Do You Have a Growth Mindset or a Fixed Mindset?
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Challenges. We all face them.
How do you handle challenges?
Do you hit them head-on? Do you hide? Do you go into fight or flight mode? Do you quit?
Have you ever seen Meet the Robinsons? It’s an animated Disney movie about an orphan boy genius name Louis who struggles to get adopted.
He has invention after invention, literally, blow up in his face. At a critical moment in time, he fails again, and it’s the last straw for Louis. He quits for good.
What he doesn’t know is what would happen to the future because he quits.
We all face challenges in our lives. Day after day, we have many opportunities to give up and quit. Each day we also have many opportunities to grow through challenges.
The question isn’t will we face challenging opportunities, but how will we handle these opportunities?
Carol Dweck, in her book “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success,” brought out two ways people face growth in their lives.
Growth Mindset or Fixed Mindset.
A Fixed Mindset believes that you have a set amount of intelligence in an area, and it can’t change.
A fixed mindset will narrow your world so you can succeed within your current capabilities.
People with a fixed mindset shy away from challenges because they feel like their deficiencies will unmask them. A Fixed Mindset is concerned with appearing smart instead of focusing on growth.
Fixed mindset:
Thinks our qualities are fixed and can’t be changed
Avoid challenges
Gives up easily
See effort as fruitless or worse
Ignore helpful negative feedback
Feel threatened by the success of others
This was me growing up. My greatest skill growing up was quitting.
I quit when it got too hard. I quit when I thought I couldn’t win. I quit early if I thought I would fail because I could not handle the embarrassment of failure.
That is a fixed mindset. And it got me nowhere except a failed first marriage, a mediocre career, and shallow friendships.
On the other end of the mindset spectrum is the Growth Mindset.
A Growth Mindset believes that you can put in the effort to grow in an area continually. It knows these can cultivate qualities.
Growth Mindset:
Embrace challenges
See effort as the path to mastery
Persist in the face of challenges
Learns from challenges - “It’s not a failure if you learned.”
Finds lessons and inspiration in the success of others
A Growth Mindset embraces the concept, “I don’t know how to do that–YET.”
The book of Proverbs is full of advice to help you cultivate a growth mindset.
Proverbs 1:5 NASB
A wise man will hear and increase in learning, and a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel,
Proverbs 15:5 MSG
Moral dropouts won’t listen to their elders; welcoming correction is a mark of good sense.
Proverbs 18:15 NIV
The heart of the discerning acquires knowledge, for the ears of the wise seek it out.
A growth mindset doesn’t mean everyone has the same talents and abilities. It means everyone can grow through hard work, mentoring, and perseverance.
Growth Mindset will push us to try new things and take a risk even if we might fail at first.
Proverbs 24:16a NLT
The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again.
As crazy as it sounds, Michael Jordan wasn’t a natural basketball player. But, people considered him the hardest working in the sport.
We see MICHAEL JORDAN. But then he was only Michael Jordan at the beginning.
When he was cut from Varsity high school team, his mother told him to discipline himself.
He practiced for 3 hours a day before school, every day without fail.
That’s how he became the Michael Jordan we know today. He put in the hard work necessary for growth.
Proverbs 12:1 NLT
To learn, you must love discipline; it is stupid to hate correction.
I want you to be aware that we can have a Growth Mindset in one area of our lives and have a Fixed Mindset in another.
I want you to ask yourself, “where might I have a fixed mindset in an area of your life?”
What is one new thing you can try this week to grow in this area?
We all face challenges in our lives. As we adopt a Growth Mindset in all areas, we’ll be able to meet those challenges head-on, learn from them, and eventually overcome them!
Until next time, Live Fearlessly Free.
Discussion
Where is one area in your life that you have a growth mindset? Where is one area you have a fixed mindset?
What is one new thing you can try this week to grow in this area?
For me, I feel I have a growth mindset when it comes to my marriage. I have a fixed mindset when it comes to my personality. I will catch myself thinking, “I can’t work as quickly as so-and-so,” or, “I’m not as bold as so-and-so.” It’s an area I see that needs to change to a growth mindset so I can grow into those qualities.
Resources
Books:
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck
The Seven Decisions: Understanding the Keys to Personal Success by Andy Andrews
(Andy’s book, The Seven Decisions, will give you a path to transform from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset in every area of your life!)
The Traveler’s Gift by Andy Andrews
(The Traveler’s Gift is the fiction version of The Seven Decisions. It takes us through an incredible adventure with David Ponder as he discovers the Seven Decisions that will change not just his life but all those around him.)