What is a Growth Mindset?

Have you ever heard the phrase “growth mindset” and wondered what it means? In short, a growth mindset is the belief that your abilities and intelligence can be developed over time through hard work and dedication. This stands in contrast to a fixed mindset, which is the belief that your abilities are predetermined and cannot be changed. Let’s break down the differences between a fixed mindset and growth mindset.

Fixed Mindset

People with a fixed mindset believe that they are who they are, and there’s not much if anything they can do to change that. People with a fixed mindset believe they were born with certain talents or abilities, and while they may discover things over time, they really can’t change who they are.

Since they can’t really change who they are, they get upset when confronted with failure because they view their failure as a judgment that they aren’t good enough as a person. They don’t realize that everyone fails sometimes, and they do whatever they can to avoid these situations, including making up excuses, projecting blame on other people, and lashing out emotionally at people and circumstances that challenge their idea of who they are and what they are good at.

In contrast, people with a growth mindset are more likely to take on challenges, embrace failure as an opportunity to learn, and ultimately achieve greater success in their personal and professional lives.

People with a growth mindset have a completely different attitude towards failure. Because people with a growth mindset believe that they are always changing, they view failure as an opportunity to learn and improve. They view failure as a teacher, and try to glean as much wisdom and insight from the fact that they weren’t successful to do better next time. It’s a much healthier approach to learning.

One of the most powerful mindset shifts you can make is to decide to embrace a growth mindset. For some, this is a radical change as they’ve become accustomed to a fixed mindset, or a limited view of their potential. But in order to reach your full potential, you have to make the switch and believe not only that growth is possible, but that you have the ability to direct it where you want to go.

If you want some help developing your own growth mindset, download our growth mindset ebook here, or schedule a demo with us today!