Growth Mindset and Fixed Mindset Before we talk about this , let’s start by understanding what Mindset really is and what effect it has on our lives.
Some people believe that “because he grew up in a poor family, there is no way he will be able to study higher and there is no way he will have the opportunity to become an executive in a large organization.”
But some people believe that “Even though we come from a poor family, if we don’t give up, plus we always try and find new ways, in order to have the opportunity to study at a higher level, it will be a ladder that will allow us to get a good job and have the opportunity to become a manager in the future.”
What do you think the future holds for these two in the next 10 years?
The first person is very likely to remain the same, that is, not being able to study, not having the opportunity to get a good job. Do you think his life is happy, having to end up like this?
The second person, although he may not be a senior executive, has the opportunity to become a middle executive or at least a manager.
Even though both people have the same starting point and come from the same society, it does not mean that their lives will end up the same.
As the old saying goes, “What you think and believe, that’s what you get.”
This is what is called Mindset, which is a matter of thinking that is influenced by beliefs and our experiences that have been accumulated from the past to the present. Both our thoughts and beliefs will affect our behavior and our way of life.
Therefore, “If our belief is strong enough, coupled with our efforts, we will grow and have a chance to succeed in the future.”
Carol Dweck, author of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (2007), conducted a study of human behavior to determine what factors positively and negatively affect human success. Her study concluded that:
“A person’s beliefs have a direct impact on his abilities or potential, and also affect his failures and successes.”
“In addition, beliefs also affect our self-awareness, self-esteem, creativity, and ability to cope with problems, obstacles, or disappointments.”
From her studies and research, Carol Dweck has divided human mindsets into two groups: Growth Mindset and Fixed Mindset , with the following details:
The first group, Fixed Mindset: is a group that believes that people have skills, abilities, potential, intelligence, creativity or talents that can only be this much or only to a certain level, but cannot develop further.
The second group, Growth Mindset: is a group that believes that skills, abilities, potential, or creativity can be created or developed.
To better understand the differences between people with a Fixed Mindset and a Growth Mindset, let’s take the example of two students. After they both received their midterm math scores, they both received only 20 points out of a possible 50.
The first student, because he believed that he was not good at math at all and had failed math before as a child, when he saw the test scores like this, in reality, he did not feel too bad because in his heart he already knew that the results would be like this.
What do you think the first student’s next exam results will be like? Will his final exam score improve?
The answer is that it will not get better. It will only get worse. Because the first student is already convinced that he is not good at math, he will choose not to try to learn or devote himself to practicing this skill. The result is that he will not pay attention in class, study to pass each day. In the end, he may fail the subject again or pass by a hair’s breadth.
Let’s look at the second student. After seeing the results of the test, he believed that he might not be good at math or didn’t understand it well enough, which made him unable to do the test. So he turned to pay more attention and devote himself to studying math, whether it was paying attention in class or practicing additional exercises, because he believed that if he paid attention and practiced more, the results would definitely be better than before.
The second student’s approach is that he sees the disappointment or mistake that caused him to get a low score in the mid-term exam as an opportunity to improve, correct, and develop himself because he still has another chance to make up for it in the final exam, which is different from the first student who gave up from the beginning and admitted that he was not good at math.
Now, can we differentiate which students have a fixed mindset or a growth mindset?
Answer: The first student has a fixed mindset.
The second student is someone with a growth mindset.
So how do we know what kind of mindset we have?
Let’s try to answer this question and see if it’s yes or no.
If we believe that “success can only come from having talent”
“Only talented people can succeed. Foolish people have no chance of success.”
“Challenges are obstacles or pressure.”
“A mistake or a disappointment is our own incompetence.”
“Advice or criticism from others is a way to slander or expose ourselves.”
“When faced with a difficult task or a task we have never done before, we avoid taking it on.”
“When we see our colleagues succeed, we feel dissatisfied and feel that they may be an obstacle to our future growth.”
If we answer no to any of the questions, it means that we also have a fixed mindset mixed into our thinking set.
So, what are the people with a growth mindset like? How do they view the same situation?
They believe that “success comes from effort.”
“Ability, ability, and various skills can be developed.”
“A challenge is an opportunity to develop yourself and grow.”
“Mistakes or disappointments are lessons that teach us not to make the same mistakes again.”
“Advice or criticism from others helps us to fix and improve ourselves in a specific way.”
“When faced with a difficult task or a task they have never done before, they will try to do it first, even though they may encounter some problems or obstacles.”
“When they see their colleagues succeed, they feel happy for them and look up to them as role models.”
In fact, everyone has a mixture of either a Fixed Mindset or a Growth Mindset. It depends on who has which one and in which area to a greater or lesser extent.
So, no matter what kind of mindset we had before, if you have read this far, you should be able to see the way to choose to have a mindset that is good for yourself. Which kind will help us achieve more success than before?
Read more at: Fixed Mindset is a common problem in work or at work.
