Growth Mindset

Growth Mindset
Mindset itself refers to one’s attitude, way of thinking, mentality or worldview. These manifest in behavioural patterns and, of course, self-image.
Dr. Carol Dweck, a professor of psychology at Standford University, has spent many years researching how our mindset influences our self-image, our performance and our relationships to other people.
Her research has shown that there are basically two different types of mindset:
- Fixed mindset: People who have a “fixed mindset” believe that for example their intelligence and abilities are static, unchangeable. They think that they have only a certain level of intelligence or ability and that there is not much they can do about it. Let’s take maths for example, a school subject everyone is familiar with, to illustrate how a fixed mindset may look like: “I am just not good at maths.”, “I am not a maths person.” or “I will never understand this.” This type of mindset leads to the fact that one remains at the current level of skills, which means there are limits to one’s learning experience. Even worse, people may not have the confidence to learn anything new in a given subject or topic.
- Growth Mindset: People who go through life with a “growth mindset”, on the other hand, believe that they can improve their intelligence and skills through effort and commitment. To stay with the same example of maths, a person with a growth mindset would use a different, more encouraging way of thinking: “I don’t know this topic of maths yet, but with a bit more practice and repetition I will soon understand it” or “Who or what could help me understand?” Such growth-orientated attitude shows a willingness to take the situation into your own hands so that nothing stands in the way of further development and learning. What can I take away from this experience? How does this challenge help me grow? What can I do, to positively influence this situation?
Although the topic may sound complex, it is actually quite simple! Just like muscles or other skills such as playing the piano, a growth mindset can also be learnt, practiced and developed.
There are many great resources on this topic – and growth mindset is of course an important part of our courses and workshops at the Team Musiala Foundation.
We love a good quote here at the Team Musiala Foundation, and this quote from Michael Jordan sums up the growth mindset perfectly:
Say never never, because limits, like fears, are often just an illusion.

