Growth mindset: 7 steps to cultivate one

The perspective you bring to any given situation will fundamentally change your experience of that situation. It stands to reason, then, to approach any and all experiences with a mindset that is most conducive to growth. “Growth Mindset” is a term you’ve probably seen floating around social media for some time now, but what exactly is a growth mindset?

The growth mindset

A growth mindset is not a single belief. It is a belief system that revolves around the core idea that our innate abilities, and latent talents, are not fixed. Each and every one of your skills can be developed and improved upon. Nothing is set. Wherever you are at a given moment, and whatever you are currently able to do at that moment, is viewed as a step on the way. Anything you can do, you can do better, and anything you can’t do, you can learn. Everything is possible through consistent application of effort, and deliberate practice. So, how exactly can you cultivate a growth mindset? What steps can you take to facilitate the transition?

1)   Start with compassion

Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, keep pushing, and tell yourself “you’ve got this”.

Changing your mindset isn’t easy. It’s a profound change that happens on both a psychological and physiological level. Any change of that nature is going to bring pain in one form or another. When that pain comes, treat yourself with compassion. Don’t base your self-worth on achievement, and lambaste yourself when you fall short of your expectations.

2) Embrace Goal Setting

Take the time to sit down and plan out WHAT you want to achieve, HOW you are going to do it, and WHEN it is going to happen by.

Goals are important. Without a goal, you’ve nothing to aim for, nothing to direct your energies towards. Without a goal, you’ll spend the entire game running up and down the field without scoring. By embracing goal setting, you can set yourself up for success. Setting yourself small, easily achievable goals helps you build a sense of momentum, and gives you a sense of achievement.

3) Focus on mastery

Mastery occurs through knowing you’re good at something, but also acknowledging there’s always something you can work on, and relishing that opportunity.

There are 4 stages you progress through when learning any new skill. It’s a process whereby progress is defined by incremental improvements, instead of massive achievements. Skill development begins at unconscious incompetence, then progresses through conscious incompetence, onto conscious competence, and ultimately unconscious competence. Mastery occurs through embracing this process, and through realizing that though stage 4 is the target, the achievement is gained through sitting in stage 3.

4) Schedule time for deliberate practice

Set yourself a micro-goal, and actively try to get better at it on a daily basis.

Let me ask you a question: if you’re looking to improve an existing skill, or develop a new one, how much time have you scheduled in to do so? Have you blocked out periods in your day where the only thing you focus on is the development of that skill? Or are you, like many people, grabbing a spare few minutes here and there? Spend any time studying the best in the world at anything, and a pattern will quickly begin to emerge.

If you want to develop a skill or improve on an existing one, you have to make time for deliberate practice. It doesn’t have to be a huge amount of time initially, but it does need to become a habit. Start with 10 minutes a day, and dedicate it solely to the development of the new skill. If you want to explore the benefits of deliberate practice further, I highly recommend “So Good They Can’t Ignore You” by Cal Newport.

5) See mistakes as a teacher

A mistake should never be passed-up though, as within every failure lies the opportunity to learn.

Mistakes are part of life. Things go wrong, and setbacks happen. Take the time to sit down and assess a situation after a set-back, and ask yourself “What did I do well? How could I replicate that in the future?”, and “What didn’t work as I’d hoped? How could I approach things differently if a similar situation arises? With the benefit of hindsight, what would I do differently?”.

By analyzing both your performance and your emotional state through the experience, when the opportunity to have another go rolls around, you’ll be in a much better position to conquer the challenge. Put yourself in the position that next time you fall short, your immediate response is “good”.

6) Apply maximum effort

There is always something you can improve on.

You can always try harder. This is not meant in the sense of “you need to suck it up, and put more work in”. It’s meant from the perspective that there is always something that you can improve upon. With this mentality, you approach setbacks with the view that they happened due to a lack of persistence, not a lack of ability. Just because you can’t do something now, doesn’t mean you won’t be able to do it later. Understand that beginning any new endeavor is going to bring difficulty, and embrace that difficulty when it arises.

7) Stay present

Through staying present you can ride out the lows, and iron out the highs, seeing things as they are, and not how you perceive them to be.

It’s natural to think about, and plan for, the future. What’s important, though, is not to become transfixed by the future at the expense of the present. The same goes for the past. Learn from the past, takes lessons from mistakes, but don’t ruminate on what's already been done. These plans or regrets will, of course, come with strong emotions. Human beings are emotional creatures, so this is only natural. Staying present, then, is not about taking all emotion out of the process, and resolving to feel nothing. It is about acknowledging the emotions when they arise, and experiencing them in the moment, but not holding onto them as they pass. Presence allows you to see things for as they are, and not how you feel they are.

Embrace the process

Adopting a growth mindset can and will transform your life. It’s an incremental process and takes time to fully integrate. Through treating yourself with compassion when defining your goals, you can focus on achieving true mastery of your new skills. By taking the time to practice in a deliberate and focussed manner, and seeing mistakes as a learning opportunity, you can continue to apply the maximum amount of effort possible, in an effective and targeted way. Stay present in the moment, and actively apply each of these steps, and just watch what happens.

The book

The inspiration for this article was the fantastic book "Mindset: The New Psychology of Success" by Carol Dweck. This book is a powerful tool, irrespective of your profession. Buy it.

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