Our most basic beliefs strongly affect our ability to improve. Our mindset can either motivate us or prevent us from fulfilling our potential. According to researcher Carol Dweck, there are two types of mindsets: a fixed mindset and a growth mindset.
In a fixed mindset, people believe their basic qualities like their intelligence or talent are fixed traits and therefore cannot change. These people spend time documenting their intelligence and talents rather than working to develop and improve them. They also believe that talent alone leads to success, and effort is not required.
Following are the fixed mindset triggers:
By contrast, in a growth mindset, people have an underlying belief that their learning and intelligence can grow with time and experience. This view creates a love of learning and resilience that is essential for great accomplishment. When people believe they can get smarter, they realize that their effort has an effect on their success, so they put in extra time, leading to higher achievement.
We all look at top athletes and think that they are extremely talented and gifted, but most of the time the talent is backed by many years of hard work. Behind one successful athlete, there are several who had deep talent but they failed. Why do you think that would have happened?
Because they viewed failures as signs of their inabilities and did not put effort to reach their full potential. On the other hand, those with a growth mindset were able to see failures as opportunities to learn and this allowed them to walk closer to their full potential.
Those with a fixed mindset believe that their intellectual ability is limited, and they often worry about their ability to prove it, and this can lead, in the face of challenges and setbacks, to destructive thoughts (e.g., “I failed because I’m dumb”), feelings (such as humiliation), and behavior (giving up). When someone with a fixed mindset comes across a tough situation that demands some extra effort, they give up and feel that they aren’t good enough.
Alternatively, those with a growth mindset will often perceive the challenge or setback as an opportunity to learn. As a result, they respond with constructive thoughts (e.g., “Maybe I need to change my strategy or try harder”), feelings (such as the excitement of a challenge), and behavior (persistence). This mindset allows them to transcend momentary setbacks to focus on long-term learning. When someone with a growth mindset comes across a tough situation, they don’t give up but continue to put in more and more effort to get what they want.
Below is a table that shows the different approaches between someone with a fixed mindset and another with a growth mindset:
| TWO MINDSETS | ||
| SCENARIO | FIXED MINDSET (intelligence is static) | GROWTH MINDSET (intelligence can be developed) |
| challenges | ….. avoid challenges | ….. embrace challenges |
| obstacles | ….. give up easily | ….. persist in the face of setbacks |
| effort | ….. see effort as fruitless or even worse | ….. see effort as the path to mastery |
| criticism | ….. ignore useful negative feedback | ….. learn from criticism |
| Success of others | ….. feel threatened by the success of others | ….. find lessons and inspiration in the success of others |
| As a result, these people plateau early and achieve less than their full potential | As a result, these people reach even higher levels of achievement. | |
Mindsets are very important for resilience and performance. Mindsets are beliefs—beliefs about yourself and your most basic qualities. What do you think about your intelligence, talent, and personality? Are they simply fixed or can they be developed?
Most people think that success comes from one’s cognitive abilities or the qualities of resources one receives. That is not true success depends on one’s mindset. When you believe you’re your intelligence is predetermined, limited, and unchangeable (fixed-mindset), you doubt your ability which in turn, undermines your resolve, resilience, and learning. But when you have a growth-mindset and believe that your abilities can be developed, you show perseverance and willingness to learn. This is what brings you closer to success.
The reason why a growth mindset is so winsome is that it creates a learning passion rather than a hunger for approval. Its hallmark is in the conviction that the qualities of humans such as creativity and intelligence, and even relational capacities such as friendship and love may be cultivated by practice and effort. People with this kind of mindset are not discouraged by failure but they see them as learning opportunities.
It has been found that people that have a fixed mindset see risk and effort as giveaways in waiting.
One of the major applications of this particular insight is in business, education, and love. The research found out that people with a fixed mindset wanted their ideal mate to make them feel perfect. People with a growth mindset on the other hand preferred partners that would recognize their faults and lovingly help them to improve.
There is nothing like a “pure” growth mindset. Everyone is actually a mixture of fixed and growth mindsets. This is a very important aspect to acknowledge if we want to attain the benefits we desire from nurturing a growth mindset. In certain situations, the growth mindset goes wrong. We can’t deny that results do matter. In the disguise of “learning,” we can’t keep making mistakes. If we keep rewarding only efforts and ignore outcomes, that is also not good. The effort is important but the unproductive effort (the effort that does not bring results) is not, and outcomes still do matter. So ignoring outcomes and just rewarding effort regardless of whether the hard work is getting results or not, isn’t good. The best way forward is to learn from successes and failures, take on newer challenges, and constantly improve oneself. That’s how we make progress.
