Many people are familiar with the work of Professor Carole Dweck and her concept of “growth mindset”. (Check out her Ted Talk, The power of believing that you can improve for a 10-minute summary.)
The idea is that people who believe their talents can be developed through hard work, good strategies and input from others have a growth mindset. Research shows people with this mindset tend to achieve more than people who believe talent is innate and fixed.
There are a range of misunderstandings and myths around growth mindset which can be misinterpreted, resulting in you holding yourself back.
What is mindset?
The idea behind the concept is that your mindset – comprised of your thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes – can influence how we think, feel and behave. It’s our way or mode of thinking.
A growth mindset, in which you think that changes, learning and improvements are possible and talents can be developed is the opposite of fixed mindset, which usually leads people to believe that you are who you are with a fixed amount of talent and abilities, and nothing can change that.
Growth mindset myths and truths – and how they hold you back
There are a variety of misconceptions about growth mindset – what it is and what it isn’t. Here are three common myths and the truth about them.
Myth #1 – people have exclusively one or the other type of mindset
Truth #1 – everyone is a mixture of both growth and fixed mindsets, which continually evolve with experience. If you had only a growth mindset 100% of the time it could leave you quite exhausted from the energy needed to sustain a constant growth mindset and potentially could be irritating or insensitive to others if you are not able to be flexible in your approach.
Having a largely fixed mindset means you believe that talent and potential are innate and can’t change. Having a fixed mindset can make you resistant to challenge and to feedback because you don’t see an opportunity to be different to how you are now. This would hold you back by limiting the opportunities you see for yourself, limiting your true potential.
You may have seen people with a fixed mindset giving up easily and being frustrated when things get tough. Learning to recognise your fixed mindset when it shows up is key – If you catch yourself feeling like this, it’s worth checking in with yourself to understandy what it says and considering whether you can adjust your mindset to remove some of the frustration and persevere with your goals. Yes, it feels hard now, but it won’t always be that way.
Myth #2 – Growth mindset is just positive thinking, flexibility and a can-do attitude
Truth #2 – It’s not just thinking the world is all hearts and flowers and that things will just work out for the best. Having a growth mindset is actually about the belief that you can improve, with effort and hard work, and the right amount of reflection and support. Believing everything will work out fine without acknowledging you can play an active part in success risks you not actually achieving that success at all!
Growth mindset is built on the concept that effort and hard work translate into growth and improvement. Feedback is critical to the process and helps you spot where you make changes to improve.
It also involves a significant element of perseverance. Often you hear people with a growth mindset say they can’t do something “yet”. The power of “yet” is an important part of growth mindset, as it acknowledges that you may not be able to do something at the moment, but future success is possible with grit, passion and perseverance.
Recognising your progress, however small, will also help you focus on what’s possible, rather than what’s hard. Did you complete that task you’ve been struggling with slightly faster today? Did you make less errors? Did it feel a little easier than the first time you did it? These are all measures of progress and will help you create a growth mindset if you can tune into them.
Myth #3 – Growth mindset means anyone can do anything
Truth #3 – Growth mindset isn’t about setting unrealistic goals. Recognising our limitations is an important part of having a growth mindset. For example, if two people both put the same amount of effort and hours into learning to play darts, one would inevitably be better than the other (even if marginally) and the difference would be likely be their pre-existing talent and hand-eye co-ordination. So while innate abilities do play a part, having a growth mindset would mean you can build on what talents you have.
While setting unrealistic goals isn’t the point, having a growth mindset is about being brave and courageous enough to try new things, even if that doesn’t go well at the start. Persevering, learning from failure and seeing challenges as opportunities are key components of growth mindset.
Have you tried something new as an adult and noticed whether it feels like a bigger deal than it perhaps would have done when you were a kid? As we get older, many people layer expectations on themselves about being competent in all parts of their life, so learning something new, and starting off being not great at it can be quite a challenge – especially if your mindset towards it is more fixed than growth. Acknowledging that it feels hard and continuing to work at that skill is the key to achieving – and that’s part of what growth mindset is about.
So is the ability to be inspired, rather than threatened, by the success of others. Success isn’t cake. There isn’t a finite amount of success in the world, so someone else being successful doesn’t take away your opportunity. Embracing other people’s success and looking for lessons you can learn as a result is much more closely aligned to a growth mindset.
How to challenge yourself when it feels like a growth mindset isn’t possible
If you feel stuck, or that a task is really hard and you’ve got to the point that you feel like giving up, noticing those feelings and negative thinking or self talk is a good first step. If you want to explore what more is possible if you could switch to a growth mindset in relation to that task, you can ask yourself a series of questions which will help you refocus.
These are based on CBT techniques, and I want to credit Counsellor & Hypnotherapist Richard Jenkins based in Northampton for inspiring what he calls the three magic questions.
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- Is there another way to look at the situation?
This question helps you to stop and consider alternative views. What would other people say about the situation you’re in? What other angles could it be viewed from – do they give you a different answer or explanation? Initially it may be difficult to see the challenge through a different lens, if so move to question 2.
- Do I have all the information?
Or what evidence do I have for the conclusion I’ve reached/way I’m thinking/feeling?
This question engages your rational brain, which is always going to be secondary to the emotional part of your brain because the emotional part of the human brain is so much more powerful. If your emotional brain is in the driving seat, it’s easy to leap to conclusions. Asking yourself this question helps you figure out if there’s a legitimate basis for how you’re feeling or reacting. It helps you separate the facts from the assumptions, the evidence from the emotions to help you think more logically.
- How am I benefitting from thinking/feeling like this?
Possibly the most powerful of the 3 questions. How is it helping to think or feel this way? If you are angry, distressed or frustrated, it’s likely you’re not actually getting any benefit from those emotions. Is the energy you’re spending on them worth it?
If this answer to this question is that you’re not getting any benefit from the situation, it’s time to go back to the first question with that incentive to find another angle to consider things from and change our mindset or approach to the situation/challenge.
This technique can be hard to do on your own but can be really powerful when sharing these aloud with your coach.
As you can see, there are lots of ways that growth mindset myths can hold you back. If you’d like to chat to a career coach to help you reframe an issue you’re wrangling with, drop me an email.
