Growth Mindset vs. Fixed Mindset

Early on in life, I was led to believe that children’s intelligence and abilities were innate and hardwired. So much so that society uses a term to profess it as an endowment from the heavens above: "Johnny is so good at basketball. He’s got a gift.” “Kristen is so smart. She’s so lucky she’s gifted.”

In 2007, Carol Dweck published “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success” that outlined her studies on children and their beliefs about the nature of intelligence and capabilities. Dweck and her colleagues separated students based on whether they had a “Fixed Mindset” or a “Growth Mindset.” A Fixed Mindset is the belief that intelligence and abilities are innate, hardwired, and static. You’re either smart or you’re not, capable or not, and that’s something that can’t be changed or influenced to any significant degree. A Growth Mindset is the belief that intelligence and abilities are fluid, changeable, and most importantly, can be developed.

Dweck and her team studied the students and found that whether an individual had a Fixed or Growth Mindset had a significant impact on their development. Students with a Growth Mindset outperformed the Fixed Mindset students in a number of tests including grades, test scores, adaptability, perseverance and persistence, and the ability to accept feedback.

In one study, Dweck tested praising kids for their intelligence vs. praising them for their hard work. Dweck and team found that children praised for their hard work achieved higher test scores and persevered longer on harder tasks. Dweck writes, “Emphasizing effort gives a child a variable that they can control. They come to see themselves as in control of their success. Emphasizing natural intelligence takes it out of the child's control, and it provides no good recipe for responding to a failure.”

The key takeaway here is that the Growth Mindset gives you control of yourself and your life. A Fixed Mindset puts you at the mercy of the outer world.

When you accept that you have control of your life through the decisions you make and actions you take, your entire universe expands. When you accept that you can learn anything, do anything, and be anything, you go from living a fixed life to a life of growth.

Now that you know this, all you have to do is put your hands on the wheel and steer.

What does It mean to have a Growth Mindset vs. a Fixed Mindset?

Beyond the belief of static vs. developmental, the difference between Fixed Mindset vs. Growth Mindset comes down to accountability. Either you believe you are in control of the life you live or you are simply a leaf in the wind being blown in any direction the wind chooses to take you.

Depending on where you are at in life, and how happy or content you are with that position, likely determines how you feel about the notion that you are where you are because of you. Specifically, you’re where you’re at because of the decisions you’ve made and the actions you’ve taken. If you’re not happy with your situation, it may be hard to accept responsibility for your circumstances. If you’re in a good place and happy with where you’re at in life, it’s much easier to accept you created your circumstances as it feels more like taking credit than accountability. In either circumstance, the fact is that you are where you are at because of you and it has very little to do with outside circumstances.

Some people will immediately retort with the negative circumstances they’ve encountered. “I was born into a poor family so I don’t have the advantages that others have had.” “It’s not my fault I had a health issue.” And you might be right. I say “might” because it might be unfortunate that you have health problems or it might be that you have poor eating and exercise habits that contributed to a higher likelihood of health issues. In any case, the only question to ask yourself is, “What am I going to do about it?” I can show you people who were given even larger disadvantages or poorer circumstances that have overcome them and have achieved what you want to achieve.

Only people with a Fixed Mindset can’t accept they are in control. Adopt a Growth Mindset and you’ll begin to see opportunity where there was previously only obstacles. By adopting a Growth Mindset, or enhancing the one you have, you open up all the possibilities in the world to yourself. You GET to choose where you want to go and what you want to be. How exciting is that?!

How to Adopt a Growth Mindset

The first step to adopting a Growth Mindset is understanding and believing that you are in control. Forget everything that’s happened before now. Start from where you are at today. From this moment forward, you control your life. You get to choose the direction you go, what you want to do, and what you want to be.

The second step is seeing that everything is a choice. Let me say that louder for the people in the back: Everything is a choice. The house you live in, the car you drive, the job you work, your partner, everything about the life you live… It is all a choice that you have made, consciously or unconsciously. By understanding you have a choice in everything you do, you bring those choices to the forefront of your mind so you can make those choices thoughtfully.

Hate your boss? You choose to work for him. Strapped for money? Are you choosing to pay too much for an apartment/condo/house that is eating up too much of your budget? Eating out too much? Buying too many clothes instead of thrift shopping? You’re choosing to live a life that makes you feel strapped for cash. I have a friend who complains about how high his rent is while he chooses to live in a three-bedroom apartment… alone. You don’t have to keep up with the Joneses. Everything is a choice.

“Yeah, but I didn’t choose to have a low paying job.” Yeah you did. Every day you make that choice when you drive to work or log in to that computer. Every. Single. Day. Want to stop making that choice? Go learn a new skill and start working toward a new job or career. That’s the whole idea of the Growth Mindset. You are capable of growing into anything you choose.

This doesn’t mean quit your job immediately. It means you begin to build a new pathway to a new future. You’re choosing to open up new avenues to the life you want to live. Your Growth Mindset will pave those pathways along the way.

So now that you know you have a choice, what do you choose to be?

In the next newsletter, I’ll discuss what it means to become the type of person that is aligned with your goals. Until then… Cheers!