Could you be stuck in a fixed mindset, and not even realize it? Let’s talk about what a growth mindset is, and then what it takes to develop it.
The growth mindset is primarily a theory around learning and intelligence, developed by Stanford University researcher Carol Dweck, who first became interested in the idea while studying a student’s relationship to failure. In their research, they were curious about why some students were resilient in failure, while others seem to crumble after even the most minor of setbacks. Carol and her team developed a theory that we live in either a fixed or growth mindset. In summary:
“…Individuals who believe their talents can be developed (through hard work, good strategies, and input from others) have a growth mindset. They tend to achieve more than those with a more fixed mindset (those who believe their talents are innate gifts). This is because they worry less about looking smart and they put more energy into learning.” (https://hbr.org/2016/01/what-having-a-growth-mindset-actually-means)
In other words, in a growth mindset, we believe that talent can be developed and strengthened. In a fixed mindset, we see intelligence and talent as innate—therefore, we either have it or we don’t. According to Dweck, a growth mindset ultimately leads to more success, because we are willing to see our skills as something that can be developed with hard work.
At first glance, we would all like to think we have a growth mindset, not only for ourselves, but for others. But when we dig deeper, you might find that you are a mixed bag of both fixed and growth mindsets, depending on the situation. Check out this chart from Carol Dweck for the way growth and fixed mindsets manifest in our thoughts and actions:
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