset. I’m open-minded, I’ve always been great at being able to see others’ perspectives, and I can always find the positives in a situation. Once I started reading examples of how a fixed mindset can play out, I realized that for the majority of my life I have leaned way more toward a fixed rather than growth mindset. A fixed mindset is my more innate response. The good news for me and anyone else who can resonate: having more of a growth mindset is something we can all cultivate. 

It’s important to note that you don’t have a fixed OR a growth mindset. We all have a mixture of both, and we might find we tend to be more growth mindset based in some areas of our lives while we tend to be more fixed mindset based in others. And it’s still not one or the other. There’s a continuum and both can still exist together. 

How you can work on cultivating a growth mindset:

Just knowing that your mindset impacts your actions and outcomes, having awareness of your own mindset, knowing that traits can be developed/are not set in stone, and knowing what a growth mindset looks like can be so helpful in you starting to move in that direction. 

Notice when your fixed mindset is showing up. This looks like thinking in black or white terms, not believing you can grow the skill or capability needed to achieve something, thinking your characteristics are innate, believing you are stuck in your ways or how you've done it is the only way to do it, avoiding challenges because you might not be good at it or it might make you look dumb, getting defensive in response to feedback, feeling the need to show/prove your intelligence or skill, or feeling threatened by the success of others. A huge key is to not judge yourself when you notice these coming up. You're just a human human-ing. Once you notice your fixed mindset, you can give it a name like the inner critic or Stacey.

Shift your focus to learning and growth. Shift from coming from a place of judgment to approaching things with a desire to learn or grow in some way. If you feel like you messed up with some of your nutritional decisions, reflect on the scenario with curiosity and ask yourself what you can learn from it and what you might be able to do differently for a better outcome in the future. Practice focusing on putting effort into the learning aspect of what will help you achieve your desired results. Practice seeing feedback and mistakes as opportunities for learning.

Embrace challenges. Practice viewing challenges as fun, exciting, as a great opportunity for growth, or as something you want to go after rather than seeing them in a negative light or shying away from them due to a fear of failure.

Take responsibility for your own actions, what you can control, and how you’re responding to your circumstances. Watch where you’re placing blame on things outside of you or on your own personality traits.

There may be some resistance and discomfort when trying to take on a new belief or perspective because you’re so used to the mindset you've had - it’s going to take some practice.

Realize that no one is perfect and there’s no such thing as a perfect mindset or having the “right” mindset. What it really comes down to, is you approaching things in ways that make you more likely to follow through and see success. And, in my experience, with more happiness and a more optimistic outlook as well. :)