Growth Mindset = A Success Mental Model
Let me tell you a story. Many years ago, a young student teacher faced a student twice her size who was refusing to do a journaling assignment.
“Why should I do this anyway? I’m not going to pass,” he spat out, sullenly.
Her heart beat quickly because this was a challenge that would affect the tone of her classroom. With other students closely monitoring, she gently explained the benefits of journaling to the young man.
She stressed that the consistent, daily practice would lead to clarity of thought. It would help him with later assignments. And she assured him that if he just put in the work, he would see the reward he sought – in this case, a passing grade.
He was dubious, but he trusted. And so he did.
Definition of Growth Mindset
This anecdote is true, and it happened many years before the term ‘growth mindset’ hit the field of education. Yet both the student and the student-teacher unknowingly were discussing growth mindset.
And the student adopted it and was successful, and the student-teacher continued to encourage it and provide space for it to develop. For him and her other students.
So What Is The Growth Mindset?
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Carol Dweck, who wrote the book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (2006,2016) (affiliate link), defined growth mindset this way, “the growth mindset is based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts, your strategies, and help from others (7).”
Listen to Carol Dwek’s TedTalk, “The Power of Believing You Can Improve.”
We probably know – or at least heard about – someone who was told they would never be able to do or be a particular thing. But the person did not allow the negative assessment to deter them. Rather, they practiced and kept at the work until they did succeed.
Those with a growth mindset believe that their intelligence isn’t fixed. Rather, they believe that with practice and persistence, they can learn anything.
They view new experiences and problems as challenges. And they love challenges.
Growth Mindset Vs. Fixed Mindset
Someone with a growth mindset does not believe that they are helpless to change their situations. As Dweck says, these folks aren’t stuck with the hand they were dealt, but rather this is the “starting point.”
But some people live with a fixed mindset. They do not love challenges, and often if an activity or work is initially hard, those with a fixed mindset give up quickly. They believe they aren’t smart enough to be successful at the new task.
Those with a fixed mindset often feel as if they have to prove over and over again that they are the smartest person in the room. If your intelligence or genius in any area is fixed at a certain amount, then you might find yourself expending a lot of energy to demonstrate that you aren’t lacking.
Growth mindset folks value learning. Whatever a person’s starting point is in regard to intelligence, aptitude, etc., those with a growth mindset believe that through practice and experience, they can grow, learn, and change.
Golf and the Growth Mindset
What does this look like in real life? Let’s say that a person with a predominantly fixed mindset decides to take up golf. Because this is a new activity, the person has a horrible round – if they even make it through 18 holes. Balls are hit wildly or sometimes missed entirely. No club seems to work. They can’t read a green or line up a putt. So they determine quickly that golf isn’t their sport and never pick up a club again.
A person with a growth mindset has a similar first round but comes away with a different perspective altogether. Instead, this person watches golf videos, goes to the driving range to practice, arranges for some lessons, and keeps playing.
And it pays off. He learns to play golf. No, he may not be Bubba Watson, but he can enjoy a satisfying round of golf when he wants to.
But he might be Ben Hogan, as Carol Dweck mentioned in her back. No one thought Hogan would go on to be such a great golfer since he was so awkward when he was young. Yet he persisted.
Puzzles and the Growth Mindset
Here’s another example. Two people are presented with a logic puzzle to solve. You know the kind I’m talking about. I think the GRE used (maybe still uses) these types of items.
Eight horses and riders are in the race. The horse in Lane 1 has been racing for three years. The jockey in lane five wears purple. The horse in lane 7 is named Bullet. Another horse is named Amethyst, and so on.
So one person reads the puzzle and gleefully says, “Oh what fun! A challenge.” The other person reads the puzzle and gives up. Growth vs. Fixed Mindset.
Someone with a Growth Mindset will look at difficult tasks and situations as challenges, experiences where they can learn something new. Someone with a Fixed Mindset will look at the same situations and determine that it is too hard for them and will give up quickly.
Application of the Growth Mindset
Where is the idea of Growth Mindset applicable? Basically, in all aspects of our lives. Let’s look at three instances.
School
Modeling the Growth Mindset is critical in schools. Teachers and administrators need to demonstrate it every day.
To be honest, most educators have had to adopt this way of thinking to make it through this school year. Without a growth mindset, many educators would not have successfully pivoted to the remote-learning and hybrid schedules that we have adopted because of the pandemic.
It is imperative that we teach the growth mindset to students. We need to teach them that difficult does not equal impossible. They can learn to read and work with fractions.
When students struggle to master a skill or concept, as educators, we need to help them develop a repertoire of strategies to apply until they succeed. It isn’t a matter of whether or not they are smart enough, but rather a matter of finding the right strategy.
Most educators could probably tell an anecdote about a high-performing student that was presented with learning a new skill that was not automatically easy for her. The student shut down and refused to even try.
The problem was that the student was afraid that she would no longer be considered high-performing or smart if she struggled with the new task. She didn’t recognize that the struggle equaled growth and that she could be successful if she persisted.
Teachers need to recognize this mindset early and quickly address it before it becomes the default position for a student.
Need A One-Pager on Growth Mindset?
Check out my Resource Library for an infographic on Growth vs. Fixed Mindsets.
Business
‘Failing forward’ is a term that we often hear in business and industry. Failing forward means that a person or company puts forth a prototype – a product or a new process. If it doesn’t work – if it fails – then we re-group, analyze what went wrong and where. Then we design a new prototype, building on the lessons learned from the failed attempt.
Businesses typically need to continually innovate, but not every new idea is a hit with consumers or in the marketplace.
If employees in these sectors have a fixed mindset, if they are afraid to fail, then they will stagnate and so will their companies.
However, if these businesses and employees employ a growth mindset and if employees are allowed to fail forward, then innovation is sure to come. The trick is to make sure that the company and employee learn how to do it better through the experience.
For more information on leadership, read 3 Lessons On Educational Leadership For Beginners.
The Growth Mindset builds an organizational culture that leads to success. Companies that continue to produce great products and processes have developed organizational cultures where employees know that their work is to improve on failed strategies until successful.
Life
How does Growth Mindset apply to our lives outside of school and work?
Ask yourself two questions – What new thing do you want to learn? How can you continue to grow and improve in your life?
Maybe you are trying to learn graphic design on your own. Yes, it can be frustrating when the bezier pen tool doesn’t give you the smooth lines and curves that you see in your mind. But persistence and trying new techniques can result in flawless designs.
Perhaps you’ve always wanted to learn to make the home decor signs you see at craft fairs. Your first attempt probably isn’t going to look exactly how you imagined it, but by researching, reading tutorials, and watching instructional videos, you can learn to put together a great-looking sign for your home.
With a fixed mindset, you might give up after the first attempt – if you even try to make the sign. You might have to resort to purchasing a sign rather than learning the skills necessary to do it yourself.
Another example is taking up fly-fishing as a leisure activity. Most new fly-fishers do not catch fish their first time out. It takes a while to get the right rod, the right line weight, and determine the best fly for the waters you are fishing. Then it takes lots of practice to cast the line so that it lands and floats just right to entice a trout to bite.
Someone with a fixed mindset can spend a lot of money and then give up after the first unsuccessful trip. Someone with a growth mindset, however, understands that they can be successful if they practice casting and experiment with different rods and line weights.
Takeaway
Growth Mindset is for all of us and can help in all parts of our lives. It is especially important for educators and especially a newly minted educational leader. As central office administrators, we need to work toward providing training for our teachers in growth mindset strategies and developing district and school cultures that value growth mindset. We should do this for our students, our colleagues, and ourselves.
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