Who sits at your table? Whether they know one another or not, you have a host of people who regularly gather around your power table. Who makes you laugh? Who listens well? Who best gives feedback? Who is kind? Who can give you a swift kick when you need it?
One of the women regularly at my table is Julie Henszey, a friend from college, an entrepreneur, and -- might I add -- a tri-athlete and a summiteer of Mt. Kilimanjaro. As a one-to-one life coach, Julie leads people in achieving personal goals and career goals.
Here, practical and positive, Julie shares four strategies for creating a growth mindset. Check them out... and go grow!
Four Ways to Develop a Growth Mindset (Guest Post by Julie Henszey)
Do you ever feel like you’re just not cut out to do something well? It could be bowling, public speaking, crossword puzzles, working with spreadsheets, getting places on time, or a million other things. What do you tell yourself when you perform poorly?
Our mindset makes all the difference in whether we achieve success when the going gets tough. Research suggests we have a choice between two mindsets: a fixed mindset and a growth mindset.
Fixed Mindset: The belief that your abilities are fixed, that you are born with a set amount of intelligence that doesn't change, and that the world is just a series of tests that prove either how capable or incapable you are.
Growth Mindset: The belief that you are capable of learning and therefore enhancing skills and expertise, that success comes through effort, and that the world is full of interesting challenges that can help you learn and grow.
Here are four ways we can develop and stay in a growth mindset so we can move forward and achieve our goals.
1) Learn from your past and put it aside. Don't dwell on past mistakes and let them consume you. Ruminating in this way often reflects and reinforces a belief that we can't change. Don't let your mistakes define you. I distinctly remember a time when I embarrassed myself horribly in a group situation and was really hard on myself about it. Then I realized that I had a choice. I could either believe I was an idiot or I could say, You know what, I just used incredibly bad judgment and it's something that happens to all of us once in a while.
2) Seek constructive feedback. When we have a fixed mindset, we don't want to hear criticism because it might just prove that we're not intelligent or capable. Being exposed is harsh and we want to avoid it. If we do get feedback, we're likely to defend ourselves unnecessarily. We hear the other person saying I'm just trying to help but we feel attacked.
With a growth mindset, we want to hear criticism. We want to know where we can improve.
3) Stick to a difficult task. A big problem in the United States is that when media allows us to see every slam dunk in the NBA or every Donald Trump underling, we tend to think Wow, I wish I could be that good. We can’t see the years of blood, sweat, and tears behind the success. Even Beyonce hits a wall now and then. Every successful person is tenacious.
So don't give up when the journey is long and tedious. Stay engaged.
4) Be curious. When you face roadblocks on your path to success, be curious about how to address the problem. Don't just look for obvious solutions and then give up when they don't work. Instead, ask yourself, If I were looking at this situation as a complete stranger, perhaps an alien from another planet, what would I see? What would I ask myself? Bold innovations don’t happen when people think conventionally.
Attack your next goal with a growth mindset and see how it works. I'm positive it's going to put new wind in your sails!
(Get inspired! Visit Julie Henszey's website: Next Step Goals & specifically her One-to-One Coaching page. Julie has a growth mindset -- check it out and leave the Baggage behind.)