Growth vs fixed mindset

I first learned of the differences between a growth and fixed mindset approximately five years ago. I had long encountered people who weren’t open to different ways of dealing with obstacles and knew people who were set in their ways and not willing to change but I wasn’t aware of the fixed mindset title.

A quick summary – people with fixed mindsets believe their intelligence and abilities are inherited from birth. People with fixed mindsets believe they have a fixed ceiling of potential. On the other hand people with growth mindsets believe intelligence and their abilities are developed over time. Performing poorly in an area now doesn’t mean they will continue to be poor in the future.

These are very different mindsets and perspectives which lead to people approaching challenges in different ways. People with fixed mindsets will be less likely to take on challenges they are unfamiliar with as it may expose them as not being competent in that area. People with growth mindsets are far more likely to nominate themselves as they understand failure is a part of learning and because they try so often and aren’t scared of failure, they are also more resilient and will have likely developed many more skills than a fixed mindset person.

Our egos, environments and self confidence play a huge part in our perspectives too. If you’re in an environment that punishes out of the box thinking or has such tight timeframes in place that anything apart from the standard operating process will work, then your opportunities to practise growth mindset thinking will be limited in that environment.

I don’t know what the stats are between growth and fixed mindsets but I feel I’ve encountered many more people with fixed than growth mindset perspectives. There are pros and cons for each mindset just as there is for anything else in life but I think the benefits of a growth mindset far outweigh those of the fixed. The ability to believe that you aren’t set with a certain limit of intelligence can be freeing to people. Most of us will never reach out true potential so to think that we somehow know what the limit of those capabilities is sounds ridiculous to me.

From watching my children learn, I see each is stronger in some areas than others. My youngest son, Nathaniel, is slower than his brothers and sisters in reading and writing at the same age. His younger sister who is several years his junior, is able to do things he couldn’t just a year ago. I have previously spoken about his learning journey. Even though his journey will take longer to reach the same milestones than his siblings, there is no limitation on how far he can go and even surpass his siblings with enough effort. Our starting position doesn’t determine our finishing goal.

PDR