- Geekmaster
- 2020-08-08 09:31:01
- 11 minute(s)
How To Fix a Broken Mindset
How to fix a broken mindset? How to shift from a fixed mindset to a growth one?
What you believe is what you achieve.
Do you often try new things and push yourself into uncharted territory in your development? Or do you tend to stick with what you know?
Your answer to these questions reveals your mindset.
ImportantConscious or unconscious, how you choose to interpret your experiences can set the boundaries on what you can accomplish.
In a fixed mindset, people believe their qualities are fixed traits and therefore cannot change.
These people document their intelligence and talents rather than working to develop and improve them. They also believe that talent alone leads to success, and effort is not required.
Alternatively, in a growth mindset, people have an underlying belief that their learning and intelligence can grow with time and experience.
When people believe they can become smarter, they realize that their effort has an effect on their success, so they put in extra time, leading to higher achievement.
Optimists believe the glass is half full whilst pessimists believe it’s empty. The same can be said for those with a fixed mindset vs a growth mindset.
ImportantShifting your mindset from fixed to growth can be a difficult road, but in the long run, this mindset shift will lead to more success.
Let’s talk about how to fix and transform your mindset. Here are six ways to shift from a fixed mindset to growth.
Find Your Voice
The key to changing your mindset lies first and foremost in self-awareness.
To change your mindset, you have to be able to identify the situations that trigger a fixed mindset and observe when you’re falling into it.
Every life and business coach knows about the inner saboteur.
WarningIt’s the voice that undermines so much of what we do; the inner critic that judges us and our work. The inner saboteur is the fixed mindset.
The key here is to shift out of the framework of judgment (fixed) and into the arena of growth.
Challenges, setbacks, and criticism must be acknowledged as a sign that you need to challenge yourself, step up your effort, change your strategies, and continue to develop.
The growth mindset isn’t just about trying harder and harder, banging your head against a wall until the wall gives. Instead, it’s about working smarter. It challenges us to seek out proven strategies and to test them for ourselves.
There’s a lot of power in the story we tell ourselves.
ImportantOnce you hear the fixed mindset voice and respond to it with a growth mindset, you then determine how to take the necessary action that will lead to growth.
Your mindset is part of your identity. If you can shift your identity, you can change your mindset.
It doesn’t happen overnight, but through repeated, deliberate practice, new skills are born.
Each noticeable improve becomes one more reference point of your capacity to change and growth.
ImportantEvery new skill you develop weakens the fixed-mindset voice. Eventually, this voice becomes a mere whisper in the background of who you are becoming.
Embrace Failures & Weaknesses
Become acutely aware of your many gifts and talents. Fully comprehend your key strengths and weaknesses.
ImportantNo one’s perfect, which means everyone has weaknesses. A person with a fixed mindset doesn’t want to think about what their shortcomings may be.
To shift to a growth mindset, it’s important to recognize and accept things that could be perceived as weaknesses.
WarningThe main reason for this is because you can’t change if you don’t acknowledge that there is a problem.
One of the simplest ways to overcome your weakness is to be honest with yourself about your limitations and tackle them head on.
Using the example about “laziness,” if you know that you tend to procrastinate, then one way to build the growth mindset is to create specific habits in your life that will help you tackle your lazy nature.
When you make a mistake or fall short of a goal, you haven’t failed; you’ve learned. View the setback as part of the learning process. Allow it to help you set future goals.
Once again, self-awareness is key to a growth mindset.
WarningIf you do not give much thought in your role in your success or failure, it is going to be difficult for you to strategize and improve.
Failure is the time to apply extra effort to significantly improve your results.
ImportantFailure is what you do and understanding what you can learn from it. Remember, it is not who you are as a human being.
Shift Your Beliefs
When we come across hard problems or difficult situations, how we interpret and react to them is based on our own story.
The first step to enable a growth mindset is to learn to catch yourself in the moment, make a choice and shift the language you use.
You will create a new compelling belief by believing your talents and skills can be honed by applying oneself.
ImportantIt is your consistent effort and enjoyment of one’s chosen path in life that illuminates the road to mastery.
Your questions determine your focus and greatly influence your reality.
WarningIn a fixed mindset, our reality is dim and limited, your world is small. The more growth-minded questions we ask, the wider, brighter, and larger your world and possibilities become.
Staying in your comfort zone because you are scared to venture out can become uncomfortable. If you avoid challenges, you will not be provided with opportunities to learn and grow. Instead, you will be troubled by the sense that things are not just right.
When you are shifting to a growth mindset, you start viewing challenges as opportunities.
ImportantThe more we challenge ourselves, the more opportunities we have to learn about ourselves. Taking on these challenges is a big part of developing as a person.
Those with a growth mindset excel with challenges.
Challenges propel them forward towards their goals, it is the fuel that inevitably helps them rise to the top. No matter how far they fall, they continue to get back up to begin playing the game once more.
Upgrade & Reboot
Perhaps not everything, but placing learning as a necessity in your life is important.
Instead of worrying about how others perceive you and your intelligence, shift your focus from external motivators to internal motivators.
Success doesn’t come in a day. It’s a result of years of hard work in which learning never ends.
ImportantBy shifting to learning, we can consciously choose a path in which hard work, effort, deliberate practice and persistence will be the key to success.
Ask more questions and be more curious about everyone you meet, the journey they have been on and what they can teach you.
Act like a child does on a daily basis, live in wonderment and discover the beauty of life. Decide today, to continually focus on learning and growing.
There’s no one-size-fits-all model for learning. There are many different learning styles, and it’s important to know your own. It can take some time to understand the nuances of your own, unique learning style, but once you figure it out, learning will be easier and more enjoyable.
Learning isn’t something that you can rush. It’s far better to learn well over learning fast.
WarningYou have to go through some mistakes in order to truly find success, and none of that will come easy or quickly.
The myth’s been busted: genius requires hard work, not talent alone.
With a fixed mindset you believe you are either born with talent or not. With a growth mindset, you know this last sentence is false.
Focus On The Process
Learning isn’t all about the outcome. It’s actually more about the process.
For those with a fixed mindset, the goal tends to be the end product, or whatever is to be achieved, be it passing grades or a raise. Those with a growth mindset live for the process, not the finish line.
Shifting your focus from the destination to the journey leads to a more in-depth understanding of the material.
It can also lead to fun mental discoveries along the way. By the time you reach the end product, you will have learned tons more than if you had focused solely on getting it done.
With a growth mindset, people tie success to effort rather than ability or talent.
ImportantThe tenacity forms part of their character and is an essential ingredient in becoming unstoppable. Giving up is not part of their vocabulary, they have a goal and won’t stop until they arrive.
Goldilocks tasks are activities that are neither too easy nor too difficult, just a little over your current abilities. They provide a perfect opportunity to step outside your comfort zone without leading to anxiety.
Intelligent people enjoy the learning process, and don’t mind when it continues beyond an expected time frame.
WarningNevertheless, there’s a difference between seeking challenges and setting out to do what’s impractical. If you try to climb a mountain without building physical strength, there’s no way you can succeed.
Those with a growth mindset whom naturally love what they do, rise to the top more organically.
ImportantHaving a deep interest in your work is one of the most important things to keep you motivated each day and to keep you wanting to be successful in your field.
Raise The Bar
Growth-minded people are able to continue to create new goals so they stay motivated in the subjects that they choose to study.
Learning is never finished, as there is always another goal to reach or more research to be done.
You want to train your brain as best you can, which equates to continuing to learn throughout life.
ImportantYour brain will have to be trained and retrained as the world evolves and things change, so it is vital to be open to the idea of manipulating your brain to keep up with current trends.
Feedback goes in one ear and out the other when we have a fixed mindset.
WarningWhen people think their abilities are set in stone, they tend to make excuses, get defensive, and place blame when receiving feedback.
Break that cycle and actively seek out feedback.
Do not get defensive or make excuses and listen closely to feedback, no matter how harsh. Use feedback to develop a better plan for improving your abilities.
Set aside time to reflect on your progress and plan how to improve. Remember that effort is only one part of a true growth mindset. You also need to refine your strategy.
Criticism is essential to growth, be it personal or in business.
WarningOf course, not all criticism will be helpful or done in good faith, so it’s important to know how to weed out unhelpful remarks.
Think of constructive criticism as a necessary tool for learning.
If you have an area of weakness and someone is able to point that out to you, think of it as a gift that makes you aware of your faults so you can focus on them to improve.
Final Thoughts
Embracing the difference between a growth or fixed mindset are you’re trying to improve as a person.
If you find yourself stuck in life or your career, then maybe a fixed mindset is holding you back. And if that’s the case, then we hope the six strategies we outlined in this article helped you a little.
Knowledge is power, it’s literally the new currency, friends.
WarningA fixed mindset pulls us back and prevents us from realising our full potential while a growth mindset makes us explore without being afraid of the challenges ahead.
Once you develop a growth mindset, own it.
ImportantAcknowledge yourself as someone who possesses a growth mentality and be proud to let it guide you throughout your career.
It is possible to change a fixed mindset as long as we are open and honest about what we need to do and change about ourselves.
It’s a choice to fix your broken mindset. How do you feel about the fixed mindset vs growth mindset debate? Which mindset do you choose? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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