What’s the difference between a fixed and a growth mindset?
People with a fixed mindset believe that their basic skills and qualities are more or less set from birth and there is not a lot you can do about it. They adopt the attitude of “It’s okay for her, she’s brainy” or “ He’s artistic” or “He’s sporty” or “She’s musical” If they are not good at something from the word go then they don’t see the point in putting in the effort to learn it.
On the other hand, people with a growth mindset believe that most things can be achieved through hard work, practice and by not giving up when things get difficult. They know that some people might be particularly talented at certain things but recognise that for them this is just a starting point and that even these people need to work hard in order to improve on their talent.
Why should I have a growth mindset?
Simple... people who have a growth mindset achieve more in life whether it be in sport or music or acting or business or exam results or sewing a hole in a plastic bag from Sainsbury’s. They achieve more because they have RESILIENCE. This means when things get hard they don’t give up, they hang in there and keep practicing and give it another shot until they make it right.
Michael Jordan, the world’s most famous Basketball player was not regarded as being a naturally gifted player. In fact he was dropped from his high school team. However Jordan had loads of RESILIENCE.
"I have missed more than 9000 shots, lost almost 300 games, on 26 occasions been entrusted to take the winning game shot... and missed. I have failed over and over again in my life. That is why I succeeded"
He listened to advice from those with experience, never stopped trying and continually kept practicing to improve the skills that he did have. It paid of for him in the end!
Einstein is another example of not giving up. People make the mistake of assuming it was easy for Einstein to be the world’s most famous scientist because he was born very intelligent. The point they are missing is that Einstein had to carry out YEARS of research and getting things wrong before he got things right. Again he had RESILIENCE!
Make no mistake about this, success does not come easy. You have to work at it no matter what.
CLICK HERE for our test to give an indication of your mindset.
(Note: mindsets can be altered and can be different for many areas of your life)
