Carol Dweck, a renowned psychologist and author of the book “Mindset: the new psychology of success”, has based her entire research on scientific data and has given many lectures about the power of having a growth instead of a fixed mindset.
To start, let’s talk about what mindset is – it is the mental attitude or inclination that directly influences our behaviors and thoughts. It is how we face life, what kind of mentality we have to deal with it, with struggles and problems, and what Carol found out is that this mentality – the kind of mindset that we have – is the key to obtain success. Meaning that the way we think affects how we will act. That it’s all about the way we look at the various situations in life, and how to behave before them. So, after years of research, we reach the two types of mentality: The fixed mindset and the growth mindset.
In the fixed mindset, people believe that, if they are not born with certain gifts or skills, they cannot develop them through time. When face-to-face with a challenge they usually feel at judgement all the time and end up insecure about it, and they cannot engage in learning, they cannot process error, so they run away from it. This process stops them from acquiring new knowledge because they believe it is below their capacity and the level of difficulty is too high, so it’s easier to settle or give up. Whether personally or professionally, people with a fixed mindset are inclined to more negative thoughts and to feel demotivated or stuck in complicated or challenging situations.
At work it is easy to spot this profile – it’s the person who never wants to engage in something new, the one who runs away from new concepts or challenges, or even greater responsibilities, because they are afraid of not knowing how to deal with them correctly.
On the other hand, the growth, or progressive, mindset type believes that their talents and abilities can be developed over time, as long as they are patient, focused and put effort into it. They have an aptitude to transform difficulty into an opportunity to learn and evolve. And if they make a mistake, it’s not a problem, because they also believe they can acquire knowledge from what went wrong. The important thing is to see the positive aspects of the process and learn how to correct the negative ones.
Professionals with this profile are destined to success because they are always trying to surpass their limitations and improve their knowledge on a daily basis. And they are also very easy to spot at work. Just look for the employee who is always willing to take on new responsibilities, is always studying and improving and doesn’t get beaten down when they make a mistake - they will simply review the process and try to understand what should be done to reverse the outcome. Usually, this type of professional will have a good growth inside the company, or is already a leader. After all a team needs a motivated person to guide it towards great results.
It’s even possible to spot individuals of each mentality, right upfront, in a job interview with a simple written test or debate. Give the candidate a situation that is more complicated than the ones he has already shared with you and see how they react to it. If the solution feels like a way out, avoiding the problem or just ‘reporting it’, you may want to pay attention to a possible fixed mindset there. But if the person tried to come up with a solution, even if it wasn’t the best possible way to solve the problem, but they were creative, you are probably dealing with a growth mindset.
A mindset is not just a trait of personality but a mental attitude of how we think and face life. It’s how we are able to achieve success as a consequence of our behavior, whether in personal or professional situations.
How a growth mindset influences results:
To conquer our dreams and goals, it’s necessary to focus on the positive, to have dedication and also self-esteem, no matter what stage in your life you’re in. It is essential to work resilience because it helps us overcome obstacles and allows you the power to give new meaning to situations, thus helping you grow from mistakes and move forward stronger, and better equipped.
The will to learn, grow and expand possibilities it’s how we change the course of our own history. We are all capable of doing it differently, we just need to believe it! When we are born, we know absolutely nothing, we can’t even walk or talk. However, when stimulated by our parents and society in a few months we can walk and talk. Later on, influenced by new knowledge we become good professionals and with know-how and through our expertise we are able to achieve extraordinary results. And to think we started nowhere... But for that you need to feed positive mental attitudes, that help you grow, identify and use your strengths and also look at behaviors that need to be improved or even limiting beliefs that need to be eliminated. Coaching and positive psychology can be powerful allies in this process. They use positive emotions, engagement, fluidity, constructive relationships, purposes and accomplishments to leverage the personal or professional development of an individual. There is power in believing one can improve, and we have the mental power to achieve great results in life. A growth mindset can help you look at the world, and any obstacle, as an opportunity to learn and reach further, instead of just believing you cannot make it.
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