Why is Growth Mindset Important

I’d like to start with a general definition of what growth mindset is. One definition is this: growth mindset is the belief that your abilities, intelligence, and skills are not fixed traits, but can be developed over time through effort, learning, and persistence. When you adopt a growth mindset it is a choice. Many of us think we are at the mercy of the way we grew up, what we currently are like now, and there is no changing it. I’m here to tell you that after experiencing massive mindset growth myself, and listening to many scientists and doctors speak on this, you can change your mind. It is possible, and it’s imperative for a life that makes more sense to you.

Our brains are always working for us, and if we can better understand how our minds work, we are setting ourselves up for a better life. There’s not much worse than thinking we can’t control what we think, how we feel, how we respond. It can get us into trouble with ourselves and into situations we don’t want to be in with others. As a person who has done this work and continues to do this work, I can tell you that it’s not only possible, but it also gets easier with practice. Developing these skills is something I highly recommend, and I’ll share my thoughts around the idea of growth mindset with you.

If you’re thinking that developing a growth mindset is going to be an overnight success, it’s not. Our minds have been developing since before we were out of the womb, and the pathways run deep. That doesn’t mean we can’t adjust, pivot, and rewire our brains and change our own minds. The way we are now does not have to be the way we are in a month, a year, a decade. And it starts with small acts of change - not momentous actions that we think we can’t achieve because it feels daunting. As the saying goes, you eat an elephant one bite at a time, though I have no idea who would want to eat an elephant.

Carol Dweck, an amazing psychologist, is the first one to have introduced the idea and term of growth mindset. She differentiates between the two types of mindsets: fixed and growth. People who adopt and maintain the growth mindset are generally more likely to accept challenges rather than dodge them; stay motivated despite difficult situations; move out of comfort zones to discover what’s on the other side; have belief in themselves and their actions. To me, this sounds like a much better option than a fixed mindset where you think you can do nothing to change anything. I grew up in a family who did not model a growth mindset and have fixed mindsets. And I’ve had to distance myself from them because of this. It is impossible to live in a world of “can and will” surrounded by people who live in a world of “can’t and won’t.” I choose to believe I can; therefore, I do.

There are countless reasons why a person would want to develop a growth mindset and feel it’s important to pursue. For you mental health in general, it’s a no-brainer. Or maybe it’s a full-brainer because it does require your brain to be activated and aware of what’s going on in your world and your mental space. I’m going to share some reasons why it’s important to foster a growth mindset rather than continuing with a fixed one. This isn’t a comparison, because there’s no contest. Let’s see why the adoption of the growth mindset would be profound for you.

Continuous Self-Improvement and Learning

I’m going to take myself as an example here. When I started both of my companies, I had no clue what to do. No idea how to generate business, to gain clients and readers. But what I did and know more than ever as I grow this blog is that I am willing to learn, to get better, to put in the time and energy to improve. I’m obsessed with it because learning new things challenges my brain. When you develop this type of mindset, you can’t even help but want to get into things more and more. It makes life more interesting and more fun. Growth is fun and challenging.

Problem Solving and Decision Making Improve

What I notice about people with more fixed mindsets is that they do NOT want an answer to their problems. They want the problem to remain so they can blame the problem or someone else or multiple others for said problem(s). For a person with a growth mindset like you and me, this is a nightmare. I’ve learned to distance myself from this type because people only change when they want to change. You can only problem-solve for yourself. And that starts with one decision at a time. Start somewhere and things go into motion.

Bye Comfort Zone

My favorite zone is not my comfort zone. It’s my learning zone. It’s the zone where I need to figure shit out and then when I do, I am so proud of myself. I equate comfort zones with death. When you aren’t learning, you’re stale and stagnant. That’s not what a robust life is about, after all. There are people who fight like hell to stay there, though. And there is zero you can do about it. You yourself have the ability to do what you want. And stepping out of that comfort zone will make you stronger and more confident and give you self-worth. Check out the links that go to my blogs about those topics.

You’re More Resilient

There’s nothing worse than not being able to bounce back from things and letting it get you down to the point of no return. Before I started writing this blog, I was feeling defeated about some stuff. Nothing in particular, but swirling things going on in my life that are bothering me. I knew (because of experience) I needed a change of scenery and some options to help me out of this funk. So I brought my laptop, some introspective questions I have for myself, and a book outside. My pets and I are on the porch as I write this. And I am exponentially better than I was an hour ago. I’m resilient and I’ve trained myself to be that way. You can, too.

Drop the Perfectionism and Build Confidence

My perfectionism runs real deep. I didn’t even know this about myself until recently because I prided myself on chanting “there’s no such thing as being perfect” nonstop. Little did I know that though I allowed others to be imperfect, I thought I had to be perfect. This is the result of having unhealthy humans who were in charge of me growing up. My self-improvement quest was obsessive and relentless, not kind and caring. I’ve since identified the difference and continue to work on this, as perfectionism did nothing good for me. Not only do I have confidence in myself, I also have self-worth, and that is the biggest win of them all.

Accountability is Not Scary Anymore

When you have a growth mindset, you’re not afraid to make mistakes and take accountability for them. EVERYONE makes mistakes. You realize that, right? Remember when Jesus told the people who wanted to stone the adulteress to death to go for it as long as they hadn’t ever sinned? No one threw even a pebble because we are ALL flawed little humans. And that’s kind of comforting. Giving grace to ourselves and each other helps accountability become a superpower and not something to run away from. Fixed mindset people hate accountability, and growth mindset people embrace it. Sure, it’s still tough at times, but you are way more powerful for it.

More Opportunities Become Available

With growth mindset you naturally come into more opportunities. You simply have more opportunity to learn and more opportunities to grow. This blog, for example, was not something I ever imagined doing in my younger years. Writing was not something I ever thought I could excel doing. Why? Because the people around me had a fixed sense of the world. You did what you did and you didn’t change. I have never really been afraid to jump ship if something felt wrong or a better opportunity came along to jump from something not great to something better. If you can keep your mind open, give yourself permission to dream and to fantasize and to imagine, the universe rewards you with opportunities. It’s pretty magical, and I think trying this would benefit you greatly.

You’re Motivated and Persistent

A couple of adjectives used to describe me are persistent and tenacious. These are undeniable traits that I have and I am very proud to wear them. When you’re in a growth mindset, you want to learn and grow. Anything that you decide you want to do, you do it. Now that I’m an adult and I get to decide what I do with my time, I am nonstop motivated. Lie. Sometimes I am not motivated and I take a beat to rejuvenate myself. But most of the time I am very motivated, excited, and I persist at whatever it is I’m doing. This blog would not be where it is today if I hadn’t been. If I listened to the naysayers (AKA fixed mindsetters), I would’ve quit a long time ago.

Spending the Day in Comfy Clothes with My Pets

Developing a growth mindset takes some dedication if you aren’t naturally a person with growth mindset. Do not fear: it can be acquired and become second nature, and you’ll see areas of your life change in ways you couldn’t imagine. I’m excited to tell you how to sharpen your skills and become a real badass in the growth mindset community. Let’s get this show on the road right away.

Challenges are Just Opportunities

We’re all met with challenges in life. Whether it’s another person who has a challenging personality or a situation at work that has your panties in a wad, this is simply an opportunity to grow. In the midst of it, it’s annoying AF and I know this. Trust me when I say that taking my own advice is very challenging in itself at these times, but I do it. I’m able to zoom out now most of the time and realize that I’m only faced with challenges I can handle, and I will be a more informed person because of it. Voila. Growth.

Your Words Matter

Replacing your fixed mindset words like “can’t” and “have to” to "can" and "get to" are so important to this piece of the puzzle. A friend of mine and I were talking about how we GET to own our businesses and set our own schedules, yet sometimes it feels like we HAVE to. Getting to wake up early, fully healthy and all ten toes makes waking up super early a lot easier. When you realize how negative your words can make you feel, you might start to change them. And your world will change with them for the better.

A for Effort

Immediate results are not the goal here. Results are eventually the goal, but thinking things are going to happen with the snap of a finger is not going to help you get to a growth oriented mindset. Each little win that you make is a huge step in the proper habit formation of growth mindset. Everyday makes up the habits you’ve built. So any tiny change, even 1%, will get you to where you eventually want to be. You’re getting an A for your effort, so keep going. The results will follow.

Get Uncomfortable

It’s easy to stay comfy. I have this problem in certain areas of my life, like dating or going to parties where I may meet someone I cannot stand. The not knowing drives me batty and I end up in my comfy clothes with my three pets watching reels or a WWII documentary. For other things, though, I’m always stepping out of my comfort zone. When I see myself falling into the fixed trap, I make myself do things I wouldn’t normally do, and it helps me grow. Get uncomfortable, even if it’s going by yourself to eat at a restaurant. It goes hand in hand with growth mindset.

Ask and You Shall Receive

Becoming obsessed with feedback began long ago when I wanted to make sure I was doing my job well as a newbie. I think people were rather taken aback, as they didn’t know how exactly to answer me. Most felt like the job I did was always good. And while that was nice to hear, I wanted to know how I could improve. This feedback quest has not stopped. And I am always asking people to help me get better so I can be better for the world. For me, it’s a global problem I’m solving. If I’m better, my little world is better, and the people I interact with are better to the people they interact with. A web of goodness, if you will.

Practice Makes….Better

Learning from your mistakes is something that I encourage you to really embrace. I’ve been involved with and around people who make mistakes and have absolutely no intention of fixing them, all the while saying they would. Yuck. Guess where they are in my life now? Gone. No one has time for that. And if you’re one of those people, prepare to have lower quality people around you because growth mindset people do not tolerate that BS. Make as many mistakes as possible, and learn your lessons. And hey, apologize when needed and don’t do it again.

Be Patient and Kind to Yourself

Probably the one I would highlight the most is to be kind to yourself. You’re a work in progress like the rest of who are also doing life for the first time, and you deserve to give yourself a break. Don’t be like the old me who self-abused and ridiculed herself to complete damnation. The learning process around this is instrumental in your growth. Be patient and kind and loving. And know that you’re doing your best. As Maya Angelou said “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” When you know better, do better. Until then, do your best.

Self Love!

I’m sure you’re an adult if you’re reading this, and I want to tell you that you’re not late to the game here. None of us grew up knowing about this stuff. The emotional underdevelopment of the generations before has been turned on its head, thank goodness. It’s much more en vogue to teach students and young people about this stuff than it was when we were growing up. You are now the student of yourself, and students develop new skills all the time. So let’s put these new skills to work and see just how malleable your mind can get. You’ll be a happier human for it, and one that wakes up each day ready to see what you can GET into, not HAVE to do. I’m proud of you for reading this, and I’m even prouder than you want to better your life. Keep growing and going. You’ve got this.

Thank you for reading this post. If you liked this one, you might also like my recommendations of best self improvement books and the importance of self worth that I wrote.

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