Growth Mindset and the Importance of Having It

Note: This article is by Tyler Tervooren, founder of Riskology, who talks about the growth mindset and the importance of having one.

To begin your own journey towards acquiring a growth mindset in which, according to scientists, you can unlock your full potential, I'm going to ask you a question: When I mention basketball player Michael Jordan, what comes to mind first? Is it speed? agility? strength? Or great talent? You might expect any of these answers, but what about hard work? Was that on your list? And if you can think of it, was he at the top of the list or at the bottom?

When an average fan watches clips of Jordan and sees his career, they imagine the talent he had to have to get there, but if you listen to what Jordan has to say about his career, you'll hear him say the same thing over and over again: “Hard work is what made the great legacy that I am today. On the surface, my talent seems effortless, but in reality, it is quite the opposite.”

Why would someone so talented need to work so hard to get what they want? According to him, hard work is what boosted his talent.

In an interview with sports commentator Ahmed Rashad, Jordan talks at length about his work ethic and how he thinks about his success. And in a poignant moment in the interview, Rashad asks Jordan: "Was the fear of failure a motivator for you?" Jordan replied, without any hesitation, “I have never been afraid about my skills because I work on them. Work ethic eliminates fear.”

Throughout his career, Jordan has demonstrated what psychologists call a "growth mindset," which is the belief that effort  (not talent) produces results.

This mentality plays an important role in Jordan's life, and not just during his years in the National Basketball Association (NBA). When he moved on to playing baseball, he would get to practise early and hit balls until his hands bled, and today he runs his business, a chain of steakhouses, a car dealership, and an NBA team.

If you think you can attribute this wide variety of success to innate talent, think again. According to Jordan and a growing body of research, a growth mindset is what enables this type of success.

Growth mindset: what is it and where did it come from?

The idea that your mindset influences your life is not new. For thousands of years, most of the great thinkers, writers, and orators have extolled the virtues of mastering your mind to improve yourself. You get a different result each time you think differently.

The phrase “your thoughts determine your reality” has been around for ages, but is it really true? The story of "Michael Jordan" is just one anecdote in an endless list of many anecdotes that might say that the above statement is true, and unfortunately, anecdotes cannot be relied upon exclusively. What we need is science that explains why anecdotes work and how they can work in our favour.

Psychologist Carol Dweck has conducted decades of research into the way we learn and has come up with an impressive body of empirical evidence that your mind matters. This led her to write her wonderful book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, and the gist of the book is that you can measure your mindset on a scale that starts with a fixed mindset and ends with a growth mindset.

What Dweck reveals is that people with a growth mindset believe that their intelligence and abilities are malleable and that they can change - that is, grow - based on how much effort they put into it. They look at their brain as they look at their muscles, so if they use it more and exercise it, they will get stronger.

For those with a fixed mindset, traits are fixed, as is the colour of their eyes. If you are intelligent, it is because you were born that way. If you are gifted, the talent has come from your genes, and there is not much you can do about it either way. This is a simple explanation for the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset, but why does it matter?

What does a growth mindset do for you?

It's easy to understand the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset. If you think your personality is fixed and you can't do anything about it, that's the fixed mindset. If you think you're in control of your personality and you can change if you try, that's the growth mindset.

But is one better than the other? According to Dweck, a growth mindset is definitely better in almost every way. What I've discovered through a series of experiments and studies is that people with a growth mindset not only learn more new things, but they learn those new things faster and better, and the results have been long-term and also quite straightforward.

For example, students with a growth mindset got better grades, rose to higher levels of achievement later in life, achieved more of their goals, and stayed on more successful paths. This is because a growth mindset changes everything about how we approach challenges and opportunities. In Mindset, Dweck says, "Regardless of your ability, effort is what ignites that ability and turns it into achievement."

According to her research, a growth mindset is what motivates you to make an effort, and it is what makes you delve deeper into overcoming the difficulties of learning something new. And that it can make you smarter, stronger, or better, and make you feel more motivated to put in the hours of hard work that will actually get you where you want to be.

You are making an effort for something you know you can achieve. So you are satisfied with your efforts and hard work, but when you are stuck in a fixed mindset, you are powerless. If you can't grow, learn, or change, why bother trying? You don't think you can do it, and failure will only confirm that.

Dweck's research shows that the students she examined were much less likely to try to learn something new when they showed signs of a fixed mindset, and when they did, they didn't try hard or for long. Here's what Dweck says in Mindset:

“In the case of a fixed mindset, everything is about the outcome. If it fails - or it's not the best - all is lost, while a growth mindset allows people to value what they do regardless of the outcome. They tackle problems, sign up for new courses, and work on important issues.” Come to think of it, we all start our lives with a growth mindset. So that should make it easy and natural to be a growth-oriented person, yet we all suffer from a fixed mindset, at least sometimes.

Dweck says, “What can stop anyone from learning?

Every person is born with a strong drive to learn. Every day children expand their skills, not just ordinary skills, but the more difficult tasks of human life, such as learning to walk and talk. They never decide that they are too difficult or not worth the effort. Kids don't worry about making mistakes or getting into embarrassing situations, they walk and fall and get up and push forward.

What could put an end to this prolific learning?

The answer is the fixed mindset. Once children are able to evaluate themselves, some of them are afraid of challenges and afraid of not being smart. I have studied thousands of people from pre-school and beyond, and it turns out to me that the number of people who reject the opportunity to learn is huge and shocking.” So if you want to improve your life and take control of what you achieve, a growth mindset is clearly more beneficial than a fixed mindset.

Do you have a growth mindset?

You probably already know whether you have a fixed mindset or a growth mindset, but if you're not sure, here's a quick 3-question poll that will give you a rough idea of whether you have a fixed mindset or a growth mindset:

1. Which of the following two statements matches how you feel about your own intelligence and abilities?

• I am who I am, and that will not change.
• I can be the person I want to be if I work towards that.

2. If you passed a difficult test, which of these two compliments would be most satisfying to you?

• You are very smart.
• You worked hard.

3. When you don't understand something, what are you likely to do?

• Ask fewer questions about it.
• Ask more questions about it.

Let's look at these questions in more detail.

The first question: Do you think that your personality is fixed and will not change?

Or do you think you improve as you learn more? If you think you can't control your intelligence and abilities, you tend toward a fixed mindset, but if you think you can change them, you tend toward a growth mindset.

Question 2: If you passed a difficult test, which of these two compliments from your family or friends would be more satisfying to you?

• (a) You are very smart.
• (b) I worked hard.

If you choose A, you tend toward a fixed mindset, and if you choose B, you tend toward a growth mindset. People with a fixed mindset value their innate talents more than their efforts. So it would be more satisfying for others to praise their intelligence, but people with a growth mindset take more pride in their hard work than their innate talents, so praise that indicates their efforts will be more encouraging.

Question 3: When you don't understand something, do you ask more questions about it or avoid asking questions?

If you ask more questions, it indicates that you have a growth mindset. You show an interest in a subject that you do not fully understand, and this interest stems from a desire to learn, which is a characteristic of those who aim for growth.

If you ask fewer questions, this indicates that you have a more fixed mindset. You may be less interested in unfamiliar topics, or you may feel some fear of showing others that you do not know much about a subject, which is a characteristic of those who see themselves as fixed.

Take the average of the three answers above, and you'll get a rough indication of whether you have a fixed mindset or a growth mindset.

Is a growth mindset that easy?

It is, but you need to be more precise in your judgement of your day-to-day thinking. According to Dweck, it's important to understand that people either have a growth mindset or a fixed mindset.

Someone like basketball player Michael Jordan believes he can learn and excel at anything. He has a super growth mindset. Some people can't imagine their lives going in any other direction than the one they're going in now, and they don't change that by trying something different. They have a super fixed mindset, while the rest of us stand somewhere in the middle. We tend to lean toward one mentality or the other.

While you have an overall mindset, you may find that it differs completely toward different topics or under different circumstances. You may think of yourself as the best chef on earth and at the same time see yourself as a hopeless golfer, which is normal. If you find yourself In such a case, the solution is simple:

If you generally fall under a fixed mindset, then you need to work to move into a growth mindset, even if gradually. If you generally fall under a growth mindset, you must work to move closer to achieving it so that you can benefit from this way of thinking in all areas of your life. And if you suffer from a fixed mindset in a particular area, then this is where you should make the most effort to improve.

How do you develop your growth mindset?

Now you know what a growth mindset is, what it can do for you, and whether or not you have one. However, it can be frustrating to make sense of it all while still not knowing what to do to develop it in yourself. When you are faced with a fixed mindset, you may feel that you have no way of changing it and there is nothing you can do. You can search your mind and create even a short list of areas in your life where you have a growth mindset.

The point is to look for times when you learned something and it made you better. Maybe you always struggled with maths and told yourself that the problem was who you were, that you were bad with numbers. But then you remembered that you had acquired a new skill at work - maybe it was learning how to run a project, forecast a budget, or whatever - very quickly and you've never used this skill before, but you put in some effort, you learned, and it became easy for you.

Personally, I have a growth mindset in most areas of my life; I love making an effort in learning, and I use it to constantly acquire new skills, but relationships are still one of the things I struggle with. I am very introverted and communication has never been easy for me. When I fail, I go hard on myself, and I say, "You're not a relationship person."

Most of these words are not true, and I have proof of that. There are several aspects in my life I had to make an effort to learn, but now feel so effortless, and learning to develop relationships is no different. When I remind myself that I've learned other hard things before, and am able to see my progress in relationships over time, it helps me build the growth mindset I need to keep evolving and make more progress.

So, start by thinking of a goal you want to achieve. Make it small so that you can complete it in the next few days. Make it something you feel you should be able to do but can't right now or haven't tried yet. It held you back from making the effort toward that goal. You may have told yourself that you don't even have the skill to do it or that you won't be able to find the time to achieve it.

But take a moment to talk to yourself about this goal in a growth mindset, and that if you take the time to learn and put in the effort, you will be able to achieve it. The way I want you to do that is by reminding yourself of examples - the fresher the better - of how you achieved something difficult by working hard. You can also make a list, it is a very powerful motivator.

In conclusion

Pick one small thing to do today that will take you one step closer to achieving your personal goal, commit to putting in at least 20 minutes of effort toward it, and when you're done, praise yourself for that particular accomplishement.