If you’re looking to achieve more in life, it’s important to understand what traits are associated with having a growth mindset. According to Carol Dweck, the author of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success and a professor at Stanford University, people with this type of mindset believe they can get better at things if they work hard enough. In contrast, people with a fixed mindset believe our abilities are static—meaning there’s no way we could get better at something without changing ourselves somehow.
If we accept that our actions can be triggered by intentions, incentives or intrinsic values then we can assume that there is a link between growth mindset and intrinsic motivation. With the advances in neuroscience and motivational studies, we can understand more at the physiological level of how these tie together (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov).
An understanding of person with a fixed mindset and a person with a growth mindset can therefore be useful. Let’s consider what is growth mindset.
In one study, children aged 2-3 who were praised for their effort were more likely to have a growth mindset five years later when aged 7-8. (blog.innerdrive.co.uk). The environment that we operate in, and create as leaders does have an impact.
The characteristics of a growth mindset person are:
They believe in their abilities.
People with a growth mindset believe in their own abilities. They believe that they can do anything if they put their minds to it, and that they can learn anything if they put their minds to it. They also believe that they can achieve anything, even if it seems impossible.
They are willing to learn from mistakes.
Mistakes are simply opportunities for learning. They are not failures, but rather crucial parts of the learning process. A mistake is when you make a wrong decision or take an action that doesn’t produce the consequence you intended, while failure implies that there’s something wrong with your character or worthiness as a person. When we accept mistakes as part of our journey towards mastery, they become less scary and instead become opportunities to grow and improve ourselves. It’s important to note that growth requires making many more mistakes than successes—but don’t let this deter you! You’ll never get better if you’re afraid to fail, so embrace those missteps in your quest for greatness!
They allow for mistakes and setbacks.
It’s not just about the big things in life, either. It’s about those little things that you’ve been trying to do for years but keep getting stuck on.
It can be hard to process failure when it feels like your whole world is falling apart around you. But a person with a growth mindset knows that failing at something doesn’t mean they’re a failure as a person; instead, it means there’s room for improvement and growth.
The next time you have trouble sticking with something—whether it be learning piano or learning how to cook—think about how much better off you’ll be if you don’t give up right away! The only way we grow as individuals is through our experiences–and sometimes these experiences come in the form of mistakes or setbacks (or both).
They take risks and embrace challenges.
A person with a growth mindset doesn’t see risk as a bad thing, but rather as an opportunity to learn something new. If they fail at something, they don’t let it stop them from trying again.
If you have a growth mindset, you will not be afraid of taking risks or failing when trying new things.
They give credit to others for their success.
A person with a growth mindset is able to give credit to others for their success. They understand that good work is the result of collaboration, not just individual effort. As a result, they are able to take responsibility for their own actions while acknowledging the contributions of others.
This is in contrast to people who have a fixed mindset—those who believe that success stems from inherent qualities such as talent or intelligence—which leads them to focus on what they can do alone and avoid drawing attention to any flaws or weaknesses in themselves or their work.
They don’t compare themselves to others all the time.
One of the most common ways people with a fixed mindset use to motivate themselves is by comparing themselves to others.
But when you compare yourself to other people, it’s impossible for you not to see the good things they have or do that you don’t, and this can be extremely discouraging. For example, if someone is better than you at math and you’re trying your hardest but still can’t get it, this could lead you down a path of self-blame and negative feelings about yourself. This kind of mindset also makes it easy for people with this type of thinking style to lose confidence in their abilities even when they’re succeeding at something else because they’re constantly comparing their achievements with those who are more successful in other areas (like sports).
People with growth mindsets do not make comparisons like these often; instead they focus on themselves and what they need to improve on without losing sight of the fact that there are other things going on around them that may affect how well they perform.
They tend to collaborate rather than compete with others.
People with a growth mindset tend to collaborate rather than compete with others.
Competition is a good motivator in that it helps us improve our skills and learn from other people’s mistakes. We can also help each other achieve goals, which is beneficial for both parties involved. In addition to this, we can learn from each other’s strengths and weaknesses so that all of us can grow together in our respective areas of interest and expertise.[1]
They celebrate small successes as well as big wins whilst they also avoid failure.
If you’re not a fan of celebrating your own successes, try thinking about what it’s like for your coworkers and friends. Do you congratulate them when they share their successes with you? If so, then great! It’s only fair that if they celebrate their wins with each other, then we should be doing the same for those around us.
In addition to celebrating big wins and small wins alike, it’s also important to recognize how far we’ve come since the beginning of our careers or endeavors. Whether something is going well or poorly in life at any given time, there will always be progress made as long as we keep striving towards our goals.
They see things through to completion, even when they’re not fun anymore.
You will be your own worst critic. You will get lost in the details of everything you do, and that’s OK. It’s a part of who you are as a person with a growth mindset—you want to improve, you enjoy learning new things, and you’re willing to work hard for it. But if something isn’t working out for you, don’t give up on yourself! Try asking for help from friends or family if necessary (and try not to take their advice too personally). You can also seek out professional help with things like therapy or coaching if necessary.
You shouldn’t be afraid to ask someone else how they solved their problem; after all, they’ve probably dealt with similar issues before and may have even been in your situation before!
They become experts in their area of interest, whether that’s fixing cars or playing the piano.
Expertise is a combination of knowledge and skill. It stems from deliberate practice, which includes:
- A desire to improve your skills
- Learning from mistakes and making adjustments accordingly
In other words, a growth mindset is the one that will help you become an expert in something you’re interested in — whether it’s fixing cars or playing the piano.
If you have a growth mindset, you’ll accomplish more than if you have a fixed mindset
A growth mindset is the belief that your abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—the opposite of the fixed mindset, which says that your talents are set in stone. People with a growth mind-set are more likely to pick up new skills and try harder when they fail. This kind of thinking has been linked to greater success by researchers, including Carol Dweck, author of Mindset and Stanford University psychologist who first coined the term “growth mind-set.”
According to Dweck’s research, individuals with these beliefs tend to be more motivated and resilient when faced with challenges because they believe their efforts will lead them closer to success rather than being an indication of their innate abilities. In addition, people who have this belief tend to take on challenging tasks because they know their effort will help them learn something new or improve at something they already do well (or used to do well).
Conclusion
This is just the beginning of what it means to have a growth mindset. There are so many more growth mindset traits that can be added. But by understanding these 10 characteristics, you can already start to see how they could help you in your own life.
The key thing is that there is no one-size-fits-all approach when it comes to having this kind of outlook on life; you have so much freedom within yourself and your environment that anything is possible!
Developing growth mindset can be useful and this is something that our sister business Digital Coaching Academy is focussing on over the next month.
