This post is all about how to develop a growth mindset.

Let me ask you a question: Do you believe success depends solely on your abilities OR do you believe it is the combination of effort and abilities?

You might be wondering why I´m asking you this, well the truth is that just by the way you answer this question I can tell if you are going to be successful or not, if you have what it takes to achieve your goals and build your dream life.

Want to know what each answer means?

If you answered that success depends ONLY on efforts, that means you have a fixed mindset. If you believe that success depends on effort and abilities, you have a growth mindset.

Okay, but what does a growth mindset and a fixed mindset mean? And how do these things determine my success in life?

Let´s start from the beginning…

Growth Mindset V.S. Fixed Mindset

Our mindsets are quite literally the glasses through which we view the world. And whether these glasses and pink, black, or distorted depend on mainly one thing- our subconscious mind.

Our mind is divided into two parts: our conscious mind and our subconscious mind.

The subconscious consists of a field of consciousness in which any thought impulse raised by the mind through any of the five senses is recorded. 

In other words, it receives and archives the impressions or thoughts felt by the mind through any of the five senses.

The subconscious mind acts based on a set of beliefs. Beliefs are repeated ideas that influence our thoughts, decisions, behavior, actions…

Our subconscious works like a computer. When we are first born it´s empty, it doesn´t contain any information. As we grow up it starts recording everything that happens to us.

Based on our experiences, our education, the place, and the conditions we grew up in, a set of beliefs is printed in our subconscious.

And these beliefs and experiences are the ones that establish our mindset and the way we view and experience things.

These beliefs and experiences also determine if we have a growth or a fixed mindset. But what do these mean?

Fixed Mindset

A fixed mindset is when you believe that your character, intelligence, and abilities are static and can´t be developed, changed, or improved.

People with a fixed mindset think that success is rooted in proving yourself and it depends ONLY on your abilities.

You limit yourself and you seek validation through your traits. In other words, you are always trying to be the smartest, the creative one, the funniest.

You often believe that I can either do “this” or I can´t. But not only that because you believe that you have to do it perfectly on your first try and that if it takes a lot of effort or things don´t go the way you expected them to it means it wasn´t meant to be.

If you have a fixed mindset you avoid challenges and getting out of your comfort zone as much as possible. You have a fear of being judged because you link your worth to your abilities and your self-talk is based on judgment towards your past mistakes and failures.

Another thought pattern that characterizes the fixed mindset is believing that failures, mistakes, and setbacks mean the limit of their abilities and are reasons enough to quit.

Growth Mindset

On the other hand, having a growth mindset is when you embrace failure and accept it as part of the process, as an experience instead of letting it define you.

A growth mindset thrives in challenges and sees every opportunity available to grow and become a better person, to learn. 

A growth mindset consists of knowing that you can figure out anything you want with enough time and practice.

If you have a growth mindset, you see challenges as chances and mistakes as part of the learning process. You seek to constantly develop your skills and traits because you know that your brain has the ability to change throughout your life and that skills are something you develop and build, not something you are born with.

People with a growth mindset are focused on learning and improving, they don´t give up when their efforts are not giving results, they simply change their strategy.

And most importantly people with a growth mindset create plans that will help them achieve their goals instead of believing willpower will get them to the finish line, plans where they establish:

• Strategies to deal with setbacks
• Decide what you will do every time a setback happens
• Work out which habits they need to implement to achieve and maintain their success.

Related post: how to create powerful action plans to succeed and achieve your goals

When you are developing a growth mindset and challenging your limiting beliefs about success, failure, and your mind’s capacity… you are basically learning the skills you need to reach your goals.

These set of ideas and beliefs that having a growth mindset brings will help you fulfill your ambitions and achieve your dreams.

Aside from this developing a growth mindset will make you:

• Feel more courageous and open to new experiences
• Enjoy challenges
• Willing to put more effort into your goals as well as have more realistic expectations.
• More resilient, especially when encountering setbacks

Ways to Develop a Growth Mindset

Now that we clearly understand what a growth mindset and a fixed mindset mean and the difference between the two, how can we actually eliminate our fixed mindset and develop a growth mindset?

Well, here are the 4 most effective methods you have to try to develop your growth mindset.

Now, it can feel challenging to change your mindset, especially because to do this, you´ll have to embrace the things that you´ve previously tried to avoid such as challenges, criticism, or setbacks.

It is not something easy… but it is possible.

So with this in mind let´s start with the first method…

Change your negative self-talk

As we said earlier, judgemental self-talk is one of the traits that most characterizes a fixed mindset. The mind of a person with a fixed mindset is full of insecurities, I can´ts, this is too difficult, it´s too much effort, etc.

So let´s see two techniques we can use to neutralize this self-talk and change it into a more empowering one:

Don´t rush to “I can´t…”

What we say to ourselves is incredibly important because it determines how we view and experience things. 

For example, if you see a plate of vegetables and think to yourself: “Urgh, I hate this food, it tastes horrible”, don´t be surprised when you eat the food and it tastes horrible, you literally programmed yourself to experience this.

When we say to ourselves “I can´t do this or that”, we are automatically blocking our minds from achieving what we find so difficult to do, we are telling our minds that we can´t do this and so you can´t. 

Every time you are saying to yourself “I can´t do this” you are programming yourself to failure.

In order to avoid this negative programing and fixed mindset habit, instead of directly jumping to say “I can´t do this…”, stop and ask yourself what can you do to solve this problem you have at hand.

By doing this your mind will automatically start looking for solutions to solve this obstacle you are encountering, instead of blocking itself.

The power of the word “Yet”

Can you spot the difference between these two phrases:

• I can´t do this
• I can´t do this, yet

The first one is the so harmful statement that blocks the mind we have just seen. The second one gives the possibility of hope and opens the door for future improvement.

“I haven´t mastered this skill…yet”.

“I´m not good at cooking…yet”.

“I can´t play chess… yet”.

I want you to use this powerful word to change the meaning of every negative thought/ belief every time it enters your mind.

Meaning that every time you have an “I can´t do this” thought I want you to repeat that thought and add the word yet at the end and then turn that negative thinking around.

For example: “I can´t cook…yet. However, I know that if I invest enough time and practice I can master any skill I desire”.

Think of an empowering affirmation similar to the one mentioned above, one that changes your outlook on the situation at hand, pushes you closer to having a growth mindset, and distances you from limiting and discouraging thought patterns.

Learn to fail

Everyone experiences failure at some point in their lives. And not just once, but many, many times. Even the most successful people in the world have failed.

In fact, the most successful people in the world are the ones who have failed the most.

Yes, you read that right: successful people are the ones who have failed the most times. And they still managed to be successful. So why are so afraid of failure then?

Because since we were children we were taught subconsciously that failing is a bad thing, something to be ashamed of, proof of our limitations an indication that we should quit.

But not only this, because our fear of failure is also nurtured by our primal need to be accepted by the society we live in, the need to be perfect and show ourselves as strong and capable individuals so as to not be rejected by the people around us.

However, This interpretation that we have been taught couldn’t be farther from being the truth, because do you know what a failure actually represents? 

Failures, mistakes, and setbacks, all are teaching and they will represent a very important lesson you needed to learn in order to succeed, because that´s how humans learn, through trial and error.

So don´t let failures make you quit, instead change your mindset around them and see them for what they really are, a teaching method and a lesson we needed to learn. Don´t allow society’s misperception of failure to prevent you from achieving your dreams.

Always reflect on your mistakes

Every time you encounter a setback, every time you make a mistake, reflect on why you failed.

When doing this we stop dwelling in the past and focusing on the failure and instead review the situation and reflect on what we need to improve in the future.

And to help you do this I want to share I couple of questions you can ask yourself to reflect and learn from your mistakes:

• What was the setback I encountered/ mistake that I made?
• How did this affect my progress?
• What would I do differently next time? 
• What can you learn from this? 
• What strategy are you going to try now?

Take away

A growth mindset is the one that constantly develops your skills and traits because you know that your brain has the ability to change throughout your life as well as embrace failure and accept it as part of the process, as an experience instead of letting it define you.

A growth mindset thrives in challenges and sees every opportunity available to grow and become a better person, to learn. 

Developing this type of mindset will help you fulfill your ambitions and achieve your dreams. by learning the skills you need to reach your goals.

Now developing a growth mindset is not a one-time thing, you have to keep working on it, keep setting goals, and searching for opportunities and challenges where you can grow, learn, and develop yourself.

Remember to make plans for all the goals you set for yourself and anytime you encounter a setback, don´t quit, review your plan and look for a new approach and a new strategy to achieve your goals.

And finally, success is NOT the end and it´s highly important to continuously ask yourself what can you do to maintain this success and keep growing.