Podcast Episode 248 - Super Charge Your Life With a Growth Mindset
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Do you ever feel like all your hard work is for nothing?
Have you ever thought, “my circumstances are killing me?”
What do you do when you step out of your comfort zone, and it gets hard? Keep growing or wither back?
We’re continuing our new series Mindset Reset with the mindset that will take your life from something that feels like it’s dying to enjoy a harvest of goodness.
Today is for you if…
If you’re tired of circumstances or people stopping you from living your best life.
If you desire to grow more personally or professionally.
If you’re ready to shake off the mindset slowly killing you and cultivate the mindset that’ll get you blossoming again!
I love spring! It’s one of my two favorite seasons (the other is fall with all its pumpkin goodness.) Spring is a time for budding trees, blossoming flowers and new growth.
My favorite place in the spring is Epcot’s Flower and Garden Festival at Walt Disney World. It’s a spectacular showplace of colorful topiaries painstakingly formed into Disney characters, vibrant flowerbeds planted to resemble butterflies, and food booths artfully presenting the delectable produce of the season.
All this beautiful vegetation is not just planted and left to its own doing; it’s cultivated ahead of time. It’s the only way you get that incredible harvest of color, creativity and yumminess come springtime.
As women who desire to live our best lives, we all want a harvest. We want flourishing relationships, families, friendships, careers or businesses so we can make a huge impact in our world.
Yet, did you know the harvest part isn’t your job? Harvest is a by-product of sowing and nurturing those seeds so they can grow.
That’s what those talented horticulturist at Disney know best. They sow and nurture the seeds for months and sometimes years until they’re ready to turn into beautiful creations that delight everyone who sees them.
Even though harvest isn’t your job, it is your job to plant and nurture the right seeds.
Your seeds are your mindset – your thoughts. Whatever you plant is what you’ll reap. That’s good or bad, depending on the type of seeds.
So what mindsets are you planting?
In the last episode, we talked about the Victor mindset. You learned you’re not a victim of your thoughts. You get to choose what you plant.
Today let’s dig into the Growth Mindset and the mindset that will kill your growth, the Withering Mindset.
When a plant withers, it is typically because of under-watering, overwatering, insufficient nutrients or too much direct sunlight…i.e., it burns up.
A Withering Mindset believes you’re stuck with whatever life has handed you, and it can’t change. It shrinks your world, capabilities and prospects and causes you to wither away.
Withering Mindset:
Thinks life is what it is and you’re stuck with it
Avoids pushing yourself out of your comfort zone or steps out and withers back
Gives up easily
See effort as fruitless
Ignores or avoids helpful 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.
I remember quitting at a horse show and not telling anyone, including my instructors. The announcer was calling my name to come to the stadium, but I’d already packed my horse up, ready to hit the road because I failed my first round. I wasn’t about to fail a second. My mindset was, “If I don’t try, I won’t fail.”
That’s a Withering Mindset. And it got me nowhere except a failed marriage, a failed career, and failed friendships.
My life WAS dying because of my Withering Mindset, but then I discovered another mindset.
On the other end of the mindset spectrum is the Growth Mindset.
In her book “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success,” Carol Dweck talks about a Growth Mindset and believes you can put in the effort to grow in an area.
A Growth Mindset knows you can cultivate the qualities you need to succeed.
Growth Mindset:
Cultivates thoughts that help you grow
Listens to wise advice and doesn’t think, “I know that.”
Takes correction and makes the necessary changes
Seeks wisdom
Learns from failures - “It’s not a failure if I learn from it.”
Finds lessons and inspiration in the other’s success
A Growth Mindset embraces the concept, “I don’t know how to do that–YET.”
And the “what if…” principle.
What if it’s possible? What if I succeed? What if life could be better? What if I can enjoy this success or happiness instead of waiting for the other shoe to drop?
A plant needs the proper nutrients, watering, sunlight and pruning to grow.
If your plant is withering, what do you do?
Check for over or under watering
Remove dead leaves
Trim back stems
Changing lighting
Determine other needs
It works similarly for our mindset.
How Do You Cultivate a Growth Mindset so you don’t wither away?
Here are two ways you can start cultivating a Growth Mindset today to cultivate a growth mindset and starve off a Withering Mindset.
1. Learn from the Wise
Solomon was the wisest man in the world. He wrote the bulk of Proverbs, so it’s 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.
You can also read books, take courses, get coaching, get mentors, etc., from those who are where you want to be.
Oh, also, you can learn one thing from one person and another principle from someone else. Not everyone is wise in all areas. Eat the hay and spit out the sticks.
2. Try New Things
A Growth Mindset will push you to try new things and take a risk, even if you might fail at first.
Proverbs 24:16a NLT
The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again.
A growth mindset doesn’t mean you have the same talents and abilities as everyone else. It means you can grow through hard work, mentoring, and perseverance.
You can have a Growth Mindset in one area of your life and a Withering Mindset in another.
I still have a Withering Mindset when it comes to my capacity. I hear myself saying without thinking, “I’m so slow. I can’t get it done as fast as so-and-so.”
But you know what? I’m trying new ways to get faster where I can and be patient where I can’t. That’s growth!
Homework:
1. I want you to ask yourself, “where might I have a Withering Mindset in an area of my life?”
2. What’s one new thing you can try this week to grow in this area?
Read a Proverb a day? There are 31, one for every day of the month.
Try and pick one verse per day that jumps out to you.
Or you can Read a book in an area you want to grow?
Take a class, get a coach, or ask someone to mentor you.
Remember, if something isn’t growing, it’s dying. Keep growing with your Growth Mindset and reap a harvest of a better life.
If you’re enjoying this series, get ready because my new book, Hello Courageous, will start pre-sales in mid-September! I’ll get you more info as it gets closer.
You’ve got this, and Father’s got you!
Thanks a bunch for listening!
Until Next Time, Live Fearlessly Free!!
Resources:
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success” by Carol Dweck - https://amzn.to/3DvB8JN
*Amazon Affiliate link; I will receive a small commission if you purchase through this link.